The drums are technical, yet unafraid to get messy. The keyboard is electric and does well to mimic the sounds of the future. When you combine aspects of noise and math, you get Pagan Athletes.

Pagan Athletes is a band that plays noise rock and has recently made a splash in the underground Omaha music scene. Senior Nathan Wolf  plays drums and his younger brother, sophomore Griffin Wolf, plays keyboard. They play in the band as a duo.

Nathan and Griffin Wolf were exposed to many different genres of music that most people were not exposed to as children, and they said they believe that has helped them be creative with their music. The Wolf brothers said that experimental artists like John Coltrane  and Shallac have helped form their style.

“We weren’t around the radio much,” Nathan Wolf said. “We listened to lots of bands that weren’t the obvious choices, and that was thanks to our dad.” Nathan said.

Nathan and Griffin Wolf are not the first in their family to pursue music. Their dad John Wolf also pursued his passion for music.

“He didn’t have much musical experience so he taught himself how to play and get shows,” Nathan  said.

Despite not receiving proper music lessons, their father founded and played in several local bands. Nathan and Griffin Wolf said his experience in music helped inspire them to pursue music as well.

“Our dad played in lots of, I guess you could say legendary, Omaha bands, like Cellophane Ceiling and Bad Luck Charm, to name a few,” Griffin said.  

Their father and his friends started a local music promotion company. Nathan Wolf said they had an impact on the local music scene.

“I honestly do think that [What he and his friends did] at that time was really big for the Omaha music scene and would really help foster getting bands to come to Omaha,” Nathan said.

“Most notably Nirvana,” Griffin said.

Years later, Nathan and Griffin Wolf continue the family tradition of expressing creativity through music. Pagan Athletes has found a very distinct sound.

“I don’t know any other bands [whose] main instrument is a $20 keyboard, it’s pretty much just a toy keyboard from the ‘80s.” Nathan Wolf said.

This is the keyboard played by Griffin Wolf. Upon first sight, you might think this an expensive piece of musical equipment. However, it’s actually the result of a purchase from the Imaginarium thrift store, and this price did not come easy Griffin Wolf said they haggled the price down from $30.  Little did they know [it] at the time, but this $20 keyboard would become the instrument that gives them their signature sound.

“The Casio gives us this glitchy, abrasive sound, we didn’t really intend to sound like that,” Griffin Wolf said.

When it comes to the creative process, the Wolf brothers said they have found what works best for them. According to the duo, they thrive with improvisation and are able to be on the same frequency when playing together by giving each other visual cues.

“We don’t try and put that much thought into what we’re doing, we just try to improvise and play what sounds good,” Nathan said.

In addition to improvisation, the duo also utilizes the formal musical knowledge they’ve learned from Westside’s music program.

“We use stuff we learned from music theory to help us finish writing our music and get us out of jams,” Nathan Wolf said.

The future’s looking bright for Pagan Athletes, with a busy next few months planned.

“We want to start collaborating with other bands and play more shows,” Nathan said.

It doesn’t end with playing more live shows for the Wolf brothers. They said they have plans to release physical copies of their music.

“We’re trying to record a demo tape that we’re going to put out on cassettes and sell at shows,” Nathan said.

Griffin Wolf said being in a band together with his brother helps the duo creatively.

“When we’re improvising or jamming together, we have an almost telepathic connection,” Griffin Wolf said.

“We know what we both play like and often end up predicting each other’s ideas.”

Nathan and Griffin Wolf said there are benefits to being in a band as siblings.

“It’s just very convenient,” Griffin Wolf said. “We live together, so we could just come home after school and write a song. We’ve never scheduled a rehearsal.”

The Wolf brothers said they’re getting more comfortable with playing in a band.

“I feel like everything has just kind of happened naturally,” Nathan Wolf said. “Every time we’ve forced something it didn’t work.”