1.
Where exactly do you guys live? Do you all go to the same school? And what is
your local scene like? Are there lots of shows? Any good bands?
We Live on a small
As far as school, Jesse,
Dave, and Steve are still in Grade 11, attending
The Local Scene in
2.
With influences from jazz and prog-rock, OMG certainly
doesn't sound like most of the music that kids have on their iPods. How does your original sound go over at shows? Do kids
"get" it? Do you think the teen audience is more open-minded than people
give them credit for, or do you think most kids just want to hear bands that sound
like what they already like?
Well we do have somewhat of a
unique sound that incorporates many different influences from the band and for
the most part people like it, we try and incorporate pop song melodies into technically
driven songs so that fans of all music and find something they like in our music
hopefully. A lot of people assume we are a typical hardcore/screamo band, but we put a lot of time and effort into our
song writing process, we are constantly changing parts in our songs to challenge
ourselves to create something technical catchy and fun to play.
I
definitely think kids are more open minded, most of them are always looking for
something new to listen to and they are expanding there search from just television
programs and radio, which is exciting for sure since there is so much music to
be discovered now a days. Even thought I agree that a lot of bands sound alike
now a days, but in retrospect this has been going on
for years, back in the 50s there was about 40 different versions of The Twist
released on radio and somehow about 90% of them were smash hits.
3. Vince, you didn't even own a guitar when you joined the band. Had
you
ever taken lessons? Or did you completely teach yourself? What exactly is your
songwriting process like since a lot of jamming seems to be involved?
Haha, Yes that is true I didnt own a
guitar till about 6 months into playing with the One Mercy Granted, I used my
girlfriend’s guitar actually, but we broke up and then she took it back so it
forced me to buy a guitar, haha. I have never taken
a guitar lesson but I am trained in concert and jazz music on bass and I even
traveled to
4. Emo is huge right now and the one thing emo
isn't is silly. Yet you guys like to have fun at shows,
dress up, and do goofy things. Does this go over well with the crowd? Do you think
it's important to "put on a show" as well as just showing up and playing
your instruments well? Who are some of the bands that you would like to be compared
to in terms of your showmanship?
I disagree, the word EMO is completely silly,
but yea I suppose people take things somewhat too serious nowadays and are slightly
pretentious, but this is just who we are. Ee all love
each other about 98% of the time, and we love to laugh about crazy things and
do stupid things so people think we are absolutely out of our minds. haha.
The fun parts go over well most times we recently had a waltzing competition while
we played and the winner came on a date for ice cream with OMG, unfortunately
it was two guys who won! We dont really plan much, its
just spur of the moment when you’re on stage you feed off the crowd and have fun
with it, all about the interaction. Visual show is half the battle. We have no
idea who we are like or get influence for our live show,
we just do whatever we feel like and have as much fun as possible. Also if you
dont like our music we will change it for you if your into
polka well do it.
5.
Musical heroes and influences: list 'em!
(dave)
Im not too sure what my influences are but Im pretty sure it's a little bit of everything and believe
it or not my musical hero's would probably have to be the people in incubus, because
to look at what they were and what they are now is insane. It's not that they
changed I just think they matured and settled into what they really like and want
to play. Also Between the Buried and me, Protest the
Hero and Local acts influence me a lot.
(Jesse)
I take a lot of influence From Darryl of Glass Jaw, and Maynard of Tool/
(Vince) I am really influenced
by everything, all music, people, experiences, movies. I take a lot from books
I read. I love to travel as well, I find it opens your eyes to the world that
is beyond your own back door and lets you express these feelings through your
music. I was influenced most by my visit to
(Chris)
Emery, Alexisonfire, Thursday,
(Steve)
Im mostly influenced by bars of soap, pie, Marco Minnemann,
sleeping on the floor, Animal from the muppets, the
cat in the hat, Steve Gadd, lava lamps, Terry Bozzio, Frisbee, Todd Sucherman,
Peas with chalky souklets, Buddy Rich and up-side-down
cake !
