Sometimes the best music you stumble onto by accident and can
almost surprise yourself in the process.
Take the case with the Brighton based duo, Oom. I came across them while
searching for information on another Brighton based artist, and
discovered a joint review which featured Oom also. Interested from the
review, I went into their site and decided to download one or two of
their tracks and sent them a nice little e-mail telling them I really enjoyed
it.
This interview came from that, I got hold of their website CD, which is well
worth checking out, as tracks like Parnoid and Freak are great tunes and
sometime later when Setting Sun was re-launched, I spoke to Debbie by e mail
and this came from there .
For more information, check out their
website
Also keep a eye on it, as some of my projects may have a remix or two
on there soon...
Setting Sun:
How's tricks and what are you up to at the moment?
Oom: At the moment we're buzzing after Glastonbury, we had a wicked
time and got loads of inspiration, so we're back in the studio putting
some new tunes together.
Setting Sun:
What's the story behind oom? I've read up on you already
and seem to recall you met up in Brighton, but do you want to fill us
in with the general bio etc, what got you started, how fired the starting
pistol etc, etc?
Oom:We met while studying together at Bretton Hall College (Leeds
University).We were both doing a degree in Popular Music Studies, and we
were in several rock bands together until we settled with oom which we
both love to bits. Although we got loads of inspiration working
with other musicians, it was so hard to get people equally motivated,
so going it 'alone' as it were really worked out for us. In some
ways oom was never supposed to happen because Ed and I just started
it as a recording project, but when I had to do an end of year
performance at Bretton we wanted to try the songs live, we loved it
and decided to carry on.
Setting Sun:
Listening to your music, I can certainly hear a variety of things
coming through your music, but in relation to oom itself, what would
you say are your influences and what have you been listening to
recently?
Oom: We listen to a huge variety of music, mostly rock, but a bit
of electronica too. I'm mostly into bands like Radiohead, Massive Attack,
Leftfield and a big Bjork fan, Ed's less musically superficial than me
and listens to a lot of weird old vinyl. At the moment I've been
listening to the new Radiohead album and loving it.
Setting Sun:
I know you've been doing a number of gigs recently - mostly down south
if I remember correct. How do they compare to your more studio- based
recordings? How do you transfer the oom sound live?
Oom: oom live is what it's all about for us. Working in the studio
is fun because it's at home in familiar surroundings, but you can't beat
that amazing feeling when your gigs going well and you've got a few
hundred people grinning furiously at you. The live sound is me singing
and Ed playing live guitar and trigger beats, loops and samples from
various samplers and noise making machines. We both dance a lot on stage
so it's always a very energetic performance. We love playing live
Setting Sun:
Now I know you have been looking for additional members for oom for a
little while now. For anybody interested in possibly applying, can you
please tell us what you are looking for and how will this affect
oom's sound?
Oom:We decided that we definitely needed a live guitarist as the
sound's become increasingly guitar driven, and so we sent an email
to our mailing list asking if anyone would like to give it a go. It'll
free Ed up to make a lot more noise and do a lot more electronically, so
it's pretty exciting. We had an overwhelming response but we've narrowed it
down to just a few now ... watch this space!
Setting Sun:
If I remember correctly, don't you have some kind
of album on the way release way? What plans do you
have for the future in relation to music ie releases /
tours?
Oom: We've got about 10 finished recordings and about another 15
or so which we haven't yet recorded, the original 'release' has got 8
songs on it and can be obtained through the website. We're putting
the finishing touches to what we hope will turn out to be a second
album, but it's not going anywhere (apart from downloadable
on the website) until we get an offer from a record company we can
trust. At the moment we are planning on gigging until it hurts,
writing more, gigging more, etc.
Setting Sun:
How do you see your newer material developing in
contrast to your older songs? I've certainly heard a bit of a change from your original CD?
Oom: The sound is growing much more confident and experimental but remaining accessible to a variety of audiences. We love the old stuff
because it reminds us of getting it together and finding this sound we
both love, but the new stuff is maturing beautifully and allowing us both
to delve a bit further into our capabilities.
Setting Sun: :
What's the origin behind the name oom? It's
certainly got me thinking I must admit.
Oom: We were called Nebula until we discovered there's an American
punk band already with that name, we went through a number of options and
then I randomly came out with oom, we liked it and stuck with it. We've
since found out that it means mother in Dutch
Setting Sun:
What's the live scene like in Brighton? Have you
seen any good gigs recently?
Oom:Our favourite recent gig is one we did on Shoreham Beach as
part of the Adur Arts Festival (the event was called Beach Dreams). It was
outside on the back of a truck but it was fantastic, the crowd were really positive and responsive - it was the perfect gig - actually, saying that
everything did cut out in the middle of the first song because Ed was
stamping his feet too hard, but it was just funny and no-one was bothered.
The live music scene in Brighton is pretty hectic because there's so
many bands, but the good thing about Brighton is that there's shed loads
of good venues and it's easy to get gigs, so if you're a new band looking
for somewhere to play you shouldn't find it too hard going in Brighton
Setting Sun:
Lastly, borrowing a question one of my friends uses in her magazine, if
you were stranded on a desert island with a record player (although I
could be tempted to let you upgrade it to a CD Player if I was
feeling nice), what 5 records what you choose to have with you?
Oom: Well, I'd have to take stuff that reminded me of good times so
I'd take Air Premieres Symptoms which helped me sleep when I was having
bad trouble getting to sleep, Pearl Jam Ten because I spend hours and
hours singing along to it as a teenager and have never grown sick of it,Leftfield Leftism because it's a great album, Bjork Family Tree because
you get about 5 CD's with it! and ... err ... Radio OK Computer, coz it
rocks.
