I’ll admit, I’m pretty late to the Octane OK party but at least I’m here now! Octane OK are a four piece rock band from Birmingham and they play accessible, guitar heavy pop/rock and are quite frankly brilliant, the bands debut EP ‘So Close’ is 5 tracks of well played and well crafted music and are definitely a big part of the UK rock scene. They are about to head off to Texas to begin recording their debut album with Jason Perry (who has produced albums by Kids In Glass Houses, McFly and The Blackout!) and we caught up with singer Paul Tandy, The band are completed by Guitarist Mikey Rainsford, Drew Comley on Bass and Drummer Tom Weston, to tell us about it.
Where did the bands name come from? The name came from just throwing random words around. I liked Octane but thought it sounded like a metal band so I added Ok on the end and that was that.
How did you get started? Me and Tom went to school together and have played in bands together for years. We put a ad on Myspace for a guitarist and had one reply so Mikey was in. On a random night out in Cardiff we bumped into Drew and he joined there and then. I don’t think he realised how far Birmingham was from Southampton.
What have you got going on at the moment? We’re just in pre-production for our first album. We’re off to Texas / LA to record it with Jason Perry in July. Can’t wait!!
Favourite music and why? I’d say we all have a mixed bag of musical tastes. That ranges from The Backstreet Boys to Black Sabbath and everything in between. I personally love old soul music like Otis Redding, Same Cooke and Stevie Wonder, love the vocals.
Favourite book and why? I don’t read books but Mikey enjoys nothing more than reading a good dictionary on tour.
Favourite film and why? Not the coolest of films but you can’t beat Ace Ventura When Nature Calls.
Best experience in the business? I’d say being nominated for a Kerrang award (best British newcomer). Was wicked to be at the awards and have people like Jared Leto and Alice Cooper walking past. We didn’t think we’d get nominated.
Why should Soundscape readers care? Our aim is always to write good rock music that you can sing along too. So if that what you like give it a spin.
Tell our readers an interesting fact about your band? We invented Mangarooing.
What’s the best and worst things about touring? Playing shows and seeing people sing your lyrics back is amazing. Long drives are the only bad thing but the good certainly out weighs the bad!
What’s your writing and recording process? I write the songs then show the band and when bash them in rehearsal for a bit. Then we demo all the tracks ourselves then send them over to the producer.
Best thing about Wales? We recorded our EP in Wales with Romesh (Dodangoda, Welsh super producer) at some amazing studio’s (Longwave, Rockfield and Monnow Valley). So it’s always good to catch up over a few glasses of pop.
You can see the video for the song ‘Fly Again’ from the EP ‘So Close’ which is available from the bands webstore and iTunes and be sure to check the band out on Facebook here Octane Ok | Facebook and if anyone can tell us what ‘Mangaooring’ is, leave us a comment, I’d be very grateful!
