O'Death

• http://www.myspace.com/odeath
• http://odeath.net/
• Five guys, maybe three shirts between them, take to the stage. There's a banjo, a fiddle, a drum set littered with gas cans, chains, and broken cymbals. Then they all start howling, stomping; it's an anachronistic jug band party in a junkyard with sing-along hooks and weathered vocals from another time. Their fans, an ever-expanding congregation, sing along and follow the band with an almost religious fervor, and as vocalist Greg Jamie's eyes roll back into his head there's a sense that something almost sinisterly spiritual has overtaken everyone in the room. This is the world of O'Death. Originally formed in 2003 while the members attended SUNY Purchase, the band, with Jamie on guitar and vocals, Gabe Darling on banjo, David Rogers-Berry on drums, Jesse Newman on bass, and Bob Pycior on fiddle, self-released their first album in 2004. They quickly took to the task of stirring up a wholly original scene of NY musicians with their reverently twisted take on Americana filtered through a wealth of musical influences as divergent as Bill Monroe, Prince, Dock Boggs, Neil Young, The Microphones, and The Misfits via a series of shows at the now defunct Apocalypse Lounge.