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O.A.R. brings ‘island-vibe roots-rock’ to Boise
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A musical genre like “island-vibe roots rock” can only be reserved for a special caste of music. The group ‘…of a revolution’ (O.A.R.) became that extraordinary band whose revolutionary sound broke through to the college-crowd scene across the nation.
“A lot of times when people hear the word ‘revolution’ they think of what kind of revolution. Is this a political revolution? Is this a musical revolution? And it’s not a political revolution, we’re not claiming to have, you know, made some new sound … what it was to us was just that we finally found a style of music we like to play together,” lead guitarist Richard On said.
The band’s acclaimed sound of warm, upbeat music was officially born O.A.R. in 1996, the group’s junior year in high school, but the band had known each other since years earlier. O.A.R first began developing in junior high school when Marc Roberge, vocalist and rhythm guitarist, and drummer Chris Culos began playing together everyday. The couple concocted a unique vibe by mixing reggae, folk, ska and rock, which eventually inspired the description “island-vibe roots rock.”
In high school, two missing pieces were added to the band. On and bassist Benj Gershman hopped on board and the band named themselves …of a revolution, or O.A.R. (not pronounced like the rowing instrument), an abbreviation of a mysterious phrase whose true origin only the band knows.
O.A.R. recorded their first album, The Wanderer, with two live recordings. The lyrics of the album were inspired by Roberge’s short story, “The Wanderer.” The music struck a warm spot in the local music scene in Maryland, and the band continued to self-promote by giving the album out for free. The album featured the song “That Was a Crazy Game of Poker,” which became instrumental in gaining more adoring fans.
“Even still, when we were seniors [in high school], we had friends that were a couple years older than us … and they volunteered to take CDs on consignments and kind of help us spread the word,” On said.
“So the next thing you know, they’re calling us back and they’re like, ‘Yea, I need like 50 more CDs.’ And pretty soon we had a pretty large following in Arizona.”
Culos and Roberge left for Ohio State University in 1997. They convinced On and Gershman to attend OSU a year later. By the summer of 1998, O.A.R. recorded their second album, Souls Aflame. During the recording of the album, O.A.R. added Jerry DePizzo, who eventually became a regular member of the band. With the group finally completed, they began to tour extensively through Ohio and the Midwest.
“I guess it just kind of fell together. We never really planned any of this. It just sort of found a place,” On said.
Once the band was completely reunited at Ohio State, they began to dedicate more and more of their time to the music, forcing the members to balance a hectic schedule between touring and school.
“It just got busier and busier. Next thing we know we’re scheduling our classes around a touring schedule. We’d go to class on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday. We’d leave Thursday night, play a show Thursday night, Friday night, Saturday night, even sometimes Sunday night and then get back to class on Monday,” On said.
“We were travelling in a van at the time, and there was one light in the van … and, when it came finals time or if someone had homework or a project, when we’d go on the road everyone’s fighting for that back seat for the light.”
The band has been working together full-time since June of 2001. They released their third album, Risen, in February of 2001. Risen, their first release on Everfine Records, went on to sell more than 50,000 copies.
Last spring the band began a nationwide tour to promote Risen and their May 2002 live double-disc release, Any Time Now.
O.A.R. is playing in Boise tonight at the Big Easy Concert House. Doors open at 6:30 p.m., and tickets are available for $15. Maroon 5 and Matt Nathanson are opening. For more information call 367-1212.
Lauren Consuelo Tussing, The Arbiter
