Jammin’ With Josh: O.A.R.

This is Jammin’ With Josh. Each week I take a look at one of the bands that I love. Or perhaps it will be a band that I just discovered and think you should check out. Or maybe it will just be a way for me to post music videos. Honestly, no one will ever know.

When I said that Our Lady Peace was probably my favorite band, it is a close battle with O.A.R. For those of you that do not know, O.A.R. stands for Of A Revolution and they are a band out of Rockville, Maryland. They went to school at Ohio State (ughhhhh) in the late 90s. I first heard them in 1999 at Gannon. A kid on my floor had a few of their songs on his computer and I was immediately hooked. I went to their website and bought their only album, The Wanderer.

I did everything I could getting people to listen to them, hell I probably burnt fifty copies of that album for people (it was back in the olden days, remember burning CDs?). Anyways, imagine my shock at the G-Man one night when “That Was a Crazy Game of Poker” came on and people were singing along to it. I think that was the moment when I realized they were getting big.

My brother and I went to see them one time at Penn State. It was actually a great show, but they made the mistake of scheduling the event the night before the OSU/PSU football game. The band came out and tried to make a comment about being Buckeyes, but on that night everyone was just fans of music. HAHAHA. Penn State folks did not let that one go. They booed and started a WE ARE chant. I think O.A.R. was a little miffed about it.

If you are a fan of O.A.R., then you already know what your favorite song is. Yes, I am sure some people will say they like something else to be cool and different, but get real. Everyone loves this song. The great thing about it is they keep adding verses and changing it up so that each live album has a different recorded version and each time you see them in person, it is a whole new experience.

Probably my favorite version, especially around the 13:00 minute mark.

Now, the song that always gets me is “I Feel Home.”

Quick story. When I was in Jordan way back in 2004 (seriously that long ago?), by about the fifth week, I was getting pretty homesick. There was not a whole lot I could do about it, except head down to the internet cafe and email my friends & family (and hope someone emailed me back while I was sitting there checking on the Pirates). Two weeks later, we were flying out of Cairo (that is in Egypt for you geographically challenged folks) and I had the good fortune of sitting in front of some Sudanese kids, who stayed awake the entire 18 hour flight kicking my seat. I did not sleep. I was tired and pretty miserable, but about the point we started flying over the United States (we landed in Chicago), my mp3 player played this song (I had 3000 songs on it and set it to shuffle–seriously, the iRiver was the best). When I heard the words “I feel home, when I see the faces that remember my own.” It actually made me start crying.

For songs by them that I think more people should know, definitely “War Song.” The first time I heard it when I bought this album, it gave me chills.

And finally, c’mon…I love “Hey Girl” and I have to include it. Can you have a more fun song? I think it plays just about everyday at work and it always puts me in a good mood.

Author: Ngewo