Trends and genres come and go but a good band always remains and that’s the case with Oleander. Their rise to fame came with some amazing songs but that came to a screeching and unexpected halt. Now with clear minds they have come back with their strongest record to date in the form of Something Beautiful and Thomas Flowers, the frontman of all frontmen, checked in to reveal how this project unfolded for the band.
An interview with Thomas Flowers of Oleander.
By Jeffrey Easton
Metal Exiles: It has been awhile since Oleander stopped recording. What are some of the changes to the music scene that you are embracing?
Thomas Flowers: Everything changes overtime. When we stepped away from the music scene we stepped away from the industry, not from being a band. People say we broke up, we did not break up, we broke away from the obligations of being Oleander. When we walked away I stopped listening to music on the radio and was not following trends but I did notice that the delivery systems for product were changing.
Metal Exiles: What motivated you to create music as Oleander again after the absence?
Thomas: I have always used Oleanders music as a platform for what was going on in my life as a release for expressing what is going on in my life. When we write music we are in a bubble, we just lock ourselves away and just let it rip. With this new record, coming back from a nice long break, we were in a great spot. We had zero pressure to write songs and all the time in the world to do it in and that was like it was for the first record. It was exciting again and we had years of life experiences to put in this record. If you want a key to what our lives are like on a day to day basis listen to this record.
Metal Exiles: You have had the band back together for a few years now. How hard was it to get the material together and what did you want to get off of your chest for this album?
Thomas: It was easy for us because when we got into our room, within 15 minutes, we knew we had something. The first song that we worked on was Daylight, it was just there. One of the things that I was trying to get off of my chest was just the grind that normal everyday life creates. Everything from being on the 405 gridlock going into L.A. to sweating bills, mortgages and concerned about friends. Daylight was written about our experiences on the road and it is about certain individuals that we had to leave behind that I am worried about. With this record, we did an efficient job of capturing our lives.
Metal Exiles: This record has many moods from Fight to How Do We Say Goodbye to Something Beautiful. There is just a different feeling for every song.
Thomas: We have always been that way if you go back and listen to the older records. I think that Joyride was the only straightforward cohesive rock album we did, the rest were very diverse. We have never limited ourselves by saying no to a certain song that might not fit a genre. We always felt that the more formats at radio that we can fit into, the better and if it is a quality song, we roll with it. How Can We Say Goodbye was written about a friend whose wife was shot to death right in front of him. There is a lot of real life going on in this record.
Metal Exiles: Oleander have always been involved with movies and TV shows so how did you guys get involved with wrestling with the song fight?
Thomas: That was just a byproduct of the song getting out and into the right people’s hands. What is interesting to me is that our bassist Doug Eldridge was flying home from a recording session and the guy that was sitting next to him was Uriah Faber, the MMA fighter. Doug is a big fan of the guy and after talking to him he felt that he would be a good fit for a spoken word bit in the track. He does it and the next thing we know we are getting contacted by the WWE. Management had gotten the track in the right people’s hands which they loved and it all worked out. The song Fight fits us well because that is where we are at every day of our life, we are all fighting for our lives. It is a wakeup call for me to wake up, strap it on and fight my way through the day.
Metal Exiles: Your lead single is probably going to be the best thing released to rock radio this year. What was behind the creation of this video and the video to go with it?
Thomas: I will give credit to Doug on that one. We were talking about video treatment for that song and how we want to portray ourselves and how silly and uninteresting for us to try and do a big rock video for it. We would run the risk of looking pretentious so we just decided to go a different route. We have always been into making people laugh while playing live so Doug said why don’t we portray what it has been like for us in the business, how people tell us that this isn’t good enough, try this, no, try that and so on. As far as the song, I was just reflecting on our time on the road and all the damage I had done to myself and seeing that we all are all just looking for something beautiful in our lives, just something we can hold onto. Just something nobody can take away and even in the worst moments of the day it is still there. That is universal, it is something that everybody is looking for and trying to hold onto.
Metal Exiles: Is that the same thought process that created Save Me?
Thomas: You are going to see a lot of recurring themes with me and it goes back to me getting this off of my chest and getting it out there.. If I have to sing these songs every night it is a constant reminder of all these moments in my life that I need to pay attention to myself and to not repeat. I do not like making the same mistakes twice; I do not need to pay for them over and over.
Metal Exiles: You made a comment stating that “You do not want to compete with younger bands by putting out a record and touring” but by releasing an album are competing for fans attention.
Thomas: I think what I meant to say was that even though we are putting this record out, we are not competing with anybody, and from where I am sitting that’s what I think. We just wanted to get together, write the best record possible, keep the expectations low and simply do it on our terms. As far as touring, we are going to do that as often as possible, we are ecstatic about touring, getting out and making some noise. It just reflects the attitudes we have, we are just not thinking of other people, other bands, no matter what. We just wanted to do our own record and reconnecting with our fans.
