We "Less Than Three" Oh, Hush!

Last Winter, we scored an interview with the oh-so-elusive and mysterious band Oh, Hush! of Myspace fame!

Where did the idea for Oh, Hush! come from?

I've known for quite some time that I wanted to do some kind of side project away from my regular band but it wasn't until this past summer that a few of us got together and started working on the songs that would become Oh, Hush! We knew we wanted to create a project that was focused on two things: 1) the MUSIC and 2) the FANS! We didn't have much of a plan other than that. So we threw up a song, a contest and a logo and went from there. We knew we wanted people to form their opinions of the band on the MUSIC alone. We didn't want people to focus on who was or was not in the band, or what we looked like, just the music. Love us or hate us, but do it based on the music.


How did the band end up coming together?

We're still fully trying to detemine who's actually "in" the band... but everyone who has participated in Oh, Hush! so far are just people we know, talented musicians, friends. Being a part of Oh, Hush! isn't a huge time commitment right now.. it mostly involves just being free to write a song or perform on a song here or there. We're still trying to figure out who's in this band tho.


Do you think you'll ever have a fixed line-up or will it be ever-changing?

That's a good and interesting question. Something we've given a little bit of thought to as of late when we start the beginning stage thought processes of tours and things like that. As of right now though, I'm not at liberty to talk about this.


It's known that the band is made up of people from other bands that may or may not be well-known. Did the celebrity and fame that came from the other bands play any kind of role in the concept of keeping who you are from people?

Well first of all, "celebrity" and "fame" are all very relative. Justin Timerblake is a celebrity and famous in the entire world. Just like the high school varsity quarterback is a celebrity and famous in his own high school. It's all relative. That being said, I do think that the whole idea of fame may have played a role in the whole "secret" aspect of the band. It certainly wasn't on the forefront of our minds, but think about someone like Britney Spears. She's a celebrity, she's famous. But who wants to be her?!?! I think it's safe to say that we don't want to be famous. We don't want to be celebrities. We just want people to enjoy our music!

Do you think that if your fans knew who you were it would influence how they perceive your music?

Absolutely. Which is why we wanted people to form their opinions of us entirely based on the music without being biased one way or the other based on who we are.


Are you noticing that the fans you have for Oh, Hush! are the same fans from your other bands?
If yes, do you think that jeopardizes keeping your secret at all?

I think it's actually a great mix of people. Some people from our other bands have come over to check us out. There's also a whole crop of new people as well. I don't think it really jeopardizes the "secret" though. I mean for every theory out there about who we are, I think every musician in the world has been "accused" of being a part of Oh, Hush! Until we confirm who's in this band, the secret is safe.


How long do you hope you can keep your identities unknown? If it could go on forever would you let it?

Interesting question. I think in some respects it's been a breath of fresh air being a part of a band where the identities of the bandmembers are unknown, because we can be normal people and have normal lives. Not that our band is "huge" by any means. But again, it's all relative. It's nice to also be able to interact with our fans like we do and that may not be as easy or possible once people know who we are.

But I also think it might be unfair to the fans if we never told them who was in this band. We're all big fans of the show LOST and I remember Damon Lindelof (the exec producer and chief writer of LOST) saying that it was important to him that they announce an end-time for the show now so that fans knew they weren't just pulling these stories out of their a$$es and dragging it on forever. He said he felt that would ripoff the viewers. I think I feel the same way about Oh, Hush! - fans might feel ripped off if they never find out who's in Oh, Hush! And the last thing we want is for our fans to feel like that because this project is all about them in the first place!!! That being said, that doesn't mean we have to reveal who's in the band anytime soon. But honestly, we haven't given a "reveal date" much thought. We're just focused on finishing our record and moving into the next phase of Oh, Hush! right now.


Is it true that even your band mates from your other bands don't know you're in this one?

True story. It's possible the word has gotten out a bit within our other bands, but everyone has been instructed to not say a single word to anyone.


What do you think of the many theories that have been spun about the band?

I try not to read about too many of the theories. But the ones I have read are pretty interesting! I'm just really flattered that people take the time to actually do all of this internet research to find out who we are. Like I saw someone probably pulled together 10 pages of information about what we've said in various blogs and posts and everything else and developed theories about who could possibly be in the band. That's awesome!! Bottom line is we're here to entertain people and we're just flattered that people care enough about us to create the theories!!


