Interview with OTEP
So, after a deep slumber, Music Equals Life has broken from it’s cocoon and we are ready to share all music that we feel you should know about if you don’t already. Or if you do, then to help you expand your knowledge of it. As you know, we definately focus on the melodic rock aspect of music. But we also delve into the other regions of music as well.
We at Music Equals Life would like to first acknowledge our new writer on staff. She has been a good friend of the site for awhile but just recently joined our crew of misfits and bandits. Her name is Amber. She is a much welcomed addition and will be a great asset for our site! So welcome!
For this interview, Amber sat down in at The Rave in Milwaukee for a conversation with Otep Shamaya of the metal band OTEP, about her struggles and successes with the business of music, the state of rock / metal itself and more. This may be a bit of a lengthy read but definately interesting through and through.
Amber: It seems that you’ve had a roller coaster of a ride since the merger of Capital and Virgin Records. First in march, rumors that you were off the label, then back on and now off again. How’s that been for you?
OTEP: Well, it’s been difficult. To say the least. I think, we were expecting something to happen around November with the label because we heard through the rumor mill that things weren’t going well. With like the president of capital records at the time, Denny Slater was nervous about his job. And whenever the president of the label is nervous, then that means everyone should be nervous. And pretty much the entire place just kinda froze with fear. It just became paralyzed because no one wanted to lose their job. They didn’t really know what was going on, and you know at first, when you know, the axe came down, and everyone got fired within Capital… We were fine. We still had a release date, everything was great. And there were rumors and this, that and the other, and when the merger happened between Virgin and Capital the new regime still wanted to keep us, but I just felt it was time to move on. We’d been with Capital Records for a long time and I would just rather be out on the market place and be around people that, instead of inheriting our work, and they have to work it, I’d rather that they want to. And find people that are excited and passionate and all that, so we negotiated a release and we are unsigned which is fabulous and we haven’t been this excited in a long time. The offers are pouring in right now from a bunch of different labels and there are some very interesting ones too, which I was quite happy with. So, hopefully before this tour is up, we will have some news.
Amber: Awesome! Now, you’re all done with the album?
OTEP: The album is done, it’s mastered, it’s ready to go. The packaging is all ready.
Amber: The record label…
OTEP: All they have to do is buy it.
Amber: So what do you think of music right now? Especially the Rock and Metal Scene?
OTEP: It seems, I think, congested with garbage. I think that there’s a lot of image oriented bands that don’t really worry about song content. They don’t worry about compositioning, it’s all about hair gel and tight fucking pants and that kind of thing. And it’s not about music anymore. So at least the overall general consensus is that… We’re lucky on this tour it seems, to be around bands that are all west coast bands, which is exceptional. But we’re also around bands that have the same philosophies and they’re all incredibly talented. It’s just amazing on a tour like this. But I don’t know. I can’t…. There’s not very many bands that are new that I can be switched on by. I don’t think I’m alone in that. But I think also that it’s the dumbing down of the audience as well. They’re excepting weaker images of things that were once thought of as powerful and excepting them as dominance. It’s just disappointing to see, and to experience and to be around. Hopefully though, since it seems that there is a change in the conscienceness of America, through political means, it seems there will be a change in the overall awareness of America which is actually good.
Amber: It’s got to be hard for bands who have a good message and want to be out there and are in it for the love of music when everything is just dumbed down.
OTEP: It is… Because you see people that get a lot more recognition, and I don’t know if recognition is exactly what we’re after. But sometimes it does get frustrating when you someone who you know… And I know, because I’ve been on tour with them, or I’ve been around them and they’re not very talented, and they don’t care about their audience. They’re using it as a job and a hustle and all that. And to see them get revered and get so much attention from publications and critics and shit, it just… It’s frustrating too. But it’s also kinda the business we’re in, you know? The flash always gets more attention… Than depth.
