Tobi O'Kandi previews their new album...
Sometimes events take on a life of their own.
Trying to get back to London, a penniless O. Children opted to smuggle themselves on board a train. Frontman Tobi O'Kandi was caught, and upon being taken to the police station was plunged into a visa battle.
Tobi O'Kandi entered the UK when he was six and - unbeknown to the singer - he had outlasted his visa by over a decade. Entering a legal battle, the songwriter was pushed into analysing exactly who he was, and where he was going.
Successfully winning his fight to stay in the UK - see, there is a happy ending! - the experience has fuelled O. Children's new album 'Apnea'. Ahead of this, the band are to release their limited edition single 'PT Cruiser' as part of Record Store Day.
Tobi O'Kandi reflects on this, and offers a preview of 'Apnea'.
- - -
What made you want to get involved in Record Store Day?
Well, I guess Mark who runs Republic Of Music - our distributor - he was keen to get us on there. We’re releasing ‘PT Cruiser’ and also a b-side called ‘Decider’- we had 24 songs to choose from, so we thought it’d be nice to get involved that way. This will be my first actual Record Store Day, so I’m quite excited about the whole thing.
Have you taken part as a fan before?
I haven’t, other people in the band have. This is my first sort of real Record Store Day and I didn’t really know anything about it, but then I looked into it and it seems like a very good idea. The whole record aesthetic I think it’s coming back and people are more interested in records. I heard they’ve gone up like 200%, but that might be an exaggeration. It seems like a really interesting thing.
Are you still interested in the classic image and concept of an album?
Well I guess these days it’s looking like everything’s streamed and you can sort of get it really quickly, but that makes it throw away. I think with an album not only can you tell a story, but you get more bang for your buck. Regardless of what’s going on in new media and music these days, there’s always going to be demand for that. I guess albums are just here to stay, because people will always be interested in hearing the full package one thing at a time, you know?
So did you conceive ‘Apnea’ as being this one complete document?
Yeah, I mean by the time we got into the studio with a full band we had most of the songs ready and we had an idea of how they’d link into each other, because the album is quite different...every song is quite different, but then once it had a story line I kind of thought of it as a movie or like a story: peaks and troughs... lots of things happening. With ‘Apnea’ it was definitely meant to be almost like a storytelling album, like a collection of tales recorded and put out there. A lot of thought went into it.
This is a very autobiographical record, was that a decision you took or was it just simply that this is the only way you could cope with what was going on?
That’s just the way it came out. Maybe in a couple of years or something I’ll be all about jacuzzis and bikini girls, and I’ll probably write about that. I kind of write very instinctively. With the last record it was more fantasy, where as this one is a lot more real. I did a lot of soul searching and it all kind of came out. It’s nothing I planned to do, it just kind of the way it came out. I think it was probably for the best.
How did the band assist with this?
Actually me and Gauthier, the guitarist, we kind of shared writing credits. He wrote some songs and I just kind of arranged them. With the last record it was literally just me, but this one I wrote some songs, he wrote some songs, then we went in the studio and worked on them to try and make them as perfect as we possibly can. I think it kind of made the whole thing a lot more fluid. For one it was a lot easier because I mean not all the pressure was on me, which was nice for a change. I guess this one was very personal and very autobiographical, but everyone had a hand in it, it wasn’t just like me: it was a together thing, it was like a gang thing. I just stuck some lyrics on.
Musically, what was fuelling the new album?
Actually with the new record I made it key that I didn’t listen to any old or new music. It kind of kept it as remote as possible when it came to putting influences on. The last record, again, we had a lot of sort of influences that we’d been listening to at that exact moment, and it came out good but it also came out as a record that was sort of more like a homage to other sounds. For this one we kind of wanted to own our own sound and develop more as a band, so there was a sort of ban on anything alternative or indie or sort of like rock based. I think that also shows on the record because it’s all very sort of raw and rough and ready, which is more of the idea, we didn’t want to rehash old sounds and make them sound like your typical rock band or your typical prog band, we just wanted to sort of do our own thing, see what sticks.
You opted to self-produce, was that important for you to take control on this given the personal nature of the material?
Pretty much. It just felt like we had ideas for many different producers and stuff. We just thought why not keep it as an in-house thing, do everything ourselves and then if it goes tits up we’re the ones to blame, you can’t really place the blame on anyone. I think it’s good we did it that way because it was also like a bonding experience, it gave us a chance to - because we haven’t done anything in a long time - it gave us the chance to really get on it with no one else involved.
Has it felt like a learning process?
It’s always learning for us. With this one we just thought more about ourselves and more about the way we should sound. We’ve always been a slow burning band, but ignored all the hype so we can focus on improving - and we continue to do that.
How do you feel personally, stepping aside from this material? Do you feel like you’ve entered a better place in your life now?
Oh yeah, definitely. With all the stuff that happened, it sort of made me - for the use of a better word - a better person. It opened up a lot, it was a kind of like a really cathartic therapy session, in a way. I came out of it feeling so fresh and and once all that stuff was done, once the album and all that stuff was done it was almost like fate, like it was meant to happen like this and now we can take this on tour. But yeah, it was really nice I guess, I feel like a much better person ready to take over the world.
