Leafblower has today dropped their new video and single titled ‘Ghosts’ from their latest album ‘Burn Cruise’, out now via Max Trax Records. Corporate-branded rock fit for the FM radio of the mid-80s, Leafblower takes the mainstream back to Main Street with assembly-line bravado. Okay, if you read this far, then you know I am totally fucking with you. The only thing Leafblower would take to the mainstream is a sick, steamy, corn-filled dump. This is actually a call to arms. A demand to burn down the mainstream and take every penny and give it to those who can do something creative with it. This is an experimental jam band’s response to American Idol.
‘Ghosts’ is that fecal smear to the face of everything conformist. The Sanchez is dirty, and his name is Tim.
‘Ghosts’ is one of those that you can’t turn away from. That car wreck you walked past and noticed the ambulance, and now you wonder with curiosity. Leafblower is the answer to the question, and that question is individual. This is one of those bands that fills that void.
About ‘Ghosts’
Taken from their latest album Burn Cruise, which was released in June 2025, the song had an appropriately ominous origin. “The lyrics for the song were written in the wee hours of the night,” confesses vocalist/guitarist Danny Maxwell. “I couldn’t sleep, so I got up and watched some TV. I thought I saw something out of the corner of my eye, then I felt a warming presence near me, though I didn’t feel threatened.”
While the supernatural often ushers in dread and fear, for Leafblower, it was instead embraced not only with open arms but with a seat at the writing table. “My first thought was ‘What’s all the fuss about?’ My second was to scribble it all down.” Taking a breather from the paranormal, Maxwell grounded himself and fleshed out the rest of the lyrics in a more earthbound mindset. “I came back to that thought later and was able to bridge it with another lyric about feeling bottled up with scattered thoughts and emotions until it all comes to a head for the second half of the song.”
Adding the words to drummer Tab Tworek’s music, they created a track that couples a powerful rhythm section of Tworek and bassist/theremin/vocalist Craig Fort with Clark Jahn’s searing guitars and Maxwell’s ice-piercing vocals. The result is a gritty power jam of ace musicianship in lockstep.
Accompanied by a surreal video starring their aged octogenarian mascot “Tim” who had been a common star of their social media presence, going about his everyday activities, like delivering babies, jumping in puddles, taking the baby above on errands, fastened in a BabyBjörn, and, in a rather meta sequence, using a Leafblower. “When we first started, we posted daily shorts of our guy, ‘Tim,’ doing everyday things,” laughs Fort. “He gained a decent following and we did it for a few years, but his appearance in the videos started to peter out.” Instead of letting Tim’s memory languish in the annals of social media archives, they mined their old vids and used excerpts for the “Ghosts” video.
“Tim is our mascot,” continues Maxwell. “We had a run of 200+ consecutive posts on Instagram and Facebook featuring these little 7-second skits of Tim doing anything from everyday activities like skating, preparing meals, and landscaping duties to extraordinary moments like doing the wave at an empty ballpark and lying still enough to feed a wild fox a chicken leg.”
The result is a haunting and somewhat surreal montage of sped-up vignettes with Tim in the foreground. “Life is gonna come at you no matter what your plans are, and there’s nothing you can do but put your head down, bulldoze through, and you might as well have a good time while you’re at it,” says Fort metaphorically. “I didn’t set out with a theme when I started the video, but I think it developed into a picture of a very hectic example of our daily lives and finding ways to make the best of it.”
About Leafblower
A fixture in the Omaha rock scene since 2016 as a fun side project while each member focused on their primary bands, Leafblower is proud to be part of their local scene. “Omaha has had a powerful influence on all of us,” contends Maxwell. “We came together as a band in Omaha, with three of the fellas eventually moving here from nearby cities for school, work, and family.”
“Omaha is full of amazing creative people,” agrees Fort, who also credits the city’s fertile music scene. Having been employed at O’Leaver’s Pub, where he worked multiple shows a week for both local and touring bands, he also cut his teeth running a “D.I.Y. basement venue called Fort House for years, which was a place for local bands to get their feet wet in a comfortable, inviting environment. It’s been very easy to stay entertained in Omaha as far as music goes.”
The band’s amalgamated sound coalesced into the post-rock masterpiece that is their album Burn Cruise. “Burn Cruise is made up of a collection of songs we’ve written over the last couple of years,” concludes Maxwell, proud of their debut. “The album has taken on its own identity through the scope of our shared experiences. Like taking a moment in traffic to take a look inside. Focusing on oneself amongst the noise.”
Featured image by G-Knee.
SOURCE: Official Bio
LINKS:
https://www.maxtraxrecords.com/leafblower
https://www.tiktok.com/@leafblowermusic
https://www.instagram.com/leafblowermusic
https://www.facebook.com/blowleafmusic