O.A.R. gets a little help from MTV

With the release of their first major-label album, O.A.R, short for …of a revolution, have… With the release of their first major-label album, O.A.R, short for …of a revolution, have found themselves in a world that they have not known but have been working toward ever since forming seven years ago.

After their signing with Lava Records, O.A.R. is now on the radio as well as on MTV. And with the exception of their notoriety in their hometown in Maryland and in Columbus, Ohio, where they went to school, they haven’t experienced coverage quite like this.

O.A.R. formed in 1996, when Marc Roberge, vocals and guitar, started to play music with Chris Culos, drummer.

“Marc and I grew up together,” Culos said, “We have been best friends since kindergarten, and even before that, our parents were friends with each other.”

Along with Benj Gershman on bass and Richard On playing electric guitar, the four members went off to Ohio State University, where they met Jerry DePizzo, who plays the saxophone.

“We were friends first and foremost. There’s a bond between us. It’s like a family,” Culos said.

The first single from their new album, In Between Now and Then, isn’t your typical first single from a new album – because it isn’t a new song. “Hey Girl” has been recorded on almost all of their previous albums – thus there are multiple versions of it.

After recording the songs for Now and Then, the band sat down to figure out which song would become the album’s first single.

“Our label, Lava, thought of the idea of re-recording the song ‘Hey Girl,'” Chris Culos said, “Our first instinct was that there was no way we were re-recording, because not only is it re-recording, it is re-re-re-recording.”

The final decision to make a refined version of “Hey Girl” has turned out to be a clever move by the label and the band. It is now finding its way into radio stations nationwide and playing in some pretty big markets.

“It was the one song that got a little bit of airplay in a major market [prior to In Between Now and Then] on a radio station. Chicago’s 94.7 [The Zone] actually started playing us for a couple of weeks,” Culos said. “And we had really high request numbers and it did really well there. It was a proven success and something we could take to other radio stations and hopefully have our foot in the door.”

To those who are anti-major label, signing on with Lava may seem like selling out. They may think that bands that have been on independent labels should remain where they are. But O.A.R. doesn’t feel that way.

“It was a really smart business decision for us, as a band, to go on to a major label,” Culos said, “so we would have opportunities to be on the radio and on television, which is limited for a band that is on an independent label to actually break through.”

O.A.R. plays what they like to call, “island-vibe-roots-rock,” a mix of reggae, funk, island sounds and good old rock ‘n’ roll. Every O.A.R. live show is different from the last. No song is played the same way or for the same amount of time. On the DVD that comes packaged with In Between Now and Then, there is an 11-minute version of one of their most popular songs, “Crazy Game of Poker,” that proves this to anyone who has seen this song performed live.

“When we started playing as a band, our fans were our age, sophomores and juniors in college,” Culos said. “Kids in college take CDs home and play them for their younger brothers and sisters. And they play them for their older brothers and sisters, so, in the past few years, it seems as though the crowd is a few more years older and a few years younger than our initial fan base.”

Besides playing on the Liquid Mix Tour, which rolls into the Chevrolet Amphitheatre on Tuesday, O.A.R. also played along with 311 this past summer and they have done some shows with Pittsburgh’s very own The Clarks.

“It was great playing with 311. We got to play in front of audiences that had never heard us before,” Culos said. “And it was cool, because we have a very positive message in our music, and so does 311, even though our music sounds completely different at times.”

“Playing with The Clarks was a great time as well, especially in Pittsburgh,” Culos said. “People in Pittsburgh are fanatics for The Clarks. I remember playing a show in Green Bay and some other cities where the audiences were new to The Clarks, and them rocking out for those audiences as well.”

A lot of bands say they go out and play 110% every time they go out to play, and, for the price of a ticket, the fans expect them to do so. But sometimes the energy on stage relies on the energy of the crowd as well.

“Our shows rely very heavily on the energy of the crowd,” Culos said. “We go up there every night and we try to give 110%, but that doesn’t mean we have to be dancing around the stage and going crazy to give 110%.”

“If the vibe is a little more mellow, then we are going to play some mellow songs,” Culos said. “And I think that a person can have just as much of a great experience at a lower energy show than at a show where there’s 5,000 people jumping up and down and singing along to every word.”

On the bill with O.A.R. is rap-rock group N.E.R.D. and Philadelphia-grown The Roots, who also mix rock guitars and drums with hip-hop beats and lyrics. There are many more bands scheduled to take one of the two stages set up under the tent in Station Square, from reggae to rock and hip-hop and R’B. Tuesday night will be a night filled with eclectic, great music.

O.A.R. will be performing with N.E.R.D., The Roots and other bands at the Chevrolet Amphitheatre, Tuesday Sept. 9, at 4 p.m. Tickets are $10 and can be purchased by calling (412) 323-1919.