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Ozma
Author: Crystal K. Wiebe (Lincoln Journal Star)
Published: April 4, 2003
- Power pop bandmates moonlight as students
Daniel Brummel didn't mean to let his grades slide last quarter.
But it's tough to concentrate on school work when he's making plans to travel the country with his power pop band.
"It's not usually that hard," said Brummel, vocalist and bassist for Ozma.
When they're not in the studio or on tour, Brummel and some of his bandmates moonlight as students at the University of California, Los Angeles.
"I slip in a quarter whenever I can," Brummel said.
He and vocalist/guitarist Ryan Slegr are juniors at UCLA. Brummel's major is in music composition; Slegr is a history major.
Drummer Patrick Edwards has also picked up a few credits from the university.
The other two members of Ozma are Star Wick, who plays keyboards and flute, and Jose Galvez, a guitarist and UCLA graduate.
Brummel said some instructors are more understanding than others when he tells them he has to take a break to, say, tour with Weezer.
One of his professors, who used to work in Hollywood, understands how the industry operates.
"When you have to get something done, it's the most important thing on the table," Brummel said. "Some things can't be postponed."
"Class is important," he added. "But not as important as your CD's cover art or shooting a video."
Brummel's band is currently on the road with Superdrag. Both acts play at Knickerbockers tomorrow night.
Ozma has been around for more than seven years. The members met during high school in Pasadena, Calif.
In 1999, they released their full-length debut, "Rock and Roll Part Three." The CD impressed Weezer's Rivers Cuomos[sic] so much that he enlisted the unsigned Ozma as an opening act for his band's next two nationwide tours.
The album was re-released after Ozma signed with Kung Fu Records. The band also put out a double EP and played the main stage at the Vans Warped Tour last summer.
Ozma's new album, "Spending Time on the Borderline," hits record stores next month.
Brummel was 14 when he helped found Ozma. At the time, he'd been playing guitar for more than three years. He began his musical odyssey much earlier on the piano, violin and trumpet.
Music would have been his chosen course of study whether or not he joined a rock 'n' roll band.
"There's never really been another focus in my life besides music," he said.
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