(Credit: Janet Nguyen)
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What a triumphant homecoming it will be for Ohio State University island and roots rock act O.A.R., which is playing to a sure-to-be-packed crowd at the Newport Music Hall Thursday. The band was just here for a private, invite-only show at Newport Music Hall back in November.
The quintet—Jerry DePizzo (saxophone, guitar), Marc Roberge (vocals, guitar), Chris Culos (drums), Richard On (guitar) and Benj Gershman (bass)—is still on a high from the release of some new material last summer. Three years removed from its 2005 album “Stories of a Stranger,” O.A.R. is now supporting its new CD “All Sides,” which finds the group steering its rock sound into more mainstream waters.
Metromix talked to Liberty Township native and Columbus resident DePizzo about the new CD’s mixed reviews, what he learned about running his mouth off to a Penn State University newspaper and what he eventually hopes to receive from his almost alma mater.
It seems that fans are digging the “All Sides,” but the liberal mainstream press isn’t all that keen on the band’s new direction.
It’s a shame the media didn’t get the record as much as our audience did. But to be honest, we make records for our audience and not for the national media. So if I lived and died with what critics said, I’d have lived and died a long time ago.
Whatever. Back to new album “All Sides.” What’s the biggest difference that you hear on the new disc?
Whatever. Back to new album “All Sides.” What’s the biggest difference that you hear on the new disc?
I think we got better writing pop songs—songs like “Shattered (Turn the Car Around),” “One Day” and “Try Me.” But on the other side, there are songs like “This Town” and “Dinner Last Night” that are certainly far from commercial and are really songs for our audience to grasp and focus on. So if you listen to the record in its entirety, I think we made a much more complete record than a lopsided record. So it’s just more balanced.
It was roughly a decade ago that you guys all met while attending Ohio State University and suffering through the John Cooper years. Has being away from the campus and Columbus softened your love of the Buckeyes?
Certainly we all bleed Scarlet and Gray. Everything stops for Buckeye football when we’re out on the road. And I still live in Columbus, so I can’t really get away from it, not that I’d want to.
Buckeye fans have been know to be, well, pretty crazy regarding the OSU-Michigan rivalry. How passionate (read: crazy) are you guys?
Well, the Michigan fans don’t take it nearly as serious as we do. We’re way more infatuated with this thing. It’s certainly a college rivalry, but we will cut (Michigan fans) off and yell obscenities at them and things like that. But I do try to keep the rivalry on the football field because we play a lot of colleges and I try not to piss too many people off. Although, I remember a couple of years ago we played Penn State the year after we won the national championship. I was interviewed by the Penn State newspaper before the Ohio State game, and someone asked me, “What do you think about the game?” I told them, “I think we’re going to annihilate them.” So we get there and the headline in the school paper is “Jerry from O.A.R. says, ‘We’re going to beat the sin out of Penn State.’” So we got up on stage and got booed for like five straight minutes.
When did you graduate from Ohio State University?
Well, the band finished in 2001, but I’m using the word “finished” in a liberal sense. Maybe saying left school in 2001 is a better explanation for me.
So, we’re guessing when all of this O.A.R. business is finished, you’ll go back and get your degree one day?
[Laughing] I’m hoping they give me an honorary doctorate. That’s what I’m hoping for.
