Revolution on tour

While out on tour O.A.R. agreed to talk to IDS Weekend about their up coming album and life on the road. For those not familiar with the men from the midwest: O.A.R. is known well among young adults for their easy-going, reggae-infused, lyrically-powerful jam rock. Speaking for O.A.R. was saxophone player Jerry DePizzo.\nHow's it going?\nIt's going well. It's going well.\nYou're out on tour right now.\nWe're smack dab in the middle of it. We started July 9, and we go 'til August 22.\nDoes O.A.R. do its best work on stage in or in the studio?\nWith this record we are trying to change that, but, I think, in the past, we -- our live show kind of out-shines what we did in the studio. But I think on this next record we brought the studio work up to par with live show -- something we feel really good about.\nWhat did you change for the upcoming record, Stories of a Stranger?\nWe approached this record completely different. Instead of taking a month or two with this record, we took, almost an entire year, to be quite honest with you. Just writing songs and getting material ready. We went back to the beginning, back to Chris's basement where the band originated. Stayed there for about two months and really analyzed every piece of every song. We broke it down to an acoustic guitar and Marc's vocals and lyrics and made sure everything fit. You know, we are working with this guy named Jerry Harrison who produced the record. He was the keyboard and guitar player for the Talking Heads -- he's worked with a lot of bands, Live, the Violent Femmes. We took a lot of time with him before going into the studio. And then once we went into the studio -- he really challenged us and we really worked hard on this record. We really put everything we had into it and literally finished record the day before we went on tour.\nYou've shared stages with a host of other bands. Are your former tourmates still strangers or have you made any friends along the way?\nOh yeah. I think we have been really lucky. We've really traveled and played with some great people. We maintain relationship with some of them. A guy that we just saw recently was Robert Randolph, he came out to Nashville and played -- we were supporting the Dave Matthews Band and he came out and hung out. A lot of the bands that we played with, we still maintain relationships and contacts with. There are just too many to name to be honest with you.\nRobert has nothing but good things to say about you.\nReally? That's great.\nWill Robert or any other tourmates make guest appearances on Strangers?\nNo, none of those guys show up on the album, but we do have guys who came in and played on the record. But we do have two guys who came in a played on the record. Three guys come to mind: Bernie Worrell of Parliament Funkadelic, Les Claypool, James Brown. And our producer, Jerry Harrison from the Talking Heads came in; he played keys on this record. So, yeah, there's a whole bunch of people -- Lenny Picket from the Saturday Night Live band played. \nWhen people talk about O.A.R. often times Dave Matthews is mentioned. After all, you worked with Glen Ballard and recorded the new album in Charlottesville (home base for the Dave Matthews Band). Are comparisons between you and the DMB justified?\nYeah, we recorded a few things with Glen that turned out great. Bands travel in small circles and they're a big band, so we were bound to work with some of the same people. It's kind of hard to say. People define artists by comparing them and putting them in groups and genres and stuff. Take the Dave Matthews Band for example: they were compared to the Grateful Dead early on in their career. They came before us, so we're compared to them. I really don't mind it, obviously they are an amazing band. It used to bother me, but I don't worry about it too much anymore because I take it as a compliment. And they're very popular and they're great. I think though also we've kind of come up the same way. We've grown our audiences, or fan bases. We're a very grassroots type of band and audience. There are some similarities much more in those terms than musically. There are also some musical similarities as well.\nWhat are your favorite and least favorite things about being on the road?\nThere's pros and cons. In general, we travel in a very comfortable way. On the negative side of things I don't get to see my family as much. Simple things that you would take for granted on a daily basis, like -- shit … walking the dogs, taking out your own trash, cleaning the house -- things that you consider chores. One thing that I miss is yard work. That's something that most people hate, but, you know, that's something I like because I just don't get to do it. Sleeping in bed with my wife -- I guess some days are harder than others. \nWhen you go home and want to relax, do you put on O.A.R.? Coltrane? Dave?