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Comments
I don't know who the guy on the right is, but his facial expression is a little creepy
That's Travis, he's running Serious Business Records these days. Also he's in Unsacred Hearts and Dracula Zombie USA.
OK, They Really Go
by Andrea Rock
OK Go kicked off their spring tour on February 18 at The Annex in Madison, Wisconsin. I’ve never been so happy to be from Wisconsin. After spending an awful long time in a recording studio in Sweden, OK Go are back in the states and they’re touring with some of their new songs. Old fans have been craving the release of a second album for two or more years, and are finally being thrown the small bone of a six week tour before the actual album is released in July.
The opening band for the Madison show was a local group called Fisticuffs UK. It’s a pretty stupid name, but the music is smart and the band is precise. The four members look like they all have dorky day jobs and if you happen to see them, keep an eye on the keyboard player. It’s pretty clear that during the day when he talks about his band and claims that they rock, his co-workers don’t believe him. Those people are fools. His synth sensibilities were right in line with the rock band sound and the whole outfit did everything that Wisco rockers need to do. They did a decent enough job of making friends with the audience (handshakes for the first row after the show were a nice touch) and their mini-website has some charming accounts of breakfasts and sleep-talking and ski lodges. All in all, they were some lovely fellows.
Despite the Fisties’ hard work, the audience had been waiting for a long time to hear new OK Go songs and the impatience started coming through during the songs just before the stage change. OK Go came on in the fashion of our times – tapered pinstriped pants reminiscent of The Beatles on Ed Sullivan and loud ties under proper red suit jackets. Attire will be important later. Old fans who didn’t already know it was coming should also have noticed right away that founding member, guitarist and keyboard player Andy Duncan had magically turned into a smaller, younger-lookin cutie Andy. Duncan announced after the band’s Swedish recording ended that he was leaving the rock and roll life to be with his family. He will be unanimously missed, but in his first show with the band New Andy was clearly an adequate substitution. In the nine days before their current tour, New Andy (if you want to get technical, Rusty Ross; and if you want to get familiar, Rusty) learned 17 songs and a dance. He obviously respects the work that the band has done, adds his own talent, and has worked hard to do justice to OK Go’s stage reputation.
The band’s stage reputation, by the way, is a hot one. Their “C-C-C-Cinnamon Lips” encore has become its own small-venue legend and they will not accept a passive audience. Audience member Adam was volunteered to play drum (yeah, just one) on one new song, and front-row Michael was invited up to announce his post-show party. The wisdom is questionable but the premise is fun. After a high-energy opening with their new song “TV” (or so their set lists read; it might be “television,” but either way it’s a clear reference to your friend in the living room), they moved into combination set of old and new songs. For the new songs, I’d say that “Let It Rain” was brilliant as usual but didn’t quite grow on me in that one listen. “Invincible,” though, was unstoppable. The audience would have listened to it twice, and would possibly have asked for a third. Throughout the show they had a great sound and everyone – band and audience alike - was happily at home with their new work.
OK Go’s recent repertoire has a rawer and slightly harder sound, and their new album should be an updated and even rockin’-er follow-up to their previous work. By the by, their previous work rocked. And speaking of rocking, remember those well-fitted (by the way, chartreuse) dress pants that dreamy lead-singer Damian was wearing? Damian thoroughly out-rocked them during the show. At first it looked like maybe they were intelligently pleated in the back, to allow for extreme rocking and ease of movement. Turns out, Damian totally split his pants and we all learned that he has magic black underwear that kept everything together while he continued to dance the pants all the way in half, save that small part with the zipper. Somehow – again magic I suppose – that little detail didn’t keep Damian from some well-known split jumps over his bandmates’ heads. It was more a testament to his stage presence than a sexual thrill, but the front center audience definitely became closer with him that night.
The band members hung out after the show signing things, chatting and soliciting e-mail list sign-ups. They were all extra sweet and New Andy looked particularly surprised that people were falling over each other to introduce themselves and welcome him to the band. Extra thanks go out to bassist Tim Nordwind for being easy and fun to talk to, and to drummer Dan Konopka for giving away and signing half of his six-week supply of drumsticks. The moral of the story is, if their tour comes your way, go see them. And if you get to hang out with them afterward, call me and I’ll fly in.
