Biography
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.
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 separation 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, due out September 29, 2009 on Split Red Records (who also released 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 ’09 tour: Zach Verdoorn (bass/guitar/vocals) and Danny Yost (drums), both from the South Dakota band The Kickback.
Come on, life: go easy.
RECENT PRESS:
"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)
"Comparisons to such legendary oddballs as Frank Zappa, Pere Ubu and Devo are pretty spot on, and the band’s most recent effort, Fools Want Noise, may well be its most potent collection of keyboard drenched wackiness.
Music this arty and thoughtful can only come from truly inspired minds."
-Dallas Observer
"For close to a decade, Chicago’s Oh My God has been creating some of the most shizophrenic music the underground has heard. Landing somewhere between power-pop and prog-rock, the band simultanteously evokes bands as different as Weezer and Yes. With their whirling organ grinds and frenetic, freakish rhythms, the band proves they can create intricate textures without sacrificing the song or its hook. Their recordings and performances have earned endless acclaim, and with the long-awaited album Fools Want Noise, they are sure to garner greater attention.'
-Buffalo ArtVoice
"OMG is such a glorious mess of contradictions that even fans of artsy Noise Rock scratch their heads. Billy O'Neill has a muscular croon on par with any AOR frontman but sings with all the seriousness of The Frogs. Likewise, the band's potential to be Stoner Rock gods (complete with distorted Hammond organ) is tempered by carefully orchestrated musical ADD that swings to Punk and Crunchy Pop extremes. YOU'LL DIG IT IF YOU DIG: Deep Purple meets Weezer with Monster Magnet heaviness."
-Cincinnati City Beat preview for 2008 Midpoint Music Festival
"Oh my god crafts music that employs the unlikely juxtaposition of Krautrock/prog architecture and Midwestern pop sensibilities….This hard-touring band has always been so good live that we've counted them as favorites….Onstage the trio sells it to the crowd with such energy, joy and power that we've often confused it for an actual noise or punk or hard-rock band--odd, considering that there are no guitars. Or at least there weren't prior to the band's latest….what adding an ax really does is emancipate the band's secret weapon, keyboardist Ig, from having to be a guitar stand-in, allowing him to let his fingers get fantastically freaky and glorious goofy. This development makes oh my god's live sets even more intriguing, and this pair of record-release shows could be some of the better of the summer."
-Time Out Chicago preview for Fools Want Noise release shows in Chicago
oh my god videos:
-LEGALIZE OH MY GOD! (travelogue): http://www.ohmygodmusic.com/lomg.php
-Fools Want Noise, February 14th and Get Steady music videos plus MTV featurette and public-access-channel weirdness: http://www.ohmygodmusic.com/media.php
EPK: www.sonicbids.com/ohmygod
Band website: www.ohmygodmusic.com
Myspace: www.myspace.com/ohmygod
Instrumentation
Billy O'Neill: vocals and bass
Ig: organ and vocals
Zach Verdoorn: bass/guitar/vocals
Danny Yost: drums
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)
Links
| http://www.ohmygodmusic.com |