Oceansize Interview
Image by DJ Webb
By Armchair Anarchist
Mike [vocals, guitar]: Progressive death indie! We always get stuck with the ‘prog’ tag. You don’t wanna lumber yourself with that kinda thing. Every style of music can have its shite side.
Mark [drums]: If you can look at a ‘magic eye’ picture and get it, or at least make the effort to try, you’ll probably get our music.
AA: Anyone in the same box with you?
Gambler [guitar]: Not big enough - very small box!
Mike: With all our equipment, there’s just no room.
AA: Any collaborations in the pipeline?
Mike: We’re making arrangements to get involved with the ‘Your Codename is Milo’ desert sessions thing.
AA: Any fantasy collaborations?
Steve [guitar, vox]: God!
Mark: Rob Crow from Heavy Vegetable.
Mike: I’m in his friends on Myspace now!
AA: How many friends do you have on there?
Mike: Personally? About sixteen!
AA: What about your creative process? How do you write those big complex songs? Do you start with the lyrics?
Gambler: Lyrics always come last.
Mike: We compile a lot of motifs and they get bent into different bits. We end up with twenty different versions of one idea, completely unalike.
Steve: We record everything we play at the rehearsal room, so it’s fully editable - we use Logic Audio. We can compare bits, see what works with what, cutting and pasting.
Mike: [We’re] compiling a library of little gems, little nubs. Suddenly one day you work out what a bit needs to do, where it needs to go.
AA: What advice would you offer young unsigned bands?
Mike: Get a manager.
AA: Before you get signed?
Mike: Definitely. If you think you’re worth presenting to the whole world, you need someone with a bit of clout behind them, some confidence. And a leather jacket. No leather jacket, then they don’t know what the fuck they’re doing! You need to trust someone to deal with [the business] side of it, while you make sure the music’s as good as it can be.
Steve: Having your own soundman is important too - you wanna impress people as much as you can.
AA: Do you think downloading is making music a more democratic arena?
Mark: Definitely. It’s deregulating a lot of things. Anyone has the power to make music and spread it around as a taster; then you can buy direct from the source. Each person or band could be their own record company now. The internet is just the conduit.
AA: The album’s been out in the U.S. for about a month. Do you plan to ‘crack the States’?
Mike: Find someone to lend us twenty grand, we’ll be right over! You’d have to literally move there for a year to even think about it. Someone out of Cooper Temple Clause told me ‘You can’t flirt with America, you have to shag it.’
By Armchair Anarchist
Nearing the end of a tour promoting their latest album ‘Everyone Into Position’, Oceansize dropped into Portsmouth to play the Wedgewood Rooms. Armchair Anarchist managed to corner them before the show and ask a few questions.
AA: Every band hates to be pigeonholed, but if you had to put yourselves in a box, what box would it be?
Mike [vocals, guitar]: Progressive death indie! We always get stuck with the ‘prog’ tag. You don’t wanna lumber yourself with that kinda thing. Every style of music can have its shite side.
Mark [drums]: If you can look at a ‘magic eye’ picture and get it, or at least make the effort to try, you’ll probably get our music.
AA: Anyone in the same box with you?
Gambler [guitar]: Not big enough - very small box!
Mike: With all our equipment, there’s just no room.
AA: Any collaborations in the pipeline?
Mike: We’re making arrangements to get involved with the ‘Your Codename is Milo’ desert sessions thing.
AA: Any fantasy collaborations?
Steve [guitar, vox]: God!
Mark: Rob Crow from Heavy Vegetable.
Mike: I’m in his friends on Myspace now!
AA: How many friends do you have on there?
Mike: Personally? About sixteen!
AA: What about your creative process? How do you write those big complex songs? Do you start with the lyrics?
Gambler: Lyrics always come last.
Mike: We compile a lot of motifs and they get bent into different bits. We end up with twenty different versions of one idea, completely unalike.
Steve: We record everything we play at the rehearsal room, so it’s fully editable - we use Logic Audio. We can compare bits, see what works with what, cutting and pasting.
Mike: [We’re] compiling a library of little gems, little nubs. Suddenly one day you work out what a bit needs to do, where it needs to go.
AA: What advice would you offer young unsigned bands?
Mike: Get a manager.
AA: Before you get signed?
Mike: Definitely. If you think you’re worth presenting to the whole world, you need someone with a bit of clout behind them, some confidence. And a leather jacket. No leather jacket, then they don’t know what the fuck they’re doing! You need to trust someone to deal with [the business] side of it, while you make sure the music’s as good as it can be.
Steve: Having your own soundman is important too - you wanna impress people as much as you can.
AA: Do you think downloading is making music a more democratic arena?
Mark: Definitely. It’s deregulating a lot of things. Anyone has the power to make music and spread it around as a taster; then you can buy direct from the source. Each person or band could be their own record company now. The internet is just the conduit.
AA: The album’s been out in the U.S. for about a month. Do you plan to ‘crack the States’?
Mike: Find someone to lend us twenty grand, we’ll be right over! You’d have to literally move there for a year to even think about it. Someone out of Cooper Temple Clause told me ‘You can’t flirt with America, you have to shag it.’
