Atlanta musicians O’Brother have been adhering to the same busy schedule they kept in 2009 thus far in 2010, touring extensively after taking a little time at home catching up on writing and family. For the last few weeks the five-piece has been on tour with Manchester Orchestra, The Features, and Biffy Clyro, and will trade in that line up for another tour, this time including Thrice along with O’Brother and fellow Georgians, Manchester Orchestra. The band is also pushing their January released 7” split with Sainthood Reps, which follows up 2009’s The Death of Day. The album is available digitally, as well as on limited edition vinyl.
Delivering a sound full of deep, heavy builds as well as a quality that is both delicate to the point of bordering on creepy, O’Brother has created a very specific ambience in their music. The band’s album The Death of Day brings layers of distortion, harmonies, and fluid lead vocals, all supporting prophetic andwell thought out lyrics. Juxtaposing the variation between fast and slow, throwing in grinding guitar along with a velvety vocals, the songs of O’Brother are not ones easy used as merely background noise-they demand that they be paid attention to.
This is a band that pushes the musical envelope and looks for the biggest way to deliver the passion that is so apparent in every song they play.
O’Brother bassist Anton Dang answered a few questions for us via email while on the road this past week. Check out our online chat about the bands plans, influences, and what an O’Brother comic would be like.
Reviewsic: If you could book a tour with any 3 bands, past or present, who would they be and why?
Anton Dang: Our best friends Dignan, All Get Out, and Winston Audio.
Reviewsic: What are your top three musical influences?
Anton Dang: Sigur Ros, Radiohead, Colour Revolt, Blonde Redhead, Mogwai and Appleseed Cast. I know that’s six and you asked for three. Sometimes I don’t like to follow instructions. I’m a bad boy.
Reviewsic: Is there any instrument you don’t play, but wish you did?
Anton Dang: Rhodes, Harp, and Cello.
Reviewsic: What are the last three albums or bands you each listened to?
Anton:
1. Mew - No More Stories…
2. Doomriders - Darkness Come Alive
3. Dredg - The Pariah, The Parrot, The Delusion
Johnny:
1. Sunny Day Real Estate - Diary
2. Queens of the Stone Age - Lullabies to Paralyze
3. No Knife - Riot For Romance!
Aaron:
1. Sunn 0))) - Monoliths and Dimensions
2. Bloody Panda - Summon
3. Meshuggah - Obzen
Michael:
1. Biffy Clyro - Only Revolutions
2. Blonde Redhead - 23
3. Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago
Tanner:
1. Cave In - Antenna
2. Chris Staples - Badlands
3. Portugal the Man - Censored Colors
Reviewsic: If you could collaborate with one person in the music industry (musician, label, 
producer etc), who would it be and why?
Anton Dang: I think it’d be badass if we did a record with Steve Albini (Nirvana, The Pixies, Mogwai, Mono, and Neurosis) and also I’d like to hear what it would sound like if we got mashed up with Jay-Z.
Reviewsic: Who was the first band/musician you saw live?
Anton Dang: I think my first concert was warped tour 1999. Pennywise, Nofx, Less than Jake, Me First and the Gimmie Gimmies, Blink 182 all at one place.
Reviewsic: Who are three of your favorite local bands from your neck of the woods (past or present)?
Anton Dang: Irreversible, Rova Zetella, and Red Sea. They all play great music and are even greater people.
Reviewsic: If your band were to be fictionalized into a comic book what would your powers be, who would be the villain, and what would be the plot/conflict?
Anton Dang: Here’s what would happen; we would start out as a crime fighting group like the power rangers but one by one turn into bad guys and become arch nemesis but have to team back together one last
time to defeat a super villian.
Reviewsic: Tell us a little bit about the influx of tour dates you have planned. What can people coming out for these shows expect to see/hear?
Anton Dang: Like I said, we’re about a month into our tour with Manchester Orchestra and we still have two more weeks to go. After this tour we’re home for four days then we go back out for about another month for the Thrice/Manchester Orchestra co-headline tour. We’ve been playing most of the songs from our record “The Death of Day” on this tour but I think we’re going to try to incorporate some new songs for the Thrice tour.
Reviewsic: What goes into your writing process? Is there a specific concept or muse behind the music you make?
Anton Dang: We’re still trying to figure that all out. For “The Death of Day”, the majority of the songs were already written and structured out by Tanner (singer/guitarist). He would show the rest of us, and we would all add our parts and maybe change the songs around a bit. I think with these newer songs we have been working on, we’re all more involved. More of us are writing songs so it’s more of a group effort.
Reviewsic: What are your top three favorite venues? Does that change at all in terms of 
playing a show versus seeing one?
Anton Dang: We all dream of playing the Tabernacle here in Atlanta. It’s a gorgeous old church with an immaculate sound and a great natural reverb. Every show that we’ve seen there has been amazing. One place we played was in Mcallen, TX, where our good friends in Dignan asked us to play their CD release show, at this old movie theatre turned into venue called Cine el Rey. Another favorite was The Milestone in Charlotte, NC. It’s a tiny venue/dive bar with an intimate/punk feel. Bands like Nirvana, Black Flag, and Bad Brains used to play there.
Reviewsic: What are the best and worst band moments so far in your career?
Anton Dang: I think the best moment for us was when we all collectively decided that we should start taking this seriously and so we all moved into Michael’s mom’s basement so that we can tour full time. Worst moment in our career? We live in our drummer’s mom’s basement.
Reviewsic: Individually, how did you get your start in music? Where do you see music taking you in the future?
Anton Dang: Well me, Johnny, and Michael basically started playing music together cause we wanted to be Blink 182. And I don’t think you can time travel through music…actually you can’t time travel at all through anything.
Reviewsic: If you were to put together a tribute album, who would it be to and why?
Anton Dang: We would say Radiohead but it’s too soon so we would probably say Smashing Pumpkins.
Reviewsic: What are three items that O’Brother have to include in their “tour survival kit”?
Anton Dang: Thats easy… Sriracha, Peanut Butter, and my highlighter yellow neon speedo
