Explore OC had the opportunity to gain artists’ perspectives of the Oceans Calling music festival!
Jerry DePizzo - O.A.R.
O.A.R. (Of A Revolution) is an American rock band formed in 1996 in Rockville, Maryland. The band is a main partner in the founding of the Oceans Calling music festival and performed sets on Friday and Sunday. Jerry DePizzo plays saxophone and guitar in the band.
Do you mind introducing yourself and O.A.R. for those who aren’t familiar with the band?
Jerry DePizzo: Sure, I’m Jerry DePizzo, I play saxophone guitar with O.A.R. [The band] was born in Maryland and raised in Ohio. The other four guys in the band, Mark, Richard, Chris,and Benj grew up in and around Rockville. Maryland went to Ohio State for college. I met them there. We started touring around and built a following and a career. From there. So we are celebrating our 30th anniversary here, pretty soon and are thrilled to be in Ocean City and part of the Ocean Calling festival!
How familiar are you with Ocean City, MD and are you guys excited to be back?
Jerry DePizzo: Very much. Mark and I are here right now watching the festival, go up so we’re thrilled for that. I actually started to come to Ocean City on vacation as a kid. So, I've been coming to Ocean City since the 80s and I'm excited to introduce and show people more about what Ocean City is all about.
So, one of the great things about the Oceans Calling Festival is bringing in folks, not only from Maryland, but all over the country to experience Ocean City, some for the first time and I'm excited that they get to experience it, see it and enjoy it and love it as much as I did as a child, and even now as an adult.
You guys have been very involved in the festival since the first year it was proposed. Can you tell me a little bit about the initial idea of the festival and your guys's participation in it?
Jerry DePizzo: We have fantastic operating partners… Tim Sweetwood and his team are just incredible at festivals and we're excited to be partnered up with them and the city as well because so much of that has to do with getting so many people, logistical processes together, to put on such a fantastic event.
We played one of Tim's festivals in Phoenix, AZ called Innings Festival. Our singer Mark and Tim [Sweetwood] struck up a conversation and we pitched him on doing a town takeover, in a ski town and doing a festival there. And Tim rightfully so thought that was a fairly terrible idea at the time and suggested why not something in our home area. [We] went on Google and had a conversation—put a finger on Ocean City and started working on that. So we're thrilled to be here, thrilled to have the partners, and the team that we have and we're thrilled that the city, and the community has been as fantastic as it is too—hats off to them.
What are some of the main differences between performing at festivals versus other shows?
Jerry DePizzo: That's a great question. I think when we're doing an O.A.R. headlining tour, we know that we have a captive audience, full of a bunch of folks who know and love O.A.R.when you're in a festival environment, there's gonna be folks like that, folks that have a casual interest in what we do and there [are] some folks that don't know us at all. So we cater the set to hopefully bring in some folks on the fringe of O.A.R. to introduce them to our music and hope to inspire them to go see more O.A.R.
So there's five of you in the band. Can you give us a little bit of insight into the band dynamic and what does some of your downtime look like with your bandmates?
Jerry DePizzo: We're lifelong friends. the dynamic is that of being in a business with four or five of your friends, I mean there's a lot of joy in that. There's a lot of interesting dynamic in that as well. But, I kind of joke sometimes about ‘I'm married to four guys. And my wife.’ And that's really the way we look at it. This is a family business and we treat it as such.
You guys are familiar with Ocean City so I have to ask. What are some of your favorite and must-visit spots when you guys come to town?
Jerry DePizzo: I jog the boardwalk every morning so I get up super early and I love to see that and everybody just kind of getting ready for the day and things. I saw that the Thrashers window was open, nice and early today at about eight o'clock, I was impressed and surprised about that. So I will be eating my body weight in fries several times this week. So I'm excited for that. And honestly, I love just walking down the boardwalk and meeting all the business owners and talking to them about their experiences in Ocean City and with the festival, and it’s a great community, we enjoy being a part of it.
(L-R) Benj Gershman and Jerry DePizzo performing with O.A.R.
Zack Feinberg - The Revivalists
Zack Feinberg, guitarist, and songwriter in The Revivalists describes the band as an 8-piece rock group out of New Orleans, with horns, a peddle-steel guitar, a very soulful, energetic frontman, very heartfelt songs that are wide-ranging stylistically, and perform high energy live shows.
What are some of the main differences between performing at festivals and your regular tour shows?
Zack: I think we get to win over more unfamiliar listeners at a festival. People who maybe haven’t seen us or heard us before and we can give them an experience of something new without any expectations so that’s fun for us to give it all we got and see the reaction on people’s faces of, “Oh wow, this is something”.
So there’s 8 of you in the band. Can you give us a little insight into the band dynamic? And what does some of your downtime look like with your bandmates?
Zack: If we’re traveling in a van there’s often silly conversation and miscommunication that gets involved because of mishearing things called “band rumors” get started. We have our own vernacular that we refer to as a van-acular from spending a lot of time in vans together.
But yeah, we’ve been together at this point for a long time, 15 years or more, so it’s like a brotherhood there’s a lot of friendship and quirks and everything that you can imagine comes with that.
​​Who are you most excited to see that is on the Oceans Calling lineup with you?
Zack: Larkin Poe
One song to recommend to people who don’t know your music?
