An interview with Ohmwork
An interview with Ohmwork
What inspired the name of the band? What are your influences?
We took our name from a GZR album. We thought it sounded cool, and it still does. Luckily, we stuck with it because there were some shitty names considered that kind of sounded cool back then, but no, they are bad.
We have many influences. Black Sabbath, Rush and Mastodon are three bands that come to mind.
How do you approach songwriting? Are there any themes that you are keen to explore when you start off?
Exchange ideas basically. Since this pestilence we have been stuck home. We send over ideas to each other. We work from that and after a while we have a song done. In the forming years and more or less up to the pandemic, songs would come out from a jam at rehearsal. In most cases lyrics are written last. I just sing what comes to mind to get the melody done, then I write the words, so it all fit together nicely. We write about different stuff. From the usual suspects like back-stabbings, downfalls, and anxiety attacks to made up stuff – fiction. Alyssa Drone (2017) is a concept album telling the tale of a pirate queen in a sci-fi world! The latest album Pareidolia is about real-life stuff.
How do you approach songwriting? Are there any themes that you are keen to explore when you start off?
Exchange ideas basically. Since this pestilence we have been stuck home. We send over ideas to each other. We work from that and after a while we have a song done. In the forming years and more or less up to the pandemic, songs would come out from a jam at rehearsal. In most cases lyrics are written last. I just sing what comes to mind to get the melody done, then I write the words, so it all fit together nicely. We write about different stuff. From the usual suspects like back-stabbings, downfalls, and anxiety attacks to made up stuff – fiction. Alyssa Drone (2017) is a concept album telling the tale of a pirate queen in a sci-fi world! The latest album Pareidolia is about real-life stuff.
Why do you write the sort of music that you do?
It’s like writing music to yourself. The sort of music we dig, not what we think others will like. Out of that you get ‘the Ohmwork sound’.
How do you decide what songs to perform live and how do you transpose them into that live setting?
We try not to overdo it in the studio. There will always be a couple of tracks that’s hard to transpose to a live setting, but most of them we can perform as a three-piece. Of course, we must find solutions here and there so that they can be played live. Often, we record two guitars in the studio. Live it’s only one guitar. To bring the organs to the stage both me and the bass player have stomp boxes that emulates the sound quite accurate.
How do you decide what songs to perform live and how do you transpose them into that live setting?
We try not to overdo it in the studio. There will always be a couple of tracks that’s hard to transpose to a live setting, but most of them we can perform as a three-piece. Of course, we must find solutions here and there so that they can be played live. Often, we record two guitars in the studio. Live it’s only one guitar. To bring the organs to the stage both me and the bass player have stomp boxes that emulates the sound quite accurate.
What plans do you have for the future?
August 27, we release our fifth album Pareidolia. In September we go on tour. Other than that, we keep on writing new stuff for a future release. There are always good and bad ideas that needs to be tried out.