oh my god
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oh my god

Chicago, Illinois, United States | INDIE

Chicago, Illinois, United States | INDIE
Band Rock Alternative

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This band has not uploaded any videos
This band has not uploaded any videos

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Press


"oh my god"

“Oh my god relies on organ and bass to create a sound bearing a little resemblance to a school's Klaxon system going haywire. Their geek-centric new album, The Action Album, offers humorously scathing indictments of ridiculous parental bromides” (“Saturday Sleeper” pick for 2002 South by Southwest festival) - Austin Chronicle


"oh my god"

"Interrogations and Confessions stresses songcraft over the avant-garde...but it doesn't shortchange the crackling kinetics that have always traveled between the trio's serrated iron triangle... Even when it is strikingly melodic, the album flirts merrily with disquiet... that's the great thing about Interrogations and Confessions— it's just as dangerous as oh my god's previous, weirder work. But, like Spoon, the band has refined its formula...the songs roil with threatening organ tones and their lyrics are opaque enough to keep the band's mystique shrouded...a few well-placed words can cut cleaner and deeper than any dippy guitar solo. (Four stars.)" - allmusic.com


"oh my god"

"God (would admire) the band's musical diversity, which includes everything from melodic, radio-friendly rock songs like "Volatile" to the robotic electro seethings of tunes like "Action." And Satan would admire OMG's hedonistic, possessed live shows (filled with lots of hair, sweat and gold lame outfits). Perhaps most impressive is the infectious pop hooks the band cranks out without the aid of guitar. Credit for that goes to organ player ig, who channels the quirky sounds of his instrument through Leslie System speakers to create fuzzy tones that sound straight off a six-string." - Phoenix New Times (2006)


"oh my god"

“Oh my god hails from Chicago, but their keyboard-drenched hard rock seems more appropriate for Los Angeles. The Doors spring to mind, as does commercial alternative radio...The guitarless trio is arty without forgetting the rock.” - Time Out New York


"oh my god"

"The positive side of classic-rock bombast and the angular keyboards of krautrock blend to form a bizarre, sometimes jarring but crazily compelling band. Oh my god's kick-ass fuzzy organ riffs and bass lines are super-intelligent and almost hypnotic in their domination of your ears." - Santa Fe Reporter


"oh my god"

"If Jimmy Smith and J.S. Bach could only witness this organ bastardization, they just might gush in unison, 'oh my god.' When it comes to terse organ-driven rockers, this band pulls out the stops and then some. The Chicago-based combo takes the venerable organ to the next level, making it sound more like an elephant that just broke into a brewery. That, combined with robust drumming, plump bass lines and stanch vocals makes for an interesting sound located somewhere between early-'80s punk rock and Jupiter's swirling red eye. You will say this great band's name out loud and never think of it the same." - Santa Cruz Good Times


"oh my god"

“Oh my god is hardly a stale indie alternative...they take a step forward from the norm, producing wildly discriminating rock 'n' roll with unmatched intensity.” - MTV.com


"oh my god"

"This Illinois trio create an oddly confrontational pop-rock sound, shot through with prog and bristling punk...Oh My God's dynamic prog-pop crams ideas into each song like a deliciously eclectic pick 'n' mix...an irresistible cocktail of crunchy, swirling keyboards and jackhammer drums...a monumental feast of pile-driving hooks."
- Kerrang (UK)


"oh my god"

"The positive side of classic-rock bombast and the angular keyboards of krautrock blend to form a bizarre, sometimes jarring but crazily compelling band. Oh my god's kick-ass fuzzy organ riffs and bass lines are super-intelligent and almost hypnotic in their domination of your ears." - Santa Fe Reporter


"oh my god"

"(A) rock-hard, hyper-kinetic power trio...a sound that has been favorably compared to everyone from ELP, Weezer and Devo to the Cars, Deep Purple and Steppenwolf...a range that encompasses the space between flat-out rock and the subtler and more emotion-laden moments of great pop...oh my god has figured out their thing and they are most assuredly doing it all the way...and, oh my god, the thing is good." - Cincinnati City Beat


"oh my god"

“Not your parents' art rock...soulful vocals set against an experimental backdrop of organ and drums” - Alternative Press


"oh my god"

“Oh my god hails from Chicago, but their keyboard-drenched hard rock seems more appropriate for Los Angeles. The Doors spring to mind, as does commercial alternative radio...The guitarless trio is arty without forgetting the rock.” - Time Out New York


Discography

2000: oh my god (EP, self released)
2001: Well (album, self released)
2002: The Action Album (Novo Records)
2003: Interrogations & Confessions (Novo Records, WEA distributed)
2004: You're Too Straight to Love Me (long EP, self released)
2007: Fools Want Noise (Split Red Records, www.splitredrecords.com)
2009: The Night Undoes the Work of the Day (Split Red Records)

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Bio

YOU CAN'T MAKE THIS S#%T UP!

