FFWD Weekly
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Music by Mary-Lynn McEwen Osker with Guttermouth The Warehouse Friday, September 1 Cool record label Epitaph bills Osker as their most hated band, and despite a case of road rash from driving for five days from home-base L.A. all the way to Ottawa for their first gig, it’s hard to see what you could hate about a band that has a sense of melody and fun that’s instantly reminiscent of The Offspring. Unless it’s that they remind you of The Offspring. Phil, Osker’s drummer, has a tough time comprehending the hateable band label as well. "It’s just something (Epitaph) made up, I guess. Some people don’t like us – they have no sense of humour. I’m still trying to find out what it is. Some people at Epitaph don’t particularly care for us as human beings. Some of the members can be a little goofy or annoying. But it’s not a bad annoying, although if you didn’t have a sense of humour it’s obnoxious." A few glimpses at press clippings reveal how the band may have come by the label in a "good annoying" way. There’s the usually litany – saying unprofessional things about other bands, making anti-Canadian comments à la South Park, being really loud in the Epitaph offices – you know, annoying, but not in a bad way. Maybe put it down to youth. After all, at 19, lead singer Devon is young enough to remember all the pain, heartbreak and high drama of high school, where he was angered because people who didn’t talk to him tried to suck up after the band staked out their record deal. Joined by 23-year-old Phil and a bass player the same age, the group struck out on their own, touring around California and into neighbouring states. The release of Treatment 5, their first and only album to date, made it all make sense. It’s worth remembering that a lot of bands in the punk scene were playing before young Devon was even born. Maybe new blood brings jealousy. Or maybe it’s just that the band members act like brats. Phil talks about quitting his job as a lifeguard to go on tour. A California lifeguard gig? Images of Baywatch and the blessedly banal life appear until Phil adjusts the focus a bit. "I used to work before the tour. I’m a lifeguard. Actually, I worked in a school for retarded people. [Ouch! Translation for the politically correct: developmentally disabled people.]" And before any post-Baywatchian visions of a humanitarian champion arise, he adds, "It was just a summer job." The drummer also eats up his spare time by reading and laughing at conspiracy theory books and spending time with End on End, his unsigned hardcore band. And until he can get back to L.A. and engage in his hobbies, Phil and his bratty pals have a job to do – living up to (or living down) that hated band label.

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