Metal Exiles: You have been on major labels and you have been indy but with this album you are basically doing it yourselves with Kobalt. Did you not want to back to a bigger label?
Thomas: We wanted to but nobody was having us. That is not unusual for us as we have always been the band on the outside looking in. It was not until we went #1 in Sacramento with Why I’m Here at local radio that any of the bid labels paid attention to us. They all passed on us beforehand. Coming back after a long hiatus even though we have a good history, major labels do not see the value in us but Kobalt did.
Metal Exiles: That’s a shame because Something Beautiful is so powerful that I feel it will be a hit at radio.
Thomas: Do you really think that record execs know any more than anybody else what will be a hot until it is out there? I don’t think they know more than you or I do but the difference is that they have the money to put into radio promotions, that’s all they know. You are right, it is a powerful record but they made their decision and we adjusted to it. We found a great relationship with Kobalt Music and we could not be happier.
Metal Exiles: I think that at the end of the day as long as it gets into the fans hands that’s all that matters.
Thomas: And that brings us to what has taken place since we were last in the game and that social media. We did not have that back then but now we do and we now have an outlet to talk to directly to our fans. We can link then directly to our video, to our music and we are taking full advantage of that and we can reach an even greater audience as long as we stay very proactive in pushing the record.
Metal Exiles: You have a tour coming up but the special show is the CD release party at Ace Of Spades in Sacramento. I know you guys are from Sac but what is the special connection that you still have with the city?
Thomas: It’s still home, we cut our teeth there and three of the guys still live there. When we were coming up there was a a very diverse music scene as we had everything from Cake, Papa Roach and the Deftones as well as Oleander. We were very fortunate to get the opportunity that we did to break at radio. If it wasn’t for Sac’s support of this band we would not be where we are today. We would not have gotten the breaks we needed to have the career we have had. Sacramento is home for us, I was born and raised there.
Metal Exiles: You picked a great place to play, Ace Of Spades is a great club.
Thomas: That is where we played our “last show” the last time and we thought it would be right to come back and play our CD release show at Ace Of Spades.
Metal Exiles: What are the big touring plans for Something Beautiful?
Thomas: We are getting big offers for shed tours but the biggest difference between now and then is that we would have jumped at any opportunity to be out on the road as often as possible but it was not always for the best as touring is expensive. With this, we want to give the business side more attention and whatever touring we do is well thought out and justifiable. That being said we will be very busy this year.
Something Beautiful should be the breakout record of the year and you the fan should be making that happen…
Official Oleander Site
Buy Something Beautiful!!
An interview with Thomas Flowers of Oleander.
By Jeffrey Easton
Metal Exiles: It has been awhile since Oleander stopped recording. What are some of the changes to the music scene that you are embracing?
Thomas Flowers: Everything changes overtime. When we stepped away from the music scene we stepped away from the industry, not from being a band. People say we broke up, we did not break up, we broke away from the obligations of being Oleander. When we walked away I stopped listening to music on the radio and was not following trends but I did notice that the delivery systems for product were changing.
Metal Exiles: What motivated you to create music as Oleander again after the absence?
Thomas: I have always used Oleanders music as a platform for what was going on in my life as a release for expressing what is going on in my life. When we write music we are in a bubble, we just lock ourselves away and just let it rip. With this new record, coming back from a nice long break, we were in a great spot. We had zero pressure to write songs and all the time in the world to do it in and that was like it was for the first record. It was exciting again and we had years of life experiences to put in this record. If you want a key to what our lives are like on a day to day basis listen to this record.
Metal Exiles: You have had the band back together for a few years now. How hard was it to get the material together and what did you want to get off of your chest for this album?
Thomas: It was easy for us because when we got into our room, within 15 minutes, we knew we had something. The first song that we worked on was Daylight, it was just there. One of the things that I was trying to get off of my chest was just the grind that normal everyday life creates. Everything from being on the 405 gridlock going into L.A. to sweating bills, mortgages and concerned about friends. Daylight was written about our experiences on the road and it is about certain individuals that we had to leave behind that I am worried about. With this record, we did an efficient job of capturing our lives.
Metal Exiles: This record has many moods from Fight to How Do We Say Goodbye to Something Beautiful. There is just a different feeling for every song.
Thomas: We have always been that way if you go back and listen to the older records. I think that Joyride was the only straightforward cohesive rock album we did, the rest were very diverse. We have never limited ourselves by saying no to a certain song that might not fit a genre. We always felt that the more formats at radio that we can fit into, the better and if it is a quality song, we roll with it. How Can We Say Goodbye was written about a friend whose wife was shot to death right in front of him. There is a lot of real life going on in this record.
Metal Exiles: Oleander have always been involved with movies and TV shows so how did you guys get involved with wrestling with the song fight?
