[CULT TALK] Sam James Velde of Obliterations on Meeting Oasis, and Pretty Much Nothing Else

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The really cool thing about Los Angeles hardcore/hardcore punk band Obliterations is that the group is an amalgamation of other very awesome bands: Stephen McBean from Black Mountain/Pink Mountaintops on guitar, Austin Barber from Saviours, Florian Schanze from Dudeman. But because we are not really cool, we managed to only speak to intrepid front man and singer Sam James Velde (himself hailing from the bands Bluebird and Night Horse), who regaled us with an epic tale about meeting one of his musical heroes, Oasis, with little other mention of Obliterations or anyone else in it. In other words, we blew it, but Sam’s story is still pretty good, and since you’re not a cripple you can look up Obliterations on Bandcamp and decide what they sound like for yourself. (Maybe this commenter on their page can pick up where we left off: Mr D R Brett says: “love black mountain love black flag love black Sabbath love pink mountaintops love beer love pove love punk love grunge love rock awaits you people!”

And now, Sam James Velde:

Hi Sam.

Sam: Hi Yasi.

Okay so everyone keeps talking about Obliterations and it’s kind of really annoying. Why do you think people are so into your band that has only been around for five minutes?

S: Um…probably because well A) we’re all so handsome, and B) so intelligent, and just really funny guys, that really dress well. With extremely good diction.

Diction. Haha. What’s it like being in a mega super group made up of mega super musicians from other bands?

S: It’s pretty super. It’s pretty mega. And we are mega babes, so it feels pretty good.

Do you guys ever sit there and rank yourselves, like this guy was in the biggest band, and this guy was in the second biggest band, and structure your decision making process that way?

S: Actually it all just centers around me. Every band I’ve ever been in is the biggest band.

So you have true front man syndrome?

S: What? I don’t know what you’re talking about.

This may seem off topic, but I really need to know about the time you met Oasis.

S: This is going to be a paraphrase, because it’s actually a very long, intense story.

Just hit the key points.

S: Okay so I think it was like 2008. Black Mountain, Steve’s band, had put out In Futures, their second record, and they played the Troubador. At the time I was really close to Matt the bass player, and he called me and says “Hey are you coming to the show tonight?” And I was like “Yeah.” And he said “Cool I can’t give you a plus one because there’s no room on our list. We just had to put the Black Crowes and Oasis on there.” And I was like “Oh fucking weird. Holy shit.” I’m a huge huge Oasis fan.

As we can clearly tell from the Obliterations music. Very referential.

S: Very similar. So I get to the show, and Black Mountain plays a great show, it’s packed and stuff, and after the show is over, Matt comes up and asks if I know if Oasis ever showed up. And I say “Yeah, I think they’re upstairs in the VIP.” So Matt is like “well we have to go up there and meet them.” So we go up there, and Oasis are up there with the Black Crowes and we’re all partying and hanging out, and we start talking to Noel (Gallagher). And he’s talking about Canadian music. They came to see Black Mountain, because they’re huge fans. And Matt is like “You gotta check out April Wine.” And Noel goes “Name alone, I will not check out April Wine.” Just judging bands by their names. And I ask him if he’s heard Dave SARTI’S old band, and he says “I don’t listen to bands who wear baseball hats.” Just genius. So I decide to buy everyone a round of beers, and I go to give one to Noel, and he’s like “Oh, I have one man.” And Liam walks up, and I go “Hey Liam, want a beer?” And he looks at me and says “Nah fuck that man.” And kind of blows me off. Two seconds later he taps me on the shoulder, and I turn around and he’s holding a shot of tequila. He hands it to me and says “I drink the fuckin real shit, man.” So we cheers and stuff. He’s like “Sam, where can I get the great burger?” And I was like “Oh, In N’ Out. You gotta get the double double animal style.” And he asks “All right, what band is it?” And I’m like “What band is it? It’s the fucking Stones. It’s the greatest burger.”

As in, what is the band equivalent of the In N’ Out double double animal style?

S: Yes. So he’s like “It’s the fuckin Stones man! What album?” And I’m thinking “Are we really having this conversation right now?” And I’m all “Kind of sloppy, but really good, it’s kind of perfect man. It’s Exile On Main Street.” And he fucking loses his mind. He’s yells at his brother across the room, “Noel! Whatever you’re doing fuck that, this is the shit over here right now.” At this point all of Oasis are gathered around me. And I want to point out that now some guy comes up to Liam and he goes “Hey man, sorry to interrupt, I don’t want to be this super fan dude or anything, but I’m just really into Oasis.” And Liam says “Hey man. Don’t worry about it. You’re not super fan guy, you’re just a guy that likes good music.” (Laughs). I thought that was fucking genius.

So you’re basically making mental notes of how to behave in the future towards your own fans.

