Following the success of the recently released an eeriness to everything, Observe The 93rd have been gracious enough to appear in the latest of our Roll of the Dice interview series. The PA alt-rockers spoke with us about their influences, their next moves and how to best handle a puppy that’s lost its way.
Thank you so much for agreeing to this interview. Congrats, on the success of An Eeriness To Everything. Could you tell us a bit about the band, your sound and what you want to represent for your fans?
We’re an alternative rock band based out of Mechanicsburg, Pa. Our sound is pretty eclectic, as we always let the emotion of the lyrical content drive the creative process. Sometimes we’re a bit heavier and almost spastic, other times our sound is more stripped down and vulnerable. There’s always a tendency for strong pop melodies when it comes to the vocals though. We love catchy, heartfelt music as listeners. We’d like to represent a surrender to complete authenticity for the individual. We want the community we build to know that they can be the most potent version of themselves.
What album or band or significant singles made you go “Yeah, this is what I want to do” Not just an influence but who or what was the catalyst?
System of a Down and The Beatles have an “anything goes” approach to writing that has always been incredibly appealing and inspiring to me. In regards to singing, Gerard Way from My Chemical Romance and Lacey Sturm from Flyleaf were both really big catalysts for me. They have technical ability, but the focus is really more-so the emotion and passion. You can tell they aren’t “performing” their songs so to speak, they’re expressing. I feel like that’s the only approach that really interests me.
Dylan (drummer) was really inspired by bands like Bullet For My Valentine when he started and I feel comfortable saying that’s probably one of his catalysts.
Observe the 93rd goes beyond being simply a band, as you are said to be building an expansive story about life through each of your songs and albums. How does the building of a universe play into your songwriting, is there a benefit to maintaining a budding universe in the music or does it create obstacles maintaining the world you’ve created?
This new album we’re releasing in December is actually the first time we’ve really built a world around the songs and we’re really excited about it. I’ve always been a fan of albums that reference and call back to past releases and tie some songs together, and we’ve done that before, but the new album embraces this approach fully. It calls back to previous works from other albums as well as has very clear and new thematic threads from song to song. I don’t feel limited by any of this at all. When roadblocks occur on any creative route it merely instigates further creativity. You have to think divergently, and I love that.
We all have a few, what is your biggest regret? A gig you turned down, advice you didn’t take, what one thing do you wish you handled differently as a musician?
I’m so proud of everything we’ve created and that we’ve consistently prioritized artistic integrity, so it’s hard to say I regret anything. Maybe trying to move to a bigger city before it was so expensive to move anywhere? But then I think about how we inevitably wouldn’t have certain songs because living in a different place would bring about different creative avenues. I don’t know, that’s why it’s difficult to think in terms of regrets. Butterfly effect. But, that’s my answer lol
The music world has changed a lot over the last few years. What are some of the biggest changes you’ve come across in your time within the scene?
Oh man, a lot has changed for sure..and it’s happening exponentially. The slope for how society is morphing, in all aspects, not just music, gets steeper by the day. Well, when we started it was all about CDs. Now, it’s streaming platforms and vinyl. The music being released when we first started was also more raw production-wise. It wasn’t a standard recording practice to just automatically pitch-correct vocals and quantize everything the way many bands do now. It was happening, but it wasn’t procedural in studios yet. (stop pitch-correcting your vocals, please. The human imperfection in vocals especially is soul-food :D)
The world has undoubtedly been going through some shit. What effect, if any, have the cultural (and/or political) landscapes of the last few years had on your music?
A big thing occurring culturally right now is disclosure on a federal level in regards to the UFO phenomenon. UFO’s, and the implications some theories around them present for the nature of reality, is one of the main themes of the new album.
One of our obligatory questions in these interviews also tends to be the one I have found most important on a personal level. Who are some bands on your radar that TGEFM readers may not know about, but you think
they should?
An artist who does really well for herself but I’m convinced should be a household name is Meg Myers. She is a true, authentic artist to the core and I really appreciate her being around. Amazing heartfelt songwriting.
What’s next for Observe the 93rd?
We’re gonna release the new album, make some music videos (Which we love. Music videos are not just a song commercial to us, they’re an extension of the art and expression), print a ton of new merch, play some hometown gigs, and then get ourselves out on the road playing in new markets.
Was there anything I missed that you’d like to share or dive deeper into with our readers?
When your dog is lost, you don’t search for an hour and call it quits. You get your ass out there and you find that fucking dog.
Roll of the Dice is a short interview format with a variable amount of questions. A pair of dice is rolled and the total, between 2 and 12, is the amount of questions we can ask. All questions are given to the interviewee(s) at once, and no follow-ups are allowed. The interview may be lightly edited for content and clarity.
Bad Dad (occasionally called Ed) has been on the periphery of the punk and punk-adjacent scene for over twenty years. While many contributors to this site have musical experience and talent, Ed’s musical claim to fame comes from his time in arguably the most punk rock Blockbuster Video district in NJ where he worked alongside members of Blanks 77, Best Hit TV and Brian Fallon. He is more than just an awful father to his 2 daughters, he is also a dreadful husband, a subpar writer, a terrible dresser and has a severe deficiency in all things talent… but hey, at least he’s self-aware, amirite?
Check out the pathetic attempts at photography on his insta at https://www.instagram.com/bad_dad_photography/
