Oceans of Fire

MySpace (listen to "Jamie Please," "I'll Get Back To You")

Hometown: San Jose
Next local show: 12/9, House of Shields (SF)
Upcoming release: Unknown, 2007

Aren't young indie bands great? No label, no album, no website. Just a group of musicians united together under a common vision and a catchy name. Doing their thing. Eating Ramen noodles. Selling sperm. Trying to sign, put out a record, and earn their own piece of the web. Ahh, the simplicity of it all. Oceans of Fire are a San Jose psych-rock group that may or may not practice the aforementioned methods of indie-rock survival, but that's beside the point. Because above it all is the music, and when the music's good, ain't nothing else matter. (more >>)

Oceans of Fire are green -- they formed just over a year ago and are still figuring out their lineup -- but they have some real potential to create their own space in the South Bay while continuing to work their way into the pysch-pop scene grounded in San Francisco. They are, after all, headlining the second night of the Cool Waves Festival tomorrow night at the House of Shields. Cool Waves is a community of shoegaze, post-rock, and dream-pop bands in the Bay Area, and this is its second festival.

Oceans of Fire currently have two songs on their MySpace page: "Jamie Please" and "I'll Get Back To You." The former is all Jesus and Mary Chain -- feedback, keyboards, fuzz, and a steady psychedelic drone. The lyrics are suitably dark: according to a MySpace blog post by singer, guitarist, and primary songwriter Jason McClelland, the song's about "being in total despair about being raped and not having anyone to talk to or turn to for support." "I'll Get Back To You," in turn, reveals more of the band's love for psychedelia and Brit-pop (groups like Spiritualized and Pulp). The song is driven by a lead guitar and as a result is a bit more upbeat and playful. But the lyrics aren't: it's about being "disappointed in people whom I held dear and thought of like brothers or sisters, but in the end they were just using me."

EVERYTHING'S GONNA BE OKAY:
-Oceans of Fire have played the House of Shields at least once before, as well as the Edinburgh Castle, Hotel Utah, and Makeout Room. Tonight they're supported by fellow Cool Waves bands Cupids and Halcyon High, both based in SF. It's good they're playing these SF gigs, because that's where they're likely to find their audience.
-Other groups that the members of Oceans of Fire dig: Low, Radiohead, Dandy Warhols, Sigur Ros, the Verve, Mazzy Star, Love and Rockets, Blur, Portishead, Spacemen 3, Joy Division, the Small Faces, Supergrass, My Bloody Valentine, and the Kinks. See a trend?