Southern Illinoisan interview with Ozma - September 4, 2003

Print interview with Daniel Brummel, Ryen Slegr, Patrick Edwards
Publication	Southern Illinoisan
Published	September 4, 2003
Interviewer	Codell Rodriguez
Interviewee	Daniel Brummel, Ryen Slegr, Patrick Edwards
Title	Ozma: The best band you're not listening to
Format	Print
External link	Archived on Newspapers.com
References	See where this article is referenced on Weezerpedia

Ozma: The best band you're not listening to Author: Codell Rodriguez (Southern Illinoisan) Published: September 4, 2003 Ozma has accomplished quite a bit for a group that's only between the ages of 21 and 24 years. They have two incredible albums and an EP, an admirable fan following, and they've toured with legendary bands such as Weezer. In fact, Weezer even thanked the band in the linear notes for their 2001 "Green Album." In addition to this, Ozma have headlined a tour in Japan. The Pasadena, Calif.-based band formed in 1995 through high school and the Internet and consists of Daniel Brummel (vocals, bass), Ryen Slegr (vocals, guitar), Jose Galvez (guitar, vocals), Patrick Edwards (drums), and Star Wick (keys, flute, vocals), who joined in '99. Ozma headlined a show at Washington University in St. Louis Saturday before heading out on a national tour with Nada Surf. After the show, Brummel, Slegr and Edwards were nice enough to spend a few minutes answering my crap questions, despite being jet lagged (they left Los Angeles at 5 a.m.). Flipside: Do you ever get tired of being compared to Weezer? Ryen: Yes. Especially in interviews. Sometimes people will be like, "You know, you guys sound like Weezer. What do you think about that?" (laughs) At least you're on our side. Flipside: Yeah, I can hear the influences but I think you've got your own thing going. But would you say you are influenced by them? Ryen: Not anymore. Flipside: So more of the early stuff, like "Rock and Roll Part Three" was influenced by them? Daniel: Yeah, definitely. We're still influenced by Rivers. He's a genius. (Rivers Cuomo is the lead singer, guitarist and songwriter for Weezer.) Flipside: Especially on the "Double Donkey Disc,"[sic] I hear a lot of Russian influences with the Tetris song and some Russian folk music. Daniel: We just did it because it was fun. Yeah, we were in an experimental phase. Ryen: We were in a very one thing and drive it into the ground and then six months later, think it was ridiculous. We just do it because we can. Whenever you're in a band you can do whatever you want. Flipside: I also notice a lot of video game lyrics. Are you guys big gamers? Ryen: I never was good at video games. Daniel writes a lot of video game lyrics. Daniel: I used to. I think it was kind of a cop-out. Flipside: Have you moved away from the pop culture stuff now that there's that whole flood of emo bands like All-American Rejects and all that crap. Ryen: Oh, it's definitely crap. (laughs) I think the '80s nostalgia kind of got too, well, every age group started worshiping the '80s or '70s. Flipside: Again, with you drifting away from pop culture, with songs like "Turtleneck Coverup," are you drifting a tad toward the political side? Daniel: Yeah, I would say that. I think we're writing songs that matter more to us. Ryen: When you're 17, video games are more important but when you're 24 they just don't matter as much. Flipside: Well you guys are from California right? Are any of you guys going to run for governor? (collective laughs) Patrick: I might. Flipside: Maybe all of you could run. The Ozma Ticket. Flipside: My next question was about the Natalie Portman song. Did you write that? (Pointing to Daniel) Daniel: Yeah. (For those that don't know, "Natalie Portman" is basically a love song to Portman from a teenage stalker point of view..) Flipside: Did you write that around the time "Star Wars" came out? Daniel: No I wrote it a long time ago. I was like 15 or 16, it was just very pedophilia-like. But when you're 14 and have a crush on a 12-year-old, it's ok. It's a little bit better. Flipside: She was in "The Professional" then right? Do you know if she heard it? Have you heard from her? (laughs) Daniel: Oh, I don't know. I've heard rumors. I wouldn't want to hear a song like that about me so- Flipside: Did you ever just receive a restraining order one day? (laughs) Daniel: No, but that's ok if she wants to do that. Ryen: (Ryen begins singing the song in a high-pitched voice.) "There's nothing I can do." And then she'd be like, "Oh sh**. Who is this dude?" Daniel: Yeah, but that's kind of the point of the song I think, to give her the creepy stalker homage. Flipside: Well, everyone's a creepy stalker once and a while. So, any movies you're into right now? Ryen: Yeah! This 1977 movie called "Welcome to LA. Everyone should watch it. It's a love story. Daniel: "Scary Movie 3." Patrick: I'm looking forward to the end of the trilogies. Ryen: We were watching. "Apollo 13" before we came over here. We didn't get to see the ending. Daniel: I don't know how it's going to end. Patrick: I think they made it back. (laughs) Flipside: Actually, I think they get attacked by aliens on the way back. It kind of has an "Independence Day" twist to it. Will Smith shows up - it's weird. (laughs) Well is there anything you'd like to say to your fans in Southern Illinois? Ryen: Uh, don't watch MTV, get exercise, eat healthy food, don't smoke and have lots of sex. (laughs) Flipside: So you just want them to stay the same? Ryen: Yeah. I know Ozma fans are like that. Daniel: Live by Ryen's personal beliefs.