EPISODE 44 - Elise Okusami of Oceanator
SHOW NOTES:
Shawna chats with Elise Okusami of the band Oceanator about the value of storytelling and not waiting for a big hero to save us through their song, “Lullaby.” Also? The pitterpatter of Rosie’s paws on the floor (and scratching and shaking and just generally making sound), Oceanator as a family affair, what we’re like to tour with, and who else lists Dookie as their first punk record?
SHOW LINKS:
Oceanator on Bandcamp: https://oceanator.bandcamp.com/track/lullaby-2
Oceanator on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/cw/oceanator
WAR ON WOMEN/Oceanator tour info: linktr.ee/waronwomen
Music to Life: https://www.musictolife.org/
Mood Machine book - Liz Pelly: https://booksaremagic.net/item/gQpiPqSJBXgQuxapRjFf2Q/lists/L6k6O686GxwY/
ABIYOYO book - Pete Seeger: https://mpt.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/abiyoyo-video/reading-rainbow-stories/
Anansi the spider: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anansi
Baba Yaga: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baba_Yaga
Freedom Sounds album: https://folklife.si.edu/magazine/freedom-sounds-from-smithsonian-folkways
Pears: https://pearstheband.bandcamp.com/album/pears
SHAWNA’S LINKS:
The new Safer Spaces: Online Course: https://shawnapotter.com/safer-spaces-course
Making Spaces Safer book: https://www.akpress.org/making-spaces-safer-book.html
Request fun video messages: https://www.cameo.com/shawnapotterwow
All things War On Women: linktr.ee/waronwomen
https://www.youtube.com/@shawnapotter
SHOW SCRIPT:
Welcome to But Her Lyrics...the show where we delve into the political lyrics of songs I like, songs I wrote, or topics that I think should be a song. I’m Shawna Potter, singer and lyricist for War On Women - and your host. It’s been a minute since the last episode was released! I’ve had a tour or two, the holidays happened, I traveled for some film work, did a 2.5 week in- patient paid research study, and have kicked a self-improvement journey into high gear, so thank you to my patrons for your patience. But I’m coming back with an awesome episode for you, so hopefully the wait was worth it. In just a bit I’ll be chatting with Elise Okusami of the band Oceanator, who yes, War On Women is taking on tour in March, so what a great opportunity to get to know them a bit = and then come see us both play!
We’re gonna tackle their song, Lullaby, which, to mostly quote Elise in an email, “in general it's about how every day there is some new horror and then conflating that with fairy tales and folk lore in some sort of grand battle BUT no one is coming to save us !” - pretty timely y’all
There’s another reason I’ve been busy for a while - I was working hard on turning my Safer Spaces Program into a self-guided online course and I’m finally done! Thanks to a grant from the Music to Life folks, which absolutely jump started the idea and helped me figure out it was possible, my course is now available on my website shawnapotter.com and it’s for anyone listening that wants to help make their scene safer, who works in a venue or bar or space, who just likes going out to shows and dance parties, or maybe you work in a small business or facilitate a group gathering of some kind (knitting, activist meet ups, bike rides, whatever), or even if you’re part of a group at a college or university, trust me there is so much good stuff in the Safer Spaces course. Preview it on my website, share it with friends on your socials, recommend it to your fav businesses and schools because there are group rates, and let’s get everyone trained in recognizing harassment and responding to it in real time. Practical protocols, lots of resources, lots of info, videos, self-reflection prompts, lots of cool stuff, I promise you will learn something - in a way that works for you and helps others. Win win win.
[PATREON]
Thank you patrons for sticking with me, for those of you that were kind enough to beta test my course (it’s even better now that it’s finished), and as always big thanks to Pupcakes and Pawstries for sponsoring this show and my Rosie girls snack time. We will have Pupcakes and Pawstries dog treats at our upcoming March tour at the merch table, so idk, if that doesn’t get you off the couch to enjoy some punk rock, I don’t know what will. But you’ve waited long enough for another interview, so here it is!
