Dead Boy Productions

 

01/02/08
Pavel

Dead Boy Productions with Oscar B.

 

Oscar B. are three skeletons thirsty for blood, coming from Gatineau, QC, near Ottawa. Born from the ashes of three other underground bands, they formed less than a year ago, but their psychobilly francophone is already well known in their area. Roaming the Quebec roads alongside bands like The Creepshow, The Brains, and The Alley Dukes, these guys work hard, play fast, and better their music with every show. They are planning to release their debut album in the beginning of 2008, and won’t stop there. I caught up with Crâne B., vocals and upright bass, to reveal some of the morbid secrets of Oscar B. Read and shiver!

Hello! To begin, could you present the band, your music and how it all began for you?

Oscar B. is a trio, formed by three skeletons from Gatineau, in Québec. We met in the local punk scene: “Femur B” was playing guitar and singing in a ska-punk band, called Black Curtains, “Hyoide B.” played drums in a band called Khann Rabatt and I played upright bass in Sick Sick Sick, another psychobilly formation from Gatineau. We play a mix of psychobilly, punk and rock’n’roll, all with lyrics in French. We started the band, because we wanted to do something different and push our music to the next level. We wanted to play the music we all love and that is unknown to many people.

Where does the name Oscar B. come from? What about your nicknames?

We were together in second grade and we had this biology teacher, who was, by the masculine opinion, a “desirable prey”. Hyoide B. was mad about her and tried to catch her attention all the time, but in vain. That’s why, one night of the full moon, Fémur and I surprised her in the science warehouse, kissing Oscar, the biology skeleton. Because of this glorious event, we chose the name “Oscar”. As for the nicknames, these are the names of bones we all fractured at one point of our lives.

You formed a band in the beginning of this year and since you never stopped touring. How did that happen? You started touring very quickly.

Yes, obviously, we wanted to go on the road right away. We tested out stuff in front of different crowds; we have a lot of fun together on the road, so we wanted more of it. We are the first psychobilly band in Quebec, singing in French, and we want to expose our music to as many people in as many places as possible. We had great support for the shows and the contacts we had from our previous bands helped a lot.

How was your tour “In Flesh and Bones”? You toured everywhere in Quebec?

We did our summer tour with our friends from Captain Finger, a punk band from Montreal. We went to many places and we had a blast. Oscar B. is a young band, but we all have a great passion about it and want to play as much as we can. Some of the places we played had a great reaction to our psychobilly; others found us strange because of the upright bass and our songs about skeletons. The important thing is that we captured their attention. We had a chance to play some great shows and we can’t wait to go back on tour in Quebec.

You play the upright bass with The Alley Dukes. How do you handle playing in two bands at the same time?

(Laughs) like we say here: “Nothing’s easy!” The Alley Dukes are a well established rockabilly, even “pornobilly” band from Montreal. I started playing with them in March, for their Canadian tour, and I stayed in the bands ever since. There is 200 km between the two bands, so I’m always going between Montreal and Gatineau. I travel all the time between these cities for practice, recording, band meetings and of course for the shows. But fortunately, the tour schedule is well organized and we even manage to play some shows together, big shows with Oscar B and The Alley Dukes! Being in these two bands, allows me to live my passion to the fullest and satisfies my need of being on the road, traveling! Speaking of this, Fémur B. is also a polygamy skeleton.

Tell me a little bit about your upcoming debut album. It is being released in the beginning of 2008, right?

Right! We are really excited about this album! But Oscar B. history would never be the same if it wasn’t for our friend and producer René Garcia from The Brains. We are presently in studio with René; we are recording the upright bass. We take our time, in order to make the best album possible. All the songs were written this year and became better with all the touring and in the studio. It’s a great challenge, because this is the first real album for each band member, but René is doing a great job and we love being in the studio.

Do you have any plans going outside Quebec, maybe touring the rest of Canada, the States or even Europe?

Our ambitions are huge, but we have to plan intelligently for the release of our album. We work with a great booking agent, Cynthia Lacombe, and she helps us a lot. It’s for sure that we’ll tour outside Quebec; we’ll tour Ontario in 2008. There are a lot of people who want us to play the English part of Canada, and we want it too, very much. Europe is a priority too. We sing in French and obviously there is a larger public in Europe. We heard some great things about European tours, so we can’t wait to go there!

You’re singing in French. What is the reaction of the English speaking crowds?

The French language is not very popular in the psychobilly circuits. You’re right, this is one of the main reasons we sing in French, to create something new. Rock’n’roll is mainly in English, but there are so many artists who do a great job in French. We are huge fans of Galaxie 500, Duster’71, Les Dale’s Hawerchuks, Malajube, Le Nombre, Vulgaires Machins and Les Prostiputes. Many people have said to us: “I don’t give a fuck if it’s French, it rocks!”, so it’s a good thing. A lot of people listen to music for the music, so lyrics could have a secondary place. Our lyrics are in fact very important and I put a lot of effort into working on them, but rock’n’roll is in the first place a primitive language that binds all the creatures who want to have some fun. In fact, there are a lot of Quebec bands who have toured the States and Europe, singing in French, so I think it’s a possible thing to do.

Do you want Oscar B. to become your main occupation? Something like a full-time job? Touring all the time and recording albums is very tempting opportunity.

Yes, very tempting! The bands average age is 19, so we are not submerged in responsibilities, family duties, paying rent and stuff like that, so it’s really possible to make Oscar B. a full-time occupation. Isn’t that the dream of every musician? Make a living from our music and our passion will be the ultimate situation for us, we love touring, playing shows, writing songs, doing promo photos, interviews.

What are your plans for the future?

Finish and release our first album, play everywhere. Make a second album, play everywhere again. A third album after that……and so on!

Thank you for your time. Any last words?

SATAN!!!