O.A.R Interview 03.30.2007
March 30, 2007 by FromTheCrowd
Filed under Interviews
From the Crowd Photographer, Stephanie Baldwin, was able to interview two members of O.A.R backstage at the Tempe Music Festival on March 30th. Here is what From the Crowd learned from the two members of this Road Warrior band:
From The Crowd - You are well known as a band that is always on the road. Can you tell me the difference between audiences on the East coast and the West coast?
O.A.R – It is really hard to say, here is Arizona, we play at the Celebrity Theater often and it may be the venue itself, but it is definitely one of the loudest shows that we play. It’s definitely hard to compare, it really depends on who is at the show. You play a show like this around ASU and you don’t know where the people are from. We have lots of friends that came out here for college, and vice versa, and you never know where people are from who we went to college with that came out here. We have defiantly had great experiences all over.
FtC – When you are writing your music, do you write targeted towards a specific demographic or audience, or do you write what you want to or feel like at the time?
O.A.R - We defiantly write what we want to write. We don’t feel like we have any pressure to write a certain way. No one tells us how to write, and that is what makes us really happy
FtC – What is like from going from venues that had 100 people in them to selling out Madison Square Garden twice in a year?
O.A.R – It’s pretty surreal. The amazing thing is that there were a lot of people that were at those shows of a 100 people that are at the shows today. We have grown up together. We’ve been together for a long time, and its great to still be together and experience this together It’s a really great feeling. I remember when we played Madison Square Garden, last January, the first time, there was a sense, a feeling that not only that we had arrived a certain point in our career, a momentous occasion, but so had the audience, in a way, as well. If it wasn’t for the audience, we wouldn’t be doing what we are doing. The relationship goes interjoinedly . It’s an amazing feeling to walk out on stage and play in front of 19,000 people. I’m not going to lie, it’s amazing. But we have also had amazing shows playing in front of 100 people too. I’m not really sure it’s the amount that’s there, it’s really the audience and how they react.
FtC – The sax is not a typically band instrument, how did you join the band? How long have you been
O.A.R – I’ve been playing for 18 years, I was 10. The way it integrated into the band was, I joined over a very gradual process. I would show up at sound checks and at a show, started a few shows, then a few pieces on the record. It was very gradual. I just kind of felt the way around. On the last record, I realized that the saxophone wasn’t always necessary on all of the songs. It’s a great experience, to know when to add it to a song. It has been a lot of trail and error. You’d add it in, and then it wasn’t the right time, then we would add it at an unexpected time, and it was just what we needed the missing piece.
FtC – Last question, Are you working on any new records at this point in time?
O.A.R – Yes, we have a live album and DVD that will be available of the latest performance at the Garden. We are just finishing that right now. It is probably the best that we have ever done and we are very excited about it!
FtC – Thank you so much for taking the time to speak to us and we look forward to the show this evening!
O.A.R – No, thank you! Tempe and ASU have always been great supporters!