{INTERVIEW TIME}
Elise Okasami, thank you so much for joining me on But Her Lyrics. Please introduce yourself to everyone.
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Oh, thanks for having me. I'm Ely. I play in a band called Oceanator and um that's that's me
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and that's why we're here. That's good enough, Elise. Don't worry.
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Um so, the song you sent me is called Lullabi.
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This is a rock and roll song. I don't know if you know this. So, this is just a [ __ ] rock song. Um, is that how you'd categorize Oceaner?
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Um, I guess usually when people say like, "What kind of music do you play?"
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At this point, I I've just started saying rock music. Yeah.
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Because it's so hard and I'm already bad at genres, like even describing other things I like. So, it's like even harder
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for me to say what this is. But, if they dig for more, I'll say like '9s influenced. I grew up on punk, but I
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also love Elliot Smith, who also kind of listened to a lot of punk. So, like I guess that's that's if you're going to get down to it. But yeah, rock a rock band. I would say guitar music.
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Guitar music. Love it. Yeah. Also,
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there's just more genres now than there used to be. There's so many genres.
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We have our like fake nonsense that Spotify made up also. So,
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any chance for Spotify dig on the podcast? We love it. I did just I did just read finish reading Mood Machine like a
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couple weeks ago too. So it's like very fresh in the mind. What's that about?
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About Spotify. It's really good. Mood Machine. Liz P. Yeah. Okay. Recommendation everyone. Um okay.
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So we'll get into the specifics and the origin of the song later, but I wanted to start with something that stuck out
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to me like right away. I feel like in the lyrics there's almost this question of like about the value of storytelling,
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right? And we tend to stick to political songs on this podcast, but in the way that anything can be political, you know? So, what's your relationship to storytelling as a path to social change?
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I think it's um it's hard for me to
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kind of see I'm having the trouble right now.
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It's hard for me to speak directly about things that I'm thinking about or worried about. Um
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politics included. Um, so I have in my head I have a very clear view of what I
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think, but it's hard for me to express it. And I found it much easier to express kind of abstractly through songs
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and through stories. And I feel that um a lot of the like books and and
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stuff I consume is I mean obviously not all of it but a lot of it is also like the story has a point and often that
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point is political or at least like socially um important. Um, and I think it's just
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a way of of getting to those feelings and those um
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those um just thoughts and illustrating them in a way that like yeah, it's not you're not telling a a true story, but you're telling the truth of the story.
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Um so that's I guess why I gravitate towards that stuff. It's just easier for me to conceptualize it and express what
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my feeling about it um than to just directly say like I'm terrible at arguing with people cuz I just like
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can't I can't process my thoughts in that way fast enough to like have Yeah. Yes.
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I would make a terrible debate team person.
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I'm envious of people that are able to do that. I don't I don't think I'm that great at it.
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I can't do it at all. M I would just be like no and then I have to like stop and think about how to explain to you no. Yeah.
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Yeah.
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Yeah. So I guess that's why I gravitate that that way.
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And do you think do you consider your like a lot of your songs to be political or more about like feelings or or the mix or
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I guess I would say a mix. A lot of them are definitely about feelings. Um, and I think the ones that are political, like
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this one, are like sneaky political where like you could completely miss it. And like I I some like sometimes when I'm singing
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the song, I don't think about that aspect of it at all. I feel like it has you can kind of you can think about it however you want,
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but but it did come from a place of like,
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wow, the world is [ __ ] Am I allowed to curse? I'm allowed to curse, right? Yes. Oh my god,
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this is so terrible right now and I don't even know how to process it and like people just keep getting killed
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for no reason and it's like then I started thinking about all these big fairy tales where like there's a big
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villain and then the big hero comes and saves you or whatever and that's not going to happen obviously. Um but that's
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like what we grow up on. So that's what I that's what I don't know that's right and kind of like the tension with that. Yeah.
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Yeah. You you definitely talk in the song about the world burning um and say no gods and no heroes but I'll sing you another lullabi lyric reference.
