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By demonizing pleasure, we set ourselves up for unfulfilling sex lives.
Opinion: Let’s talk about sex
Published March 27, 2024

Dad’s still got it

Jeff Allen has a tight new band.
TYTE JEFF guitarist and songwriter Jeff Allen performs at Nomad World Pub on Thursday. After band Plastic Constellations took a hiatus, Allen started this band as his new solo project.
Image by Amanda Snyder
TYTE JEFF guitarist and songwriter Jeff Allen performs at Nomad World Pub on Thursday. After band Plastic Constellations took a hiatus, Allen started this band as his new solo project.

Though seven years have passed since Jeff Allen’s first project released an album, he hasn’t stopped writing music.

The Plastic Constellations —a successful indie power-pop rock group from Hopkins, Minn. — made its punk-y exuberance known in the mid-90s. But before the group’s release show for its album “We Appreciate You” in 2008, the band announced an indefinite hiatus.

Since then, guitarist and songwriter Allen started a family and swapped dueling guitars for more lyric-based, acoustic-heavy songs.

The result is Tyte Jeff — proof that settling down doesn’t mean settling for lesser quality music.

“Everything I wrote for the Plastic Constellations always had to have a very serious quality to it and an epic vibe,” Allen said. “[Tyte Jeff] songs are definitely more wry and [take] things a little less seriously.”

He said by maturing, he gained a stronger appreciation for song structure and lyrics. He said he was ready to move away from the aggressive, complicated punk music that he liked during his youth.

“When you’re younger, you think you’re doing things that nobody else has ever done before. You’re powerful and unstoppable. That’s an amazing feeling, and every kid should feel that, but as you get older you realize that [there have been] lots of generations before [you] that all felt the same thing,” Allen said. “It’s kind of funny. We think we’re changing the world and doing things that no one has ever done before, but we’re all pretty similar.”

Though the Plastic Constellations decided to take a break, Allen said he didn’t want to stop songwriting or for his new ideas to go unheard.

His friends Matt Johnson of Me & My Arrow and Aaron Mader (a.k.a. Lazerbeak) of Doomtree and the Plastic Constellations intervened.

Johnson and Mader convinced Allen to not let his songs go to waste.

Allen started recording songs shortly after.

Johnson, who now plays drums in Tyte Jeff, said he is a huge fan of the Plastic Constellations’ music. He said he’s excited to hear the songs Allen originally wrote for the group that are now resurfacing under the Tyte Jeff name.

“Things have changed over the last decade, needless to say,” Johnson said. “The main upcoming focus is putting out this full-length record. Other than that, maybe [we’ll do] a short, weekend get-away; pack up all the family and kids in an RV and go to Chicago or Milwaukee. That would be the extent of our grandiose touring plans.”

For now, Johnson said, Tyte Jeff is still getting its stage chops. The group is playing shows every Thursday this month at the Nomad World Pub for its residency titled Tyte Jeff Minneseries.

“[At first,] we were apprehensive to take on the five full weeks of bookings,” Johnson said. “But we couldn’t be happier with how it’s been going so far.”

Allen said he is glad the part of his brain that helps him write music never shut off.

“We’ve all been musicians for a long time, but [we] kind of [got] away from playing music. I’m proud of the fact that we’ve made it a priority to have this [band],” Allen said. “You can expect that we will rock out a little bit. We don’t mind getting sweaty.”

 

What: Tyte Jeff Minneseries

When: 9 p.m., Thursdays

Where: Nomad World Pub, 501 Cedar Ave. S.,
Minneapolis

Cost: Free

Ages: 21+

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