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O.A.R. gets back to its roots in A.C.
By WILLIAM H. SOKOLIC • Courier-Post Staff • October 24, 2008

Buzz up! When O.A.R. returns to Atlantic City this weekend for the second time in less than six months, it will be a homecoming of sorts for a couple of the band members.


The mother of co-founder Mark Roberge is from Margate, and he and drummer and best-friend-since-toddler-days Chris Culos spent many a day hanging out in the shore town and devoured many a Dino's sub.

"It's my favorite sub shop in the whole world," Culos said in an interview this week. In support of its new CD, "All Sides," O.A.R. plays the House of Blues at Showboat Saturday as part of the HD ROCK LIVE! concert series under the aegis of HDNET, World Productions and AOL.

O.A.R. is probably the most ubiquitous band no one has heard of. "We operated under the radar for over a decade," Culos said.

Until "All Sides," the band had little mainstream success, despite selling 1.4 million albums to date. The latest, the group's sixth, debuted at No. 13 on the Billboard 200 chart, O.A.R.'s highest charting yet. "In the past, we always sold a certain amount the first week, and then struggled to maintain the momentum. We never had radio support," Culos said.

This record felt like a more natural representation of the O.A.R. sound, Culos said. "We weren't struggling to find our sound."

The result is an all-encompassing snapshot of the band, with rock, reggae, hard songs, soft songs and everything in between.

"The thing is O.A.R. has never been just one style. From song to song we like to switch it up," Roberge said in a release. "Maybe in the past we had felt the need to explore just one of those musical alleys and see where it took us. This album is all about recording a variety of experiences with a variety of sounds. Essentially, all sides of O.A.R."

So the CD goes from the jangly single, "Shattered (Turn The Car Around)," to the reggae-influenced "What is Mine" to the thoughtful "War Song," written after a USO tour of Kuwait and Iraq.

"The opening guitar riff of "This Town' is the perfect way to begin this album. It is an announcement," said Roberge, who plays rhythm guitar and writes the songs. "This is a song about the joy we get out of touring."

"Shattered" is taking on a life of its own. "This feels like a beginning for us. We never thought we'd come this far," Culos said.

Short for Of A Revolution, O.A.R. took root in Culos's basement in Rockville, Md. The first songs they worked on came from short stories Roberge wrote. One such story included a sentence that ended with "of a revolution."

"We were 16 at the time, and we thought it sounded cool and unique and applied to us," Culos said. "We shortened it to O.A.R. because the name was a mouthful."

The reference has nothing to do with politics, Culos said, but with a musical revolution.

O.A.R. appears on Saturday at 9 p.m. at the House of Blues. Advance tickets are $42 for general admission and $47 for seats. At the door, tickets are $44.50 for general admission and $49.50 for seats. Call (800) 736-1420 or go to www.ticketmaster.com for more information.


- Jack