Now I have some personal notes about the show, most of them to the audience. First, if you’re going to be a slutty fake blond girl hanging out lateral to stage left shaking your boobs poorly at Damian, learn the words to the songs. I don’t want to watch at all, but it’s that much worse when you’re mouthing the wrong words. Second, does everybody remember the first five minutes of PCU? You are not going to wear the t-shirt of the band you’re going to see, are you? DON’T BE THAT GUY. Third, if you’re a slutty mom with clownish bad makeup and a low tolerance who is already breaking rule number two, do not accost New Andy while he’s trying to play both guitar and keyboard. He didn’t appreciate it and neither did the audience. Fourth, a shout-out to the annoying girl behind me: Honey, that boyfriend you kept clinging to is going to dump you mid-March, and I also hope that your jacket is ruined or your toe is broken because I jumped on both of them during “You’re So Damn Hot.” Um, sorry. Finally, the thing with Damian’s pants was probably random chance and while being within spit range is probably magical, OK Go are way too talented to aim for front-row crappy sound. Enjoy the full balance from the center audience and seriously, take the minute to say hi to them after the show.
from: http://junk-mag.com
Sunday, November 12, 2006
Rusty Ross fits right in with OK Go
Karen and David Ross probably weren’t all that fazed to see their son Andy execute some bizarre choreography in the latest music video by the band OK Go. After all, they recalled, this is the same kid who early in his musical escapades thought a good idea for a stage show was tossing heads of lettuce into an industrial fan.
“Needless to say, the audience and whole room quickly became covered with shreds of lettuce,” the Rosses wrote in an e-mail.
Many probably thought that OK Go would generate a similar mess when the power-pop band performed the wildly popular treadmill dance during the live broadcast of the MTV Music Awards on Aug. 31. It’s one thing to come across as effortless in a video, and quite a different thing to create the effect in front of both a live audience and millions of television viewers. And this particular performance is quite something as the four members of OK Go glide and slide along exercise treadmills to the beat of their song “Here It Goes Again.”
The VMA performance went off without a hitch and was called in some reviews the best part of the whole show.
When reached a few weeks after the event, Rusty Ross hadn’t yet absorbed the reviews, as he was still thinking about the experience.
“I walked into Radio City Music Hall. Jay-Z was behind me coming in with Nick Lachey. I’m thinking, ‘What am I doing here? I know I’m going to fall on stage,’ ” recalled Ross when reached earlier this fall as OK Go toured through Europe.
But it has been that kind of year for OK Go, a band that Worcester native Ross joined just after it made is sophomore album for Capitol Records, “Oh No.” OK Go’s original guitar player Andrew Duncan quit the group, and a friend of Ross’ recommended he contact the band. At the time Ross was in New York City, attending Columbia University, where he studied electrical engineering, and overseeing an indie-record imprint called Serious Business Records, playing bass and guitar in a couple of bands, and running a solo musical project called Secret Dakota Ring.
“I definitely knew of OK Go, and I liked the first record,” Ross said. “But I wouldn’t jump to a band just because it was on a major (record) label. I was intrigued, but once I met everyone I wanted to join. Everyone in the band is smart and has a great sense of humor. When you’re living in small rooms with the same people for 20 months, you want to know you can get along.”
The Chicago-based OK Go had generated some buzz with its debut and was banking on “Oh No” to fuel the band beyond its indie-pop following. Yet “Oh No” wasn’t exactly burning up the charts when it was released. And then the quartet made the lowest of lo-fi videos for the song “A Million Ways.” The goofy-looking dance video ended up on the YouTube Web site, and another Internet phenomenon was born.
As the one-year anniversary of “Oh No’s” release approached, Ross said the band was ready to pull off the road and begin work on a third album.
“All of a sudden the power of treadmills came along and we’re looking at another six months of touring,” Ross said.
Capitol Records reported that “Oh No” saw sales spike 1700 percent after the treadmill video hit, and that the album resurfaced at the top spot of Billboard magazine’s Heatseekers chart upon the one-year anniversary of the record’s release. On Tuesday, Capitol released an expanded version of “Oh No” that includes a DVD with a documentary about the making of the band’s eclectic videos, the videos themselves (plus edited wipeouts), and fan versions of OK Go’s patented dance moves.