6.
Who is the most serious member of the band? Who is the most ambitious? Who is
the most talented? And who is the sexiest?
I would say the most serious member of the band
at times would be Jesse cause he likes to get down to busiNASS.
Dave plays the role as the serious bossy person at practice, hes always saying "so what do you think we should do"
or, "ok guys settle down lets keep trying". as for ambitious i would say Steve.
I would say the most talented would be Steve because most of the time he gets
us all doing things we didnt' think we could do and
he amazes me every time i see him play. The sexiest
is a dead tie between vinnyboy and jessjess but Ill leave that up to the ladies,
or some of the guys… so what if we dig guys haha
7.
Basement shows, halls, school shows, bars and rock clubs -- where have you played
the most and what is your favourite kind of show, both
to play and to go to as a fan?
We have played halls the most, other than that
we have played a bar, outside, barn, at a college, and at my school. We eventually
hope to play the moon, a bar in
8.
What does the future hold for OMG? College? Jobs?
Touring? Rock stardom?
Only god knows, but I would hope that eventually
we could tour, we plan on playing some away shows this summer. We are all planning
on going to university, and we are going to become cereal box designers, except
dave who is going to become
a cerebral cortex surgeon, and derive a new formula that will be more impressive
than FI and the Devinci Code. And we are all ready rock
stars.. To our moms.or
at least Daves mom.
9.
Vince, what's with getting naked on stage? Chris, what is your favourite
pop band? Jesse, I understand you are into poetry, who is your
favourite poet and why? Dave, who is your favourite
bass player and what do you like the most about his/her style? And what do you
guys have against My Space??? And Steve what do you think about
Santa Claus?
Umm
Im a hippie so I dislike clothes I actually hate them
the other night I got drunk and walked around a party with my girlfriend and my
friend Rob in our underwear just because we thought it would be fun. But I just
get hot on stage and me and Jesse like to show off our huge bodies, right.
My Favourite pop bands
would be Blink-182 and Chumbawhumba.
I would say my favourite poet
would be Darryl Palumbo and Maynard. Because Darryl is a crazy perverted man and
Maynard is just crazy.
It's
hard to say who my favourite bass player is because
Im still looking, but out of Stu Hamm, Victor Wooten, George Smed,
and Jaco Pastorius. Most of the time it's Victor Wooten just because I love to listen
to what he has to play.
Umm
we have nothing against My Space actually we will probably have a site up and
running when we get our demo recorded, We just find it extremely trendy and cheating
in a sense, I mean if you can promote yourself without a few clicks I respect
you a lot more. But dont get me wrong My Space is awesome
we wouldnt be doing this interview if it wasnt
for My Space.
I always loved Santa Clause, especially when
he gave me the sweet ninja turtle blow up punching bag when I was eight or nine
years old. At that point in my life I discovered that Santa clause was really
a pokemon that never made it to the show. When we go
on tour we are going to swing by the North Pole or Bulbasaurs
house for the big man. Love you santy!
10.
Tell people where they can reach you online and what merch
if any you have available. Also any shows coming up.
Well
One Mercy Granted online is very limited we have a few sites but they are terrible
and we dont update them, but you can add us on MSN and
we would love to talk to YOU! Yes you starting with you actually..
Our merch is non existent, we will sell you our clothes
if you want, we also hope to have 1MG lamps, 1MG toasters 1MG keyboards that have
only 1-M-G keys to type with, 1MG stolen plates, 1MG Death Rays, and 1MG sunscreen
to prevent burns from the death ray. Shows are coming up everywhere we will be
playing with bands from all across Canada and the US this summer so check our
shows and many other awesome bands in the Cape Breton Local Scene at www.cblocals.com
MSN = vince__11@hotmail.com
Pileofwood@hotmail.com
David_farrell3@hotmail.com
Sk8_punk_01@hotmail.com
Dougall_chrismac@hotmail.com