- - -
'Apnea' is set to be released on May 28th. 'PT Cruiser' will be released on Record Store Day
Trying to get back to London, a penniless O. Children opted to smuggle themselves on board a train. Frontman Tobi O'Kandi was caught, and upon being taken to the police station was plunged into a visa battle.
Tobi O'Kandi entered the UK when he was six and - unbeknown to the singer - he had outlasted his visa by over a decade. Entering a legal battle, the songwriter was pushed into analysing exactly who he was, and where he was going.
Successfully winning his fight to stay in the UK - see, there is a happy ending! - the experience has fuelled O. Children's new album 'Apnea'. Ahead of this, the band are to release their limited edition single 'PT Cruiser' as part of Record Store Day.
Tobi O'Kandi reflects on this, and offers a preview of 'Apnea'.
- - -
What made you want to get involved in Record Store Day?
Well, I guess Mark who runs Republic Of Music - our distributor - he was keen to get us on there. We’re releasing ‘PT Cruiser’ and also a b-side called ‘Decider’- we had 24 songs to choose from, so we thought it’d be nice to get involved that way. This will be my first actual Record Store Day, so I’m quite excited about the whole thing.
Have you taken part as a fan before?
I haven’t, other people in the band have. This is my first sort of real Record Store Day and I didn’t really know anything about it, but then I looked into it and it seems like a very good idea. The whole record aesthetic I think it’s coming back and people are more interested in records. I heard they’ve gone up like 200%, but that might be an exaggeration. It seems like a really interesting thing.
Are you still interested in the classic image and concept of an album?
Well I guess these days it’s looking like everything’s streamed and you can sort of get it really quickly, but that makes it throw away. I think with an album not only can you tell a story, but you get more bang for your buck. Regardless of what’s going on in new media and music these days, there’s always going to be demand for that. I guess albums are just here to stay, because people will always be interested in hearing the full package one thing at a time, you know?
So did you conceive ‘Apnea’ as being this one complete document?
Yeah, I mean by the time we got into the studio with a full band we had most of the songs ready and we had an idea of how they’d link into each other, because the album is quite different...every song is quite different, but then once it had a story line I kind of thought of it as a movie or like a story: peaks and troughs... lots of things happening. With ‘Apnea’ it was definitely meant to be almost like a storytelling album, like a collection of tales recorded and put out there. A lot of thought went into it.
This is a very autobiographical record, was that a decision you took or was it just simply that this is the only way you could cope with what was going on?
That’s just the way it came out. Maybe in a couple of years or something I’ll be all about jacuzzis and bikini girls, and I’ll probably write about that. I kind of write very instinctively. With the last record it was more fantasy, where as this one is a lot more real. I did a lot of soul searching and it all kind of came out. It’s nothing I planned to do, it just kind of the way it came out. I think it was probably for the best.
How did the band assist with this?
Actually me and Gauthier, the guitarist, we kind of shared writing credits. He wrote some songs and I just kind of arranged them. With the last record it was literally just me, but this one I wrote some songs, he wrote some songs, then we went in the studio and worked on them to try and make them as perfect as we possibly can. I think it kind of made the whole thing a lot more fluid. For one it was a lot easier because I mean not all the pressure was on me, which was nice for a change. I guess this one was very personal and very autobiographical, but everyone had a hand in it, it wasn’t just like me: it was a together thing, it was like a gang thing. I just stuck some lyrics on.
Musically, what was fuelling the new album?
Actually with the new record I made it key that I didn’t listen to any old or new music. It kind of kept it as remote as possible when it came to putting influences on. The last record, again, we had a lot of sort of influences that we’d been listening to at that exact moment, and it came out good but it also came out as a record that was sort of more like a homage to other sounds. For this one we kind of wanted to own our own sound and develop more as a band, so there was a sort of ban on anything alternative or indie or sort of like rock based. I think that also shows on the record because it’s all very sort of raw and rough and ready, which is more of the idea, we didn’t want to rehash old sounds and make them sound like your typical rock band or your typical prog band, we just wanted to sort of do our own thing, see what sticks.
You opted to self-produce, was that important for you to take control on this given the personal nature of the material?
Pretty much. It just felt like we had ideas for many different producers and stuff. We just thought why not keep it as an in-house thing, do everything ourselves and then if it goes tits up we’re the ones to blame, you can’t really place the blame on anyone. I think it’s good we did it that way because it was also like a bonding experience, it gave us a chance to - because we haven’t done anything in a long time - it gave us the chance to really get on it with no one else involved.
Has it felt like a learning process?
It’s always learning for us. With this one we just thought more about ourselves and more about the way we should sound. We’ve always been a slow burning band, but ignored all the hype so we can focus on improving - and we continue to do that.
How do you feel personally, stepping aside from this material? Do you feel like you’ve entered a better place in your life now?
Oh yeah, definitely. With all the stuff that happened, it sort of made me - for the use of a better word - a better person. It opened up a lot, it was a kind of like a really cathartic therapy session, in a way. I came out of it feeling so fresh and and once all that stuff was done, once the album and all that stuff was done it was almost like fate, like it was meant to happen like this and now we can take this on tour. But yeah, it was really nice I guess, I feel like a much better person ready to take over the world.
- - -
'Apnea' is set to be released on May 28th. 'PT Cruiser' will be released on Record Store Day
