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10 minutes with... Oppenheimer
The word 'whirlwind' is often synonymous with romance and success, both of which apply in copious amounts
to Oppenheimer. They've tenaciously taken on the world this year with their infectious and honest pop. We caught up with Rocky (Guitar/Keys/Vocals) seconds before he stepped on yet another plane; this time from Belfast to London to be with us at AD3.
STA: Hey Rocky - so you've just come back from the US, how were those audiences compared to those at home?
OP: Emotional! The people were great, People clapped along in all the right places every single night. They whooped and cheered, and were very friendly. They even bought us whiskeys during some shows.
That reminds me - what's this we hear about you and a bottle whiskey at SXSW (STA received a 4AM text message that took some deciphering!)?
My recollection of SXSW goes a little like this: Be Nervous. Play. Watch Spinto Band. Watch The Chalets. Proclaim that I am in fact the Pope. Scene missing. Scene missing. Wake Up. Get on plane.
It's been a roller coaster ride for Oppenheimer this year; the number of things you've done has been quite phenomenal - how can you possibly keep it up?
It's crazy to think what we've been able to do this past year, from playing with bands like Spinto Band, to touring the UK twice, putting out a beautifully designed single, the album, Bar/None, playing in Texas, touring the US, and meeting all the people we have. It never feels like it's work, or that it's too difficult, so I don't think we'll have a problem, in fact now that it's full time I hope we can do two or three times as much as we have.
Any new tracks in the pipeline that you can tell us about?
We've just finsihed a special Christmas cover song, and we've been working on new tracks that will hopefully be on the next album. There's still vocoders, guitars and all, as well as some new toys we've picked up. We should be starting to play some of the tracks live pretty soon.
Who are you most looking forward to seeing this year at the all-dayer?
Y'know I really can't wait to see Jetplane Landing acoustic. I presume Cahir will not be there busting rock moves, but secretly hope he will be! Vatican DC sound brilliant from what I've heard, can't wait to see that.
I'm looking forward to seeing everyone, there's so many bands playing, and knowing you guys they will all be great.
What's on the Oppenheimer stereo at the moment?
Mosquitos - an indie pop/bossa nova band on Bar/None. We are about to spend 5 weeks following them around America, I can't wait to hear them everynight! I've been listening to them everyday for nearly two years. Headlights - picked up their EP this summer, it's great! Looking forward to getting the album. Sara Culler - Is an indie/Electronica type artist from Malmo, I found her through our page on Myspace, Incredible songs with amazing vocals. It's been on repeat all summer too...
You've produced a number of bands this year as well as doing the Oppenheimer stuff; who should we be looking out for?
It was amazing to get to record a good part of The Dudley Corporation's forthcoming album. I'm a fan of their first two records, so it was crazy to be sitting at 5am with Dudley cleaning out the beer he spilled into the studio's mixing desk! It was great getting to work with him.
A band from N.Ireland called In Case Of Fire have done a few things with me in the past 12 months, one of them got Demo of 2005 in Kerrang! There should be loads more coming from them soon.
There's a lot of great stuff I've been lucky to work on, Belfast is a great place, bands like Clone Quartet, Tom McShane, Six Star Hotel, We Are Knives are all getting me excited about music.