Oh No Oh My: “Brains”
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Austin’s Oh No Oh My rose through the ranks at an astonishing pace. In 2005, on the strength of demos and a lot of digital word-of-mouth, the quartet played Chicago’s famed Lollapalooza. The festival gig was only the sixth show for the band, but as this year’s People Problems shows, Oh No Oh My is here to stay.
The rapid rise of the group can largely be attributed to lead singer Greg Barkley’s passion. Before that Lollapalooza break, Barkley personally mailed demos to record companies and blogs. The resultant national hype could have sunk the band, but Barkley says they’ve learned a lot from the experience.
The biggest lesson? How to change their songwriting to suit their shows. Their eponymous debut boasted dozens of instruments, complex arrangements, and a studio sheen that made it near impossible to play those songs live. On People Problems–their second album–the band dialed down their studio time to focus on the basic structure of the songs. The result is a more energetic experience, highlighted by songs like “Brains,” , which the band recently performed in KUT’s Studio 1A. It was Oh No Oh My’s first time in our studios, but it probably won’t be their last.
Podcast: Download (4.0MB)
