05.30.09
update: i got the address wrong on the initial advertising I did. Mack Glass Factory is at 317 S. Center St. my bad! flyers have been corrected.
05.11.09
I just posted a demo of our song One Dark Night on our MySpace. This one's on the house-- no signing up to brohtis.com to hear it.
This is one of the many songs we're going to start playing live with our new arrangement. It's been sounding pretty good. Make sure to come see us at our next show near you to hear our new setup. It's going to be much less a rock show than it once was- more intimate and relaxed.
Enjoy!
05.05.09
I just posted an exclusive track at brohtis.com. Go get it in the Members Only section.
04.26.09
On March 7th, 2009, we broke into a church with a camera crew and filmed a "take away show" kinda like those you see on Blogotheque. As you'll see in the pics below, the setting was not only thematically ideal, but also a beautiful place to shoot some video. Soon, we'll have the video to show you, as well.
Signed and dated.
We broke in through a window on the side of the building and had to climb down a ladder. We walked through a gymnasium, through a post-apocalyptic kitchen, into this big dining hall area.
This is the way upstairs.
The ceiling of the cathedral. You'll see more of that when the video for "Hatefully In Love" gets posted. There was giant pipe organ against one wall, with 100-foot pipes broken off and leaning against another wall.
If this country had a heart, that's where I was born. We recorded that song in front of this. That footage might not be usable, but it was perfect running into this arrangement.
The exact location of Hatefully In Love's shoot. This photo's gorgeous, I can't wait to see the actual video!
The cathedral.
Getting ready to record Curse of the Generations.
Straight chillin' with a country heart. This was near the end of the shoot.
One nice thing about filming in an abandoned church is there are no smoking laws.
Quick, find a member of Prussia in this pic!
Nice words to the wise^^. We are the ones they were referring to in the 2nd pic about going to jail or Hell. So far, none of us have going to either so let's hope it stays that way!
All photos by Jeremy Fanchi.
For more photos from the shoot, by Candice O'Leary, go to this link.
03.15.09
Smile Politely, the blog that reviewed us in cartoon format, posted an interview with me. Here's how it went:
It's Thursday night, and Canopy Club is showcasing some up-and-coming talent from the great region of Central Illinois. Ohtis, based out of Bloomington-Normal, dove into the Champaign-Urbana music scene earlier this winter at a well-attended Urbana house show. On Monday, the folk-rockers performed a WEFT session, and now they are making their Canopy Club debut. Smile Politely caught up with Adam Pressley, guitarist and co-pants-wearer of Ohtis, through the use of electronic mail. Pressley's thoughtful answers were all typed up, as he noted, while on the clock working at Cosi Restaurant.
Smile Politely: When was Ohtis born?
Adam Pressley: Ohtis is a stray cat that Sam, our singer, found early in his high school years, and kept in his closet so his parents wouldn't find it. It was a really mean cat towards the end, and now it's dead. That cat was probably born late 2002, early 2003, I'd say.
Ohtis the band was born around the same time, when Sam and I hung out in homeroom class at Normal Community West High School, and talked about starting a band called the Twigs, but that name was taken. We also considered the name Sadam, our two first names combined. Thankfully, we went with Ohtis, though some people still think we could've done better.
SP: Who is Ohtis?
AP: Sam Swinson and I write, produce, record, and mix the recorded output of Ohtis. We've had over 20 members come and go in the live incarnation since we started playing live in late 2003. Most of the members have been drummers ... we're always gaining (and losing) drummers.
SP: Does someone wear the "pants" in the band relationship, or does everyone have pants-wearing capabilities in the songwriting/arranging process?
AP: Sam and I share the same pair of pants. I incorporate them into my sense of fashion differently, though. Sometimes we don't agree on who fits into them best, but in the end, we are happy with how the pants have been worn.
SP: I stumbled upon a Stereogum article when googling "Ohtis." It was about a pretty amazing prank to the tune of pretending to be Ryan Schreiber on AIM. Have you found other ingenious ways to get publicity?