What's the craziest thing you've heard about yourselves or the band?

Hmmm... I think the one about Justin Timberlake being in the band. While I can neither confirm nor deny that JT is a card carrying member of Oh, Hush!, I can confirm that that would be pretty crazy indeed!!


By your standards of success, how successful do you think you guys will be?

Most people define "success" as dollars in their pocket. I suppose that is one measure of success, but I like to define success by the number of lives that are touched by music, and the amount of fun that I have being involved in music. By those standards, this project is already so much more successful than I ever thought it would be. We officially launched Oh, Hush! on July 27, 2007 - that's 5 months ago and here we are answering interviews, getting radio play on Sirius, selling out t-shirts, getting thousands of plays a day on myspace - who would have ever thought we'd get her so quickly?? I sure didn't. That being said, only God knows how successful this will become. But even if it all ended today, I can say it's been a great ride and a lot of fun and we've been blessed mightily already! But I think our best is yet to come!

Do you think that if people knew who you were your expectations would be different?

Our expecations or do you mean people's expectations of us?? Either way, I think that's one of the benefits of no one knowing who we are. There's no expectations. We've got a clean slate. We're able to start fresh and do whatever we want. We're truly able to make it up as we go without any boundaries or expecations that have to be met.

Do you think the band would succeed in the mainstream world (MTV, Radio, Magazines etc...), considering that in the industry lately a lot of emphasis has been placed on looks and with you there are no faces or names to put with the music?

I think the answer has to be YES and I have proof. The fact that I'm answering questions for an interview right now proves that magazines care about us. There's another 25 interviews I have to get through later today. Sirius Radio called us 2 months ago and started spinning our song "Going Down In Style." So for whatever reason, people seem to be into this thing and the fact that no one knows who we are doesn't seem to be hurting us at all.


Do you believe video truly killed the radio star (that looks and image are now more important to people than the music)?

I dunno if it quite killed the radio star but image is every bit as important these days as music. How many ugly pop stars do you see?? How many overweight singers are out there? I read industry sheets all the time looking for "good looking female, age 18-22, good voice a plus." Meaning, the LOOK is more important than if the girl can actually sing. What the hell is that all about?!?!?


How do you feel about the state of the music industry--or entertainment industry in general?

Music is actually more popular than ever before. There's opportunities for musicians all over the place these days!! TV shows, films, advertising, etc are all using music more than ever before. Kids have more songs in their music collections than ever before. That being said, all you ever read about is how the music industry keeps losing all of this money and that no one buys records anymore and that everyone is illegally downloading and all of that. Sure, that's happening. Is it right? I'm not really here to judge anyone. Bottom line is that I think now is a very exciting time in the music industry! It's time for someone to come out and do something new. It's time for new ways of marketing and selling music. It's time to think about music differently. I'm excited because I think Oh, Hush! fits into this new musical economy really well and I think the sky is the limit for us!!


Do you think it will change?

Yes, and it will take very forward thinking risk takers to really make some serious change. We'll see who those people are in the next few years I think!

How do you hope Oh, Hush! will influence those who listen to your music?

Well I think as a songwriter you always want to influence your listeners. Our hope is that people will enjoy our songs, that our music will bring a positivity to people's lives. We've had a lot lot LOT of fun creating these songs and we hope that spills over to the listeners that they get the same enjoyment out of listening as we did from creating the songs.

What are your thoughts on the double edged-sword that is illegal music downloading? Because if it wasn't possible to download for free, a lot of bands out there right now probably never would have been discovered, but at the same time, the downloading is hurting the industry.

You nailed it. It really is a double-edged sword and again, we're not here to make any judgments about downloading. If someone wants to steal one of our songs, then awesome! That means our songs must have been good enough to steal! We just hope that people who have downloaded our music (both legally and illegally), that if they LIKE it we hope they will come back and buy our record when we release it to support the band!

How does the recording process work for you guys? Do you all get together at once or don't your schedules allow it?

Thanks goodness for technology!! Every song is really different but the beauty of technology allows us to be able to work over computers and files and not actually have to be in the same room, or even city, or even state!!?!? In some cases we've been able to get together and work in the same room, but in other cases people just do little demos of their ideas and we send em around and work on things. I think all of us have usually worked on songs by sitting in a rehearsal space with our bands and jamming through songs. That's great and all, but with Oh, Hush! these songs have NEVER been played by a full band ever and it's been a refreshing and fun way to write and record songs!


