Oxymorons News

An Interview with an "Intelligent Rock Band": the OXYMORONS

Before their show at the Velvet Lounge on Saturday, September 18, the OXYMORONS sat down with me for a conversation about their music and the status of DC's local music scene. Established in 1989, the OXYMORONS consists of eight members, and each identifies him / herself by both a given and an "oxymoronic" name.

F. Doug Harnett, a/k/a "Sensitive Guy" (vocals) Neeta Ragoowansi, a/k/a "Common Brahmin" (vocals) David Reuben, a/k/a "Fashionable Brit" (guitar) Glenn T. Prickett, a/k/a "Domestic Bliss" (drums) Sandy Scott, a/k/a "Definite Maybe" (guitar/harmonica) Paul E. Hyland, a/k/a "Virtual Reality" (percussion) Barry Warsaw (the newcomer), a/k/a "Smart Ass" (bass) Mark Sabath , a/k/a "Baby Grand" (keyboards, filling in for Erica Antonelli, a/k/a "Serious Fun") Only four members were in the original line-up (Sandy, Doug, Paul, and Glen) and no one is a full-time musician. As Doug explained, "All of us have other lives. A lot of us are activists. We do it for the love, not the money."

The band plays mostly originals and a few covers. When asked about their influences, the band members gave a wide range of responses. David, a skillful lead guitarist, professed that he "wears his influences on his sleeve," listing the ALLMAN BROTHERS, ERIC CLAPTON, STEVIE RAY VAUGHN and JEFF BECK among his top influences. Doug added, "we do covers all the way from JOHN HYATT to LIVING COLOUR. The way I always describe what we do is blues-based rock and funk."

Sandy, on the other hand, stated that he simply likes "1950s blues harmonica players," a unique taste which definitely comes across in their show. Neeta, the lone female voice, supplemented the band's list of influences, proclaiming "I like '80s girl bands, but the rest of the band is just figuring that out."

In 1994, the band released their debut CD, Meet the Morons, and in 1997 they released their second , Forlorn Hope. Regarding new projects, Doug mentioned that the band is currently compiling some live recordings and is considering releasing a live album. Describing their stage show, responses included "controlled chaos," "wacky," "unpretentious," and "very glam."

In love with oxymorons, the band claims to have compiled one of the world's longest lists of them on their website. Sandy and Glenn recounted that "one woman was surfing the web, searching for a cheerleading scholarship, and she sent us a nasty e-mail because she thought we were making fun of it by calling it an oxymoron. Apparently there are actually cheerleading scholarships."

Because they've been around since 1989, the OXYMORONS have developed their own solid opinions on the DC Local music scene. Neeta offered, "I think there are less clubs now than there used to be. I feel like there aren't enough places to play live, like there were five years ago. This is not the city where audiences go out [to hear live music]. If you go out to other cities, I mean, people definitely go out to clubs... Saturday night, no matter who was playing, it would always be packed and Sunday night too, for that matter." Sandy agreed with Neeta adding, "I wish people didn't work so much - that they would go out more and see music. There's a lot of competition."

When asked about the band's collective musical goals, Neeta answered, "I think it's different for different members of the band. The band has original songs, and we have CDs and we sell them, so there is that sense of, 'okay, we're gonna put our stuff out there.' And yeah, if people listen to it and it grows and grows and grows, it'd be great." Doug took that further, saying, "We want people who listen to us to have fun -- that makes it a lot more fun for us. I was a fine arts student when I was in college, and I sort of gave that up for this. So I say, 'Oh, we do it to have fun,' but it is a personal artistic outlet as well." David summed it all up, though, stating simply, "If I could make it on MTV, I could die."