CCS: Chicago Crowd Surfer
OO: Ovef Ow

Chicago’s Ovef Ow releases a new EP this week. Crash The Party is four tracks of suped-up post-surf rock released by local website and label Midwest Action. We got to talk to them a bit over email this week, and here is what we learned ahead of their EP release party tonight, Thursday, January 31st with Bleach Party and Baby Money & The Down Payments in support. Tix are $8! Fight the polar vortex with sunny surf rock born right here in Chicago!  

CCS: So Ovef Ow, how would you spell your name phonetically?

OO: oh-vef ow (rhymes with “woah, Jeff, wow!”)

CCS: For those not in the know, can you run down your members and a bit of the band’s origin?

OO: For sure! We’re a four-piece. Marites plays bass, Nick plays guitar, Kyla plays the keys, and Sarah plays drums. We all sing, although Marites and Sarah trade off “lead” for the most part. Before Ovef times, Kyla, Marites, and Sarah played together (along with a fourth member) in Me Jane for a few years. When that project came to an end, we knew we wanted to keep playing music together. Around that time, Nick moved back to Chicago from LA and was connected to us through mutual friends – we needed someone to play guitar on a cover of “September Girls” that we were recording as part of a compilation and he filled in. It was really easy to work together so we just kept playing and made Ovef Ow! The name came from when we turned our old logo for Me Jane upside down.

CCS: You're putting out a new EP Crash The Party pressed by new Chicago-based record press Smashed Plastic. How did that relationship happen?

OO: We’re actually releasing the EP through Midwest Action on both cassette and vinyl, but yes, we are getting the vinyl pressed with Smashed Plastic. It’s been really exciting to work with both of them and keep everything local. We had already been in talks with Midwest Action about releasing our next EP, and while that was happening, we saw Smashed Plastic had started posting on social media about their shop coming together. Marites randomly reached out to see what their quotes were like and discovered that they were run by a few guys she knew through volunteering at CHIRP Radio. Midwest Action had already been talking to them about future releases, too, so it all came together pretty serendipitously.

CCS: You've been labeled by some as a post-surf band. If you did away with genre, how would you describe your sound?

OO: We are energetic, angsty, layered, dancy and fun. With lots of farfisa.

CCS: Are there any Chicago bands out there you think are overlooked?

OO: I don’t know if they’re necessarily overlooked...there are a lot of bands here that we love and think everyone should know about and go see and buy music from! There are a bunch on Midwest Action. Baby Money & The Down Payments (who are playing our EP release) are amazing. We’re all about Bev Rage & The Drinks, Ribbonhead, Kodakrome, and Wet Tropics!

CCS: Anything you want to add?

OO: Buy our EP from Midwest Action. We owe a lot of people money now. :(