Do you all have an equal part in writing the music or is it all mainly one person?

There's definitely one main writer for this project. But there's also input from the other people involved in this as well. And when it comes time to actually record parts for the tracks there's usually at least a few people involved in that.


Oh, Hush! had their first ever full-length album came out on September 30th, 2008. You can order the album from their myspace at http://www.myspace.com/ohhushmusic.

Being Your Guilty Pleasure Means Never Having To Say You're Sorry

On Saturday, November 24th 2007, The Sleeping With Giants tour featuring headliners The Academy Is... and supporting bands Sherwood, The Rocket Summer, Armor for Sleep and Cobra Starship finished up in Chicago at the Riviera Theater. While they were there, I got a chance to meet up with Alex Suarez, the bassist for the up-and-coming techno-pop-punk-alternative band Cobra Starship, who's sophomore album "Viva La Cobra" came out in October. Cobra Starship reigns from New York and also includes vocalist Gabe Saporta, formerly of the band Midtown, Ryland Blackinton on guitar, Nate Novarro on drums and Victoria "Vicky-T" Asher on keytar. Suarez talked to us about life on the road, the changes facing the music industry today, Cobra's plans for 2008 and the perks of working with people like Blink 182's Mark Hoppus.



JH: Is there a moment that you could pinpoint as the moment you knew this is what you wanted to do for the rest of your life?

ALEX SUAREZ (bassist, Cobra Starship): Yes. When I was about probably eleven years old and my brother was really into metal, like eighties metal, you know. I was born in like '81 so I was really into that kinda stuff which I guess would have been 1992. Anyways, I used to sing Slaughter songs I don't know if you ever heard that band Slaughter, they're like a hair-metal band. I used to grab the remote for my stereo and like pretend I was at a huge concert like at an arena show singing the song and I'd go to the wall and be like 'yeah!' like there was fans and everything. And I always knew I wanted to do that. I never thought I'd actually get to do it though. I used to do that like all the time. I used to rock out with my guitar like, not plugged in, just pretending I was in the band and my mom went up there and would be like "What the hell are you doing?" and I'd be like "Shut up! I'm practicing!" It was really embarrassing. I didn't even know what else to say I was so embarrassed, just rocking out in my bedroom by myself with my guitar listening to like Manowar.

You know what's funny is, one of my roommates after I moved out I was probably I think I was like nineteen or twenty and my friend was like, eighteen, he used to do that like all the time in his bedroom but he was older. We were like "What the fuck are you doing dude?" Like he put on Engine Down and you could hear it like blaring in his room and he'd be just jumping around like 'yeah! yeah!' Walk in and he's like rolling all around the floor and shit. We're like "What the hell dude, I can't believe this." It's crazy. He's a really good musician, too. Yeah, it's awesome, I love that kinda stuff.

JH: What is the worst part about being in the music business?

AS: Man, the worst part about, you know, it is probably like, the industry itself. You know, being in bands like you know--I thought I had a lot of it figured out and now that we're really into the industry and like mainstream scene and stuff like it's sweet, but like having to do with all the real stuff behind it like paperwork and like figures and stuff like that--splits and everything--it's crazy. And I was a little letdown, but whatever I'm still having a good time.

JH: What do you think is the best part?

AS: This, dude. Touring, like the fact that we have fans that have been out since three AM waiting outside is insane to me, which is incredible. We're totally flattered like kids who are like "Oh we flew from California just to see you guys. We already saw The Academy {Is...} when they came." It's like jeeze, like what do you say to that? That's amazing! Somebody bought plane tickets to fly over here just to see us play twenty-five minutes? Yeah, it's really incredible, like you know, once people start to recognize you and stuff like it's just--it's not overwhelming it's just really sweet. It's amazing, it's like I can't believe this is happening. 

JH: How do you deal with that? Do people just walk up to on the street like "Hey!"

AS: Yeah, I got mobbed outside for like thirty-five minutes. Like, it was freezing but I don't care, you know? Where would we be if we didn't have these kids that wanted to meet us and see us play, you know? So, I'll just hang out with them just talk and take pictures and whatever, sign stuff. Sign their shoes. 

JH: That seems to be a popular thing lately.

