Cooler talk with Office Party

By Joe Dwyer     3/25/10 7:00pm

Fresh off their victory at KTRU's Battle of the Bands last month and in the midst of preparations for their slot in the 2010 KTRU Outdoor Show on April 10, Jones sophomores Shawdon Molavi, Ryan Oringer and Jesus Cortez, and freshman Daniel Sprinkle took a moment from their busy schedules to sit with the Thresher and talk about important topics ranging from eagles to dinosaurs to chinchillas while still leaving time to ponder the band's future.Rice Thresher: So how did you guys form up?

Jesus Cortez: I guess last year it was pretty much just us three: me, Ryan and Shawdon. We used to jam -

Ryan Oringer: Nothing really came; our schedules didn't really work.

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Shawdon Molavi: We'd get together when we could, and we had talked about doing Battle of the Bands and completely missed the deadline.

RO: We really wanted to do [Battle of the Bands] and then we totally forgot, so then we promised to do it this year. Even then the deadline pretty much crept up on us.

SM: Yeah, we were like, "Oh shit!"

RO: All of a sudden we had a week to turn in the demo CD.

SM: We cranked out four songs in a day.

RO: And then we got Dan to play bass.

SM: Yeah, because Jesus was originally playing bass and doing vocals. Then he got his synth and we were jamming ... and we were like, "We need a bassist." We knew that Dan was pretty good, so he came and fell right into place.

RT: So did any of you guys play in a band before?

Daniel Sprinkle: I played in one in high school. We played a few shows but we didn't actually write that much.

JC: I used to play a lot of acoustic covers for school functions.

RO: I played in a band in high school, kinda like this band - it was a rock band.

SM: I avoided playing in front of people at all costs.

RT: Pretty much anyone who picked up the Thresher a few weeks back saw that ridiculous picture of you guys riding eagles in the Battle of the Bands lineup -

SM: Should I get the poster?

RT: You can't see it on tape ...

[Band proceeds to attempt to show poster to my phone, which is recording the conversation's audio.]

RT: ... so why eagles?

JC: We don't like to ask why, is the main thing.

SM: We were originally going to be riding dinosaurs ... pterodactyls.

RO: We just found this epic picture of eagles in HD quality and it was just perfect.

SM: We just found a bunch of really cool eagle pictures.

RT: If you could choose any spirit animal other than an eagle, what would it be and why?

SM: As a band, or individually?

JC: Jesus?

RO: I've always been fond of jaguars.

JC: I like chinchillas.

SM: Have you ever touched one? They are so soft.Fresh off their victory at KTRU's Battle of the Bands last month and in the midst of preparations for their slot in the 2010 KTRU Outdoor Show on April 10, Jones sophomores Shawdon Molavi, Ryan Oringer and Jesus Cortez, and freshman Daniel Sprinkle took a moment from their busy schedules to sit with the Thresher and talk about important topics ranging from eagles to dinosaurs to chinchillas while still leaving time to ponder the band's future.

Rice Thresher: So how did you guys form up?

Jesus Cortez: I guess last year it was pretty much just us three: me, Ryan and Shawdon. We used to jam -

Ryan Oringer: Nothing really came; our schedules didn't really work.

Shawdon Molavi: We'd get together when we could, and we had talked about doing Battle of the Bands and completely missed the deadline.

RO: We really wanted to do [Battle of the Bands] and then we totally forgot, so then we promised to do it this year. Even then the deadline pretty much crept up on us.

SM: Yeah, we were like, "Oh shit!"

RO: All of a sudden we had a week to turn in the demo CD.

SM: We cranked out four songs in a day.

RO: And then we got Dan to play bass.

SM: Yeah, because Jesus was originally playing bass and doing vocals. Then he got his synth and we were jamming ... and we were like, "We need a bassist." We knew that Dan was pretty good, so he came and fell right into place.

RT: So did any of you guys play in a band before?

Daniel Sprinkle: I played in one in high school. We played a few shows but we didn't actually write that much.

JC: I used to play a lot of acoustic covers for school functions.

RO: I played in a band in high school, kinda like this band - it was a rock band.

SM: I avoided playing in front of people at all costs.

RT: Pretty much anyone who picked up the Thresher a few weeks back saw that ridiculous picture of you guys riding eagles in the Battle of the Bands lineup -

SM: Should I get the poster?

RT: You can't see it on tape ...

[Band proceeds to attempt to show poster to my phone, which is recording the conversation's audio.]

RT: ... so why eagles?

JC: We don't like to ask why, is the main thing.

SM: We were originally going to be riding dinosaurs ... pterodactyls.

RO: We just found this epic picture of eagles in HD quality and it was just perfect.

SM: We just found a bunch of really cool eagle pictures.

RT: If you could choose any spirit animal other than an eagle, what would it be and why?

SM: As a band, or individually?

JC: Jesus?

RO: I've always been fond of jaguars.

JC: I like chinchillas.

SM: Have you ever touched one? They are so soft.

RT: Who would you rather share the stage with: Ke$ha or William Hung?

SM: I'd say Ke$ha because she actually does "music" music.

DS: Either way, we'll look better.

RO: Yeah, William Hung is kind of a joke.

JC: I'm still rooting for William Hung. I admire his spirit.

RT: How excited were you guys to win Battle of the Bands?

SM: What did we do? I think we high-fived so hard it hurt.

DS: What happened was: It was just Shawdon and I when they announced it because [Ryan and Jesus] were carrying things. I was very excited; I think I probably hugged Shawdon and we did this really painful high five.

SM: And then we lied to [Ryan and Jesus] and told them we lost to one of the other groups ... and they were like "Really?" They took it pretty well; they were just like, "Oh well, okay," but we couldn't keep the lie going for more than five seconds and we told them, "We're totally [messing] with y'all."

RT: Do you guys have any shows planned beyond the KTRU Outdoor Show?

RO: We just played a show at Jones for Willy Week. We should look into playing -

JC: We're actually pretty serious about trying to record something, like an actual -

RO: We've had so much crap going on. If we could find a weekend ... we looked up a place and we're gonna go out and record a CD.

SM: We're also looking for venues in Houston to play at, like bars or whatever. The only place we've heard about so far is a sandwich shop.

RT: Which sandwich shop?

SM: I don't even remember. We definitely want to do more shows in Houston, not just stuff at Rice. Not that we don't love Rice.

RT: What genre do you describe yourselves as?

RO: Space odyssey jazz fusion ... I think it's a mix between what people describe as indie rock and punk rock.

SM: I'd say UK rock almost. Like UK rock meets indie rock. Meets eagles.

JC: Meets jazz fusion odyssey.

SM: During our jam sessions there's a lot of space odyssey stuff.

JC: That's like the synth. [Proceeds to make experimental robot noises.]

RT: Is there anything else you guys would like to add?

JC: Check out our Facebook page.

SM: I'd say thanks to KTRU for this opportunity. [Rest of band agrees.] Big, big thanks.

JC: We should also say that we do want to get out there and start playing, and that when we do, we'd love for people to come out, check us out and see if they like us.

DS: We should totally thank everyone who came to the first Office Party.

RO: Definitely. Everyone who supports us so far, which is like a huge Jones crowd.

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