As chronicled in their Legalize Oh My God travelogue videos, Chicago’s oh my god has had more than one band’s share of bad luck and trouble since forming in ’99. Just weeks after meeting, organist ig (who’d played on stages with Junior Wells, Buddy Guy, Van Morrison, Jeff Healey and Otis Rush in addition to his punk pursuits) moved his music equipment into singer Billy O’Neill’s rehearsal space. After a few practices, the building burned down. Not only did the nascent oh my god lose all their equipment, but they got sued by the building owner who alleged that their carelessness sparked the blaze. The band was exonerated (after almost 10 years of sporadic legal action); they used the prosecuting attorney’s deposition attack on the band as the poster quote on their 2005 tour of the UK:

“Oh my god…use their equipment in such a way…as to cause it to ignite and burst into flames.”

Oh my god had guitar at first, but soon stripped down to the lean, mean, striking sound of distorted organ, overdriven bass guitar, driving drums and harmony-rich vocals, drawing comparisons to everyone from Quasi to Queen. They recorded a self-titled EP (2000) and the albums Well (2001), The Action Album! (2002), Interrogations & Confessions (2003) and You’re Too Straight to Love Me (2004), playing up to 140 shows a year. Billy’s back-and-forth move to Phoenix followed, with their time off leading to the release of a new album: their first with guitar, Fools Want Noise (2007).

NOT SO FAST. Already having suffered a 2004 van break-in that cost them most of their equipment and, shortly thereafter, a rear-end collision that forced them to do an entire tour without the use of the van’s back doors (now crushed), oh my god got into a devastating van crash in September 2007. An Ohio woman was drunk at noon on a sunny Friday and swerved into the wrong lane; the collision was head-on at 55 m.p.h. She was killed and oh my god’s injuries required helicopters, ambulances and over six months of physical therapy to badly broken legs and hands. The tour was cancelled and the release of Fools Want Noise was delayed a year.

During recuperation, Billy and ig dug deep into songwriting, recording throughout 2008 and early 2009 with producer Jim Tullio (John Martyn, Rick Danko, Steve Goodman, Mavis Staples…). The songs brought them joy, but life was quick to temper it as Billy and his wife moved steadily toward divorce and ig’s wife (they’d been together since high school) was diagnosed with thyroid cancer.

Brutal. But the emotions poured productively into the writing and recording of the songs on oh my god’s new album The Night Undoes the Work of the Day (released by Split Red Records, who also put out Fools Want Noise). Billy and ig have used several drummers and guitarists in the studio and on tour; they’re happy to be taking along two longtime friends and fantastic musicians on the fall 2010 tour: Zach Verdoorn (bass/guitar/vocals) and Danny Yost (drums).

Come on, life: go easy.

RECENT PRESS:

"The writing process was distracted by marital problems and life-threatening illness, on top of a serious car accident that delayed the release of the band's last album, Fools Want Noise. The back story makes the incredibly well-balanced Night that much more triumphantly cathartic, with both soft-boiled and hard-hitting pop tunes that make you wonder if a band can intimidate, party and weep at the same time. Organist Ig crunches loads of funk into One Thing Leads to Another and then leads into the blissful cool-down of Baby, Dream. Singer Billy O'Neill shines as both a rock frontman and an introspective pop balladeer. His delivery of stuff like I Don't Think It's So Funny (How Time Slips Away) will make music venues want to cut the lights and turn all the focus on the vocals. Captivating."
-Metromix ("Albums You Need to Hear Now" review of The Night Undoes the Work of the Day)

"Ig's grinding, overdriven organ sounds like it's going to melt at times, and when combined with the harmonic post-punk-pop vocals and theatrics of O'Neill, they create a beautifully balanced live set. You could call it indie-art rock because of OMG's totally unique sound and style, but this is way more fun to watch than most of that snobby, music-nerd stuff. It's a little weirder than most shows you've been to, and that's the point…OMG is simply mesmerizing."
-605 Magazine (Sioux Falls, SD)

"Strangely constructed dirt-pop/blues with all sorts of bizarre synth noise (see the title track) and incredibly soulful vocals. It's the band's best work in quite some time, and it's a shame they aren't known on a national scale. If you're looking for a challenging, abrasive yet poppy rock record to tackle this fall, look no further."
-Alternative Press review of "Fools Want Noise," 11/08 (3.5 stars out of 4)

"For close to a decade, Chicago’s Oh My God has been creating some of the most shizophrenic music the underground has heard. Lan