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And I was wondering if that line is sung in earnest or if it's more sarcastic.
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I I think of it as an earnest um because it's like we do still need something to grab on to
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and we do still need stories and like here's a comforting I'll sing you this story of blah blah blah blah blah whatever as a comforting thing for
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bedtime because you still do have to like go to sleep and go endure the world again tomorrow. Um, so I I think of it in earnest, but it could be sarcastic,
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too, honestly. Like, depending on how you want to read it. That's sort of my vibe. That was like, oh, that's sarcastic. Oh, sing a [ __ ] lullabi. Okay. Yeah. Yeah.
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Like,
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that's that's I mean that that makes Yeah, that makes sense, too. Especially just like with the um like the last line,
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the last section of the last chorus, I guess. Um where it's just like it's it's devast. Like you could just keep
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screaming until your lungs burst, but like it's not it's not going to do anything. But it is eventually. But you know what I mean? Hopefully.
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Yeah. I mean it's pretty, you know,
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nihilistic the way it's describing like the world crumbling around you like Yeah.
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Do do you find yourself like to be nihilistic? Do you want to burn it all down or or is this song like a way to
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process those feelings? And normally dayto-day you feel differently. I would say when it comes to like storytelling
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stuff, I gravitate towards like um like AR apocalypse Armageddon type stuffing wise, but in real life,
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no. I'm I try to be pretty optimistic. I mean, like I get I have my bouts of depression.
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Not knock on wood, I haven't had had a big one yet this winter, but um that's pretty good. I'd say I know I'm feeling pretty good about it.
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I don't want to jinx it, but this is this is the first winter so far in a long time. So, wow.
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But hopefully that doesn't mean I just get the big summer one, which is like worse cuz it's like it's sunny out.
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You're like, "No." Anyway, but um I Yeah, I I think in in life I I am a little more optimistic. I think I think
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things can change and people can change and we can we should be working towards something better and not just like giving up entirely but
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in terms of storytelling I I gravitate to those big those big world ending stories.
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Yeah, drama creates you know like got to have some drama in a song.
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Um all right so tell me tell me about this song like what sparked the idea?
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How did the you know instrumentalization come about? What came first? Tell me about that.
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Um I got extremely mad at a person
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who I will not name. Um and I was sitting in my room and I just got so mad and I had the that little
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riff that came into my head. So I got I sat down on the computer. I recorded the
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guitar riff, the drum intro, like the basics of it all in like one quick sitting. Named it new song. I'm Mad.
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I love I love demo song names so much.
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It's always something stupid and then the date that I started it. Yeah,
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at least you have the date. That's smart. Actually,
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I like putting the date. I started doing that cuz it's kind of nice. So, smart. Okay.
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Yeah. Have just have that record of when it when it happened. Um, so it definitely came. It definitely started just as like as a musical idea. I didn't
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have any idea really what the lyrics were going to be yet. Um and then uh
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and I don't I don't think it had the chorus chords yet. I think it just had the verse for a long time. The verse and the riff just going back and forth.
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And then I sent it to Will who the producer uh Willia produced their last record and he was like this is great.
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You need a course. I was like you're right. Uh so we so we made that I had that idea and then I was just like but
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does it like is it too it felt too um resolvy at first to me to like go to that chord but then like now
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I love it so it's great. Um, and that's kind of when the lyrics started taking shape actually was like later in the studio. Um, Oh, really?
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Yeah. Which is which is somewhat usual for me like but I usually have more of an idea of what the song is before
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um like usually I'll have a couple lines here and there or like an outline and then I won't finish them until lyrics are always my like very very So very music first.
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Yeah. Yeah.
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And I change lyrics a lot if the sound of them isn't right. Um, like even if what I even if what I'm trying to say is slightly less clear by changing a word,
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if it doesn't sound like instrumentally correct there, then I'll just change that.
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I love that. I I honestly feel like there was a couple a couple lines in there where like the way something rhymes was like really clever and
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unexpected and like um actually Uh, let me take a moment.
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Yeah. Like lyric reference.