Amber: I’m sorry, but I’m going to get a little personal on this one. But your song Jonestown Tea, about you being sexual abused… Now, I read a newspaper article about these girls that went through a similar thing. And they brought this song to their mother to bring attention to what was happening to them. Now, have you ever thought that your music and your words would ever help people be able to overcome things like this?
OTEP: No, no, I never did. But I think that’s the power of art. It truly is. The way that it’s able to empower people and what it did for me is now doing for other people through me and through us. It was unexpected and it’s meaningful beyond words. I don’t ever have to win a grammy or sell thirty thousand million records, but it’s doing something like that, that matters the most to me. And I’m fulfilled, satisfied. That was one of the most meaningful things that I know that sometimes we play shows and that people come because they hear about how incredibly insane our mosh pits are, or how they want to see the girl scream like the devil, they want to see the gimic of it. But they come and they see the art of it and then when I bring up and we do this song. We haven’t done it on this run. But, most headlining shows, we will play that song, and I will always bring up those girls, and it straightens everyone right up.
Amber: I saw you here a couple of years ago, and it was June of ‘05, I believe, and you preformed that tune, and it was very powerful.
OTEP: Yea, playing here too. (speaking of the Rave) It’s an odd place to play, and it’s really bizarre. It raises the energy’s floating around this place. And especially playing Jonestown Tea here, was really meaningful to me. The experience itself, the emotions and everything it brought up.
Amber: You were recently featured on CNN.com’s People You Should Know, what was that like for you?
OTEP: Good. Unexpected. I had no idea, and CNN is where I usually watch news and just clicking over and someone had sent me a link and I was just on the website, but I wasn’t on that page. So, I went over there and saw it and was like Wow! I never knew, I never knew. It was just incredible. It really was. I don’t know what to say about it, it was unexpected. It is an honor. But especially someone who is in the underground like that, being able to get certain recognition through something like cnn.com, it’s really cool.
Amber: Early in your career, you were offered a spot on Ozzfest after Sharon Osbourne saw you play. What was that all like?
OTEP: Well, we were playing, we were unsigned, and it was only our 5th or 6th show, ever. And we were playing the Roxie in LA and before the show, of course someone had to tell me that, *whispers* “I think Sharon Osbourne is here.” And I was like, “oh, okay.” So with that in mind, just do your show. And so we played, and we were opening for a band called Cold at the time. And we played, and you know what, it was Jonestown Tea remarkably enough, was the one that hooked her in, and we were doing a really great rendition of that song and after we got done, I was in back, recovering from the performance, because that one is always a really difficult song for me. And the guy that was our manager at the time, came back and was like, “Sharon wants to meet you.” “Now?” “Yes.” So, I go out and there’s Sharon and Jack and she says, *with a Sharon Osbourne impression* “That was a wonderful performance.” And I was like, “Thank you very much.” I’m a little shy at times around people that are very complimentary. So, she said, “Get ready, because you’re playing Ozzfest this year.” And I looked at her and was like, “We don’t have a record deal Sharon.” And she goes, “I don’t care. Make it happen.” And that was it. And there were already label cats that were at our 2nd and 3rd shows, so we already had some things lined up. I don’t know if the stars were in line or what that week because we had a label bidding war and our 7th or 8th show as a band was Ozzfest.
Amber: It’s got to be incredible to start out like that right away and play in front of all those people.
OTEP: Well, and then like the year before, I was just a fan at Ozzfest, just someone in the audience and I was watching some crappy band play and I’m like, “I’m going to be here next year. I’m going to be up there.” And the guy I was with, was like, “Come on, you don’t even have a band. What are you talking about? What are ya doing?” And I was like, “Just watch.” And sure enough the next year, I mean, when I get my teeth into something, it’s over.
Amber: Now what do you think about the Osbournes with having their show on TV and all that?
OTEP: It was outrageous and it was funny. But I know them. And it’s definitely a part of them. But some of that was definitely dolled up for the show. Jack and Kelly are actually really great people. And Sharon is wonderful and has always taken really great care of me whenever we’re on Ozzfest. But it was interesting and I was really proud for them to get that.
