O.A.R. to play Bluebird

When asked to classify their music, Chris Culos and Jerry DePizzo of O.A.R. describe their music as "island vibe roots rock," a sound that will fill the Bluebird Saturday night.\nMembers of O.A.R. (Of A Revolution) began playing together in high school in Maryland. Culos, the drummer, said their only intention was to have a good time playing music for their friends.\n"Our friends from Maryland took the CD with them when they left for college, so the music started spreading by word of mouth, without us having to promote or play at our own school," he said. "It's exciting to see what's come from that. It's amazing where we are right now."\nO.A.R.'s third CD, Risen, will be released nationally Feb. 6.\nAll five band members are students at the Ohio State University. DePizzo, the saxophonist, said balancing the responsibility of school and music is difficult.\n"We don't really sleep too much," he said. "It requires a lot of planning. You only have a certain amount of time, so we can only do seven or eight shows a month, given our schedule."\nBut the sleep deprivation DePizzo said he suffers is not enough to discourage him from being a musician.\n"Personally, all I've ever wanted to do is be a musician -- to do this for a living," he said. "I do that now and go to school. As far as goals, I've hit what I wanted to achieve. As for the band itself, as long as we're playing music and enjoying it and people like it, that's great."\nSophomore Amy Lessing said she would classify herself as one of those people. She said she first heard O.A.R.'s music at overnight camp. Shortly thereafter, she received their CD as a birthday present.\n"The lyrics are interesting, and I wanted to hear more," she said. "They have one of those original sounds that you don't get to hear too often."\nO.A.R.'s members said they pride themselves on that original sound. But Culos said the lyrics are an important dimension to their music.\n"Our music has grown along with us," Culos said. "Marc's lyrics are so interesting, and there's so much to look into if you really want to."\nDePizzo said the lyrics for Risen are all intertwined, based upon a story Marc wrote when in Israel, "The Wanderer."\n"When we chose songs for the album, there's old songs on it that everybody knows and new songs as well," DePizzo said. "We wanted to show the growth of the band by redoing old songs and coming out with new stuff."\nCulos said he is thrilled and proud of the band's growth, not only lyrically and musically, but also by its performance abilities.\n"Our stage presence keeps getting better and better," he said. "We love playing more than anything; we go nuts when we're not playing. When we have a few days off, we miss the energy of the crowds."\nLessing said she hopes to add to the energy of the crowd Saturday, depending on whether she can convince her friends to come along.\n"I'd say it's music you can get into really easily," she said. "If anyone is in the mood to relax and listen to music, have a great time, then put (O.A.R.'s) CD on."\nO.A.R.'s Web site is www.ofarevolution.com.