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Uh, Abby Yoyo blocks out the sun and then you're trapped by Baba Yaga inside her chicken leg hut and like somehow sun
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and hut actually like work in the song and I'm I was like how what? Like where did this come from? Um,
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yeah. I was so I'm glad that you like that cuz I was when I when we first did that one I remember being like can I rhyme these two things that don't rhyme? And then I was like, well, I'm kind of like,
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yeah,
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like speak saying that part. I don't know. And I Yeah, I'm glad.
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It like it like it showed up at a place that I wasn't expecting and it felt I mean, for lack of a better word, resolved like it made sense. Um,
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satisfying, right? Cool. Great.
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Um, and then but you're also talking about like kind of weird stuff for a rock song, right? Like so. Okay. So, you have this line, no gods, no heroes are coming to save us.
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And you and then you mention these I don't want to say characters from folklore, but these like like quote unquote bad scary monsters from
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folklore. Baba Yaga, Ananzi. I don't know if that's how you say it. Ani and Abio. Abbyo. Abby Yoyo.
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And so, so and no one knows what I'm talking about. Well, this is where me as a lyricist,
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I'm like I was like, "Oh, were you were you writing this song and then researching which of which monster from
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folklore history rhymed the best or had the best story? Or did you already know these stories and you were like, I'm putting these in here and that's
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actually what it's about." You know what what came first there? I think Abby Yo-Yo came first. Um,
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the book is just out of my range, but there's a book Abby Yoyo. Pete Seager um also has like a a video I can think Pete
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Seager wrote the book and then he also has a like a storytelling video where he plays a song and there's like a cartoon and we I was like obsessed with that when I was a kid. Okay.
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Um, Abby Yo-Yo. Abby Yo-Yo. And um, he literally comes and blocks out the sun in that. And I think that was the first one I thought of. And I was like, "All
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right, well, if I'm talking about Abby Yo-Yo, I might as well talk about like Anansi the Spider, which is like West African uh folk folklore that like my
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dad used to make up stories with and tell us when we were at the Cactus Grill where they
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this local restaurant, they made their own tortillas on the machine. And if you were if you were little enough and you went over with like big big round eyes like, "Wow, look at those tortillas."
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They'd give you a fresh hot tortilla off the machine. Um, and then Baba Yaga has just been around. I don't know where I
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first heard of Baba Yaga. I think that's the most known one of those probably. That's the one when I'm like going down the list,
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I'll people will be like, "Yeah, Baba Yaga." And then the other two, they're like, "What?"
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Um, oh yeah. So, so I had I had I had Abby Yo-Yo and then I just kind of thought of what other ones I've
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I I knew about. I didn't really do any research other than to just like double check that I wasn't remembering wrong.
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Right. Right. Right. And you're sort of like, you know, instead of naming like I don't know, [ __ ] Trump or something,
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you're you're you're making it not so obvious, not so clear, little metaphorical about Yeah.
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like who we're fighting, what we're fighting, and why.
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Yeah. And I I definitely like the idea of of having like a big fairy tale monster there instead of like an actual person.
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Just also because then like you can put it you can translate it into so many different situations, you know, like cuz
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Trump's not the only horrible man in the world. He's one of them obviously, but like there's
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many and there will be many more and there have been many in the past. Um, and they're all very worth fighting. So,
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uh, yeah, that's why I kind of I kind of don't do the specifics thing with it.
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Yeah. So that the audience can like interpret it however they want,
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like or not for them. Is it more for you, not for them? Um, it's for both, I would say, cuz I I I like I like when
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people just kind of except for when they're just like crazy way off and I'm like, "How did you get that from that?"
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I like when people have different interpretations of a thing. Like even when it's as small as you being like,
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"Oh, I read that as sarcastic." like I I think that that's the reason well not the reason but one of the reasons to
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put music out into the world is to give people something to grasp on to grasp onto and if they pull some different meaning out of it
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that inspires or helps them in some way like that's great as long as it's not 100% wrong.
