Tim Kasher has always been a nomad.
It comes from his insatiable appetite for movies, music, literature, or really any art form, which is the reason Kasher calls himself a “devourer of the arts.”
“Voracious is a good term for it,” said the musician, writer, and film director.
Of course, Kasher will always be, upon first reference, frontman to Cursive. Go ahead and Google it. He’s “Cursive’s Tim Kasher” in every taste-making online music outlet, but fronting a beloved indie rock, post-hardcore band and touring the world will do that to you.
While Cursive may be the headliners and his other projects—The Good Life and his solo musical work—are the undercards on Kasher’s long list of artistic output, there have also been screenplays, novels, and films.
Kasher’s always felt like an actual nomad, too. He’s moved around the country a lot, making his home in Los Angeles (a couple of times), Atlanta, Chicago, and even Whitefish, Montana.
But no matter what he’s got in front of him—artistically or personally—he always ends up back in Omaha.
He’s lived here. His bands and businesses are here. His friends and family are here. And of course, he’s always here to create. Why? Because he knows Omaha. He knows how it feels. He knows the layout. He knows its people. “It’s still where my dreams occur,” Kasher said.
Kasher’s familiarity with Omaha is precisely why he came back to shoot “Who’s Watching,” his latest film.
Kasher’s been writing screenplays for years. His IMDB page lists “additional writing by” on Nik Fackler’s “Lovely, Still,” but he wrote and directed his own feature, 2017’s “No Resolution.”
“Who’s Watching” is a thriller/horror shot almost entirely in Omaha as well as nearby areas such as Fort Calhoun.
It’s quite the Omaha film, not only funded by family and friends from around town, but also incorporating various locales as integral pieces of the movie. One local home used as a shooting location became so important that Kasher calls the house “its own character.”
His deep familiarity with Omaha meant it had to be made here.
“I just know the city so well… I wanted to use that to my advantage,” he said.
Kasher was also drawn back to town to record Cursive’s new album, “Devourer,” at Omaha recording studio ARC with his bandmates.
The album and its title reflect Kasher’s insatiable consumption of art, and it’s also a nod to the twisting path he’s taken through the worlds of music and film.
“Devourer’s” first single, “Up And Away,” has a catchy chorus—catchier than you’d expect from an indie rock band who plays things on the harder, dissonant side—but despite the Superman’s catchphrase-invoking earworm, it’s not a triumphant song. Its lyrics lament the loss of childhood dreams, culminating in a gut punch of a realization: “Fortunes are finite;” Kasher sings he’s “letting go of the notions I had as a boy.”
Similarly, the music video depicts a man who, no matter how hard he tries, cannot escape his couch, which is literally trying to pull him down. It’s a fairly direct metaphor for depression, but it previews some hope when its last scene depicts the man beginning to claw free.
“Musically, it scratches the itch for me. It dips into discordance and kind of slinks around,” Kasher said. “The chorus of ‘Up And Away,’ I had always thought about changing that because it was triumphant. But I had a moment in the shower one morning where it occurred to me that the other side of ‘Up And Away’ is that there’s this American dream. Every year that passes, you accept that it’s drifting away from you.”
But Kasher isn’t letting anything pass him by. He’s doing as much as he can.
Kasher has a lot going on. Artistically, naturally. But there’s also his involvement in three Omaha businesses; along with his bandmates in Cursive, he’s a co-owner of both O’Leaver’s Pub and Winchester Bar & Grill, as well as 15 Passenger Records, a record label that has released music from Cursive and Kasher, of course, but also local friends Criteria and Dolores Diaz & the Standby Club, as well as Campdogzz, a Chicago indie rock outfit, and Rare Coins, a pairing of David Bazan and Sean Lane.
“I prefer having multiple things going at once. I just am happiest when I’m busy. When everything kind of slows down, you have to confront the greater void of existence,” Kasher said with a laugh. “And I don’t really like staring that in the eye. I love to stay busy.”
Upon reflection, Kasher sees himself being just like his late mother, Linda, who passed away last year. Like her, he’s “constantly going,” and whatever it is he’s doing, he finds himself in the lead spot—frontman, bandleader, songwriter, director.
It’s how Kasher knows his art—films, music, or anything at all—will turn out exactly the way he wants them.
“You’re going to feel best if you do it exactly the way you think it should be done… That’s your voice, and that’s who you are, and it’s much better to express yourself as best as you can.
“Your best stab at authenticity is your own voice. You have to trust your instincts.”
To learn more about Kasher and his work, visit timkasher.com.
This article originally appeared in the October 2024 issue of Omaha Magazine. To receive the magazine, click here to subscribe.
