David Rogers-Berry of O'Death

If you haven't seen O'Death play, then you're missing out.  And we're telling you this because we're your friend.  Part sceam-holler, part alt-country, all sing-a-long dancable, O'Death will send chills up your spine as you stomp and howl.




Chief Magazine: So where are you from and what were you into before O'Death got together? And when was that? Let’s introduce you all proper like.
 
David Rogers-Berry of O’Death: I was born and raised in the wetlands of Florence county, South Carolina. My parents brought me up on new music -- at the time: talking heads, the clash, etc... and then I got really into the alternative, grunge thing, loving Nirvana and Alice n' Chains, Soundgarden -- and I’m less proud that I thought Pearl Jam was cool, but I got over them pretty quickly. I was in some bands in high school, but there weren't a lot of gigs in our neck of the woods if you know what I mean. Not a lot of room for PAs at the kegger on some dirt road by the swamp. I learned a lot about singing and music outside of listening to rock through the church and high school chorus. Not too exciting, but I came into contact with a lot of great music in the church, my fathers a United Methodist minister. Note, I am NOT a follower. Some of those old hymns have the most simple and timeless melodies.

So how did you end up linking up with the boys in O'Death?

In 2000 I went to SUNY purchase, in Westchester New York, where after a couple of years, I met Greg Jamie, Gabe Darling, Bob Pycior and, eventually, Jesse Newman.

Did you guys kind of immediately fall into the sound that you guys have now? Or was it a process and other shit fell away?

O’Death formed in the spring of 2003. We recorded a self-titled debut--that was realistically a demo--in early 2004. And didn't really start playing regularly until the very beginning of 2005.

Oh really? You guys were tight back in college but didn’t really play?

Well, you have to understand that Greg sings the way Greg sings. He’s not faking shit. I don't think he knows how else do make music. So we did start out with the idea of making a "Goth-country" band. But once we actually started making music, such definitions fell be the wayside. We played in college, but really only on campus.
 
Our first real gig in Manhattan was at Sin-e with none other than The Lonesome Doves. Then we started doing our monthly parties at Apocalypse, which really helped us develop a community, a scene, a fan base, and our sound.

I was at a ton of those shows and you all really gave the feeling of being together for years as a functional machine. When did you start drumming? And as a side note, where did you come up with the chains?

I’ve been playing drums most of my life. I started in the school band in the fifth grade, which is like... 10-years-old. I got my first drum kit two years later.

Well that at least makes sense. About the drums I mean.
 
At a certain point with O’Death, I decided that my kit sounded much too much like a drum set. And I wanted it to sound like a tool shed falling down a mountain, or walking through the woods. So I got rid of my hi-head and screwed a tambourine into a steel toe boot, and started picking up chains and stuff. I’d already been into using trashy stacked cymbals, and of course on recordings there's some glass and stuff, but those things are hard to control in the live situation.

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So really, it all started at The Apocalypse Lounge?

Those nights at apocalypse were totally crazy. Well, we were a band before we started playing in NYC. But moving to the city was really a rebirth for us. I think a lot of our focus early on came from setting up strict parameters - such as, approaching folk styles with our music. Now, we don't really need such strict direction because the project has taken on a life of it's own.

And to go back to Apocalypse Lounge for a second, some times we felt like we were rocking a party in the depths of hell. It was SO FUCKING HOT in that basement, and all the red lights, and an angry mob standing over us screaming our songs back at us. Quite a phenomenon, and it felt good. We know from the beginning we were on to something and we had to push it as hard as we could.

That place defined that very specific scene, like a fraternity of men singing about death from the mountains and the sea. Fucking hot as sin and everyone knew the words.

Yeah, I also feel like at Apocalypse we came into contact with all the best talent that's traversing these folk roots in NYC right now.

When did you guys start touring? I remember talking to you before you took off on the big one. Was that the first time you really took your shit on the road?
 
Well, we did an east coast tour for about two weeks back in January, and then of course our 40 days and 40 nights across the country this summer - both with our amazing friends, Skeletonbreath (Bob Pycior plays and composes in Skeletonbreath as well). The craziest thing that comes to mind on our tour is when the gladiator fell-- our van diedin Indiana on our way to Chicago.

This wasn't even a week into our massive tour that I’d spent four or five months planning, so Gabe Darling and I flew from Chicago to New York to borrow a car and drove it straight to Denver in 28 hours only missing two gigs in the process, while Skeletonbreath and the other half of O’Death stayed the course. After Denver, the tour started to get much better anyway. The other best part of the tour was that no one out west mistook us for a "country" band, because they have a slightly different take on country--much more western--and they know roots music for real out there.
 
