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Sandie Go Punk interview with Ozma - 2001
Original article (archived by Wayback Machine): https://web.archive.org/web/20030409111134/http://sandiegopunk.com/ozmainterview.html
Ozma Interview: by Jon Bardin
Before their recent show at the Epictentre, Ozma members Pat (drums), Ryen (guitar, vocals) and Daniel (bass, vocals) took a few minutes of their time to answer some questions.
Jon: I guess a lot of people compare and link you guys to Weezer…I’m sure you guys get this question asked to you all the time, but do you consider Weezer one of your number one influences or your number one influence?
Pat: They’re a strong influence. But uh..I tell you what…No, nah forget it.
Ryen: Yes, we love them. We’ve always loved them. We were glad to hear that they responded well when they first heard our stuff..um..and as far as our career goes they’ve been very helpful as far as getting out the word about us.
Daniel: I think what they always put first is melody and, like, a good song, and that’s what we always wanted to do too, so…
Jon: How big was it for you guys to be supporting Weezer on your first major tour?
Daniel: It was insane.
Pat: Very big.
Jon: Um, this is the same sort of question, when you guys drive around, on tour or whatever, what do you usually listen to?
Daniel: A lot of different stuff…anything really. Pat likes Air.
Ryen: We always listen to a couple of the Supertramp albums. We listen to Squeeze a lot, Elvis Costello…
Daniel: All the good stuff. Chick Corea…We listen to Europe a lot…
Pat: Daily. (Europe)’s a daily ritual.
Jon: You guys have played a lot of San Diego venues…You played Rimac with Weezer and the Get Up Kids and then you played the Xanth, and now you’re playing the Epicentre for the second time. What is your general feeling about the San Diego scene and how you’ve been received here?
Ryen: It’s um..this is our only second time playing here, so as..well this is our third time in san diego, second time here. So…
Daniel: This is our fourth time in San Diego, second time (at the epicentre).
Ryen: yea.
Daniel: I have always been very impressed with the kids who know about this place and come out..it’s been packed shows both times we’ve played here so…and we’ve got a lot of friends down here…our friends in the band Velcro, who aren’t playing tonight but a spin off band of theirs…
Ryen: Ursa Minor.
Daniel: yea Ursa Minor…So, it seems like a pretty good scene I guess.
Ryen: Yea. We don’t know much about it.
Jon: Is it ever weird having four guys and one girl in the band? Like, does that ever mess with the band dynamic when you guys are out or on the road or anything?
Daniel: Yea, everytime we go out we try to bring at least one other girl, so that Star will have some female company…This time(?) we’re bringing our female tour manager. (unsure about wording)
Pat: Yea, I’ld imagine sometimes she’s like, ‘what am I doing with these guys,’ like, you know…
Ryen: I don’t think so. She’s pretty sweet. I don’t think she thinks of it like that. We’re not bad, rough, or macho. We’re easy to get along with. Pat’s slapped a few girls before but…no I’m just kidding…
Pat: What?
(Ryen and Daniel are laughing)
Daniel: We like women. Women are good. I have strong women in my life. I have a respect for women.
Jon: I was wondering if there was any reason you picked the Frank L. Baum book Ozma Of Oz for your name. Does it have any special meaning or anything?
Ryen: We didn’t pick it as a book, we picked it as a name. None of us have read it as far as I know…We never wanted..
Jon: You just thought it was a cool word?
Ryen: Yea. We never really wanted any kind of connection.. but…it’s fine.
Daniel: I think it has a little mystery about it…fantasy, those are the things I like.
Jon: You guys went up to Magic Mountain with a bunch of fans to have a sort of fan appreciation day. How’d that go? Anything really cool happen?
Daniel: I thought it was awesome. Some kids brought a hacky sack and we played a huge game of hacky…and we all got to like, get on coasters with fans, and just have a lot of really good conversations with fans. Yea it was fun.
Ryen: Yea.
Pat: Yup.
Jon: You guys have some big tours coming up…the east coast/Canada tour with Weezer and Saves the Day, and then the Warped Tour in the summer. Are there any plans for a new album anywhere in there?
Ryen: There’s plans, there’s not an album.
Daniel: We’re hoping to get it done before we go out for the Warped Tour, and if everything goes as planned, that’s what’ll happen, but..we dunno.
Jon: Anything else you guys’d like to say to San Diego or sandiegopunk.com?
Ryen: Keep on rockin’.
Pat: Yea, keep on rockin in the free world.
