Taken from their forthcoming album The Sled (out Feb 9th), Mountains, is the new indie rock anthem single from Burlington, Ontario-based Oh Geronimo. Mountains is a song about “straddling that thin line between ambition and humility. Everybody wants to be successful and sometimes we go to great lengths to achieve what we want to achieve, but it’s very important to keep our ego in-check. We must be kind to each other and ourselves. It’s easy to get consumed by goals and aspirations to the point where it brings you and everyone else around you down. The song is about withstanding the pressure to compromise who we are in order to be successful.” Watch the accompanying video by Andrew Friesen and read the band Q&A below.
Oh Geronimo Q&A
How did the band meet?
‘I met Drew (our drummer) in weight training class back in high school. We weren’t any good at lifting weights so we started skipping to go jam at his parents’ house. We eventually formed a band with Kyle (keys/guitar) that didn’t thrive for more than a year or two, then consequently formed Oh Geronimo with some other recently band-less musicians that we’d met through playing gigs. About a year ago, we had 3 members leave the project to pursue other endeavours, so we welcomed T.J. (Bass) and Nick (Guitar) into the band and started work on our new record, The Sled.’
What is the meaning behind the name?
‘Oh Geronimo is inspired by an Irish film called War Of the Buttons. The movie is about an after-school rivalry between two neighbouring regions in Ireland. The antagonist, Geronimo, finds himself on the wrong side of the battle and eventually makes a courageous act to strike peace between both regions. He sets aside his pride and popularity in order to be genuine and feel fulfilled. I think we’re all presented with that sort of moral decision quite often.’
What is your mission/purpose/vision with the band/project?
‘This project is and always has been about writing music from the heart. Honesty is the most important thing for us. We want to get through to people at the core. While we strive to be as successful as we can, we write about what we know and what we’ve experienced…nothing is contrived.’
How does ‘The Sled’ exemplify these musical goals?
‘The Sled is about strained companionship, ego, self-perception and what happens when all these things come together. We wrote about these personal struggles in hopes of connecting with the listener, making everybody feel more united in their quest to find meaning and/or purpose. We feel that true honesty is what makes people feel connected.’
Lastly, what was the inspiration behind ‘Mountains’ and how does this setup the album as a whole?
‘Mountains is about never giving up, whilst withstanding the pressure to compromise who we are in order to be successful. We might sit atop our mountain and look down at everyone with contempt and arrogance, or we might look down with overwhelming fear and loneliness, but we often find ourselves too far on one of these sides. The Sled is about trying to discover a balance or middle-ground when ambition, ego, friendship and love all come into play.’
www.ohgeronimo.com
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