CALLING ALL VOCALISTS: BEST BAND EVER SEEKS REPLACEMENT
Thursday, April 9th, 2009 at 1:04pm by Vince Neilstein
No, not Tool. But Berlin, Germany’s The Ocean certainly give them a run for their money in “best band ever” category. About a year ago Kip and I saw The Ocean headline a small NYC venue — before which we interviewed guitarist/mastermind Robin Staps over a round of whiskeys — and they literally made all of the opening bands look like little girls. And we’re not talking about slouchy openers, here — Withered, Lair of the Minotaur and Kylesa opened up, in that order — but the difference was just that stark in the live setting. The Ocean ruled, everyone else drooled in comparison.
So if you’re a vocalist without a band or you’re a vocalist in a band that’s going nowhere (as if you’d actually acknowledge the latter), you might want to shoot Staps an email at info@theoceancollective.com with a link to an audition video or mp3, because vocalist Mike Pilat has officially left The Ocean. Check Pitriff for official statements from Pilat and Staps. This sucks for us because the guy was good, but rules for you if you’ve got chops and are looking to join a great band. Get on it!
Check this ripping live clip of The Ocean at Hellfest last summer. If you’re impatient, skip to the 3 minute mark where it starts to get good great.
-VN
I wanna check this band out more but i can’t seem to find their myspace page b/c that’s how i check out music….someone help me…
http://www.myspace.com/theoceancollective
http://www.myspace.com/theoceancollective
too bad I don’t live in Europe =(
jesus, dont tell me those are all the band members. another band with 17 goddamn members? I smell sleepytime guerilla museum all over these guys…..
The Ocean Collective really are the best band I’ve heard…too bad they’ll never come to Aus.
You should check out their earlier music, they really are the definition of metal (to me)
Here’s a live clip of Austerity…http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y9_Xn9XL4A0
Go to about 4:50 if you wanna hear some impressive vocal-work.
wow. i thought i was the only person who thought the ocean was the best band ever.
these guys are incredible. i was at that show too, BLEW me away. the amount of work Robin put into this album is truly staggering. I listen to this album from start to finish atleast once a week.
Nicest dudes ever. They played here last October at a club down the street from me. I rode my bike there like I normally do and their bass player let me in for free in exchange for using my bike to go get food. I also talked to their singer for a good 20 or 30 minutes with my girlfriend about US politics, the election, and the metal scene in general. Great band.
I really, really like The Ocean as well. Very heavy and very interesting stuff.
You got to be kidding me! This band SUCKS, the worst kind of ISISripoff. clones of clones of clones…
Apparently, Marco doesn’t listen to The Ocean as much as he should to digest properly.
Anyways, sucks that the commitment is more of a European affair. At least we can try to do fun-guest stuff during tours.
Best wishes for Mike and his future endeavors.
I was at that show as well. They were absolutely awesome and I talked to Mike for a while as I was buying a shirt – he was working the merch table. Very down-to-earth. These guys are far from Isis ripoffs. The Phantomnaut is right: You probably haven’t listened enough. Precambrian is a grower. And yes, I am talking about my pee-pee.
“# Marco Says:
April 9th, 2009 at 3:47 pm
You got to be kidding me! This band SUCKS, the worst kind of ISISripoff. clones of clones of clones…”
Isis ripoff?!? Jesus man, have you even ever heard Ocean? They sound nothing like Isis.
They’re a great fucking band too btw.
In reaction to Sweeny, Aeolian/Fluxion are very different entities as they are more hardcore punk/extreme metal and progressive influenced respectively.
This is one of the best bands ever? You’ve got to be fucking kidding me. This statement combined with the frequent suckoffery of Trent Reznor, iwrestledarecordcompanyintosigningtheworstbandever, Lamb of Hot Topic’s new Slipknut, and a bunch of other shitty trend-core bands has made me loose all faith in this website.
I don’t hate it
who “gets” metal more: someone who’s been listening to it since they were 13 when all their friends got into it or someone that started listening to it in their twenties completely out of their own curiosity (pain)? what the fuck is this music about anyways? is it an expression of specific emotions or is it another fucking aesthetics driven scene (trends and styles that happen to be stolen from bands that the aesthetics were only a small part of)?
i guess my real point is: can someone please explain to me WHY this is “the best band ever”? use descriptive language. please show your fucking work. you cannot use the argument, “Well they make Trivium sound like New Kids on the Block”, you have to think about what the point of music in our world is in the first place.
Because for some people, apparently, music is about clothing, attitude, hairdos, drugs, identity…. If you consider yourself a “metal” person than you are an immature scenester, ya know, just in my eyes, of course…
Hellfest is back!?! I went to NJ in 04 and had the time of my life. Is it a tour now or what? apparently they aren’t using the old website anymore. any info??
This is France’s Hellfest not the US one.
Everyone shitting on “best band ever” thing is just taking things too seriously on pretty much an obvious joke.
“Hellfest is back!?! I went to NJ in 04 and had the time of my life. Is it a tour now or what? apparently they aren’t using the old website anymore. any info??”
Hellfest is strictly in Europe now. :(
I was also at that Jersey show (the last US show I believe..?) in ‘04, and I concur, it was one of the best times I have had at a music event.
oh I´ve listened to them, actually saw them live a couple of weeks ago. Everything´s all programmed and unorganic and boooring. Then on came Burst and PLAYED.
“No, not Tool.”
Literally busted out laughing, as if they’re worthy of a “Top 100 ever” list.
I didn’t think I’d be impatient but it was grating enough to have him stand there holding notes on and off that I just skipped it, “Another Opinion” sums it up well.
Another Opinion: You’ll find this is just a theme with metalcore, it’s about sounding heavy and angry as all hell, it is the core of masculinity personified in music, nothing more, nothing less.
Does it sound like shit? Yeah, it does, will it ever be anything but loud manly guitar-obsessed shit? No, that’s all it is.
To ask someone to explain it outside of the above is like asking them to shove the moon through a mouse hole, to them, the above is the best music in the world, and for lack of a better summary, many of us will never comprehend why.
Anyway, I wish them luck in finding another, what? One? Two people? To scream incomprehensibly over really loud guitars and drums about absolutely nothing, they’ll have a hard ass time ever filling that role again.
Hey, “Pooo”, it’s Sleeptytime GORILLA Museum. Similar to monkeys, not a military strategy. Dumb ass. And The Ocean sounds absolutely nothing like them. You’ve obviously never heard either one.
all i know about the ocean is that this band definitely does not have enough members.
for metalcore, you definitely need lots of people to make sure it’s the best metalcore ever.
People ultimately judge through the Hellfest video. HA HA!
You guys are funny.
Noooooooooo…. Ocean is the best band ever. That sucks.
ok, i get it. its deathcore. ok. whatev.