An oni is known as a symbol of good luck, and that symbol has shown a lot of promise for the band, ONI. This six-piece band brings energy and adrenaline to the stage with their incredibly diverse sound and awesome stage presence. We chatted a bit with Jake Oni and Brandon White and found out a little more about what “oni” means to them, their roots in Anime, and how working with Josh Wilbur has worked out in their favor along the way.
Welcome to Portland. Thanks for sitting down with us. So, I had to do some research to find out what ONI is. It’s my understanding that it’s a demon, but also your last name?
Jake: Actually, that’s the name that I go by. But ONI is also a symbol for good luck.
So, how did you adopt the ONI as your band name and symbol?
Jake: Well, it’s a symbol for good luck, and I quite like the artwork. I have an ONI tattoo…not much more to it than that.
How were you introduced to this whole ONI concept?
Jake: I can’t really say what exactly introduced me to it. I just knew what it was and thought it was cool.
Brandon: A lot of the members of the band are big fans of anime as well. So, when the name was pitched, it was just a natural choice. Everyone was like, yeah, cool, fuckin’ awesome.
What kind of anime are you all familiar with?
Jake: I’m not personally a big anime fan
Brandon: It’s more so John and Jason’s thing. I think Akira is one of the ones that they are into. A couple of other ones like that, I’m not quite sure.
Do you guys incorporate any of that folklore into the writing process or any of your music?
Jake: There’s one song about an oni that we wrote that we don’t play a lot and didn’t make the record.
Do you guys share the songwriting responsibilities, or is one of you primarily setting up the songs and arrangements?
Brandon: We do everything pretty collectively. It works out really well because everyone’s a really strong writer in this group. So, we’ll have one idea, pitch it to everyone else, and they put their own variation on it and warps it in their own way.
Jake: We also, like, I’m the vocalists, so I write most of the vocals and most of the lyrics. Everyone kinda writes for each other, but mostly for what they play.
You guys are a six-piece gig, right? So, how did you guys decide on that kind of an arrangement?
Jake: It kinda just happened. We were originally five. Two guitars, drums, bass, and me; then we added John on the xylophone.
You guys are working with Josh Wilbur (Gojira, Lamb of God). I mean, he’s a big name, right? So, how’d you hook up with Josh?
Jake: He was recommended to us, and we called him up; he wanted to listen to our music first. So, we sent it to him, and he loved it. It was a lot of fun doing the record with him.
You guys even got to collaborate with Randy Blythe of Lamb of God; how did that come about?
Jake: Through Josh. They’re really good friends, and now Randy’s a pretty good friend of mine.
Randy just heard some of your stuff and said he’d like to work with you guys, or Josh said that you and Randy should get together and mash it up?
Jake: Josh was like, “Would you mind cutting some vocals, like a verse and a chorus on a song”, and Randy was like, “Sure.” And it just kinda happened.
Were you guys big Lamb of God fans prior to that whole experience?
Jake: Definitely.
Was that kind of a surreal experience?
Jake: Definitely, it was. I mean, like when I first met him, I was pretty star struck at first. But now, we talk a lot and stuff. He’s a good friend.
What’s it like touring with Howard and the Devil You Know guys?
Jake: We’re also really good friends with Francesco, who Josh also got to do a guest solo on our record and hung out with him. He’s really good friends with the band as well, and that’s kind of how this tour happened.
Brandon: It’s been really great touring with them. They’re all really good people.
Who are some of your biggest influences?
Jake: As a singer, I really like Randy, obviously. Corey Taylor. Mikael Akerfeldt from Opeth.
Corey Taylor – Slipknot, or Corey Taylor – Stone Sour?
Jake: Mostly Slipknot, yeah
What are some of the bands you’ve crossed paths with?
Jake: With ONI, this is our first tour, so this is really us getting our feet wet. In the past, we’ve crossed paths with tons of other bands. One that I’ve toured around a lot with is Protest The Hero. A lot of people that come in and out of shows, especially in the last little while, will come to see us and check us out… see what the hype is about.
How would you classify the music you write?
Jake: Progressive metal.
Do you think that it’s important to make a distinction between all the sub-genres of metal?
Jake: I don’t think so. It’s all music to me. It’s all metal to me. I don’t really know much about all the sub-genres; there are so many. We’re definitely progressive. We have a lot of changing parts, odd time signatures, 10+ minute songs.
Brandon: Influenced from different genres, it’s something that I think sets us apart from some other bands that are out there. All of the band members have a vast array of influence; our bassist is big into jazz. Our drummer used to play tympani in a lot of orchestras, so he’s very classical. Everybody comes from different worlds, music and metal alike. So, we just jammed everything into this band, and that’s how we got our cool unique sound.
Who would you most like to tour with in the future?
Jake: Whoever wants to tour with us. We’ll see what happens.
Willie Nelson?
Brandon: I’d be down. He’s a legend man; he’s a legend!
When writing songs, what topics do you tend to lean toward?
Jake: Every song is different, ya know?
Is there any underlying theme to that “ONI sound” that you are creating?
Brandon: There’s no real concept, really. We’re just trying to write music that we are all happy listening to. That’s one thing that we all agreed on. We wanted to write music that we could easily pop onto our iPods and really love.
Jake: We also try to make music that we haven’t heard before as well.
How are the fans responding to the live show?
Jake: So far, so good.
Brandon: Yeah, It’s going really well
What’s your least and most favorite parts about press interviews?
Brandon: Ohh, that’s a good question. What I like most is it makes you think deep about things you wouldn’t expect. Like, for example, this question. (laughs) I never would have thought of it, but it’s really cool being put on the spot where you have to dig in and think deep. I really like that aspect of it.
Jake: I’ve had a fair amount of interviews so far, and each person has a different set of questions, so it’s pretty cool.
Brandon: It’s just like playing a show. Each city and each crowd is totally different, just like each interviewer is totally different.
