US outfit OM are bringing their unique blend of spirituality and essential drone to Australia for a national tour this May, we fired a few questions at Emil Amos about the band, their methods, and the response to their latest full-length album Advaitic Songs.

Tone Deaf: For the uninitiated, bring us up to speed on who Om in 2013?

Emil Amos: Om is made up of 3 people that have come together after playing in the underground for a couple decades now. Al sings/plays bass and was formerly in Asbestos Death and still plays with Sleep. Rob plays keyboards/guitar/sings and was in 90 Day Men and now plays solo as Lichens. I play drums and release solo work under the name HolySons, play in Grails, and just started a new band called Lilacs & Champagne.

Advaitic Songs came out last year, what’s it been like to tour your fifth album, especially in comparison to your last four?

Great! I’d say we’ve never been happier. Om has been to Australia once about two years ago and I just recently returned with Grails. I particularly like coming out to Australia because the people seem generally more open and relatively happy out there. I often wonder if somehow the geographic isolation has worked to preserve a kind of optimism by not being bogged down with some of the tensions we suffer from in the US by being clumped so close together.

I’m sure my impression could come across as naive but even just the incredibly wide streets in Australia set me at ease in some strange way.

How do you think the album fits in the band’s legacy compared to the rest of your discography?

I don’t think we’d ever had as much time to focus and labor over the mixes as we did for Advaitic Songs – and the result was much more satisfying. It definitely sets the bar high for the next record in terms of production, but we’ve already recorded one song and it’s one of my favorites, so that helped to erase any building anxiety.

You’re touring Australia in May, for those who haven’t seen you before, what can punters expect?

The live set generally moves across every style we’ve experimented with, rather than stick to any one era of the band’s sound. I definitely think it helps keep listeners engaged to shift the tempos and textures as much as possible so they never get a sense that they’ve fully understood a band’s vocabulary.

Is spirituality or religion something you want your fans to think about or feel when they listen to your music?

I can’t imagine ever requesting that they should do anything in particular. In a sense I think its actually harder to write songs that don’t suggest or recommend a world-view… and I like that Om exists in its own orbit without much awareness of what other bands are doing or what the audience is thinking.

I think there’s a type of loyalty a band can have to its own internal logic that I remember feeling in the underground during the late 80s that you often don’t feel much these days.

Because it’s more fun to do things together, which living musician or artist would you most like to collaborate with? Tell us why?

I’ve actually thought about this a lot in the past year because we’ve come close to working with a few heroes of ours. The one that we’ve come the closest to sending material to is The Scientist (the legendary Jamaican producer who was trained by King Tubby). He’s a major historical figure to me and we’re still hoping to work with him in some form.

If you could curate your own festival, where would it be, who would be on the bill, how many people would you let in and what features would it have (attractions/food/bars etc)?

I don’t naturally gravitate towards huge shows and our interests generally lie in music from the past (often the 70s because it was the height of analog production). But to be honest, I thought the size and vibe of This Is Nowhere in Perth last year was perfect. Playing with Grails and HolySons, then watching Tortoise could not have been more fun.

What’s on heavy rotation on your iPod right now?

I’ve been buying and selling old/rare records for a few years now so my tastes can go down some strange back alleys to satisfy the need to hear something that I don’t totally understand. I really like odd production and weird discarded music from the hippie era, but I ultimately always come back to excellent songwriting.

Check out this Bill Fay track, ‘Strange Stairway’, as a great example.

What are your plans for the rest of 2013?

We’re about to book a second round of tours on the East Coast of the US and across most of Europe again. Before that we’ll be doing a short tour to Spain and Portugal to play the upcoming Primavera festivals.

We’ll have 2 new dub re-mixes by Alpha and Omega when we get to Australia and Al has just finished up his seconnd solo record for our own label called Sinai.

I’m also releasing two new records on April 23rd from some of my other bands. One is a strange take on instrumental hip-hop called ‘Danish & Blue’ by Lilacs & Champagne on Mexican Summer, and the other is a compilation of early home-recordings called My Only Warm Coals by HolySons on Important Records. All the members of Om are constantly busy with releases and touring.

Catch Om on their Australian Tour this May, dates below:

Tuesday May 7 – Jive, Adelaide

Tickets on sale from Moshtix

Wednesday May 8 – The Hi-Fi, Brisbane

Tickets on sale from lifeisnoise.com, the venue and Oztix


Thursday May 9 – Annandale Hotel, Sydney

Tickets on sale from lifeisnoise.com, the venue and Oztix

Friday May 10 – The Hi-Fi, Melbourne

Tickets on sale from lifeisnoise.com, the venue and Oztix

Saturday May 11 – Rosemount Hotel, Perth

Tickets on sale from lifeisnoise.com, Heatseeker, the venue and Oztix

Tickets on sale from now for $36 + booking fee.

https://www.facebook.com/om.band


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