\nHave you ever heard that saying: "Don't be that guy who wears a concert T-shirt to a show?"\nOf course.\nIt's kind of the same thing with listening to my own music. If I am listening to O.A.R. it's for critiquing purposes. I try to gather musical influences from other places. To be honest with you, I have so much music on my computer I just hit "shuffle."\nIf you can only have one CD, which is it?\nI would pick Miles Davis's Kind of Blue.\nIs O.A.R. a roots-rock jam band? How do you define your style of music?\nI think we coined the term "island vibe roots rock." It is kind of island vibe with some rock and you just throw it in the blender and out comes O.A.R. To define the band's music is dependant on the listener. You go to a music store and some times we're under pop, some times rock; people call us a jam band -- they call us a whole bunch of things. But if you get the record and come to the shows that's all that matters.\nWould it piss you off if, during this entire interview, I called the band "oar?" Many of your fans seem to take offense to that -- is that one of the band's pet peeves? \nIt's like calling R.E.M. "rem" or P.O.D. "pod." Your name is Sam, it would be like if I called you "Josh" this whole time. It's just not the name of the band. The band's name is Of A Revolution, which is obviously a mouthful, so we shortened it. It does stand for something.\nO.A.R. seems to be a polarizing force -- either you love it or you hate it. Why do you think listeners react that way?\nIt's one of those things you can't put your finger on it. It's an intangible thing. Some of it has to do with the type of music we play, some of it has to do with he audience's connection to Marc's lyrics. I think we can connect in a very personal and meaningful way. It's that intangible thing that happens when we play. I think it's the relationship between us guys and the fans. You really can't say its one deciding thing; it's a combination of both.\nIt seems O.A.R. hates being labeled a college touring band. Why is breaking that mold so important to you?\nIt's one aspect of what we showed up to do on this record. For some reason a college band these days doesn't have the same meaning as when I grew up. When you said college radio it was bands like R.E.M. It had integrity to it. Now people say "oh they're a college band" and just write you off. We have worked much too hard to be written off. On this next record we set out not only to prove to other people, but mostly ourselves that we could rise above what we were as a band -- to be better. On this record we set out to write a variety of different songs. We wrote songs on this record that are pop songs, jamming songs, reggae songs, ballads, rock tunes -- hell, we wrote a country tune. We want to span these different genres of music, without relying on one. I was telling you earlier how hard we worked on this record. I think we accomplished something special. We put everything we had into it. Physically, emotionally -- we tested our relationships and it turned out nicely.\nDo you like hanging with your coworkers outside of work? Is everyone friends in the band?\nIt's more than friends, it is family. It's weird, some days you love everyone, some days you hate everyone. It's not always ... you're not always happy. I am sure you have a family and you know -- it is just like that: you have to make it work. The majority of the time we have a good time. I couldn't ask for anything more out of a band or a group of guys.\nIn an interview Marc said he passed on a chance to work with super-producers the Neptunes when they were essentially unknowns. Now that you've toured with them, would you like to get back that chance to work with Chad and Pharrell?\nThey are talented and they've got the ears of gold. I would definitely work with them. I doubt they would actually produce a record for us ... I doubt we could afford them.\nIs there anyone you are dying to play or record with?\nI'd like to tour again with Robert (Randolph) at some point. We've actually been fortunate to always go out with some great bands. I would like to tour with U2, just to see what that is like, or the Rolling Stones, Pearl Jam. I really enjoyed working with Jerry. There are a lot of producers out there that do great work. I'd be interested to see what Rick Rubin would do with us. I don't think he's made a record I didn't like. \nAnything else you'd like IU to know?\nWhen we come (to Indianapolis's The Lawn At White River State Park) it's going to be great show. We're on tour with some great bands: The Southland and Pepper. We've complete revamped our stage show. We've got a videos screen, which is pretty fucking crazy and going to be a lot of fun. It's all getting ready for the record coming out on Aug. 4.