The foundation of the work of Nashville outfit Oberon Rose isn’t built upon just one aesthetic — rather, it’s a vivid amalgam of influences which bond to one another in fascinating ways. Reaching back through various decades, the band gathers together bits and pieces of pop, folk and rock histories to form an expansive but coherent outlook on how all these sounds connect and react to each other, and how they’ve been doing this for many, many years.
Based around the songwriting duo of Tommy Oberon and Rebecca Rose, the band crafts a meticulous but still often raw sound that pulls heavily from the bands of the British Invasion, and specifically the guitar work of guitarist Peter Green. They develop melodies that run for miles while the music settles down somewhere between classic rock, psychedelia, and the wild exuberance of punk. But their music isn’t bound to any time period, nor can it be dated through its inspirations. There’s a timeless quality to the songs of Oberon Rose.
“I don’t judge music as retro or vintage,” Oberon explains, “I listen to it if it’s good. The history of rock and roll is the history of blues, folk, country and gospel. It’s all of those genres mixed together. Certain artists bring out different aspects of it, but at the end of the day, it’s all rock and roll. With Oberon Rose, we try to pay homage to that history. I love electric guitar, I love melody and I love harmony. Those are the things I try to bring to the listener.”
“As a lyricist,” Rose adds, “I want the listener to bring their own experiences to the song, so I like to keep it open. Let the listener decide what it means. David Bowie was a master at that. Garage Rock and Psychedelic Pop are the terms we most frequently hear when someone signs a Mailing List or buys a record after a show. While we don’t necessarily aim for psychedelia when writing, when you combine Tommy’s musical sensibilities with my lyrical sensibilities, that’s pretty much what you get.”
The band will share their latest record Holographic Blues on January 15 and have just released a new single called “Demoniac”, a whirlwind blast of garage rock impulses and punk propulsiveness. Better yet: imagine if Thin Lizzy happened to meet up with The Only Ones in the studio toward the end of the 70s and unleashed a power-pop and punk-infused masterpiece, one that seems content to rattle around in your head for days. The guitars are properly fierce and the vocals are made for boisterous sing-alongs. As we approach the new year, it seems fitting to cap the last 12 months with voices joined together and middle fingers raised to all the terrible things we’ve gone through.
Oberon Rose will release their new record Holographic Blues on January 15 via ThouART Records. Follow the band on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube.