That’s intense the way you guys took up for the dead gladiator. Well done
 
It was that, or go home. And a bad touring experience like that will kill a band. I’ve seen it happen.

Wow. Yeah, that totally makes sense. Do you want to thank the guy who lent you the car?

Well, we fixed it up for him real good when we got back. No money left from the tour after fixing Leonard, the car's name, but Crocket Doob totally saved the tour when he lent his car to it. He’s the drummer for Skeletonbreath, so it affected them too, but still, their van was running and ours was not. So all propers to our good friend, Crocket Doob.

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Good man. So are you guys recording anything new?

We're about this close to signing a record deal with Say Hey records. They learned about us from our mutual friend, Marlon Sporer of The Occasion and The Lonesome Doves--amongst other thing--and put the Occasion’s last record, Cannery Hours.

So Say Hey is going to give Head Home a proper release. We're going to make a couple of adjustments to the record to make it a little bigger, try to give it more impact and make it feel more like our live shows. And we're expecting to record again pretty early in 2007 and hopefully have that out by the fall. So 2007 could be huge for us.

The last album was god damn beautiful by the way.

Thanks man. We feel strongly about the collection of songs on, "Head Home." We've run through our first 1000 copies of it and are almost completely out of stock. Some might say they're selling like hot cakes. But realistically, it took us like nine or 10 months to unload a thousand. I’m hoping Say Hey can help us move more than that next year.

That’s fantastic. I swear to Christ, you guys deserve it. You’re too tight and too talented not to have some proper records out. That’s just really great news.

Yeah man, thanks a lot. That means a lot coming from you. It’s all love and respect for you over here, man. We’ve been working just about as hard as we can. We must have played over 100 shows this year already. I know we've got plenty of dues left to pay, but it's nice that a few people are starting to pay attention.

Right the hell on. It’s so damn good when people you know are talented catch a fucking break.

I think I’ll miss being able to say that we are totally DIY. That’s meant a lot to us and served us well, but it is cold out there my brother, and New York City ain't cheap.

NYC will break a budget and then your back, congrats on getting some proper attention and maybe getting some help with rent.

Well, I feel like a lot of people I know are in a similar situation. We are NOT connected. Our parents are not producers, we do not have money, our friends do not run successful recording labels--though we have gotten some amazing help from some wonderful friends--so instead of going to meetings and playing industry showcases--until VERY recently course--we played every fucking basement in Bushwick and most rooms in Manhattan.

You didn’t just play, you killed. You guys get the whole room screaming 99% of the shows I’ve seen.

I’m Blushin’.

Is there anything behind the name, by the way? Where did you guys come up with that?

O’Death is a traditional song. I guess mostly sung by coal minors, but it might have roots in some hymn. It is very, very old, and there are tons of versions of it that have little to nothing to do with one another. We do a version ourselves--very rarely.

Why rarely? Just feels weird doing a titular song?

I don't know why we don't play it more often... I guess one reason is that it's another song that requires an instrument change, and you've seen us and know that some times our song to song turn over rate is our greatest fault... we did actually start playing it on our last tour, and it felt damn good. It’s a real screamer. Maybe when I get my rehearsal studio up and running out in Bushwick, and we can take care of some of our equipment woes, we'll bring it back into our regular sets.

Do you guys have it recorded?

Yes, it's on our limited release self-titled debut, which is currently out of print. It might be out in cyber space somewhere. I’m hoping one day, O’Death will do well enough that some one might be interested in re-releasing our first record, though it's a little more than rough around the edges.
 
So anything else big coming up for you guys? Anything you want to push or plug?

Well, we're playing mercury lounge on December 10th. That's going to be a really big one for us.
 
Who are you listening to now? Who’s not getting enough attention?
 
I love Aa, Thanksgiving, The Red Coats Are Coming, and Bad News Bats. And of course, The Goddamn Rattlesnake and Crozier the destroyer, and Brownbird Rudy Relic are my brothers.

Right on. Talented bastards, all. Are there any big names that you feel are still doing it right?
 

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I think Tom Waits puts all the kids to shame. That guy’s more relevant now than he was 30 years ago. Shit man. That blows my mind. And I think people should quit hating Michael Jackson, I can't wait for his next record to drop.

Downloads

01 Down To Rest.mp3
02 Adelita.mp3
03 Allie Mae Reynolds.mp3
09 Only Daughter.mp3
14 Nathaniel.mp3

Website

www.myspace.com/odeath

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