Ois II Men - Ois II Men Newsletter Interview
18 Nov 2007 // An interview by Shade
Ois II Men is a punk band hailing from Christchurch. "Ois II Men began in the drunken haze of Punkfest 2006 when FC, Jenks, Bentos and the members of ex-Christchurch band Not With You decided they should start a band where being so drunk they could barely stand would be an advantage, and so the band was born." Check out their answers to our questions...
What is your greatest achievement?
I don't know if we really have any "great achievements" as a band. We're just going about and doing our thing the only way we know how. I am always pretty stoked when I hear someone humming one of our tunes after the first listen though, means we've done something right at least.
What do you think could be done to make NZ music even better?
Getting rid of all the watered down, American copy cat rubbish would be a good start. There is too much airtime and money given to bands that aren't doing anything that hasn't been done overseas 3-5 years earlier. It seems that in NZ we only like music that is already famous in other countries, and when a band comes out and does something original we don't pick up on it until the rest of the world does, which is sad. It would also be nice to see some support for smaller local bands, because that's where everyone starts. No-ones born with a gold record, ya know?
Where do you see yourselves in 5 years?
I can't see Ois II Men being around that long, but we'd all like to think we'll be playing in bands still. Really I have no idea where we will be in 5 years, that way too far away.
What is the best thing about making music?
Being able to have some beers, play some tunes and have a fucking good time, and hopefully everyone watching you has a fucking good time as well. I've met a whole bunch of good cunts through music that I wouldn't have otherwise, and I'm sure I can say the same for most people playing in bands.
What advice would you like to give to other aspiring musicians?
Just get out there and fucking do it, there aint nothing stopping you except yourself. If Ois II Men can play shows, anyone fucking can.
About Ois II Men
Ois II Men began in the drunken haze of Punkfest 2006 when FC, Jenks, Bentos and the members of ex-Christchurch band Not With You decided they should start a band where being so drunk they could barely stand would be an advantage, and so the band was born. Then, on Sunday morning only FC and Jenks made it onto the ferry and so were stuck in Picton for five hours with nothing to do but get really fucking hammered in the van, so they began writing lyrics on some sick bags they found, which would form the ideas for the first songs. Finally the rest of the guys arrived to find two bloody drunken vocalists rambling about beating up hippies and drinking Viking Beer.
The next friday at their first band practise they all got stupidly drunk and wrote the first six songs before having a round of spots and realising that they were too stoned to be bothered doing anything else. These songs would eventually be recorded in Sykes room at Deans Ave, and then released as their first tape "The Early Weeks". The band went on to play a new years eve show at The Tattoo Parlour and the Trailer Park Oi show at Deans ave before Bentos and Not With You migrated north to warmer pastures.
FC and Jenks were left without a band and so Jenks took up the guitar playing duties and FC continued his yelling. The two then considered scouring the city looking for two new members to fill the musical gap in the band, but realising this was too much work settled on their friend Bridget who could play drums and some guy their flatmate knew called Jonno who played bass, both of whom were good cunts who drank a lot of booze and watched Home and Away, which is what they were really looking for the whole time. The four then set about learning all the songs and writing some more that hopefully didnt all sound like the same song with different chords like the first release did. Once word got out that they had reformed the offers of shows started flowing in like a good lager down your throat and they have since played with the likes of Gripper, Lunger and recently with a bunch of fucking good North Island bands at Sharkfest.
Visit the muzic.net.nz Profile for Ois II Men