Less than one year after its last tour, O.A.R. is hitting the road again and returning to the F-Shed at The Market in Syracuse on Aug. 13. The Daily Orange spoke with saxophonist Jerry DePizzo about O.A.R.’s “Back to Rockville” tour and the band’s upcoming 20th anniversary.

The Daily Orange: What’s the band dynamic like when you guys are on tour?
Jerry DePizzo: Fortunately, this band has been together and has been friends our whole lives. The first iteration of the band occurred when we were in eighth grade, so we’ve known each other quite a long time. We like each other and we’re truly friends, and it’s a familial atmosphere on an O.A.R. tour. And I think that everybody who comes to the O.A.R. shows is going to see that familial atmosphere on the stage and off the stage.

The D.O.: As the saxophonist, what are songs that you love playing live?
J.D.: There’s a song called “The Architect” on that record that’s a fan favorite. It’s been sitting in the O.A.R. vault for a couple of years now, and we brought that one back out to rework it and make something very special out of it. I’m very excited to dig into that one, since it features the horns and the brass. There’s also “Caroline the Wrecking Ball,” which has some of my favorite lyrics that Marc [Roberge], our lead singer, has written.

The D.O.: Do you have any interesting stories from being on tour?
J.D.: Man, there’s been so many. From our early days when we were still in school, we’d play gigs on the weekends. And while we’d be driving, people would be cramming in the back of the bus or back of the van for trigonometry or whatever… [Another time] a few years back, we were signing some autographs at one of our shows and some guy wheels up in a wheelchair, pulls his leg, plops it on the table. He had us sign his leg, so that was always one that always stood out to me.

The D.O.: What was it like to be involved in a song associated with the 2015 Special Olympics?
J.D.: It’s such a grand event, and it was great to take part in it. It really was an all-star lineup of people performing but it was amazing to be able to cater one of our album songs, “Two Hands Up,” to the event. Marc went and rewrote some of the lyrics specifically for the Special Olympics and retitled it, “Reach Up.” That song talks about giving everything you can to achieve your dreams, and really, it was just an amazing experience… Especially the people we were able to meet — their disabilities give them an ability to really touch us in a very meaningful way. These are people who have worked very hard to show their competitive spirit, and there’s a lot we can learn from them.

The D.O.: 2016 is the band’s 20th anniversary. How has O.A.R. has grown since?
J.D.: We constantly evolve, and we constantly try to perfect our craft as songwriters and musicians. We take a lot of pride in the fact that we’ve had 20 years to do this. Not everybody is fortunate enough to do this, but we have been, and we take full advantage of that. We spend a great deal of time getting better in what we do for ourselves and for our audience. We don’t take anything for granted.

The D.O.: Is there anything you can tell us about the band’s plans for next year?
J.D.: It certainly is a big year for us — we’re not ready to release plans yet because it’s a little early to let everything out of the bag. But we’re hard at work at all times, releasing some new material hopefully by the end of this year. We’ll go into 2016 and 2017 celebrating the 20th anniversary of the band. And I want to make a point that we’re certainly celebrating where we’ve been, but for us it’s also where we’re going next, because the 20th anniversary is just a pit stop. So I want to make sure that whatever we do is going to reflect that. It’ll have a nostalgic feel, but also be very fresh, to show the direction for where the band is headed.

Published on August 5, 2015 at 3:39 pm

Contact Clare: clramire@syr.edu