Thomas: That was just a byproduct of the song getting out and into the right people’s hands. What is interesting to me is that our bassist Doug Eldridge was flying home from a recording session and the guy that was sitting next to him was Uriah Faber, the MMA fighter. Doug is a big fan of the guy and after talking to him he felt that he would be a good fit for a spoken word bit in the track. He does it and the next thing we know we are getting contacted by the WWE. Management had gotten the track in the right people’s hands which they loved and it all worked out. The song Fight fits us well because that is where we are at every day of our life, we are all fighting for our lives. It is a wakeup call for me to wake up, strap it on and fight my way through the day.
Metal Exiles: Your lead single is probably going to be the best thing released to rock radio this year. What was behind the creation of this video and the video to go with it?
Thomas: I will give credit to Doug on that one. We were talking about video treatment for that song and how we want to portray ourselves and how silly and uninteresting for us to try and do a big rock video for it. We would run the risk of looking pretentious so we just decided to go a different route. We have always been into making people laugh while playing live so Doug said why don’t we portray what it has been like for us in the business, how people tell us that this isn’t good enough, try this, no, try that and so on. As far as the song, I was just reflecting on our time on the road and all the damage I had done to myself and seeing that we all are all just looking for something beautiful in our lives, just something we can hold onto. Just something nobody can take away and even in the worst moments of the day it is still there. That is universal, it is something that everybody is looking for and trying to hold onto.
Metal Exiles: Is that the same thought process that created Save Me?
Thomas: You are going to see a lot of recurring themes with me and it goes back to me getting this off of my chest and getting it out there.. If I have to sing these songs every night it is a constant reminder of all these moments in my life that I need to pay attention to myself and to not repeat. I do not like making the same mistakes twice; I do not need to pay for them over and over.
Metal Exiles: You made a comment stating that “You do not want to compete with younger bands by putting out a record and touring” but by releasing an album are competing for fans attention.
Thomas: I think what I meant to say was that even though we are putting this record out, we are not competing with anybody, and from where I am sitting that’s what I think. We just wanted to get together, write the best record possible, keep the expectations low and simply do it on our terms. As far as touring, we are going to do that as often as possible, we are ecstatic about touring, getting out and making some noise. It just reflects the attitudes we have, we are just not thinking of other people, other bands, no matter what. We just wanted to do our own record and reconnecting with our fans.
Metal Exiles: You have been on major labels and you have been indy but with this album you are basically doing it yourselves with Kobalt. Did you not want to back to a bigger label?
Thomas: We wanted to but nobody was having us. That is not unusual for us as we have always been the band on the outside looking in. It was not until we went #1 in Sacramento with Why I’m Here at local radio that any of the bid labels paid attention to us. They all passed on us beforehand. Coming back after a long hiatus even though we have a good history, major labels do not see the value in us but Kobalt did.
Metal Exiles: That’s a shame because Something Beautiful is so powerful that I feel it will be a hit at radio.
Thomas: Do you really think that record execs know any more than anybody else what will be a hot until it is out there? I don’t think they know more than you or I do but the difference is that they have the money to put into radio promotions, that’s all they know. You are right, it is a powerful record but they made their decision and we adjusted to it. We found a great relationship with Kobalt Music and we could not be happier.
Metal Exiles: I think that at the end of the day as long as it gets into the fans hands that’s all that matters.
Thomas: And that brings us to what has taken place since we were last in the game and that social media. We did not have that back then but now we do and we now have an outlet to talk to directly to our fans. We can link then directly to our video, to our music and we are taking full advantage of that and we can reach an even greater audience as long as we stay very proactive in pushing the record.
Metal Exiles: You have a tour coming up but the special show is the CD release party at Ace Of Spades in Sacramento. I know you guys are from Sac but what is the special connection that you still have with the city?
Thomas: It’s still home, we cut our teeth there and three of the guys still live there. When we were coming up there was a a very diverse music scene as we had everything from Cake, Papa Roach and the Deftones as well as Oleander. We were very fortunate to get the opportunity that we did to break at radio. If it wasn’t for Sac’s support of this band we would not be where we are today. We would not have gotten the breaks we needed to have the career we have had. Sacramento is home for us, I was born and raised there.
Metal Exiles: You picked a great place to play, Ace Of Spades is a great club.
Thomas: That is where we played our “last show” the last time and we thought it would be right to come back and play our CD release show at Ace Of Spades.
Metal Exiles: What are the big touring plans for Something Beautiful?
Thomas: We are getting big offers for shed tours but the biggest difference between now and then is that we would have jumped at any opportunity to be out on the road as often as possible but it was not always for the best as touring is expensive. With this, we want to give the business side more attention and whatever touring we do is well thought out and justifiable. That being said we will be very busy this year.
Something Beautiful should be the breakout record of the year and you the fan should be making that happen…
Official Oleander Site
Buy Something Beautiful!!