Amber: Is there any plans for joining Ozzfest this year?
OTEP: I don’t think so. It’s just too… We’ve already done it. We’ve been on it three times, 2 1/2 I guess, 2001, 2002, and 2004. And the way it’s done this year, it’s just weird. It’s regional, and I don’t know. It just… There’s some other things. Like, we’ve already done it, so why not let some other bands do it who’ve never done it before. And let’s go after something we’ve never done before, that way it’s fair for everyone.
Continued on page 2.
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Amber: Recently, you just cameoed in a song called “Kiss them for me” by Natalia. The song is very different than the sound of your band. What was it like going into a different genre and with the fans that have heard it, what has been their reaction.
OTEP: Well, before I did aggressive music, I was a spoken poet and I did hip hop. I wrote hip hop lyrics, but it was not like the bling bullshit, it was more like underground poetics and celebrating the beat poets and that type of thing. So it’s not a departure for me personally. Maybe a departure for fans that have never heard me do things like that before, but I’ve rhymed over songs before like T.R.I.C., Battle Ready, Possession and Confrontation are similar in that vein. Fans that have heard it have not said anything. But it’s her song and she asked me to do it. And plus the producer who produced it is Greg Wells who produced our second record. So, it’s all kind of family and friends kind of thing. He asked me if I would want to rap on a song, and I said, “Absolutely. I mean, why not?” And so I did. The fans that have heard it and commented on it to me about said they thought it was great and that I should do more of it.
Amber: Yea, I liked it a lot. Okay, so what have you been listening to lately?
OTEP: I’ve been listening to a collage of a bunch of things. There’s this one playlist on my ipod/itunes that I have called ataraxia. But it’s got everything from Beethovan’s “Moonlight Sinata”, Queens of the Stone Age, to Slayer and Radiohead and Juana Molina. Nirvana and Bush, The Deftones and Tool and Nine Inch Nails.
Amber: A good variety…
OTEP: Yea. You know, we make aggressive music but that’s just because it’s the way that we want to communicate our art. But it’s not what completely influences me. I love all types of music. I like to experience a bunch of different things and have a variety in life.
Amber: Who are some of your favorite artists?
OTEP: Well, Picasso obviously is one of my favorite painters. Egon Schiele, Gustav Klimt, Frida Kahlo, Salvador Dali of course and Max Ernst. For writers, Hunter S. Thompson, he is the master. Anne Sexton, Sylvia Plath, Charles Bukowski, Jack Kerouac, Ayn Rand, Anais Nin. and then Nietzsche and Kant.
Amber: Okay, I was just curious on this new tattoo that you got, why did you cover up other ones?
OTEP: Well, I thought that it was time. You get tattoos in the moment in certain moments in your life. And I’m just ready, as all circus people do, to shed my skin and move past these things. Besides that, I think that instead of having scattered pieces all over me. Or meaningless things now. Things that don’t mean anything to me with where I’m at now, so I want to replace it with works of art that will always be important to me and always have some meaning.
Amber: So, I have a couple of other really stupid and silly questions, so it should be fun.
OTEP: Alright, let’s do that.
Amber: What is the most ridiculous joke that you’ve heard lately?
OTEP: Ridiculous joke? Hmmm.. Oh well, uh, that Bush has an exit strategy out of Iraq.
Amber: Now there’s one question, that every time Music Equals Life has an interview — there’s one question we always ask. It goes, “If the saying was true, that if you are what you eat. You would be a what?”
OTEP: Ooooo. Ah. I dunno, this question could get me in trouble. Well, ah. Well, I don’t know. This is kind of a silly one. I can’t really answer that in an appropriate way.
Amber: It can be inappropriate, that’s fine.
OTEP: Okay, if I am what I eat, I am a…. Cunnlinguist. Absolutely haha.
Amber: Alright, that’s all that I have then. Thank you for your time.