AP: No. That was the best and only publicity stunt I've ever come up with. Most people don't know, however, that I was the one who tipped them off about the prank. I signed into a friend's e-mail address and e-mailed Stereogum, telling them about this "cool band's hilarious prank on would-be Pitchfork writers."
SP: How's the music scene in Bloomington-Normal? Venues, house shows, or all of the above? Any other bands you care to plug? Any bands you want to warn us about?
AP: There aren't any official venues in Bloomington-Normal that I know of. That's the big difference between Champaign-Urbana and Bloomington-Normal. So instead, people do the DIY thing, and there have been four or five house venues that did really well. We do house shows and they're a blast. I recommend Chambana-ites to make the drive out to one of our B-N house shows. March 26 we have the best one yet with tUnE-YaRdS, Sister Suvi, and Takka Takka. E-mail me at adam.pressley@gmail.com for more info on that, readers. ;)
Billy Zygote is my favorite band in Bloomington-Normal. They're so good, but they don't tour, just play local shows for the most part, unfortunately. Our keyboard player, Seaby, makes good music, too. I'm sure I'm forgetting some great Blo-No music ...
SP: When was your latest album, If This Country Had a Heart, That's Where I'd be From, released? How has it been received?
AP: August 2008. It's been steadily gaining more and more momentum. Most people who hear it seem to like it a lot, and I feel very honored to have such a devoted following. I'm thankful for that, because we worked really hard on it for four years.
SP: You guys seem to be constantly playing shows. Are there any recent memorable touring moments?
AP: In Peoria we played at the best bar we've ever been to: Eamon Patrick's. They fed us amazing food for free, let us have free beer, and there was a gigantic crowd. Everyone was in great spirits, and then, just as we were pulling out to head back home, we got harassed by the other band's bassist, his girlfriend, and some other random dude. After screaming at us for about ten minutes, and telling us we were the "queerest shit ever," and that they hoped we'd crash and die on our way home, one guy spat in our 6' 5" bassist's face. Then, they walked away. It was startling.
SP: You're playing some South by South West shows. How did that come about? Is this your first time going down to Austin, Texas?
AP: Undertow Music, the company that manages us, is having a showcase there, so we get to play that. Our friends, Brother George, will be going on the tour because they got a couple shows too, so they included us. We might do another showcase with our new label mates Sister Suvi, for Common Cloud Records, the company that's putting out our new vinyl. Yes, this is our first time going to Austin.
SP: What can Champaign-Urbana expect from a live Ohtis experience?
AP: We don't really move around much, and we aren't exceptionally great at talking to the audience ... but I like to think we can play our songs well.
SP: What are your future plans as a band?
AP: We plan to keep an eye on quality and keep trying to write great songs, and to keep building a fan base locally, followed by regionally, followed by nationally, and then internationally.
03.10.09
We played on Champaign/Urbana, IL's station 90.1 WEFT last night. The levels were a lil wild, but all in all I think it's a decent listen. You can download it here.
They had Seaby do an interview before we played. Meanwhile, we were sound checking and it must have accidentally gotten mixed with the interview. Pretty hilarious.
Thank you Shwag for recording the stream!
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UPCOMING SHOWS:
06.04.09 in Bloomington, IL @ Mack Glass Factory (w/ New Ruins, Husband & Wife, Alexander the Great, Billy Zygote)
07.02.09 in Champaign, IL @ Cowboy Monkey (w/ Prussia, TBD)
07.03.09 in Bloomington, IL @ Lance's (w/ Prussia and Tyson & the Friction)
07.11.09 in Washington, IL @ Eddy's (w/ Derrick Hart)
*this information is subject to change. Check back closer to actual show dates.
mp3:
Lollalollalollalollalollapalooza
Sugar Babe
Hatefully In Love
American Christian
management:
adam@undertowmusic.com
booking:
adam.pressley@gmail.com
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If This Country Had A Heart, That's Where I Was Born - CD
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BUY NOW
Saving The Planet - CD
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