RAD recently had the chance to talk with the guys from Of A Revolution, who were wrapping up their recent stint on the Jeep World Outside Festival. They released their latest album Anytime Now in May, which is a collection of live songs that truly exemplifies the atmosphere and experience that is O.A.R. RAD had the opportunity to speak with all five members of the band: Marc Roberge (Vocals), Chris Culos (Drums), Richard On (Guitar), Benj Gershman (Bass), and Jerry Depizzo (Saxophone). The guys were extremely cool and genuine, and later that day put on a hell of a show. O.A.R., which began as merely a vision with a couple of friends jamming in their basement has evolved into a truly amazing story. We discussed their journey.

RAD

Many people often mistakenly call you guys "Oar" and not "Of A Revolution" or O.A.R. When did this first start happening?

Marc

I think right away. The second we made the name.

Chris

I think when Napster started people just put in oar. A lot of it had to do with word of mouth.

Marc

And on our first CD we had a wooden background, so I think kids thought it was an oar.

RAD

Of a Revolution originated from a short story you wrote in high school about the challenges of our generation. Can you tell us a little about that story?

Marc

Well, we started singing songs about our friends and things we knew about. We realized that all we were talking about was our generation of people we knew. We found that the music we wanted to hear; we were playing. I was writing a lot of stories at the time, and in one of them there was a sentence that said this was a blank of a revolution. It was kind of the beginning of our sound. But we didnt claim it to be some movement. It was just us and our friends; then it began to grow. So we kept the name.

Chris

We never really sat around to try to come up with a name. And Marc came downstairs one day and said, how about we call ourselves ‘of a revolution’

Marc

Our whole thing is that there is a mystery word before of a revolution. So its blank of a revolution.

RAD

When you were in high school you guys would often jam in your basement. At that time, who were your influences?

Marc

Genesis

Richard

Juicy Balcony, who was a band from our area.

Benj

Babylon By Bus by Bob Marley was a turning point for us.

Marc

Yea, when we heard the live Marley album we were like that is what a live band should sound like.

RAD

Just as your name originated from a story, your songs seem to tell stories. Is there a purpose or inspiration for these stories?

Marc

Yea, I feel that being young you don’t really know anything so in order to tell a story you have to be honest about what you see. Once I realized I didn’t know anything, I really opened my eyes a lot more to learn about it; and then started writing songs about it. I use characters and stuff because it is fun and easy to relate to.

RAD

What’s up with the “wanderer” theme?

Marc

It was developed when Chris and I went to Israel and we spent months there just walking around, learning, and hanging out. We kind of just took in that whole experience and made a whole story about it. The character begins his journey by leaving his house and all his money; and starts walking through the desert where he meets up with other guys doing the same thing.

RAD

How did the band evolve when you guys went to college? And with four of you being from Maryland, why did you all choose to go to Ohio State.

Chris

Hmm… Why did we? Well, there are 60,000 people there. So we thought it would be a great place to start a band.

Marc

I got in, and he (Chris) got in.

Chris

It really worked out great. Richard transferred out later; we met Jerry in the dorms when we got there; and then Benj came out after he graduated. That is when we really started to take it seriously.

RAD

You guys have your own independent record label and actively encourage and support other artists and bands to sign with independent labels. What are your reasons for this?

Marc

Initially, it was created because we had an independent following. We push other bands to do the same if they can. In order to do it, you have to tour. If a band is going to tour you may as well sell your CD’s on your own. We are planning on sticking with our label, but eventually we are going to bring in a parent label so we can market to a wider audience. When you do that you still have your independent label, yet you have the help of a major label. It is really an ideal situation for a band that tours. For us we can do whatever we want good or bad. We have made a lot of mistakes, but with an independent label it doesn’t really matter.

RAD

Okay, How has the tour been?

Benj

It has really been a lot of fun. We have a lot of time during the day to hang out and meet the other acts.

RAD

How would you describe your fan base & following? Don’t they call themselves “revolutionaries” or something?

Marc

Some of the hard core fans don’t call themselves anything, but then they make fun of the other fans that just want to hear one song. They call them “Poker heads”.

Jerry

We have a message board and if a person who doesn’t know much about the band wants to know about a song; they just jump on them.

Marc

I think it is cool. They don’t call themselves anything; they just show up. Right now, on our bus, we have two guys who just tape the shows and hang out. We do the same thing when we go to shows. It’s pretty hilarious to us.

RAD

All right, when you’re on the road what do you do; and how has it changed since when you first started?

Jerry

At first, none of us had ever toured so it was like wow; lets do this; lets do that. Then you go crazy and the show after that your head really starts to hurt.

Chris

We got to take it seriously. We try to be a professional as possible because we want to make a career out of this. We didn’t want to just travel around the country and get burned out.

RAD

Your latest album, “Anytime Now”, was performed live. What is the reason or significance of this?

Benj

I think the idea behind it is that “Anytime Now” is a representation of our performances that anytime we do a show it will be similar to that CD.

Marc

Plus, we don’t work well in the studio.

Chris

We didn’t really capture what we wanted.

Marc

When we play live, that is what we wanted on the CD. We figure if no one buys it when we are fifty we can look back and look at what we did.