As if Maine doesn’t have enough to offer vacationers and residents alike, now it can boast a mega rock show, courtesy of O.A.R. (Of A Revolution), performing Wednesday, Nov. 16, at the Cumberland County Civic Center.
O.A.R began quite humbly as an Ohio State University frat-based band playing small college venues before hitting the Billboard charts and gaining national attention.
The band was discovered by college representatives who eyed its first two demo recordings and pumped them onto university servers and Webs sites around the country. Soon the exposure and word of mouth advertisement got their reggae-inflated rock songs airplay around the nation on radio stations, including Portland’s new rock alternative, WCYY.
O.A.R is on tour in support of its third and latest album “Stores of a Stranger,” produced by John Alagia who has worked with such bands as The Dave Mathews Band and Ben Folds Five. And it was a good union, with the band’s “Risen” hitting the Top Internet Album Sales Chart in the Billboard at No. 11 for its debut week in February of 2001.
Formed at Ohio State in 1998, O.A.R. is comprised of lead singer/ rhythm guitarist Marc Roberge, lead guitarist Richard On, bassist Benj Gershman, saxist Jerry DePizzo and drummer Chris Culos. Roberge and Culos knew each other from their childhoods in Maryland, where they hooked up with On and Gershman. DePizzo joined band members when they met at Ohio State.
The band put out its first demo, “The Wanderer,” in 1997, which featured songs inspired by Roberge and Culo’s trip to Israel. During their stay, the men witnessed 900 protesters committing suicide, an event that saw almost no media attention.
In 1999, O.A.R went back into the studio to record its second demo record titled “Souls Aflame.” Both demos were reissued and re-released in 2001.
Since then, the band has released a live record called “Any Time Now” (2002), “In Between Now and Then” (2003) and their latest record, “Stories of a Stranger” (2005).
For more information or to sample O.A.R.’s music, go to www.oarevolution.com. See you in the pit.
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