Opening for Owen Pallett is Diamond Rings, the solo project of John O’Regan, who also fronts local indie rock band the D’Urbervilles. Combining introspective singer/songwriter vibes with homemade electronic rhythms, Diamond Rings crashed the world stage this summer with his charming low-budget video for All Yr Songs, which became a surprise YouTube hit.
[rssbreak]
The video recently put O’Regan back in the news when Sony/BMG had it pulled off the Web in December after an automated scanning program mistakenly tagged it as a cover of the song Diamond Rings by Sony artist Chipmunk. After some inquiries by NOW, the label realized its error and made good. Even better, the controversy got O’Regan onto the mainstream media radar. Not bad, considering that not long ago many in the industry were musing about the death of the music video.
“I feel like videos can captivate people in a way that music can’t,” O’Regan says over coffee in his west-end apartment.
“In a way, YouTube has levelled the playing field. I don’t think musicians even aspire to get their videos on TV any more, since it doesn’t really play them. That kind of liberates us from trying to compete with big-budget videos. Might as well just go for it.”
That “just go for it” attitude is at the heart of Diamond Rings’ approach. His use of electronic backing tracks is as much a way of getting his songs from bedroom to stage quickly as it is an aesthetic choice. Not having to assemble and rehearse a band also lets him concentrate on the interaction between the visuals and the music, something not nearly as central to the D’Urbervilles.
“My background is actually more in visual art than in music. Usually the default is ‘I’ve got these songs now I need a drummer.’ With this, it was more like ‘I’ve got these songs now I need a makeup artist and someone who can do videos.’ It’s still like a band, but totally different.”
So, kind of like an R&B singer?
“That’s sort of how we’ve viewed the whole project. ‘If I were an R&B artist or rapper, how would I perform and approach this?'”
Interview Clips
John O’Regan talks about his upcoming new video:
O’Regan talks about the early days of Diamond Rings:
