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AE:
How did that go?
O: So there’s this little club called the
Viper Room that Johnny Depp used to own. Really nice, really cool
place. It’s real intimate, and a great vibe there. It’s
haunted--
AE:
By who, do you know?
O: Not sure. But things have always happened
strange for us when we are there. I’m a big Doors fan, and
so when we got there the sound guy goes “Now look, while
you guys are setting up, if the music just starts playing in here,
like from our CD player, it’s not us. We have an electronic
problem. Actually we have a ghost.” And I said “Oh
uh whatever.”
AE:
It’s the old electronic problem slash ghost. (laughs)
O: Yeah, ‘slash ghost’. (laughs)
And I guess if you don’t believe in ghosts, then you latch
onto the electronic problem. If you believe in ghosts…so
I just dismissed it as ok whatever this guy is just trying to
set a mood. So we’re standing there and sure enough, you
know, I’m talking to somebody about something and right
over the speakers “Roadhouse Blues” just erupted.
AE:
Wow!
O: And lights would come on and off periodically.
It’s just a really bizarre place.
AE:
Holy shit! That’s cool. Little visitation from Jim Morrison.
O: It was a nice little visit from Mr. Morrison
to come down and say “Hi” on the day we decided we
were going to sign with Capitol. I took that as a big omen. So
we did the show and after the show I’m always trapped in
this whirlwind of emotion. So I walked outside, came out the back
door, and there’s all the Capitol guys on their phones saying
“Now! We gotta make this deal happen now!” It’s
been a really quick ride.
This is a message driven band and we stand for something. For
me it’s so important to live it and not just pretend it.
To get over having some sense of celebrity or fame or notoriety
or money or girls or whatever, that’s not what I started
this for. So I’ve gone through players trying to find people
who are like minded. Our fans are very passionate people and I
think they’re for the same kind of things we’re searching
for. And you can’t take advantage of that. It’s easy,
it’s tempting to do. You get people that want to get close
to you and get to know you, but what they are looking for is what’s
in your music. There is some honor in living by that. And not
“Oh well, this girl is damaged and needs someone to stand
by her, well okay I can take advantage of that with a quick night
and then be back on my bus be on my way”. I don’t
think that’s what this project is for. There’s a thousand
other bands out there that do that. So anybody that doesn’t
want to shed their skin and be a part of this movement, then they
can be in one of those other thousand and one bands.
AE:
What is the message you are talking about as far as the band goes?
O: There’s many messages I think, but the
overall message is that art saves. I come from a very aggressive
background, poverty, violence, religious persecution. So the only
thing that allowed me to either not become a victim or a victimizer,
which is all too often the case as well, or seeking out other
people to victimize me, was art. I ended up not hurting myself,
as much, or hurting anyone else, as much. The music itself is
a celebration of survival. I think it celebrates the fact that,
as the existentialist movement embraces, life is shit, there is
nothingness and life is pain. By embracing that, you become a
whole person, you become joyful and exciting. Not by not looking
at it and not facing it. This embraces it and takes it head on.
Then
celebrates that we’ve overcome any obstacle put in front
of us. I think that is a message lacking in aggressive music and
I think that’s another thing that sets us apart from the
herd.
Get
House
of Secrets or go to otep.com
for more info about the band
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