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Yeah. Yeah. you know, releasing a song,
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an album, it's like once it's out, then it's like not yours anymore. And I think I feel like that's it's a little different than like, you know, a [ __ ]
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painting where the little description next to it tells you what it's about if that's what the artist wanted to do and tell you what it's about, you know?
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And especially cuz with a painting, it's like it's like a oneofone thing as well.
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like you're not making I mean there obviously there are like reprints and stuff but the original is like it's one thing and like you go and see it in a
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museum or whatever and yeah and that's it and and and music and is so different and that you release it and then it's just
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like it's just especially now it's just like it's out there and it could be it could be used in anything and you wouldn't
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know cuz there's so many things now Yeah, it's weird. It's weird, isn't it?
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Yeah. Like my friend's song was used in a porn once and they were like, "Uh, I wish you would have asked before doing this." Like,
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they didn't know. No, that someone just like someone literally was like, "Uh, I was watching this porn." And
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what kind of courage do you have to work up to just be like, "Look, this is what this is exactly what I was watching."
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Yeah. Um, is it's pretty wild. That's brave.
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But you're like, I got to tell my friend that their song was in this form.
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I know. And I I Yeah. I I feel like that that would be strange. That would be a weird feeling to just
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be like, "Oh, that's what you thought this song was about." I'm kind of like depending on which one.
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That's fine. Just give me the money.
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Like that's fine. Like we'll work it out.
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Yeah. But there was no money. That's the other problem. That's when it's like, "Okay, come on." Yeah.
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Um, so what I what I like about Abby Yoyo and the song is that in the original story, which I think is also like an African proverb. Is that right?
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Or I think it's like adapted from one, but I'm not I didn't I don't remember.
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I did a quick wiki search and I could have written it down. So I will put that in the show notes. Apologies everyone.
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If you want to learn more, there'll be a link in the show notes. But but basically, yes, this old story, um,
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and it and in the story, uh, this father and son use music and magic to defeat
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the monster. And I feel like I feel like that's going back to that question I have of music as a form of storytelling that can
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be a part of a larger social justice ecosystem. Um,
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and I guess my question is like did you did you know that at the time? Like did you did you clock that like oh this is definitely on purpose. This is perfect.
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Or were you like oh that's that's kind of a happy accident.
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No, I think that was part of why Abby Yo-Yo came up for me like as a song lyric that to then like drag in the others with them. Um,
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yeah,
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as I was thinking about that and then I I went back and leaped leafed through the book and was like, "Okay, yeah, yeah, yeah, this works great."
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It does work great.
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Yeah, it's it really it's like it's really like I don't know if it's meta because I refuse to use that word and
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and learn exactly what it means and use it correctly. Um, but yeah, just like it's like you're singing about what you're singing about what you're singing
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about like kind of like loops like I love I love things like that. So,
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yeah. And I think it's beautiful a beautiful idea, you know, that we can use music.
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Yeah, I think music is is super important um in terms of like social justice movements and stuff too. It's
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like we used to we had a tape I think we taped it from a from a Smithsonian record that was like um I think like
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Sweet Honey and the Rock and maybe maybe the Nick Singers too, but it was just like a bunch of civil rights songs. Um
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like if you miss me at the back of the bus, you can't find me nowhere. I don't know if you, but we used to listen to that all the time in the car and I loved
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those songs and I loved especially as I got older like learning about the people who sang those songs. Um,
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and just thinking about like how they use these these marches and these and these very political songs that were also just great songs to like,
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you know, affect change. Um, yeah.
24:19
24 minutes, 19 seconds
So, I'm not saying that this song does that, but um, but I was I was thinking about that stuff um when I was putting
24:26
24 minutes, 26 seconds
the putting the lyrics together for this one. Yeah, it's very cool. Um, so Oceaner and
24:34
24 minutes, 34 seconds
Warren women are going on tour soon. Yes, we are.
