What do you get when you put a metalhead drummer and a sad bastard guitar player in a room together? In the case of Oceanography, you get surprisingly catchy songs about vanilla extract and potato guns.
Despite his mellow musical tastes, singer-songwriter Brian Kelly has not crumbled under drummer Kathleen Richards’ heavy beats. Instead, the pair has managed to balance out their respective extremes and found a rocking middle. Kelly’s plaintive vocals and personal lyrics are transformed from lonesome bar stool soliloquies to fist-pumping crowd-raisers by Richards’ bashing drums. The Oakland duo (and couple on-and-off stage) are currently finishing up a new five-song EP and preparing for a west coast tour.
“I haven’t had the heart to tell Kathleen she can’t bring her whole damn wardrobe,” says Kelly. “In fact I’m only bringing a change of underwear. By the end of this tour odds are we’re gonna stink, but we’ll sound great.”