The Cog Factory, formerly located at 2224 Leavenworth Street in Omaha, Nebraska, was a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that provided a punk rock music performance space for the area. The facility opened in 1994 with bands Ritual Device, Sideshow and Mousetrap. Musician Conor Oberst began making public performances there in the 1990s.Proskocil, N. (2007) "Omaha's rock 'n' roll history," Omaha World-Herald. 6/27/07. Retrieved 8/8/07. Cog Factory closed permanently in January 2002.
About Serving as the foothold for the Omaha punk rock, hardcore, ska, and indie scene for many years, the Cog Factory was an all-ages venue located in Omaha's downtown core near the historic Old Market. Founded by self described "DIY-Punk" Robb Rathe, the Cog Factory served as the launching pad for the careers of many Saddle Creek Records bands, as well as being a tour stop for national acts. Cog Factory also promoted shows at Sokol Auditorium when the draw was too large for its own club.
Structure The Cog Factory was a non-profit 501(c)3 organization run strictly by volunteers. Proceeds from shows were used solely to cover the building expenses and payment of artists. Numerous volunteers tried keeping the club going until 2002, when Cog Factory ceased to operate. With all the original founding volunteers no longer operating Cog Factory after 2001, its original goal of providing an all-ages venue for every type of independent music free of discrimination started to erode. The club's organizational structure broke down, sufficient funds were no longer being earned, and the location was closed.
Legacy Footage of the venue is shown in the Spend an Evening with Saddle Creek documentary.
Notable performers
Acid Bath AFI Against All Authority All Out War American Nightmare Archers of Loaf The Ataris Avail Bane Bleeding Through Bogdan Raczynski Boris the Sprinkler BoySetsFire Brainiac Bright Eyes Buck-O-Nine Buried Alive Cap'n Jazz Catch 22 Cave In Clayface Coalesce Commander Venus Converge C'mon Jack Cows Crash Worship Cursive Darkest Hour Dillinger Four The Dillinger Escape Plan Disembodied The Donnas D.R.I. Dropkick Murphys Earth Crisis Eighteen Visions Ensign Every Time I Die Fast Orange Fischer Frontier Trust The Faint The Gadjits Gas Huffer Good Riddance Grade Groovie Ghoulies Guttermouth H2O Hammerhead Hatebreed The Haunted Indecision Isis (band) Jawbox The Jesus Lizard Jimmy Skaffa Jive Monkeys Joan Of Arc The Juliana Theory Karate Kid Dynamite The Lawrence Arms Leatherface The Lucky Ones Man or Astro-man? Mercy Rule Midtown Milemarker The Mountain Goats Mousetrap Murphy's Law Mustard Plug MU330 Neurosis Neva Dinova New Found Glory No Innocent Victim One King Down Overcast Pageninetynine Park Ave. Poison the Well Propaghandi Q and Not U ramon speed Rancid Red Menace REVILO Rocket Fuel Is The Key ROW8P30 Rye Coalition Saetia Season To Risk Skankin' Pickle Skavoovie and the Epitones Slowdown Virginia Small Brown Bike Smart Went Crazy Solid Jackson Sorry About Dresden Spoon SUPERTASTY The Suicide Machines Ten Yard Fight Texas Is The Reason Titanium White Today Is the Day Total Chaos Thrice Throwdown Tribe 8 Twelve Tribes UK Subs Unearth Underoath Unsane Unwound Warzone Wesley Willis Witchery X-Cops Zao
See also Music in Omaha
References
External links Lazy-i Interview: October 1998 with Rob Rathe (the original operator) Lazy-i Interview: October 1998 with Chris Harding (the new operator)