...It's Friday. Nothing better than driving into work to the B-side medley of 'Abbey Road' on The Drive.
... and then interviewing O.A.R.'s Richard On. The reason: On and his bandmates are going to be in town for a show next week. ... The interview went well, I thought. On's about as professional, and down-to-earth and nice a guy as they come. That, and it turns out he's part of a pretty decent band I should've started paying attention to a long time ago ...
...not that I wasn't 'paying attention.' I just didn't care for them much. I first heard of OAR a few years ago when a guy I was in a wedding party with talked about them almost non-stop (it seemed) for the entire weekend. ... course he was from Ohio. The land that made O.A.R. kings of the grassroots, indie genre.
... even when my editor told me a few weeks ago O.A.R. was coming to town and I my get the interview, I shrugged it off ... Lo and behold, listening to their recent stuff and preparing for the interview over the last couple days, they grew on me in a way I never anticipated ...
... The New York Times, and On sort of agreed, hit the nail on the head a few months ago when they called O.AR. 'Matchbox Twenty plus Maroon 5 plus UB40.' ... Add a little 311 in there too and O.A.R.'s catchy, rock raggae sound and tight jams is like nothing out there currently. Seriously how many bands draw comparisons to other bands spaced as far apart as Dave Matthews Band and UB40!?
... Their lastest album, 'Stories of a Stranger' is full of feel-good upbeat jams, mixed with some mellow beats too -- and plenty of singable melodies. ... and like that I'm hooked. ... Although they really had me the moment I learned Toby Lightman did back up vocals on a couple of the tracks, including the fourth one, 'The Stranger,' which is arguable the most beautiful song on the album.
Yeah.
... And to cap off my afternoon? I caught up on more of 'Love Monkey' during my lunch ... Again, thank you VH1!
Good day.
No comments:
Post a Comment