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Our Brother The Native E-mail
Written by Graham Lynch   
Thursday, 25 September 2008
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Our Brother The Native
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"Basically the similar style we were both into was that of the freak folk scene," says Chaz. "I am honestly fine with any genre we may be set in to. It is extremely difficult for me to explain what type of music it is that we play, so it is a lot easier if other people classify us for me. Less work for me. I usually agree with everything. I personally have a love for any kind of music. This band has by far been one of my favourite bands to play in because the music can change from freak folk to post rock and noise. Brining elements out from many different genres is always fun. Usually if people usually ask me what OBTN sounds like, I spread my legs and play heavy death metal air guitar bass drones and go ‘do do do' in a very low voice."

Josh adds, "The main thing I love about working with Chaz is his music tastes are so diverse - he is down to make any kind of music, what ever we are feeling at the time, we tend to change with every passing year, we keep our influences, but add to the ones prior. We are going to be like Madonna (laughs). But if people ask me what we sound like, I just shrug and say, oh well I guess its like a very loud noisy Pink Floyd - that tends to be a band most of the mainstream public has heard of." The groups second record, this years Make Amends, for We Are Merely Vessels, differed in many ways from their first record – the spontaneity for one thing so prevalent on their debut was if not quite absent, then certainly pared down, although the trio managed to retain the core aspects of their sound. "The first record was difficult and all over the place," says Chaz. "It was just a ton of ideas I had and the other two would have and we were just writing songs to write songs. With the second album things were way more planned out and more of a band atmosphere.

"The spontaneity accidentally got lost because of the main way of how the songs were written," says Josh continuing. "It wasn't that we became against the idea of randomness, its just the looping of guitars and building of these crescendos made album number two quite predicable and boring in some cases. So with our new Parting Marrows EP hopefully we have found a happy medium between the two. We always keep learning and working on our craft."

The groups sound on record is indeed a strange brew – a concoction of sometimes haunting and sometimes epic tangents fed through a plethora of effect units, that makes for a continuously morphing sonic landscape that is both entrancing, and occasionally haphazard in its execution.

Repeating the trick in the flesh has proved difficult, but having managed to overcome those obstacles at their first gig – a FatCat showcase in Holland which also served as the first occasion all three members met face to face – OBTN say that bringing the show to the road is now a more exciting then daunting experience." Says Chaz. "Because we not making a ton of money it is difficult to get all the players we need to be able to make it sound just as if the recording did. We have a live set that can be played and is pretty good now with just Josh and I now, which is a good thing. Yes the first time we played and met was in Hasselt and played a very nerve wracking but we got through it. Because we are constantly coming up with new music, our live shows tend to change. Hopefully more drastically in the future."

And so what next for OBTN? "A split with Creepy Crawl," says Chaz. "We also just finished recording our new album. Maybe a US tour in the spring and back to Europe in the fall." "The new full length was completed a month ago," adds Josh, "and we are both just looking forward to what ever the future may hold."

Our Brother The Native plays the Whiskey on Friday, September 26. Support comes from an exciting new duo Female Orphan Asylum, who can be found/heard at www.myspace.com/femaleorphanasylum.


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