The Oct8pus

The Oct8pus started as a collaboration between different band members. One day, Chazz Gallagher, on tour in Nashville with his band, The Sweet Orgy Bears, saw Billy V performing in a local dive. Chazz told Billy that if he met him in New York for the last Sweet Orgy Bears show, that they could jam and perhaps collaborate on a few songs.

Shortly thereafter, Billy V, with nothing but his guitar, hit the road and hitchhiked all the way to New York City from Nashville. Along the way, a truck driver, Charlie Spasms, picked him up. Charlie confessed his dream to be a bass player in a band. That night, at a truck stop, Billy and Charlie wrote the song "Central Park" imagining what it would be like to live in the Big City.

Once Billy, Chazz and Charlie were united, they had an all night jam session, which mostly consisted of jams based on Spaghetti Western movie music. Afterward, in a Korean restaurant, they heard some fascinating sounds. Someone was playing drums with skills to rival Baccus himself. In the back of the store, they found a little Korean guy drumming on buckets with a pair of chopsticks. They promptly offered this drummer, Jim Jong Sung, a place in the band.

Their first gig was in a dive bar on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, opening for a German electronic band named Das Wiedervereinigung. The Wiedervereinigung glockenspielist, Helmut Von Blingen left the band and joined The Oct8pus that night, saying he believed The Oct8pus was missing some keyboards. The band welcomed him with open arms.

And thus, the band was born, and continues to thrive, in search of new sounds and interstellar combinations.