You also have some cool festival dates along the tour. Can you tell me how you chose these groups to open? Are you familiar with their work?įire Next Time and The Stanfields were recommended to us by the powers that be. With the help of the internet I have become privy to their music and I’m super stoked for the fun we are all about to have. On the Canadian leg, you are playing with Edmonton’s Fire Next Time in the west and The Stanfields in the east. For your latest tour, you are playing some dates with the legendary Reverend Horton Heat, heading up the coast on an actual North American tour (as opposed to those who say that, then only play Toronto and/or Vancouver). Old Man Markley are well known for your commitment to a heavy touring schedule, which seems to be an increasingly rare thing these days. A punk cover record is not out of the realm of possibility… It’s so fun to take punk songs and give it our take. We were just having fun playing bluegrass style rock, or whatever it is that we play. When we started the band it was all covers. Is that something the group consciously decided, to create covers as you move through your career? There are lots of bands who avoid doing covers, but I always appreciate hearing your take on songs I love. Since the beginning, OMM have been consistently releasing high quality original music, but you also have maintained your commitment to covering great songs with a distinct OMM touch. The first time I heard OMM, it was on the Let Them Know documentary soundtrack. We chose “Feel Good Song of the Year” because we wanted to represent something off of NUFAN’s latest release. The harmonies and melody spoke to us. We did get to choose and ended up being the first band to submit our contribution. Did you get to choose the specific song that you covered? Is there a reason that you chose this song? There were so many amazing artists that paid tribute to Tony Sly on the Fat release. Our songs usually start on the acoustic guitar with a melody and words, then add banjo, fiddle, bass, harmonies, let simmer on low… But you pretty much have us figured. Do the songs take shape as a whole or start small (on guitar or a lyric sheet or something like that) and grow as each member adds their artistic touch? There are so many different instruments involved in the Old Man Markley sound. But we hang during the “off season” for the sake of hanging. But I’m also the guy in the band with no wife, no girlfriend, no kid, no dog, no day job, etc and yet I still find it rough to put normal life on ‘hold.’ Various members do various things at various times, with the universe allowing over lappage at various intervals. Personally, I love getting home as much as I love leaving for tour. The ladies are as tough (or tougher) than us dudes. It’s tough but a bonding experience, too. We travel in a large group in bus that breaks down in some sort of way every tour. It still boggles my mind that so many of you tour so many miles in that outfit, especially the ladies putting up with all of those guys… Has touring together over the past few years brought everyone closer together? Do you long for home at the end of tour? Do the various members take time away from each other when you are home? The first time I got to interview some of the band members, you were kind enough to welcome me onto the bus. OMM singer/ guitarist Johnny Carey came up with the idea for covering the NOFX song “Reeko” and arranged it, too. Being huge unabashed NOFX fans we thought it would be a treat to do the slow parts fast, fast parts slow, and do the “song-within-a-song” for extra cred. All of our previous 7” feature a B-side punk cover. How do you as a group decide on which band/ song to cover for the B-side of each 7”? I really enjoyed how you snuck a song within a song. It felt great! We had charted at #8 with our first album, so hitting #1 on the Bluegrass charts was awesome. The full length hit number 1 on the US Bluegrass charts, plus charted on a variety of others as well! Wow, how did that news feel? The group recently released their 4th 7″, the exciting Stupid Today. took some time to speak with Joey Balls (Garibaldi), bassist and vocalist with Old Man Markley as he begins the latest road trip.įirst of all, since we last spoke with you Old Man Markley have released the Down Side Up full length and the recent Stupid Today 7”. The band are currently on the road, working their way up the west coast into Canada and across. They have toured extensively around the world, covering North America multiple times, rising from openers (for legendary groups like NOFX, Reverend Horton Heat, The Descendents…) to become a sought after headlining act. Old Man Markley are a relatively new band on the Fat Wreck Chords roster, but they quickly became one of the most recognizable with their unique blend of punk rock and bluegrass music.
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