Since releasing “Oh No,” the band has played many shows in the Boston area, first passing through TT the Bear’s, then the bigger Middle East nightclub, then the even larger Paradise. OK Go ups the ante again by playing the 1,500-seat Avalon on Thursday; Ross joked that at this rate it will be no time before OK Go is in his hometown playing at the DCU Center.
The Avalon concert is a special birthday even for radio station WFNX-FM (101.7), which is distributing tickets through listener giveaways, and comes the night after OK Go shares the stage with power-pop godfathers Cheap Trick in Philadelphia.
For Ross, the march toward such prominent gigs started in his family’s garage on Pleasant Street in Worcester. He would bring the various bands he assembled with classmates at Doherty High and later the Massachusetts Academy of Math and Science to the garage for concert performances that would last as long as it took for a neighbor to call the cops and lodge a noise complaint. Ross also noted that he was able to tap into the short-lived but vibrant all-ages music scene centered at The Espresso Bar.
“The Worcester music scene was weird,” he said. “You rarely got touring bands through the city, except for really massive ones that would come to play the Centrum (now the DCU Center).”
In addition to his work with OK Go, Ross uses his computer programming skills to help out the Participatory Culture Foundation, an online forum on democracy and open-source media.
The technologically bent Ross said that bands such as his are benefiting from rapid changes and improvements in the ways fans can get their music, but in OK Go’s case the group wants to make the music doesn’t get lost in the hype.
“YouTube seemed like the logical next step. You had the MP3 explosion, now people want videos. MySpace is amazing, too,” he said.
Though they knew their son had various interests, the Rosses said they fully expected to see Andy end up in his current situation.
“When Andy was 3 years old he would carry his toy record player everywhere he went. He worked many part-time jobs to purchase all his guitars, lessons, and audio-sound equipment without a penny from us,” they wrote. “It’s no surprise to us that Andy’s love for music would become his career. Any time OK Go is within 100 miles of Worcester, we’re in the front row supporting him all the way.”
from: http://cache.zoominfo.com/cachedpage/?arch...p;lastName=Ross
You know, I thought the thing about Andy becoming the next Damian was a joke, but now... o_0
Looking at pants, eh? I remember that one quote Damian said about some pants he picked out...something along the lines of...
"They're actually women's pants. They fit a bit snugly, but hey, that's okay. I'm a rock star." If you get his drift. I just cannot find that video where he says something along those lines.
And I love how he and Rusty have nearly if not the same hair color.
that might be one of the best pics i have ever seen.
when's it from?
that picture is awesome!! they both look so great in that picture.
omigosh.
But most of all I like the fact that Damian not only carries on, despite having split his pants, but he also has special underwear in anticipation of that problem.
But most of all I like the fact that Damian not only carries on, despite having split his pants, but he also has special underwear in anticipation of that problem.
I'm not sure I know what you are talking about...care to explain?
In the article that Tabetha posted:
"Turns out, Damian totally split his pants and we all learned that he has magic black underwear that kept everything together while he continued to dance the pants all the way in half, save that small part with the zipper. Somehow – again magic I suppose – that little detail didn’t keep Damian from some well-known split jumps over his bandmates’ heads."
sorry that it wasnt clear...
When/where did she post this? I haven't been on in a while, I have to catch up on everything.
And thanks to Tabetha for the articles!
"They're actually women's pants. They fit a bit snugly, but hey, that's okay. I'm a rock star." If you get his drift. I just cannot find that video where he says something along those lines.
And I love how he and Rusty have nearly if not the same hair color.
The awesome Sheri has that video over at va.okgocentral.com
E! VMA's Swag
E! VMA's Swag
Thanks!
I downloaded a whole bunch of videos from her site (which I absolutely love by the way) but I haven't watched them all yet. Thanks so much!
I downloaded a whole bunch of videos from her site (which I absolutely love by the way) but I haven't watched them all yet. Thanks so much!
No problem! Thanks to Sheri for keeping those videos handy