Photo by Dusan Reljin

An interview was conducted with Damian of Ok Go with Steve from Metro, San Jose’s weekly newspaper publication. While the interview will be featured in the Metro soon, I will give you a brief summary of what happened that evening.

As we live in a time where there is always something newer or different than the current trend, we usually have to be open to creativity and exploration to keep up with the constant change. The members of Ok Go have definitely kept up with the change in the music industry. You can even say they are one of the pioneers for the reinvention of music videos.

They’ve created one of the most viewed music video on You Tube with the song “Here We go Again”. However, not only do they display their creativity in their videos but also when performing on stage, as they did at the Makers Faire in Santa Rosa.

Damian, singer of Ok Go, sat down with Steve from Metro and I to talk about OK Go’s musical creativity, their fans, and influences just a few minutes before their acoustic performance at Ex’pression College in Emeryville, Ca on May 24th.

While relocating to Los Angeles from Chicago, the guys of Ok Go aren’t strangers to the Bay Area. Ok Go had just performed at the arts and crafts festival Maker Faire in Santa Rosa underwater. Yes, underwater. Damian described their costumes as a “reverse scuba suit, where your body is dry, but your head is underwater.”

Backstage with OK GO live at Maker Faire

From creating the dance moves in their first video, “Here We go Again”, Ok Go has taken the responsibility to commission and the design the machines in their video, “This Too Shall Pass”. Although they had the help of some engineers with the designing, Damian said a huge part of the designing was made by the band, his father and his roommate. These YouTube videos, album covers, and press photos are all creative opportunities that excites the band explained Damian to Steve. He also understands that there aren’t as many creative barriers on the internet as there would be for cable TV, which allows them to try any ideas they come up with for their videos.

At Ex’pression College, only ¾ of Ok Go took to the stage. The band performed acoustic versions of their songs and also threw in a Pixies cover of “Wave of Mutilation”.

Ok Go- Wave of Mutilation (Pixies cover)

While being a huge fan of The Pixies, Damian’s musical influence range from their close friends in the band They Might Be Giants to the Washington, D.C punk band Fugazi. Although Ok Go might not have that hardcore-punk sound to them, growing up on the East Coast in a time where Dischord Records was at its peak, Damian said he saw Fugazi live almost once a month. Ian Mackaye, singer of Fugazi and Minor Threat, even loaned him money to start a record label while he was in high school. And yes, Damian did pay him back.

Ex’pression Sessions with Ok Go and Amanda Palmer

As their acoustic performance was broadcast live for everyone on the internet to view, Damian said they usually play venues with a seating of 500 to 2,000. When describing the demographics of who attends their shows, Damian said that it usually goes through waves and depends on who they are on tour with. From touring with This American Life to performing at a radio show, the people out in the audience are always changing, yet connecting over the years through their music.

“We got a letter from an 82 year old women who was at our show the other day saying that because of her cancer she normally can’t stand up for a full hour and a half, but she couldn’t sit down when we were on,” said Damian about their fans and who shows up to their shows.

Ok Go are currently on tour promoting  “Of the Blue Colour of the Sky” released in January. They are also one of the confirmed headliners to perform Friday, June 25th at Left Coast Live.

-Amalia Renteria

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