It’s a rainy night outside the Wiltern Theater in Hollywood as I stealthily crisscross through sidewalks littered with ticket scalpers and kids dressed in their finest fetish gear. I peer ahead, up at a marquee that reads “Marilyn Manson” and below it, “Ours”. To my left is a group of Westboro Baptist Church crusaders holding signs greased with slogans that condemn the night’s concertgoers. I don’t know what they’re singing but it sure ain’t Kumbaya. One devout woman tucks a sign under her arm and...
Creepy...I was just listening to Distorted Lullabies and wondering whatever happened to those guys.
I guess I'll use the wonderful world wide web now to catch up with what they're up to now. Probably they are still a Jeff Buckley knock-off, but if they still have it like some 8 years ago...they are one hell of a knock-off
Oh dear. Not the whole Jeff Buckley knock-off thing again. Go back and read the part of the interview where he addresses that very topic. Perhaps it will change your perspective. Art does not exist in a vacuum. Jeff Buckley was not the first, and certainly not the last, artist whose instincts drew him to creating music with this particular sound. Plus, it seems you are only referencing the way the two singers' voices sound. I think most Ours fans would agree that Ours' music is far, far different than Jeff's. Just my two cents.
I admit I haven't heard the new record, it's in my to-do list, but I'm sure the band has evolved musicaly and has become an animal of it's own. But the fact is Distorted Lullabies did borrow a hell of a lot more than vocal similarities from Jeff Buckley's music, plus the record came out in a time when record labels seemed to fight a lot in order to promote bands or singer/songwriters that sounded like that in the light of certain Buckley reissues or box sets going on. As for Gnecco addressing the issue, find me one artist that no matter how blatant a rip-off can be (and this isn't that kind of extreme case) will admit it, that can only happen when everything goes wrong and years later "behind the music" comes knocking with a chance for a pathetic yet lucrative comeback.
But whatever the case, knock off or not, in the end it's the songs that matter not really originality or timing (to me those are only tools for critics that don't like giving flawless reviews). Personally i prefer a great record I can somehow relate to done by a knock-off or a johnny come lately rather than something really new that doesn't say much to me, and this could be a good example since I can't really stand Jeff Buckley's music while I still listen to that Ours record after a good 8 years since I bought it (despite I first thought it was one of those box sets when I heard it playing through a record store's P.A.)
I will always have amazing amounts of respect and admiration for Jimmy and the rest of Ours.
If it weren't for this band, I wouldn't have made it past 15.
courtneyriot
STAFF
Los Angeles, CA
APR 14, 2008 06:00 AM