AS: Yeah it's really popular. It's crazy. There's this older dude who was probably like twenty-one, twenty-two and he was like "Can you sign my shoe?" I was like "Yeah... you sure? Alright dude."

JH: Who would you consider the most influential person in your life, whether it's musically or just in general?

AS: The most influential person in my life, umm...

VICTORIA ASHER (keytarist, Cobra Starship): Victoria.

AS: Definitely not Victoria. Let's see... That's a tough one. Umm, like, I mean I was always really inspired by my family, you know? Like, my brother who was always into music, both my brothers are into music, we're all musicians. Um, I was always really into business because my dad's into business too, like uh, I don't know, man. I just--my friends and my family, you know? Those are the people who I'm surrounded by and like, influenced by and stuff. They support me and stuff like that, so...

JH: What's your opinion on how the music industry's going today? Do you think the availability of free music and downloading is going to affect it negatively and be its downfall or do you think it can turn itself around?

AS: Alright, so I hear stuff all the time, like the record industry is going down, nobody's buying CDs anymore when you can download music for free which shouldn't stop bands from touring because, you know, it's a totally different world, touring and CDs. You make a CD so people can hear music and you tour so people can see you play. You know, those are two separate entities. So it's like, you know, maybe if it's smart, if it's put out right-- I heard a couple things like, they're going to start to re-release vinyl and then send like a little USB drive--what are those things? Flashdrive or something like that with the music on it so you can put it on your computer and then you also have like, because some people still like the layout and appreciate that kind of stuff, you know? So, I think that would be really sweet because I love records, so if they start making vinyl again that'd be insane because I have a pretty big vinyl collection. 

JH: Yeah, I know I need the artwork with it.

AS: Yeah! Artwork's like, massive so that's one thing you lose with digital download but a lot of people don't care you know? They don't want the space they don't want like a million CDs stacked up when you can just have {an iPod} and have like, a thousand records on there. How many songs is that, you know? I think It's alright that like, people download music and stuff, I mean, that helps out a lot of bands you know. My old band, we did alright, and then we started doing really well because of Napster when that was free in like 1999, 2000. MP3.com was free then too and we had like 20,000 plays which, back then wasn't a lot. Like, Thrice had 30,000 plays you know? Those kind of bands. But, I mean, I think it's a good thing. I mean, it might stop CD sales, it's gonna hurt record labels, but I think record labels can continue to keep going releasing stuff, they're just gonna have to think up something really clever. 

JH: At what point did you say to yourself "We're successful" or haven't you reached that point yet?

AS: Define successful.

JH: By your standards. By how you would define successful. 

AS: I mean, am I rolling around in money-successful? Definitely not. Am I successful in that fact that you know, I get recognized walking down the street somewhere? I guess you could say that. Sometimes, you know? But, I'm having a good time. I'm pretty successful, I mean, look what we do. I don't have to go home and work, which is pretty sweet. So like, I just travel the country, travel the world with The Academy Is... you know? I'd say I'm doing pretty alright.

JH: Are you guys planning on doing any headlining outside the US?

AS: Outside? I'm not sure yet. I know we're trying to figure out what our year's gonna be looking like. We're doing our headliner in January, then we're gonna see what happens after that. I'm sure we're gonna go back to the UK eventually. And then, I don't know, maybe Warped Tour? That'd be really cool. I think the lineup's gonna be really good this year. 

JH: Is there anything you wish you could change about your career up until this point?

AS: Anything I could change... uhh I don't know. Well, Ryland and I did a coin toss to see who would play guitar and who would play bass. 

JH: Would you change it?

AS: Not really. I kinda like playing bass. It's just been really difficult after thirteen years of playing guitar to become a bass player, you know? It's a little harder than it looks, I guess. It's just--crappy you know? But it's kinda sweet, I kinda like it. Maybe I take it for granted a little, but I kinda don't mind it so much these days.

JH: So do you prefer playing more large scale tours--like Honda Civic Tour was huge this year-- or do you prefer playing smaller, more intimate sets like the Sleeping With Giants tour has been?

