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Philly Blurbs interview with Ozma - August 2002
Original article (archived by Wayback Machine): https://web.archive.org/web/20030422102838/http://www.phillyburbs.com/couriertimes/reality/0822/0822ozma.htm
band interview
Ozma
By AUDREY SERFES
COUNCIL ROCK NORTH HIGH SCHOOL
My first scheduled interview on the Warped Tour was with the opening band, Ozma. When I arrived at the band's big red merchandise tent, none of the members were in sight. I feared the band had forgotten.
Thinking that I had just lost the chance to interview my favorite band, lead guitarist Ryen Slegr walked into the tent. He said he would do the interview for me, and told me to come behind the sales table. There were no seats available, so he made a comfy spot for himself in a bin full of white Ozma T-shirts that were for sale, while I sat on top of a covered bin.
Finally, getting down to business, we started the interview. I asked him what he liked best about Warped Tour.
"There is a lot of exposure to bands I have never seen or heard before. That gives me a sense of what a larger section of people appreciate in music rather than always playing Weezer concerts where all the fans are pre- exposed to a ..." (a girl suddenly interrupts him for a moment to grab a shirt from the bin he is sitting in) "are exposed to a nerd rock sort of sound, and that's what they pick up in our music. I think that our music incorporates a lot of different sounds and I don't think those fans necessarily pick up on that because they are so geared towards nerd rock , geek rock, Weezer, that kind of stuff.
"My favorite bands so far have probably been The Bosstones or The Casualties. There are so many good bands."
Next, I asked him what audience the band is aiming for.
"We are trying to make music everyone can appreciate, we are trying to write songs that we like and are melodically interesting, that are just well-thought-out songs," Slegr said. "I think we are still working on lyrical content to be honest. Our first album reflects our mindset as teenagers, and now we are 20, 23 years old, we have a different idea of what life is and trying to learn how to express that now.
"'Rock 'n' Roll Part 3' (Ozma's first album) has a slightly dysfunctional aspect to it in it's message, because it says, don't realize how urgent your life is everyday and at the same time, singing about how we didn't do that ... Singing about it everyday is therapeutic."
Slegr mentioned that he didn't get much sleep the night before and that traveling sometimes was hard to deal with.
We wrapped up the interview by discussing the different destinations of Warped Tour, since the tour travels all over the country all summer long.
"As far as bands go, we had a great show yesterday. We had our best show. Our gauge is more by the weather (laughs), and San Diego had the best weather, so San Diego is the best show."
For more information about Ozma, check out their Website at
http://www.ozmaonline.com.
August 22, 2002
