{"id":2454963,"date":"2020-02-25T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-02-25T07:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/?p=321454"},"modified":"2020-02-25T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2020-02-25T07:00:00","slug":"belly-up-aspen-to-host-a-mighty-o-a-r-for-two-nights","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/local-news\/belly-up-aspen-to-host-a-mighty-o-a-r-for-two-nights\/","title":{"rendered":"Belly Up Aspen to host a \u2018mighty\u2019 O.A.R. for two nights"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
O.A.R.<\/strong>
Zoe Rain<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

One thing fans of O.A.R.<\/a> know when they come to one of the band\u2019s concerts is there\u2019s no predicting what songs they\u2019ll hear \u2013 which is exactly the way the band intends it.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery O.A.R. show is unique,\u201d saxophonist\/guitarist Jerry DePizzo said in a recent phone interview. \u201cWe change things up every night. No set list is ever the same. We always do a great job, I think, of balancing the concert staples. They evolve over time and really grow and evolve from tour to tour. We pull out a couple of rarities (each show) because we know folks travel and we know folks go to multiple O.A.R. shows a year and throughout the year. So we switch up and provide variety for them. But we\u2019ve got 10 songs on this new record and we intend on putting all 10 out there (in the show).\u201d<\/p>\n

That new album is \u201cThe Mighty,\u201d the first studio release from O.A.R. in five years, which the band is showcasing on a tour that brings it to Belly Up Aspen for a two-night stand Wednesday and Thursday. And \u2014 you guessed it \u2014 there\u2019s no telling how many of the new tunes will be on the set list at any given show.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhatever feels right from night to night is what we do,\u201d said DePizzo, who also plays Beaver Creek with the band Friday night. \u201cBut I think we do a good job providing a unique show every night, a unique experience, yet one that kind of has a good blend of staples, rarities and new stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n

The care O.A.R. puts into their live shows has certainly been a major factor in a career that has seen steady growth, to the point that the group now headlines amphitheaters in many cities. Formed in 1997 in Rockville, Maryland, original members singer\/guitarist Marc Roberge, guitarist Richard On, bassist Benj Gershman and drummer Chris Culos, self-released their first album, \u201cThe Wanderer,\u201d before they started college. DePizzo came on board in time for the recording of the 1998 album, \u201cSouls Aflame,\u201d which was also self-released.<\/p>\n

Songs from those albums got posted on Napster during the original heyday of that song-swapping service, and when O.A.R. began touring nationally in summer 2001, the band discovered the downloading had built a fan base for the group in cities across the country.<\/p>\n

Since then, O.A.R. has released a steady stream of studio albums (\u201cThe Mighty\u201d is the band\u2019s ninth) that have found the five musicians continually improving on their abilities to capture inspired performances in the studio, plus five concert albums that have documented the growth of O.A.R. as a live band and the ongoing evolution of songs from across the group\u2019s catalog.<\/p>\n

With \u201cThe Mighty,\u201d DePizzo thinks O.A.R. made an album that will both please longtime fans and serve as a good introduction to the group for those just discovering the band.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis record just feels great to us. We\u2019re extremely proud of it,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd I think we\u2019ve made a very timely record, and also classic at the same time. So, if you\u2019ve known and loved O.A.R. throughout our 20-year history, there\u2019s plenty of material on this record for you. And if you are new to O.A.R., this is just a great launching pad for you to go discover the rest of our stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n

Released in March, \u201cThe Mighty\u201d finds O.A.R. touching on the various styles that have long been trademarks of the group\u2019s music.<\/p>\n

Several songs (\u201cTurn It Up Slow,\u201d \u201cAre You For Real,\u201d \u201cBe Easy\u201d and \u201cKnocking at Your Door\u201d) boast reggae rhythms and infectious pop melodies \u2014 a stylistic fusion that has been a hallmark of the O.A.R. sound from the start. There\u2019s also a decided island vibe to \u201cOh My,\u201d a cheery tune with horns providing a prominent hook. On \u201cMiss You All the Time\u201d (the album\u2019s lead single), \u201cCalifornia\u201d and \u201cFree,\u201d the group\u2019s sound leans more toward folk-pop, as the agreeable melodies and sunny vibes of the songs come wrapped in a nice blend of acoustic and modern synthetic textures topped off with uplifting backing vocals and harmonies. The group\u2019s ability to craft appealing ballads continues on the stripped back \u201cAll Because of You.\u201d<\/p>\n

But DePizzo also feels the album takes the group down some new paths, beginning with the production from the group\u2019s go-to producer, Gregg Wattenberg, and PomPom, a young producer\/engineer who works for Wattenberg.<\/p>\n

\u201cPomPom is someone with a Midwest sensibility and a New York style and taste. She\u2019s somebody who grew up on O.A.R.,\u201d DePizzo said. \u201cSo she\u2019s somebody who grew up on O.A.R. and is helping O.A.R. make a new O.A.R. So we got a fresh perspective, and a fresh female perspective, on kind of the sonics and the sounds and the textures of the record. That really helped us introduce our classic songwriting in maybe modern sonic textures.\u201d<\/p>\n

The band\u2019s creative approach also was new on \u201cThe Mighty.\u201d The group was not working under a strict deadline to finish the album, and worked on the project one song at a time, gathering at Wattenberg\u2019s studio whenever each song was ready to be recorded.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt doesn\u2019t make sense anymore for us to go hole ourselves up in a studio for four weeks or eight weeks or a month at a time. We\u2019re family men. We want to be home,\u201d DePizzo said. \u201cSo we worked on a song at a time, basically. We would work on a song until it was done, and when it was done, we would move on to the next one. There\u2019s a little bit of exception here and there, but what that really helped us to do was one, hyper-focus on making one song great as opposed to trying to make 10 songs pretty good or 20 and hone it down to 10 and all of that nonsense. So we were pretty focused and specific on what we wanted to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

The group also decided to let each song dictate how it would be played and produced and not worry about any stylistic parameters that had been followed on previous albums.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think this time around we really gave each song, we weren\u2019t afraid to identify what the song was and really lean into it,\u201d DePizzo said. \u201cFor example, \u2018Turn It Up Slow,\u2019 we were like \u2018Man, that sounds like an \u201980s song.\u2019 Before, we would probably go \u2018Well, in the past we\u2019ve done X, Y and Z, so let\u2019s maintain those borders. This time around, we went, \u2018This is an \u201980s song. Let\u2019s just make it the most \u201980s \u201980s song we possibly can do.\u2019 So, there was a lot fun in that. It was also quite liberating as well to not worry about what was done in the past and really focus on what we wanted it to sound like (now).\u201d<\/p>\n

via:: The Aspen Times<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

O.A.R.Zoe Rain One thing fans of O.A.R. know when they come to one of the band\u2019s concerts is there\u2019s no predicting what songs they\u2019ll hear \u2013 which is exactly the way the band intends it. \u201cEvery O.A.R. show is unique,\u201d saxophonist\/guitarist Jerry DePizzo said in a recent phone interview. \u201cWe change things up every night. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2454963","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-local-news"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-18 13:44:31","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSPN The Valley's Quality Rock","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2454963","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2454963"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2454963\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2454963"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2454963"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2454963"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}