AS: Uh, okay so the tour we're doing headlining is gonna be really sweet because it's gonna be really small. Those are really fun. Arenas and stuff like that are cool they're pretty neat. I don't like outdoor venues. Like Honda Civic Tour was mostly outdoor shows, like if you have to play during the daytime like we did it's not so fun for a band like us because we need lights and stuff like that. It really helps with our show. So those are kinda like 'eh'. Arenas--we did arenas with Panic! at the Disco like seven shows or something, that was really cool. I like the arenas. Arenas are fun, but they're really, like, impersonal. You look ten feet out and you can't see anybody it just looks like little tiny--like someone just threw, I don't know, glitter and there's sparks going off, flashes and you're just like 'are those even people?' It's crazy. I really love theaters. Theaters are so fun to me because it's like, it feels like such an event. You've got your name on the kiosk--not that we've ever headlined at a theater--but like, you get to play this really sweet place, there's like a balcony and it looks cool and they're usually like really old and have a lot of history behind them and like overseas we played a bunch of theaters with Fall Out Boy, we did the Decaydance Fest and that was just like--we played venues that The Beatles played. It was amazing. Those are my favorites because they're just really neat and really sweet. Theaters always have really cool backstages that have little trick doors and shit like that so yeah. The really small, intimate venues are really cool but I'm gonna have to go with theaters as my favorite. And that couldn't have been a longer answer.

JH: What's the most difficult thing about touring?

AS: I mean, I guess everybody being away from home. Living on a bus with nine people, you know? It kind of sucks but we've managed to get along pretty alright. There's definitely a point of the tour where everybody gets into each others' hair .

JH: How do your families and significant others deal with you being away all the time?

AS: Oh, dude. My girlfriend is not happy with me right now. She just saw the dates for the headliner, I'm gonna be like all the way like in Texas or something. I'm missing her birthday, Valentine's Day, and our second year anniversary all in like a month's span so she's not too stoked. She wishes that I was around more and my family, like, they're really excited for me but like, I missed Thanksgiving again this year and I get to go home for Christmas which is good, although I went and visited them before this tour, which is nice. I live in Brooklyn, but my parents live in Florida. 

JH: What has been your biggest challenge as a band?

AS: Our biggest challenge as a band is--I don't know. We're kinda just like riding on a train that can hardly stay on the tracks things are going so crazy, you know? We're just trying to work as hard as we can. It's a lot of work, we just had another record come out within the first year of our first record coming out and it's about to get pretty crazy I think , after the new year. We have the headliner and the new CD. We're gonna start doing videos and dropping singles and trying to get radio and things like that so it's gonna be pretty intense. That's probably our biggest challenge. We all get along.

JH: What's the hardest sacrifice you've had to make?

VA: Relationships.
AS: Yeah, definitely relationships. We all take a toll on that one. That's probably the one thing that we all have in common. I mean, it's hard to be in a relationship and be out on tour eight months out of the year.

JH: What are some of the perks of working with people like--you had Patrick Stump from Fall Out Boy produce your album and you toured with Mark Hoppus and Travis Barker from Blink 182 this summer, that's got to be insane.

AS: Oh dude that was so sweet. It was pretty crazy I mean, I wasn't ever like a huge Blink 182 fan, so like--Mark Hoppus is one of the nicest guys I've ever met. I mean, I'm sure I'd be stoked too if I had as much money as he does but he's just like really awesome, really positive all the time, like I never saw that guy upset or slightly upset or not smiling once, so that was really nice to know. It was like, man, here's this guy, he's probably one of the most famous dudes in the music industry for that kind of scene and I'm on tour with him and he's really happy all the time. That's awesome, it gives me something to look forward to. Working with Patrick was so awesome. We got along with him really well. He's insanely talented and just really creative and funny and we just like hung out like friends doing a record. 

Alex and Victoria also took a few minutes to answer some fan questions. Check out the rest of the interview in the videos below:

Since our interview, Cobra Starship has been on the road and in the studio. Keep an ear out for a new record coming soon (which, rumor has it, will also be produced by Fall Out Boy's Patrick Vaughn Stump) and be sure to catch the Cobras along with Fall Out Boy, All Time Low, Hey Monday and Metro Station this Spring on the Believers Never Die Part Deux tour. Tickets are on sale now, and shows are selling out fast!

Welcome

My name is Jesi Hovey and I am an aspiring music journalist. This blog will be a mix of concert and album reviews, as well as possible interviews and music recommendations. I'll be starting out with a few of my older interviews and articles and will go from there and I may have others contribute material from time to time. I hope you all enjoy your visit to Plethora Music. 

Thanks for reading!

Jesi