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We recently caught up with Jake from ONI for a chat about the band’s debut album, touring and plans for 2017. Check out out below!
You recently released your debut album Ironshore. What’s the response been like so far to it?
So far it’s been amazing. People are coming to the shows singing along so we are stoked. The night it came out, we were watching the iTunes metal charts and we got pretty high- I think number 14.
Can you describe the writing and recording process for it?
The writing process was smooth. We wrote and recorded everything in only 5 months. We wanted to use all new material for this record – to capture our sound from that time. All the members contribute to the writing. It’s very much a collaborative effort.
Were there any tracks that were more of a challenge to get right, or did everything go pretty much to plan?
Chasing Ecstasy was originally not going to be on the album. There was another song we wrote that would have been on the album that I didn’t really vibe with. I couldn’t see myself singing on it, so we took an older song only from a year before everything else was written that was originally called Prankster and totally re-worked it adding solos from Devil You Know’s guitarist Francesco Artusato and Jhonny D [Oni xylosynth]. We completely re wrote the vocals with the help of our producer, Josh Wilbur, and the final product was Chasing Ecstacy.
Which song are you most proud of?
All of them but If I had to pick one it would be Science. It’s the most definitive of our sound, I think.
You’re going to be touring with Devil You Know next year. What can fans expect from the shows?
An old fashion throwdown. We’ve toured with them before and they’ve become good friends. This time, we will be co-headlining with Devil You Know so it will be a battle of bros every night.
What do you like most about touring?
I love playing bad ass shows every day. But besides that I would say the food! I like eating all different types of food so sampling the local fare has been one of my favorite things for sure.
Is there anything you dislike?
Miss my daughter like mad so I dislike not being able to see her in person every day. It makes me appreciate time off that much more.
What has been your favourite show so far?
Such a hard question. There have been so many good ones! I would say my favorite show was the last time we hit up Toronto on the Children of Bodom tour. So many friends of ours where there and we had a great night.
What about the strangest or weirdest show?
I’ve played some strange shows before. I would have to say the bowling alley show we did was pretty weird.
And finally, what can we expect from ONI for the rest of 2017?
Tour, tour and more tour! Nothing official we can announce just yet, but our album just came out so we expect to be on tour most of next year to support it. Of course we will be working on some more crazy riffs for you too!
