I caught up with Oddity Road’s drummer, Ethan Lambert to talk about all things music, Stranger Things and new releases.
What’s inspired you to become a band and write music?
“I don’t think it’s inspired really. I think our parents we’d say, because we’ve always been doing it from day one, playing instruments. It’s something we can’t live without, it was more ‘oh, we have four people who play instruments’. It’s fun to us, it’s just, fun. We’re not trying to be anything, we’re not trying to gain anything, we’re just trying to have fun. We’ve always done it and I think it would be weird if we didn’t. It was kind of destined to be in a way, as cringey as that sounds.”
What’s your favourite song to hear the crowd sing back?
“Of ours? Probably Handshake, Handshake or You. Definitely one of those two. I mean, it’s hard to say because we’re holding back for a minute on songs. So they’re our two; our Sex On Fire, Kings Of Leon. In Handshake we do this thing where we stop playing and the crowd sing it back, and it’s proper good that. We all turn around and smile at each other, probably that to be fair. Yeah, I’d say that in Handshake.”
What’s another style of music you’d like to write in?
“I’m gonna say, like funky jazz, that type of stuff. If we’re not practicing in the studio we’re just messing around that’s the stuff we usually like to play. We have proper rock classical solos, Dan plays that, Joel plays those funky bass lines, like Flea from Red Hot Chilli Peppers. It’s sort of like that, messing around, yeah, I’d say that.
What’s the meaning behind your band name and where did it come from?
“Right, basically, Dan was in a band called The Oddities when he was younger, in year 9, year 10, year 11, so he was like ‘we should call ourselves The Oddities’ because of that. At the time everyone in Sheffield were calling themselves road names, after bands, so we were just like ‘oh, we’ll stick road in’ and we called ourselves Oddity Road. It’s not really got any meaning to it; it’s just us pissing around. We didn’t really think about it, we were just like we need a name quickly kinda thing. It’s not something special.”
How do you feel about the role the internet plays in the music industry?
“It’s amazing, it’s beautiful, because there’s a band that have just come out, they haven’t done any gigs and they’ve just sold out a massive O2 Academy here (Manchester), 2,000 capped doors just through the internet. I think it’s amazing for getting your music out there and getting people heard, like Spotify, I think it’s so good. I think it really, really helps. In some ways I think it breaks it, as in people won’t go to gigs now unless you’ve heard the band and you like them. 20 years ago you’d go to a gig even if you hadn’t heard the band, because you just enjoy it, but nowadays I think that (the internet) stops it. Apart from that I’d say it’s absolutely amazing.”
Name a band or artist you think are overrated and underrated.
“I don’t know any bands that are overrated, I wouldn’t say any band is overrated because every band is good in their own way. Underrated, I don’t know. In a weird way I want to say pop music is underrated, because I listen to Radio 1 all the time, and I just think pop music gets slated way too much; and I think it’s really, really good. I’ll tell you a band that I think are good, are Red Faces, they were on the radio a second ago. They’re really good, yeah, they’re from Sheffield.”
What’s your favourite and least favourite venue to play at?
“Least favourite, I don’t have a least favourite actually. Favourite, we’d all probably say this, the Deaf Institute here (Manchester) or the Rocking Chair in Sheffield, it’s called something else now. They’re just small and you can feel the crowd, you can really get into it with everyone. We’ve done the Albert Hall here too (Manchester), and that’s good but when you go back and you think that you’re with your fans in the crowd, I like that. So, yeah, Deaf Institute and Rocking Chair, or whatever it is.
What have been your biggest challenges as a band?
“Getting through school and going on tour. So it was during our A-Levels, we’re having to run out of school, do a gig, do all our revision, do all our exams and get on with the gig. At the time we we’re doing the massive Sherlocks’ tour, and we’ve had our own stuff going on; having to go down to BBC and do all these interviews and it’s really fucking hard doing all that. It was really hard for us, that’s probably the hardest thing we’ve ever done is doing all that. Nothing’s hard about it apart from that, I’d say, because we enjoy it so much.”
Did you do well in your exams after all the gigs?
“Yes! We did all the exams, we didn’t miss a single one. We all did fine in our A-Levels.”
Who are your biggest influences?
“Kings of Leon, massive influences. U2, Coldplay, they’re really good, kind of really big arena anthemic bands like that rather than other things because they’re always on in the van. U2 are always, always on in the van, stuff like that, really big arena bands Red Hot Chilli Peppers, they’re always on. Just stuff like that. We really, really enjoy it, we really, really like it.”
On Twitter you had a poll, Skins vs Stranger Things. So, Skins vs Stranger Things?
“I’m not gonna lie to you, I haven’t seen Stranger Things. It wasn’t me who put it on. I don’t know what the rest of them would say, I’d say Skins, ‘cause I’ve seen Skins. I don’t know, I’m gonna go with Skins because I haven’t seen Stranger Things, but I will watch Stranger Things and see what it’s like.”
What advice would you give to people who want to start a band or learn an instrument?
“Make sure you’re enjoying it, don’t pick up an instrument or join a band because you want to get famous, do it because you’re passionate about your music. If you are in a band keep writing, constantly keep writing. Do it more than gigs, you want to be writing all the time. Just do it because you love it and not because you want to be famous. If you’re doing it to be famous you’re in the wrong thing. Do it because you love it, is what I say, because it gets hard, and love is going to be the only reason you keep going with it.”
You said you’re constantly writing, have you got any favourite unreleased songs?
“Yeah, we have. We have an acoustic song coming out on Spotify, Same As It Ever Was and that’s coming out Friday. That’s good.”
If you want to check out Oddity Road’s music, check out their Instagram and Twitter: @Oddityroad
For all upcoming gigs, check out their website: http://www.oddityroad.co.uk/
