Dereck Higgins has been involved in music in the Midwest
since the late 70's, being a key player in bringing alternative
music to Omaha. Known primarily for his powerful bass
playing in bands such as Digital Sex, RAF, Norman & The
Rockwells, Full Clip, Elvis & His Boss, Righteous Vibration, Disco Ranch, Ernst and Backworld, Dereck comes from a musical family. His father, Red Higgins was a known and respected jazz musician who played with many great artists such as Stan Kenton and Coleman Hawkins. Dereck's younger brother Patrick is also an excellent jazz guitarist, not to mention older brother James who can do just about anything artistic/musical with amazing detail. Both of Dereck's sisters (Stephanie and Adrienne) are involved in graphic arts in California, sporting their own illustrious and varied productions.

But Dereck's story really starts with the The Beatles first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show. That moment and that music changed Dereck's life completely. In some ways he never recovered from the 'British Invasion', absorbing the best they had to offer. Everything from The Yardbirds to The Kinks to The Crazy World of Arthur Brown. When progressive rock happened it made a lasting impression as well. The original Genesis with Peter Gabriel being the prime soundtrack for Dereck's teen years. He was also introduced to 'krautrock' around this time, falling hard for the different sounds of Faust, Can, Guru Guru, Tangerine Dream, Amon Duul II, Ash Ra Tempel and others. Rock In Opposition artists such as Henry Cow and Art Zoyd must be mentioned as well. Dereck is an avid record collector to this day.

The explosion of punk also caught Dereck's attention, even though punk was a reaction to some of his favorite artists, it all somehow fit together in Dereck's ears. Not The Sex Pistols but The Ramones, The Damned, The Clash and lesser knowns like The Passage, Metal Urbain and Cabaret Voltaire, to name just a few.

Dereck also absorbed the music of his neighborhood, James Brown, Motown, Stax and the blues. Perhaps you can discern that Dereck grew up feeling like an outsider in Omaha.

Dereck started playing in bands shortly after graduating from high school in 1973. Starting in the band Restricted that eclectically played everything from Kiss to King Crimson.

More info in the next column.

1970'S:

-First band 'Restricted' plays from country to cosmic back when virtually all other Omaha bands were playing Deep Purple, nothing wrong with that of course.

-Played drums with family band Just Good Music.

-Joined hard rock band Full Clip that started out playing the blues and Aerosmith, morphing into a more punk style covering The Ramones, Devo and others.

-Helped start The Alternative Music Society in 1978. This group published a fanzine touting the praises of everything from industrial music to the band Modern English long before their hit 'Melt With You'.

1980's

-Joined 'Norman & The Rockwells' who were coined 'new wave' at the time. Released his first recording with this band.

-Recorded and released two limited edition 7" eps under his own name. Received complimentary reviews from magazines in Germany and Sweden as well as USA.

Started the band Digital Sex in 1982 with Stephen Sheehan and John Tingle (another unknown great from Omaha).

-Recorded a single which got tipped in Billboard magazine as an 'up and comer' although it did not chart, and an album which caught the attention of Jean Pierre Turmel of Sordide Sentimentale notoriety (he released highly sought after singles by Joy Division, Tuxedomoon and Durutti Column). Sordide's first compact disc release was 'Essence and Charm' by Digital Sex in a numbered limited edition of 5000 copies.

-Digital Sex gets some chart action in regions of France, reaching the top ten at some radio stations.

-The Sordide Sentimental cd merits a mention on MTV news during a '120 Minutes' program, 1986.

Digital Sex played a memorable show with REM in Omaha on that band's Murmur tour.

Played many shows with the excellent band For Against.

Dereck played in up to 4 bands at the same time during this period. He also played with Disco Ranch, Elvis & His Boss, The High Voltage Jammers and RAF.

Played on Disco Ranch's only release which is now a collectors item. This was Joe Budenholzer's band. He is best known for his current band Backworld.

RAF released a cassette only album of hardcore punk rock in 1987. RAF opened for many great bands such as Dead Kennedys, Die Kreuzen, D.R.I., Toxic Reasons, BGK and Descendents.

Dereck released a series of home made cassette compilations of local bands including one that featured Buck Naked & The Bare Bottom Boys (ask Primus for more on this band).

1990's

-Joined performance art group Ernst and staged multimedia shows.

-Reformed Digital Sex to promote a US release of Digital Sex music.

-In 1994 was invited to Japan to write and record music for the music library of SCOLA Japan, a satellite news station.

-Started world music band Akita Mani Yo with Steve Stacy (flute maker) in 1997. Dereck also appears on Steve Stacy's cd 'Tomorrow's Visions' (1993).

Joined reggae band Righteous Vibration. Original lineup included Melvin 'Melo' Reid on vocals. Best known as member of Albert Griffiths & The Gladiators, the reggae greats from Jamaica. No recordings but several live shows.

-Joined band Paddy O'Furniture that plays everything from Cajun to country. Still involved with this band. A live cd is available at the Paddy site.

2000's

-Released 'Nice' cd in an edition of 300 copies on cd-r. Originally intended as a Yule gift to a friend it caught the attention of several other friends, leading to the release.

-In 2003, Dereck had the distinct pleasure of playing bass for Mark Burgess of The Chameleons (UK) in concert in Omaha.