Today we meet The Omecs who are part of the gang at King Pizza Records. They play it fast, raw , and full of fun . The Omecs are a perfect way to wake up in the morning they make me think of The Velvet Underground getting mashed up with Ty Segall. This is the kind of tunes that I gravitate towards because from the first note , you know that The Omecs are having a blast . Give a listen to them today and tell your friends all about The Omecs…..
Can you give us a little of the bands background, bands that you’ve been in , how long you’ve been singing those kinds of things?
I’ve been playing music with people since I got my first electric guitar in 8th grade. For real, the band teacher at my high school tried to get me and my friends expelled because he caught us jamming in the band room at lunch. I still don’t get why a band teacher wanted to discourage kids from playing music. What a turd.
Before The Omecs I was in one other “band”, but we only had 1 show. We were extremely loud and we played after 3 acoustic acts, so everyone but 4 people left for our set. My parents even told me they hated it.
How did the formation of The Omecs come about?
The Omecs started a few years ago as a way for my friend Mike McFarlane and I (Luke Bonczyk) to blow off steam over the winter. Mike and I happened to dig the same kind of music, so we hit it off right away. We wanted to play loud and fast shit like Billy Childish, The Gories, The Stooges, The Oblivians and stuff on the Back to the Grave and Nuggets compilations. I think our first show was a Halloween party in the basement of a pizza shop. Recently, Mike moved on to form a group called Black Monuments, which are pretty sick. Now I’m just keeping the band going because I like hanging out and playing music with everyone who’s still in it.
Can you tell us what albums you all listened to back when you were at home, high school days?
Luke Bonczyk: Red Hot Chili Peppers “Californication” and Led Zeppelin ”II” “IV” and “Houses of the Holy”
Ross Turcotte: “The Velvet Underground & Nico” or Air “The Virgin Suicides”
Mara Furlich: The Cure “Pornography” and “Faith”
Hank McHenry: Jimmy Eat World “Believe in What You Want”
How would you describe your sound and singing style?
Our first tape has a pretty obvious Gories/Gun Club/ Billy Childish influence. I think the first song Mike and I jammed to was “Sister Ann” by The Gories, so we tried to stick with that kind of messy and energetic sound.
Any plans for a new album and can you share your thoughts on the making of the album?
We’ve had so many changes since our last album! Mike left, Mara switched from guitar to drums, and we added Ross on organ. We came up with an album worth of new songs last winter but haven’t been able to record them due to time and money issues. Jim Diamond even offered to record us at Ghetto Recorders in Detroit, which would have been crazy but we were way too broke. If we ever get our new songs recorded, you’ll notice more of a gritty 60’s influence like The Keggs and The Sonics. Like we have a song called “Down” where the chorus is just the word “Down” screamed a bunch of times.
Now that your part of the King Pizza Gang, what are your plans for the rest of 2015 and early 2106? and plans for touring?
I graduate from college in April, so I’d love to play a tour over the summer. Our plan at this point is just to find a weekend where everyone can get together to record this new album. It’s gonna happen!
Who is the craziest person you have ever met or toured with?
I’d say our weirdest show was with Muuy Biien in Rochester, NY. It was like a perfect storm of fucked-up. It was father’s day and nobody except the opening bands showed up. Even the booker, who promised us and Muuy Biien a place to crash didn’t show. Some guys at the bar said both bands could stay at their place, but they didn’t answer our texts after we finished loading up. Incidentally, their address was on a street called Comfort Street, which we figured had to be a fake address. In desperation we went to their address and saw their lights were on. Jenny, the girl who was selling merch for us broke into their house and found them asleep on the living room floor. I guess they had smoked a ton of weed and passed out. I think they wanted to try to make up for leaving us hanging, so in an effort to be good hosts they turned on the movie Jumanji while we tried to fall asleep on the floor. It was kind of a mind trip because I hadn’t seen this movie since childhood, and Robin Williams had died the year before. I ended up just crashing outside on the porch floor. Looking back, the night was pretty bizarre but it was a lot of fun and Muuy Biien sounded really sick live.
Any new bands we should be paying attention to now that we have talked about The Omecs?
I gotta say, all the bands on the King Pizza roster sound really sick, and we’re psyched to be a part of that family. But being from Michigan, I wana mention some killer local stuff going on right now. Bad Indians, Haunted Leather, and Chit Chat are some of my all-time favorite bands let alone Michigan locals. Unfortunately, none of them are still together. Some other notables in no particular order are Primitiv Parts, Heaters, The Deadly Vipers, Moonwalks, Sandkings, Suzies, Prude Boys, Sapphic, Mexican Knives, Hearing Eyes, Matt Tenclay & The Howlers, Shane Tripp Band, and Black Monuments who I mentioned earlier. All these guys are buds though, so I’m biased.
If you could hit a time machine button and end up in any music scene, what year would it be and more importantly where would you be.
With no question, I would want it to be 1967 in Ann Arbor, Michigan when The Stooges were first starting out. It would be fucking nuts to see the Psychedelic Stooges at house shows, and I want to hang at The Fun House!
Any last thoughts for you fans….
We’re just doing this shit for fun, so let’s all hang!
