Watch Now: For a pair of Lincoln computer nerds, the music is all that matters

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Don Mayhew and Justin Carper are The Primary Keys

They met as techies, code monkeys for the same computer company. And then, serendipitously, each answered the same Craigslist ad to join a musical band.

That group — a 1980s cover band called Doc Brown and the Time Travelers (an homage to “Back to the Future”) — broke up when one of the bandmates moved out of state, but Don Mayhew and Justin Carper decided to keep the music going as a duet.

“I didn’t want us to quit playing music,” said Carper, who still works as a software architect by day and looks forward to exploring his creative side with a different kind of keyboard wherever possible.

Appropriately, these two self-described computer nerds call themselves The Primary Keys (check your pocket protectors at the door) and they were just starting to find a rhythm two years ago — a gig here and there, but mostly just jamming together in one of their garages — when all hell broke loose and everything shut down.

“I love the camaraderie,” said Mayhew, who plays guitar and handles most of the vocals. “Every now and then, we’ll be practicing and it will be great — everything just sounds great.

That’s why they do what they do. Nothing more. They’re getting back into a groove and gearing up for their return to the stage — a May 6 show at Meadowlark Coffee & Espresso, 1624 South St.

“It’s just fun to play,” said Mayhew, a member of the Lincoln Board of Education who has since left the computer world to open Boxcar BBQ in Havelock. “It doesn’t matter about the money or the place we play. It’s just about having fun.”

There are dozens of area bands who share that sentiment. They’re musicians in the moment — weekend warriors — who make their daily bread as bankers, accountants or dentists. Go into just about any local bar on a Saturday night and you’ll find them having a blast — making music while people dance and sing along to their covers.

Don’t mistake them for those up-and-coming bands that consider themselves good enough to dream — those outfits with big-time aspirations and fantasies of someday playing sold-out stadium shows, of being rock stars, with all the trappings: the fame, the fortune and, yes, the groupies.