It doesn’t seem possible but this month marks the 15th year since Mr. Hand was formed. I guess it’s like they say, time flies when you’re rockin’ and rollin’! We have a lot of memories including several St. Pat’s shows in O’Neill, NE, playing at the Orpheum in Sioux City, IA, and of course many people who still come up to us and say “You played my prom!”

1995 was the year, and we started out as a 4-piece. Jeff Conrad on bass and backing vocals, myself on lead guitar and backing vocals, Jeff Lickfelt on drums and backing vocals, and Larry Mortensen on lead vocals and rhythm guitar. We based ourselves out of Norfolk and still consider it a special place for Mr. Hand. Interestingly, we spent the first several months writing and recording our first CD “Scheme of Things” before we played our first show in the spring of 1996.

We continued play more shows and released a cassette single (remember those?) called “Why Don’t We Write A Movie?” in 1997 and then our 2nd CD “Treats!” in 1998. These were busy years for us as we played a lot of shows, continued to write our own music, have our music used on an MTV show, and basically figure out what kind of band we wanted to be.

The end of the decade/century found us going through transition as Larry decided to leave the band in 2000. This was definitely one of those points in our history where we could have packed it in and said “We had a good run.” But we decided to continue on as a 3-piece with Conrad taking over as our lead vocalist. We continued to write our own music and release 2 more CD’s during this period of the band with “Fueled by the View” in 2002 and the “Simple Ways EP” in 2005.

At the beginning of 2006, we went through another transition when Jeff L. left the band to pursue a career opportunity that took him to Arkansas. Again, we were faced with the decision of whether to carry on or not. Obviously we decided to continue and brought Craig Verbeski on board to pound the drums. Not only that but he also increased the number of tattoos per band member considerably!

During the past 4 years since Craig joined the band, we’ve continued to play a lot of shows and have had some great opportunities to open some big shows. More recently, the band has moved to Omaha and just this summer released our 5th CD “Second Start“.

It’s definitely been a great ride for us with a ton of great memories. We’re excited to keep it rolling and see what the future brings.

But first we need to celebrate our 15th Anniversary of Rock! Join us August 27th and 28th at The Depot in Norfolk, NE to celebrate. We’ll have a free keg on the 28th starting at 8pm and our original drummer Jeff will be joining us on stage throughout the weekend. It’s going to be a great weekend filled with music and friends!

So here’s to you for coming out to the shows over the years and sharing a drink with us! Feel free to leave your comments below and share any memories you might have of the last 15 years, we’d love to hear from you!

Tags: Bret Nellor, Craig Verbeski, Jeff Conrad, Mr. Hand, Nebraska, Norfolk, Omaha, The Depot

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