24:38
24 minutes, 38 seconds
And the goal is obviously to have this out before the tour. Um uh but you know our guitarist Brooks
24:45
24 minutes, 45 seconds
Harlon because he played with you Oceanator. Um uh either
24:52
24 minutes, 52 seconds
I was it Jay Robbins band or with um Airlines. Okay. Jay Robbins.
24:56
24 minutes, 56 seconds
It was uh it was Braid and Jay Robbins band and then we went the opener. Yeah.
25:00
25 minutes
And he speaks very highly of you. He said you're very cool and he like thought it was really cool that I was talking to you. I'm excited. He's great. He's so sweet.
25:08
25 minutes, 8 seconds
Oh, he's the best. He's the best. Um, so my my question is, what are you like to tour with? What do we need to know? This is part of the podcast.
25:18
25 minutes, 18 seconds
Yeah.
25:20
25 minutes, 20 seconds
Um, I uh I get sleepy like immediately after the show ends. I'm like,
25:28
25 minutes, 28 seconds
"Nice." I am like, "Where's the bed?" Like, "Show me the bed." Yeah, absolutely. Sure. I'm not a partyier. Okay. Um,
25:36
25 minutes, 36 seconds
but like if other people want to party,
25:38
25 minutes, 38 seconds
that's fine. As long as they're not like doing it on top of me. At you.
25:42
25 minutes, 42 seconds
Yeah. And like forcing me to participate. Party at me. Yeah. Yeah. Um,
25:47
25 minutes, 47 seconds
I wonder how common that is for singers like Oh, yeah. Cuz we got to we got to get our beauty sleep. We got to rest.
25:55
25 minutes, 55 seconds
Yeah. I'm a very light sleeper. That's another thing about me. Oh my god, we have so much in common. Um,
26:04
26 minutes, 4 seconds
yeah. What else? I like to I like to go for a walk and take photos ideally in every city if there's time like between
26:11
26 minutes, 11 seconds
soundcheck and doors or like between loaded and soundcheck depending on where we are.
26:17
26 minutes, 17 seconds
And I'm nice. I think that's the word on the street. People seem to like me. Okay. Yeah.
26:25
26 minutes, 25 seconds
And you like is Oceanerator. Is it you or is it a band? It's me, but it's Yeah,
26:32
26 minutes, 32 seconds
it's me, but also it's a band. Jared's coming. Um Jared Nathan from Pears.
26:40
26 minutes, 40 seconds
Oh. Oh, okay. Is the drumming. Yeah. Oh, cool. Okay.
26:43
26 minutes, 43 seconds
Um and then I'm not sure who's playing bass yet because my usual basis got promoted at their job. Congratulations
26:51
26 minutes, 51 seconds
to them. But they got promoted to guitarist. No, I'm just kidding.
26:56
26 minutes, 56 seconds
They play guitar, too. They're a great basist. Um, but yeah, they got promoted at the at the at the suicide hotline. Oh, wow.
27:04
27 minutes, 4 seconds
Yeah.
27:04
27 minutes, 4 seconds
So, they can't they can't come on the tour yet, but they're going to be back after settling into the promotion. But, yeah, it's a it's a solo project,
27:12
27 minutes, 12 seconds
but when we play live, I try to bring the band as much as possible because I love playing with the band, and I want the songs to be big and loud.
27:18
27 minutes, 18 seconds
Yeah. I mean, that's how it sounds recorded, you know? Might as well do that live. Exactly.
27:22
27 minutes, 22 seconds
So, do you record Oh, sorry. Go ahead. I I play solo shows too and those are also fun but yeah. Yeah, it's a different thing like Yeah.
27:30
27 minutes, 30 seconds
Um do you record all the instruments on each album?
27:33
27 minutes, 33 seconds
Um yes and no. Um like on the last record I played half the drums and Will
27:41
27 minutes, 41 seconds
played the other half. Um and about the same with the bass I played I played I play all the guitars always.
27:47
27 minutes, 47 seconds
Yeah. Um, and I play a lot of the keys,
27:50
27 minutes, 50 seconds
unless it's like straight up like piano piano, then I make my my brother do it because he plays everything. And so he plays he plays bass on
27:58
27 minutes, 58 seconds
all of the records, certain songs. And he mixed and mixed the first two records and also and mastered the first record.
