OUR PEOPLE VERSUS YOURS
Questions asked by Jon Wilde, added to Rock Realms 5th October 2011.
Essex, UK, metalcore five-piece Our People Versus Yours are launching their new EP "Lights" in November. We caught up with them to find out more...
Hi Guys, thanks for taking a moment to answer these questions. How did “Our People Versus Yours” form, and what’s the history of the various members?
OPVY: Our guitarist James was in a band with a group of mates from college. It was only for fun and they all went off to higher education whilst he decided to get a band going. Someone who was a fan of his old band joined him in his quest and after a short while together, we had a full line up and went on to record our first ever song "Here comes the flood". However a few of the guys simply weren't dedicated enough so we auditioned a few people for the part. Harvey, our drummer, joined the band as he was a fan of here comes the flood. Funnily enough he brought his friend from school along, Dan, who replaced our old bassist. Then our original vocalist left due to artistic differences, so we got in Joe. We spent a long time searching for a lead guitarist and after about 2 years of being a band we finally found Josh who was actually dedicated enough to take it seriously. This current line up has been around for just over a year now and we're the happiest we've ever been so we're not going anywhere any time soon.
Did you know what sound the band should have straight away, or have you let it develop organically?
OPVY: When we first started the band we wanted a specific sound, but after a year we decided to experiment a bit more. With our vocalist leaving it actually gave us a great opportunity to introduce a lot more clean sections into our repertoire which was something we always wanted to achieve. The problem was this dynamic dramatically changed the band and after a while we lost focus. When Josh joined the band we suddenly honed in on a sound and this is what we're sticking with. It's taken a while to develop but we really think it's something fairly unique.
How would you describe your sound to somebody who foolishly hadn’t heard you before?
OPVY: We're a strange band, we've often asked people to compare us to other bands and they get a bit stumped. We obviously sound like the bands we're influenced by but the great thing is we've taken little parts from all of them and blended it into something different. We've got this raw, loud, energetic sound which we manage to blend with beautiful melodies and intense riffs. We like to slow things down now and then as well to keep you on your toes. We don't want to be a one trick pony, we want to be musically diverse.
Who would you list as the bands early influences?
OPVY: When the band first started off we were mainly influenced by Architects and Devil Sold His Soul. We're still heavily influenced by them but lately we've been more into Underoath, Norma Jean and The Chariot. Those bands are so raw and intense and really different to what most bands seem to be doing now days.
Where did the band’s name come from and is there any special meaning behind it?
OPVY: As we said before, we were massive fans of Architects when we formed the band, it's a lyric from the song "A Portrait For The Deceased."
Your new EP “Lights” is out in November. How does it compare to your earlier work in terms of style and quality?
OPVY: This EP is much more focused. Our older material was basically us just trying to find ourselves. Now we've discovered our sound, got the line up, got the know how etc, we've finally produced something we can all say we're 100% proud of. That's not to say our old stuff is bad at all, it's just that when we formed this band we were pretty much new to this, a few of us had been in bands before but had only played around the local scene etc. This was starting something new so it's basically 3 years of us refining our sound.
Where do you look for your lyrical and musical inspirations?
OPVY: Lyrically we've never really focused on one topic. We've wrote songs about isolation, hope, heartache and death. The Lights EP however tells a story about a failing relationship, that crumbles but is eventually reconciled in our last track "In Unity." So the new EP's lyrics were just inspired by life in general really. Musically speaking, we're inspired by the bands we've listed before, however we failed to mention the band Thrice. Although musically we are two very different bands, we are constantly inspired by their creativity and hard work ethic. Truly an amazing band.
How do you go about writing songs? Talk us through the construction of a typical track...
OPVY: It really works differently with every song. Usually James will go home, write a few tracks, we'll all decide on the best ones and then tweak them until they sound good enough to record. Sometimes no amount of polish can save a turd and we decide to just abort the whole thing. Sometimes it's really frustrating watching something you worked so hard on go awry and have to just let it go. Sometimes however, something goes just right and we just jam out a song. One of us will start playing something and spontaneously we run through a whole song. These kind of songs where the whole band collaborates often come out to be our best work.
What are your favourite moments on the new release?
OPVY: Our first song "Lights" in a way is the most ambitious, it's heavy technical and yet still manages to throw in a few beautiful moments. "Ariha"'s breakdown is intense and chaotic, "I've Had Better Days" is a really fast pace and relentless song, whilst "In Unity" has this awesome moment where it breaks down at the end and just becomes epic as fuck. That was probably one of those moments we all sat down and collaborated as a band to come up with something really special.
You’ve deliberately kept the production on the rawer side taking a “more honest, raw and energetic approach to laying down the EP”. Talk us through the decision process behind that...
OPVY: As we said before we've been greatly influenced by bands such as The Chariot and Norma Jean lately. They've got this really great sound where the production is so raw but it's polished to the right degree. Listening to our older material, it sounded almost too produced, which we feel is the direction a lot of bands are going lately. So basically we took it back to it's key components, 5 guys making music they love. We considered this EP a fresh start really and so wanted to make something that was ambitious but not overly pretentious and hopefully we got the balance just right.
Tell us about your current touring plans...and what one of your shows is like.
OPVY: We've got quite a few cool shows coming up in England this month and then a few awesome Scottish shows in November which we're really looking forward to. We're also looking towards a few dates in December with an awesome band called "This Distance" and then possibly a few dates in Europe with the aforementioned band and we seriously can't wait! I'd say our shows are pretty mad, we jump about and throw our guitars around. We've done away with the beatdowns most bands seem to be a fan of these days, so we're not always the most mosh pit friendly band but we bring our own brand of chaos to the stage.
What have been the highlights of your musical life so far?
OPVY: On the road we get up to a lot of stupid shit and it's really fun. It beats sitting at an office and we literally wouldn't have it any other way. However one of the best shows of our lives and one of the best weekends we've ever had was at Hevy Festival in Kent. We actually got invited to play the Red Bull Bedroom Jam stage basically out of the blue and we just couldn't believe it when we heard. We had the perfect slot as well because everyone turned up to the food carts and then stuck around to watch us. It was one of the biggest crowds we've ever performed in front of, but we must have been doing something right because people seemed to stay and enjoy it too!
Any question you love being asked that I’ve missed? If so, what’s the answer?
OPVY: A good question to ask our band is "any unusual phobias?" because our guitarist Josh is petrified of butterflies. Not even moths freak him out, literally just butterflies. It's so random...
What are you up to once you’ve finished answering these questions?
OPVY: We're working on a few new songs at the moment hopefully to work on a bigger release in the future, possibly even an album. We're gonna incorporate some of those into the set to create some buzz, even though the lights EP is an upcoming release we've always gotta think to the future!
Anything else you would like to mention?
OPVY: Just to make sure to check out our video for "Ariha" from the new Lights EP http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5x2F_Proecc we're very proud of it and give us a like on facebook http://www.facebook.com/ourpeopleversusyours.
Thanks again to the guys for their time.
http://www.facebook.com/ourpeopleversusyours
http://www.myspace.com/ourpeopleversusyours
http://www.youtube.com/opvyofficial
