Ones To Watch
I, Octopus
By John Dean AlfoneI, Octopus (www.myspace.com/ioctopus) is an instrumental jazz band from the Crescent City. Having gigged at numerous clubs around the city, the band is now creating a buzz locally, and hope to build upon this recognition with the release of a new album Craig Has a Beard Now. The lineup consists of Michael Lentz, Blake Lewis and Jay Steigner. Where Y’at Magazine recently sat down with members from I, Octopus, to discuss the band’s latest endeavors.
WYAT: What do you think about REM playing at Voodoo Fest this year?
Michael: Pretty cool.
WYAT: What does I, Octopus mean?
Michael: I was at a show at the Dragon’s Den one time and I had seen a “Fight the Stoopids” sticker there and I thought I was reading “I, Octopus.”
WYAT: Dyslexic?
I just thought it would be a cool name for a band.
WYAT: Okay, so “Fight the Stoopids” became “I, Octopus” and the rest is history. What year was the band formed?
Michael: It’s been in a lot of different forms. It was just Blake and me for 2-3 years after we had started in 2001. Then we had Matt Aguiliuz from A Living Soundtrack playing drums with us for a while. He then moved, and we’ve been playing with Jay since 2005, before Katrina.
WYAT: What are the influences of the band?
Michael: Cool. Easy.
WYAT: Like Dokken?
(Everyone laughs)
Jay: All kinds of stuff, not just music. Our sound varies a lot. It will be heavy for a little bit, and then it will be real soft. We’re, like, real dynamic.
WYAT: That being said, there’s no vocals?
Michael: That’s right. No vocals
WYAT: And three people in the band?
Michael: We’ve had various people in the band. We’ve had four people, but we’ve discovered when we only have three we get to go off a little more. Sometimes we have two guitars, and sometimes we have a guitar and a bass. We have a song with a keyboard. We all play all instruments.
WYAT: That’s a perfect segue into the New Orleans scene. What do you think of the New Orleans scene? How do you guys fit into it?
Jay: It’s a cool scene. It’s wide open. We’re able to try to do our own thing and experience what else is going on.
WYAT: Would you say local bands are breaking out of the New Orleans scene? Can these bands tour nationally?
Michael: They can if they want to.
WYAT: Can you make money doing it?
Jay: I think, like any other band trying to do it, there are going to be periods where you don’t. You gotta keep doing it, and eventually you’ll make money.
WYAT: I think getting exposure outside of New Orleans is important. Is this important to you-all?
Michael: Yeah, it’s somewhat important. After all, I’m a musician. It would be really cool if someone wanted to pay me to play.
WYAT: The goal should be to earn a living?
Michael and Jay: Yeah. Speaking from experience, and I haven’t tried to make it anywhere else, but I feel people from other cities seem to have more resources to go on the road, while bands here tend to stick around a little more.
WYAT: Tell me about your affiliation with the Loyola program.
Jay: We all went to Loyola. I was in the music program and Mike was in Music Business.
WYAT: We all agree it’s a cool thing to play gigs locally, but can you make a living playing here in New Orleans? What is the larger vision? Sign with an indie label? Record with a good producer?
Michael: I don’t think any band makes a lot of money just playing in the same city. In New Orleans, jazz and funk seem to be more popular, but I imagine the challenges of the music industry are the same everywhere.
WYAT: And the larger vision?
Jay: I want to incorporate more instruments into the band.
Michael: We’re putting out a new album on September 20th called Craig Has a Beard Now, and then we’re going to tour to support it.
Jay: It’s a split with Metronome the City. Both bands will have a 25-minute long track.
Michael: We cut ours up into five pieces, so you can skip through it if you want to.
Jay: While we were trying to record some other stuff, it ended up being our demo. We were just jamming while it was recording, and it ended up being a 25-minute song. We really liked it, went back and mixed it, and then edited just a little bit.
Metronome the City took a bunch of their recordings and jams that they did, cut out a few little parts, and then pasted it all together.
The record release will be at One-Eyed Jack’s (www.oneeyedjacks.net) on September 20th. A Living Soundtrack will be opening up and Metronome the City will be playing, too.