A couple of days ago, I had the opportunity to have a chat with the frontman and lead vocalist from Canadian prog-metallers ONI. In our short discussion, we chatted, amongst other things, about their debut album Ironshore and how Randy Blythe ended up guesting on their album. Read on for the details…
How have the shows on this tour been so far?
So far, so good. The UK really took me by surprise and all the other bands are awesome. I couldn’t ask for a better tour really!
Ironshore, your debut album, was released last year. How do you feel the response has been to it?
The fans have really been digging it. You get the ‘mom basement’ youtube comments once in a while, but the vast majority of them have really been digging it. Folk have been coming to the shows as they’ve heard the album online and they’ve been digging it live as well.
Randy Blythe also guested on your album as well. How did that come about?
That came about through our producer as he’s been producing Lamb of God for years. We really wanted a guest singer for that song and we were initially figuring we’d use some of our connections. Our producer Josh then said he’d speak to Randy and he was totally up for it. He guested on the track “The Only Cure” which is our sort of typical Cannibal Corpse style song. There’s a music video for that track out now which features Randy in it which was really cool to do.
Where does the band name come from?
It comes from a kind of Japanese shape-shifting demon. I’ve got a tattoo of one on my arm actually. I think it really fits our music pretty well as we kind of play “shape-shifting” prog metal.
How do you feel the year has been for the band?
It’s been really good. We’ve been taking giant leaps forward this past year and it’s been great. We’ve progressed as both people and musicians so we’re eagerly looking forward to what this new year brings!
Is there any advice you’d give to new bands?
That’s a tough one! I got fucking lucky though, not everyone is going to have the same success that we have had. I’d say build up the local scene and have a strong scene so that when one band makes it, the others can. Try and make your social media and in the band as top notch as you can.
If you had to describe the band in 3 words what words would you use?
Erm…. *thinks for a moment* Prog, Energy and Heavy.
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