S: Oh totally. Then Liam is like “So what’s up with Fatburger man?” And I’m like “Fatburger? It’s Fuckadelic.” And he’s like “Fucking Funkadelic!” losing his mind. At this point Chris Robinson from The Black Crowes walks over and he’s like “Hey you guys, we’re going to this little party at La Poubelle” which his this little French restaurant on Franklin, and he’s like “You guys wanna go?” And Liam is like “Yeah, Sam you wanna go?” And I was like “I’m sorry what?” So of course I say “Yes, I definitely want to do that.” So I get in the car with Oasis, and we drive to La Poubelle. And I’m not saying a word, thinking “What the fuck is happening right now?” I had left Black Mountain; Matt was so hammered and Steven kind of remembers that night but not really. So we get there and Liam takes me to the bar, and buys me a drink. And now it’s shifted to burritos. He goes “Sam, you know what I’m really into? Bah-hah Fresh.” And I was like “No dude, that’s shit.”

He comes from England, give him a break. Have you had the Mexican food there? They use BBQ sauce as salsa.

S: Of course. So we’re just talking, and then Mickey Madden from Maroon 5 approaches us. I didn’t know Mickey at this time. And he’s like “Hey, I live up the hill, and we’re all going to go up to my house and have a party. Do you guys want to come?” I was actually talking to Mickey about this last weekend, how this night was monumental for all of us. So Liam just looks at me and says, “Sam, you wanna go to this party?” And I say “Yeah, let’s go to this party.” I don’t know Mickey; I don’t even know he’s in Maroon 5. So Liam and I get in Mickey’s car, and everyone else is following us. We’re all in this white Mercedes, and I think that this point the fact that he’s in Maroon 5 comes out. So I’m sitting here thinking “Okay, I’m in the dude from Maroon 5’s car, with the lead singer of Oasis, I have no idea where I’m going and I don’t fucking care.” We get to Mickey’s house, and I’ll never forget this, Liam goes “Hey man, before we go in your house, thank you for inviting us and having us over.” Which I thought was pretty fucking cool. So we get into this insane house, and all these people are piling in,. I don’t know anyone, so I decide I’m going to control the stereo. That’s going to be my job. So I go over and find all these amazing records actually, and I’m just playing all these records for everyone. It’s just me and Noel. Every record I pick up I’m just taking the piss out of him. “You know this record? Yeah? Well this is the song you guys ripped off.” And he’s laughing, but he loves it because he’s English. So then Liam walks up and he’s like “Hey Sam. Can you play Stone Rose? ‘I Am A Resurrection’?” And I say “I just played the Stone Roses like two songs ago, so no.”

You said no to Liam Gallagher?

S: Yeah. I was like “No, that’s stupid.” And he’s all “No man, you gotta play it! Chris Robinson, he’s never heard it.” And I’m blown away. So I play it, then I’m looking for some other records, and then I turn around just to see what’s going on, and in he middle of the fucking living room is Noel and Liam, completely air-guitaring and dancing, going crazy. I walk over to Chris Robinson and ask “So you’re never heard this song?” And he goes “Of course I’ve heard it. I just wanted to watch these two monkeys lose their minds.” So at the end of the night, Noel comes to find me and says “Hey I’ve been looking for you. We’re taking off. It was rad to meet you, and if you ever want to come down to the studio, you’re more than welcome”

Then at that point you died.

S: Pretty much. It was about 7am at this point, and I got a cab and went home.

You cried all the way home.

S: Tears of joy. Definitely.

Well thank you for that abridged version of that story. Perhaps maybe one day you’ll make the full length version into a novel. So, if Obliterations are going to cover an Oasis song, which one would you cover?

S: It would probably be “I Hope I Think I Know”.

Why?

S: It’s just ripping. There’s a cool riff in it. Lyrics are pretty good.

Okay now Obliterations has to cover one Britney Spears song.

S: Probably “Toxic”. It’s a solid jam. It’s her stand-out jam. I think Neptunes produced it. It’s a good time.

Obliterations are going to cover a Nu Sensae song. What song is it?

Daniel Pitout: (who has been lounging quietly in the background): Oooooh.

S: I don’t know any of their songs actually.

Yeah that band kinda sucks.

S: Yeah they’re horrible. You know who is way better than them? Groovy Temple.

Totally. Okay give me the what’s coming up next for Obliterations shpiel. BUT I want to you to do it as if you are Noel Gallagher.

S: First he’d speak in an English accent. So we’ll go ahead and start doing that. So everyone that is reading this, I am now speaking in an English accent. He would say “We’re gonna put our four A-sides, on 7 inches, all hits, best songs you’ve ever heard. Followed up by eight more hits, all A-sides, and then probably use a B-side to do a split with this shitty band called Nu Sensae, because they’re just going to be overshadowed by us anyway because we’re the greatest band on Earth. We’re bigger than Jesus. Then we’ll play some shows, they’ll all be sold out, people will go crazy, and we’ll make tons of money.

Very good.