OK Go is no run-of-the-treadmill band
EVANSTON | Chicago rockers -- and YouTube favorites -- OK Go meet up with fans and share lessons learned from their recent success
Chicago's own treadmill-boogying band OK Go performed a different sort of exercise Friday when they stopped by the campus of Northwestern University to talk about songwriting.
(John J. Kim/Sun-Times)
The Grammy-winning quartet also took questions from a surprisingly sparse but enthusiastic audience, who asked about the band's favorite tunes ("Oh! Darling" by the Beatles and "Here Come the Girls" by Ernie K. Doe were a couple), the recording process and whether bad reviews affected artistry.
"It's nice to have an environment that's more intimate and that's just focused slightly differently," lead singer Damian Kulash said afterward.
Ever since a video of the boys singing their now-hit, "Here It Goes Again," to slick choreographed dance moves on treadmills became a YouTube sensation in the summer of 2006, the indie rockers have played increasingly larger venues.
"We tend to meet our fans after shows, and they're these sort of strangely structured moments," Kulash said. "It's like, 'You're the guy who's onstage,' and 'You're the people who are sweating in the crowd.' And they have to say, 'Can I take a picture?' and 'I love you guys so much,' and that is the extent of the discourse. . . . You can't have a discussion where people feel like real humans."
Seated on stools in a small auditorium, Kulash and two of his three band mates, Tim Nordwind and Andy Ross, even did some mostly acoustic jamming. A stationary version of "Here It Goes Again" capped the session.
"They're not as good as Radiohead, but they're definitely one of the most original bands right now," said 19-year-old Carlton Barzon, an aspiring music writer and Medill undergrad. "Their brand of rock is witty. It's a lot more subtle. There's a lot of trap doors and back alleys."
Gwenan Wilbur, 43, of Rogers Park, called the group "superstars" and said her daughters -- a seven-year-old and three-year-old twins -- dig them big-time, too. So much, in fact, that they've taught themselves the treadmill choreography from OK Go's famous video, which won YouTube's 2007 Most Creative Video Award.
