O'Death Interview

By: Static Multimedia

Monday September 29, 2008

We sound like a dirty mob of string instrument weirdo’s.
One would be hard pressed to attach a single style of music to O’Death. Their third LP, Broken Hymns, Limbs and Skin, is chopped full of free wheeling fiddled frenzies, classic Americana, and an uncompromising punk rock twinge.

The quintet, vocalist/guitarist Greg Jamie, vocalist/multi-instrumentalist Gabe Darling, fiddle player Bob Pycior, bassist Newman and drummer David Rogers-Berry, have an unrelenting desire to push their limits and uncover ways to explore the seemingly unreachable.

Greg was kind enough to sit down, answer some questions, and give us some insight into what makes O’Death tick.


How did you hook up with producer Alex Newport?  What kinds of influence did he have on your recording?

This fantastic lady who is responsible for obsessioncollectionmusic.com put these pieces together. She champions a lot of roots related stuff and had been covering us, Two Gallants, as well as other great artists for a while. I ran into her at CMJ last year and told her we were about to record an album. She suggested looking into Alex Newport who did the last two Gallants record. She pretty much played match maker in hooking us up on that.

Alex was very good at letting us just be us.  He was there to primarily capture the energy and dynamic we have as a band onto a recording.  He makes the drums sound explosive.  He's also patient with me on my vocals.  He’s very very English, a real wanker.
 
What are you most proud of about the new album?

I am most proud of the song writing. This is a great collection of songs. The parts, the structures, the melodies, the words, and the sound is all stuff we really believe in.
 
Is there one song that stands out more in your mind than the others? Why?

The song “Home” came out pretty special. Alex was good at getting the energy of our more manic stuff, but that song has a real eerie quality to it.  It’s not always the easiest to replicate live and in some ways is a product of the session more than anything.  I also like “Lean-To” a lot. We all set up in the studio's lounge for that song and let everything bleed.
 
Looking back now, would you do anything differently on the next album?

I’d like to have the luxury of writing songs in the studio.  We finished this albums’ recording in a week and that was good for that manic aspect we like, but I think it’d be great to try a different style.  I want to do something more location based too.  This album was done in Greenpoint in a builiding with a lot of working artists. I’d love to go somewhere more secluded, someplace where the environment can play a role in the writing process as well. 
 
I've read a lot of different references to your music. What category of music do you feel most comfortable being compared to?

I don’t like categories of music. They have tripped up this band quite a lot and made people that would otherwise like us, not try to get to know us.  Everything I've heard, even in our bio, works just fine, but I don’t want to paint us in the corner. I know that’s a cliché, but it really has screwed us.  We sound like a dirty mob of string instrument weirdo’s.
 
Do you enjoy touring or recording more?

They can both be so draining and rewarding. There's nothing like a tour that goes well though. I think more than anything we are a live band, so I'm gonna go with touring. The circumstances also need to be right. We got off a great tour with Murder By Death that made us so invigorated and happy to be able to play for hundreds of people every night.  Unfortunately, that doesn't always happen and touring can become a real slap in the face if there's too many poorly attended shows in a row.  Recording is exciting because you can see your ideas become a new medium -- something put down to tape for others. It can be really rewarding solidifying and perfecting ideas you've gone over in your head a million times.
 
How do you feel about the state of this "downloading" age of music? Does it affect any of your decisions as a band?

It doesn’t affect any decisions we have in the least, which may be a problem.  We write when we write and release when we release.  That has caused some staggered release dates and sometimes songs don't get released when whatever internet hype is demanding it to be.  It’s also worth saying that singles are becoming more important.  We're doing more 7 inches than we probably would be doing if we were a band 5 years ago.
 
What artists or bands are you listening to these days?

I’m listening to Townes Van Zandt, Tom Waits, Nick Cave, The Pogues, Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Tinariwen, Vic Chesnutt, Mt. Eerie,  but that’s just me. Everyone has their own taste in this band.

What kinds of advice would you give a new band?

Try not to suck too hard.