28:07
28 minutes, 7 seconds
Um, but he doesn't tour with you. No, he doesn't want to. Yeah, that's fair.
28:14
28 minutes, 14 seconds
Yeah, I'm sad about it. I think it would be so cool when he could bring his little perfect doggy, Buddy. He's the best dog in the world. Um,
28:22
28 minutes, 22 seconds
but yeah. So, like, yes. Yes. I at some point on all the records I play all the like there's some songs that are all me and then there's some songs that are
28:30
28 minutes, 30 seconds
like my old my old drummer Andrew played on a lot of the two records before that.
28:35
28 minutes, 35 seconds
Um, and now he's a nurse. Uh, so in Baltimore, actually. Oh, no [ __ ] Yeah. Cool.
28:42
28 minutes, 42 seconds
Um, but yeah.
28:46
28 minutes, 46 seconds
The the long answer is it's a it's a it's a B. It's a person, but it's also a band.
28:50
28 minutes, 50 seconds
Yeah. No, that makes perfect sense to me.
28:54
28 minutes, 54 seconds
Um, okay. Is there anything that you wish I'd asked you in this podcast
29:01
29 minutes, 1 second
interview or something that you are so tired of being asked in interviews?
29:11
29 minutes, 11 seconds
There's definitely things I'm tired of being asked, but like when people ask you what bands you like, I've forgotten everything. Oh my god, I know.
29:19
29 minutes, 19 seconds
Um, uh,
29:25
29 minutes, 25 seconds
no, I don't know. I feel pretty good about it. I liked getting to talk about about a yo-yo. And
29:33
29 minutes, 33 seconds
I know I wish I could reach my book. I'll show it to you after.
29:36
29 minutes, 36 seconds
Okay. And I'll put a link in the show notes for that.
29:39
29 minutes, 39 seconds
Yeah. Perfect. I saw Pete Seager when I was a little little kid. Really? Pretty cool. Yeah. With Arlo Guthrie. Oh, wow. At Wolf Trap.
29:48
29 minutes, 48 seconds
Cool. Yeah. Sounds like you had cool parents.
29:51
29 minutes, 51 seconds
Yeah, they were big music people. They love they love to listen to the music to anything or mostly kind of that like,
29:58
29 minutes, 58 seconds
you know, folky political kind of stuff.
30:02
30 minutes, 2 seconds
I feel like my mom was a lot of folk music.
30:06
30 minutes, 6 seconds
Um, and my dad liked that stuff, but he also listened to like a lot of like soul and R&B.
30:13
30 minutes, 13 seconds
Um,
30:16
30 minutes, 16 seconds
so between the two of them, I got a good a real good mix. My dad has like literally over a thousand CDs still in the house
30:26
30 minutes, 26 seconds
and there's so many records. I opened a door and it was a closet I didn't know existed and there were records in there
30:33
30 minutes, 33 seconds
and I was like, "Oh, when when did this happen?" And my brother's like, "Oh,
30:36
30 minutes, 36 seconds
yeah. We he built that when they put in my brother built a studio in the basement." Oh, wow.
30:42
30 minutes, 42 seconds
Yeah. Where we recorded a bunch of bunch of the first two records.
30:45
30 minutes, 45 seconds
Oh, very cool. And so did is that where how you got exposed to like, you know,
30:50
30 minutes, 50 seconds
rock and punk and stuff too or you had you found that outside of the family?
30:54
30 minutes, 54 seconds
Um, my neighbor brought over a dookie when I was like eight or whatever, like right when it came out. Um, and that's
31:02
31 minutes, 2 seconds
how I think that started and then, you know, I found Epitap and Rancid and stuff and went down the punkama Yeah.
