James Beavis calls, Over the Atlantic responds…

ANYWAY:
tks: Soooo you’ve toured the USA and England now – how did it go?

ota: Hello! Yes we have been flat out for most of the year doing shows in Europe, UK and USA. And it was really great. We had many great shows in all territories. Europe was our favourite though. USA is a hard market to get into. Its a massive country and the drives are really, really long. But the scenery is beautiful. We had our fair share of ups and downs of course. You get tired playing gigs and partying most nights of the week! Im such a grandad though… but yeah, we made lots of new fans and played at some really neat places

tks: Do you have a favourite show of your tour? Any showmates particularly worthy of praise?

ota: A favourite show of mine would have probably been either the show with So So Modern in London, or with Ladyhawke in London. It was great hanging with all those cats over there. We also did this bizarre show in Bishop, which is right near the Nevada desert. We played a house party, and it was just this fantastic vibe… they put on this huge outdoor feast for everyone who attended the party and we played in the lounge. That was amazing.

tks: Your touring schedule since returning seems to have been in full flight, with you playing pretty much a show once every fortnight almost, doing instore shows as well. Have you had much of a break from performance in the last 6 months?

ota: Yeah totally, we have been playing a lot in Wellington recently. Its hard to slow down after playing constantly overseas. It feels odd to have big breaks between playing. 2 week gaps feel long! But also, I haven’t ever really pushed OTA hard in NZ, and I thought it could be a good time to start getting the name out there more here in NZ, and doing more regular gigs around the country.

tks: How do you feel about the current state of NZ music press? Dimensions has been getting some pretty good press – do you read your reviews, does it influence how you view your work at all?

ota: I tend to only read reviews if someone shows me. And luckily for Dimensions it has mostly been good reviews so far. It can be a bit hurtful to hear really negative things about something you put lots of time and effort into… but I definitely respect others’ opinions when it comes to reviewing your art. It can be really beneficial reading bad reviews too, because it can push you to try harder and expand your ideas etc. I think the NZ music press is doing a fairly good job here, although I do think that sometimes we are far too biased when it comes to reviewing our own homegrown products.

tks: Obviously, the live Over The Atlantic and the recorded Over The Atlantic are two hugely different things – do you think there’ll come a point where one becomes the other? As in, you’ll decide you want the sleeker sound live, or the more raw intensity on record?

ota: I do find it a little bit strange at times having the recorded thing so much different to the live thing. I sometimes feel bad for people in the audience who know the recorded stuff, and really want to see it played like that. But naturally it seems right to be doing it this way for now, having two versions. I really enjoy playing with a live drummer, so thats one of the main reasons we dont use programmed beats for live, because I find it’s too static and restrained. I like the energy that having a real drummer creates.

tks: JB Hi-Fi Megastore massive – good or bad?

ota: Amazing. I was in there the other day with Scott from Radioactive, and we were both totally loving it! For such a mainstream commercialised store, the selection of music at such a good price is really good. It may hurt some other CD stores, but at the end of the day, if you can get the same product for cheaper, thats where people will be going.

tks: How’d you find playing at the tugboat the other night? You’ve played a few Wellington venues outside the established ‘indie’ canon of SFBH, Bodega and Mighty recently – active decision to play elsewhere?

ota: Well, the tugboat thing came about from SSM wanting to do a show somewhere kinda special. And I was with my friend Ian at the time, and I mentioned to him what a cool place the tugboat was… and how i wished I had gone there for a hot date back in the 90s. And he clicked that there was a new venue underneath the boat called ‘engine room’. So we jacked up a gig there for the following Friday. One week promo and it was mayhem in the end. We all had a blast. Its not the most ideal venue for actually ’seeing’ the bands, but I think the future plan is to rearrange the stage. Someone NEEDS to get involved with that place, and make it NZ’s best small live venue. It rules.

tks: Where to for next year? Touring? Recording? Nothing?

ota: Well Ive been working on Album 3 since I got back, and I have all the music recorded so far, I just need to start working on the lyrics. And yeah, I hope to get back to Europe before mid 09! and then maybe I can do nothing there. That would be good.

tks: And finally, since it’s that time of year – 5 favourite records of the past year(ish)?

ota: TV on the Radio – Dear Science
M83 – Saturdays=Youth
ACDC – Black Ice
Guns N’ Roses – Chinese Democracy
Ladyhawke – Ladyhawke