Zack: It Was A Sin
Stolen Gin
Stolen Gin was founded in 2019 in New York by 5 talented college friends. The band includes a blend of jazz, disco, funk, electro-pop, and psychedelic rock throughout their music. Stolen Gin opened the Sea Bright stage on Saturday.
Jackson - vocals, guitar
Will - guitar
Sawyer - bass, backup vocals
Evan - saxophone, keyboard
Josh - drums
What are some of the main differences between performing at festivals and your regular tour shows?
Will: At least for us, we’re playing for more people that don’t know than know us at this point so there’s a lot of like, you gotta win the crowd. People aren’t necessarily going to be crazy about you off the bat so you have to work hard to get them into it. There’s that, and then logistically the setup is way shorter, you have like 20 minutes to soundcheck maybe so you gotta be quick and quick to adjust.
Sawyer: Jackson was just saying how wild it is that everything is on the sand basically. The setting is so beautiful, this is super unique, and we haven’t done that many festivals but this is definitely—scenery wise—one of the cooler things that we’ve done.
The production was really great, a lot people, everybody, was super [well] knowing about what they were doing. When we were getting off stage I looked behind me and there were like 3 separate bands’ entire stages built behind us. It’s really cool to watch them do their thing.
So there’s 5 of you in the band. Can you give us a little insight into the band dynamic? And what does some of your downtime look like with your bandmates?
Josh: I’m normally beating everyone in basketball, especially [Will].
Will: It hasn’t happened yet!
Sawyer: I ref all the sports and I don’t play any of them so I can verify that maybe that’s true. I can verify that we have to play more to find out. What I can verify is that Will’s definitely the best at tennis.
Evan: I like to take us through the local [area]... Activities board.
Jackson: Downtime can range from everyone sleeping in the van to sports, or watching Borat.
What can fans expect from Stolen Gin in the next couple of years?
Will: A ton of new music first and foremost, I think tread some new waters as far as the style we are producing our music in - getting some fresh sound out there and really establish what Stolen Gin sounds like and what we want our projects to be?”
Jackson: New music and as soon as that comes out then a lot of shows. The live aspect of what we do is my favorite part. I think it’s where we thrive the most and shred the hardest… and yeah, worldwide fame and success!
If you had one day off in Ocean City, what is the first thing you would do?
Jackson: Surf
Sawyer: Find a hot tub
Evan: I’d find some crab legs
Will: Wherever there’s an ocean I can get in that’s usually the first thing I want to do.
Josh: I don’t know, I would like to ask for some suggestions honestly.
​​One song to recommend to people who don’t know your music?
Stolen Gin: Underwater
(L-R) Sawer, Josh, Will, Evan, and Jackson
Katelyn Tarver
Katelyn Tarver is a successful pop singer, songwriter, and actress, who opened the Oceans Calling Rockville stage on Saturday.
What are some of the main differences between performing at festivals and your regular tour shows?
Katelyn: I don’t get to do a lot of festivals this is really my first one so I don’t have a ton of history of being able to compare. I’ve played in a lot of clubs—I enjoy the intimacy of that, you feel like you’re closer to the crowd and you can really see their faces and how they’re feeling, but I was kinda surprised today playing on stage here, I was a little far but I could still really connect with certain people and see their faces, people singing along—more than I maybe thought I would. It didn’t feel as separate.
I love performing live so to get to play a festival setting just feels like fun and exciting… also it’s kinda fun to be backstage interacting with the other artists that are on the bill… it’s a fun little vibe, I hope I get to do more.
Are you going to catch any of the other performances today?
Katelyn: Oh yeah for sure, I’m excited to be here. I have a couple of friends playing. My friends the beaches are playing - it’s fun to be on the same bill, so I’m gonna go run and catch their set hopefully. There are so many bands playing that I grew up loving so it’s a real dream lineup for me.
​​How do you feel about the festival setup/location/production?
Katelyn: It was great! It was very smooth, the location was right on the beach… and luckily we had a beautiful day today so it was really ideal.
One song to recommend to people who don’t know your music?
Katelyn: Japanese Cafe
Katelyn Tarver backstage at Oceans Calling
Jade Bird
Jade Bird is an English singer/songwriter in the folk americana genre. Jade opened the Sea Bright stage on Sunday.
What are some of the main differences between performing at festivals and your regular tour shows?
Jade: Festivals are not always your crowd. You get a few people who like you but I think you’re kind of winning people over and that’s sort of the fun part. It’s a lot of new faces and new fans ultimately… an opportunity to grab them.
What does some of your downtime look like when touring?
Jade: Recently I’ve been trying to go into vintage and antique shops. Usually, I’m a bit of a gamer so I hold up and switch up but I’ve been a little bit more open, especially during an acoustic tour - there’s so much more time.
What can fans expect from you in the next couple of years?
Jade: I think I’ve got a new record coming out next year so I’m really excited about that and then a full band touring and then honestly I want to go out straight into another record after that.
​​Who are you most excited to see that is on the Oceans Calling lineup with you?
Jade: I was excited to see Cage The Elephant who played [Friday night]. I’m a real big fan of theirs.
One song to recommend to people who don’t know your music?
Jade: C’est La Vie
Jade Bird backstage at Oceans Calling