31:10
31 minutes, 10 seconds
route. Um, but my dad likes some my mom didn't like the store to guitars as much,
31:14
31 minutes, 14 seconds
but my dad liked some rock stuff. I remember like playing he liked this Oasis record. I specifically remember and I remember he liked an Against Me
31:23
31 minutes, 23 seconds
record. He was like, "It ended." He was like, "That was a great record." Oh, cool. Yeah. He's just He likes music.
31:30
31 minutes, 30 seconds
Yeah. Yeah. He can appreciate it. Yeah. Lovely. So, yeah.
31:34
31 minutes, 34 seconds
Um All right. Well, Elise, um where can people find you online and find out more about what you're doing?
31:40
31 minutes, 40 seconds
Um I am on Instagram at Oceanator Band and I'm trying to be better about posting.
31:50
31 minutes, 50 seconds
and I'm on Blue Sky, which I think is just at Oceanerator.
31:55
31 minutes, 55 seconds
And I and those are the only two social medias I really use. But if you want to join the Patreon, there's a free tier that I'm going to try to use like a mailing list. You join me over there.
32:05
32 minutes, 5 seconds
patreon.com/ oceanator.
32:08
32 minutes, 8 seconds
Free free tier, dollar tier, which is exactly the same as the free, but it's like you just want to give me a dollar
32:14
32 minutes, 14 seconds
every month. and then the $5 tier which has like demos and stuff.
32:22
32 minutes, 22 seconds
Um, so those are the three internet places and then you can find me in Pittsburgh and Columbus and etc. All the all the dates of our tour all the shows that we're playing. Yes.
32:33
32 minutes, 33 seconds
Go see our tour, please. Yeah. Um, cool. It's going to be good. It is going to be good. I'm excited.
32:39
32 minutes, 39 seconds
I'm excited. I think it'll be fun. If we haven't already, if Brooks already hasn't emailed you about gear sharing, that's coming.
32:46
32 minutes, 46 seconds
Okay. I was actually on the way.
32:50
32 minutes, 50 seconds
Let's figure No need to bring two 8 by10s. Uh let's figure this out. Cool.
32:55
32 minutes, 55 seconds
Um but yeah, thank you so much for your time today, Elise, and for sharing with us. I appreciate it. Thank you for having me on.
33:03
33 minutes, 3 seconds
This was this was fun and much less scary than I thought it would be. Good. I get scared talking about my songs. Really? Yeah.
33:11
33 minutes, 11 seconds
Oh, okay. But this was great. That's fair. Everybody's different. Yeah. Yeah. Um Okay, cool. Well, thanks.
33:18
33 minutes, 18 seconds
That's why they That's why I made them so I don't have to talk.
33:21
33 minutes, 21 seconds
That No, that makes sense. It's like I already wrote it down, you know, like just listen to it. Like, duh.
33:34
33 minutes, 34 seconds
It's so fun to get to know a band before you go on tour with them. So then you can just kind of pick up in this lovely
33:42
33 minutes, 42 seconds
spot where you feel like you're already friends. Um I I love it. So I'm so glad,
Keep listening to hear “Lullaby” by Oceanator in full. Or better yet, come see them play live with War On Women in March!
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Lullaby
Last night
You died a little
Died a little inside
You found out
This doesn’t end well
There is no making this right
Saltpeter makes the world come alive
And there’s a fire burning in your own mind’s eye
And you’re a waiting cannon on the edge of a fight
Put the powder in and tamp it down and set it alight
You just wanna make it out alive
No gods and no heroes
But I’ll sing ya another lullaby
Where angels start falling
From the sky
Shoot first and bring ‘em back to life
Now I know that we can never die
The world turns
Another murder
Another innocent dies
Then Abiyoyo blocks out the sun you’re trapped by
Baba Yaga inside of her chicken leg hut
Anansi tricks you with his clever mind
But nothing matters cause the end is nigh
And you’re still thinking that we’ll never die
No gods and no heroes
But I’ll sing ya’nother lullaby
Where angels start falling
From the sky
Scream out til your lungs burst
And the tears start streaming out your eyes
Your knees to the ground and
Face to the sky