February 24th, 2014 
Drew Caruso 
I had the pleasure of seeing O’Brother at the Middle East in Cambridge, MA. Last time I experienced their live show, I was floored. This experience was no different, though I was gifted with the pleasure of speaking to O’Brother’s singer and guitarist, Tanner Merritt. Opening for The Sword, O’Brother immediately announced their presence in sound. The crippling “Perilous Love” woke everyone in the audience up, and commanded the attention of the entire venue. Reverberating pulse after pulse, the Atlanta quintet showed the mainly metal crowd what distortion could really mean. With a lot of people in the crowd asking me “Who is opening?” before the show, I figure by this point they are full aware of what O’Brother is about.
Taking a few minutes to speak to UTG on the writing of their latest, near-flawless record, Disillusion, the art behind the album, as well as Tanner’s solo endeavors, I can gladly say that Tanner, as well as all of O’Brother, are one of the sweetest, most humbling, and welcoming group of musicians currently destroying ear drums. It was also nice that the show served as O’Brother bassist Anton Dang’s birthday party, with the band commemorating their friend with mid-song shots.
You guys have had some amazing tours so far, from Thrice, Moving Mountains, Manchester Orchestra and more. What is it like touring with The Sword on top of your extensive touring history?
It’s been awesome, the shows are really cool. You know, we really like all the bands we tour with but we feel like this one is kind of more appropriate. The fans are really receptive.
Yeah, it makes sense since Disillusion is a heavier record, compared to Garden Window.
Yeah for sure.
You guys have done two sessions for Audiotree now. What is it like performing there?
One was like 2009, or something. They had just started I think, and the other was this past summer. But both of them were really cool, it was a good time. They do a really good job with like editing, and shooting, sound, just everything.
I’ve always enjoyed their videos, especially with Evil Vince during your first session, when he screamed “O’Fucking Brother!” (6:40 seconds into the video)
Yeah! That was a thing for a minute like right after we did that. People would do that at shows, it was funny. Sadly that guy doesn’t work with them anymore. Last time we were there they had a different guy doing the interviews. A lot of the Audiotree employees are like, I don’t know, like volunteers, I think they all have other stuff going on.
I think it got a lot bigger too, after your first session. When your second one came around, they were really hyping it up.
Yeah, everything they have been doing a lot. Especially everything they have done for that band The Soil and The Sun, all of theirs are so sick.
So, for the last tour you were on you were the headliner, and now you guys are opening up for The Sword. Is there any kind of difference in approach for you guys in playing different spots?
Yeah, it is pretty much a completely different approach. You know, I love headlining because people are there to see you, they are familiar with your material, you have more time to put on a show, like a whole thing, from start to back. Where in opening, you just get out there, and your job is to win new people, so you just have thirty minutes to, I don’t want to say sell yourself, but to try to convince other people to like you. So it is definitely different, but I do like both, both are really enjoyable.
Right on. So you are still touring for Disillusion, which came out last year, and that was a noticeably heavier and darker record than Garden Window. Was there any conscious decision that brought that tone?
Our band is so musically fickle. Like it really has to do with what everyone is into at the time, what we are listening to, and being influenced by. A lot of the songs, well some of them, I had skeletons for on my own before we started writing, and I didn’t really think they would turn out to be that heavy. Though they turned out to be way heavier, but it felt right when we were all writing it together.
You used the baritone guitar a lot more on Disillusion, right?
Yeah absolutely, we used it on Garden Window too, a good bit, but definitely more this time around.
Yeah, because Disillusion is a really dense record. I feel like every time I listen to it I am always finding a new texture underneath something. With that, how was it working with Mike Sapone, who really brings a lot of abstract sounds to his production?
Right, I feel like he is one of the only people that we have met, or worked with, who is as musical adventurous as we are. He is always willing to try anything and everything, and just put it in there as another layer or a subtle nuance. I love that about him, he wants to try anything.
I think it is really prevalent on “Perilous Love.” It’s just a punch immediately, with a really huge hum in the background. In bringing that to the live show, what are your favorite pedals to use?
I have kind of simplified my live set up because playing and singing and stomping on a bunch of pedals is kind of hard. But, I use my Fuzzrocious Demon King a lot, and a Walrus Audio Iron Horse — those are both distortion pedals that I really like, they both have a really thick distortion, and I like stacking them together. Other than that I use a Carbon Copy Delay.
So I am sure that this changes a lot for you, but what song off Disillusion means the most to you?
It’s funny, I feel like when writing I usually try to do records as a whole. I’ll just go through and write snippets of each song as it comes. So lyrically, the whole record itself is based off of a period of time of feeling, but I really like “Absence.” That is probably my favorite if I had to pick one.
So going off of the idea of the record as a whole, I picked up the double LP, and the packaging is phenomenal.
Yeah we were stoked on it.
Who did the art for that? I really enjoyed the direction for it.
We know this guy Ian (Rowan) from Florida, whose done some designs and posters for us before, and he did this collaboration with this Russian artist named Yaroslav Gerzhedovich. So we checked out all of his artwork and asked if we could purchase some of it to use. Some of the stuff that he had already done fit conceptually so well, like we just went through all his stuff, and he just has a plethora of insane work. So he had a bunch of paintings that were kind of in a series together with reoccurring themes, and we just thought it fit beautifully. So we worked with him, and our same friend Ian did the layout.
Awesome. So I know a lot of O’Brother fans are into your solo stuff as well. Are there any plans to do more in the future?
Yeah, always. It’s just about having enough time to finish it. I have a good bit of material in the works now, but haven’t started really recording anything more than demos. But yeah, I’ve been thinking about doing another solo record and several other collaboration projects with other people.
You had the material for Doubt in your pocket for a while right? It came out a few years after it was written?
Yeah, it was recorded with a friend, and we just got insanely busy and lost the files–we didn’t know where the hard drive was, but years later I got the files and just mixed it.
So to end, I was curious as to what you have been listening to lately?
Lately I have been listening to the new Warpaint record. That record is sick, and I have been listening to it over and over. I have been obsessed with the new Sigur Ros since it came out. Also, the new Mogwai is great.
Head here to catch the rest of O’Brother’s tour dates, and here to purchase their stellar new album, Disillusion.
Written and conducted by: Drew Caruso – Follow him on Twitter.
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