Ocean Grove: It’s An Oddworld
In November last year, Oddworld, the fourth album from OCEAN GROVE was released for the masses, making 2024 the Aussie band’s 14th year in the scene. We caught up with vocalist Dale Tanner to chat about how the development of the album came about, the importance of returning to one’s roots and the realities of going non-stop in the industry for the last few years.
Oddworld marks a return to OCEAN GROVE’s heavier roots, and has already garnered a strong, positive reception from fans. According to Dale, Oddworld was born from a “foundation” of stability, something that their previous albums, shaped by the global lockdown and “quite heavily affected by the circumstances of the world around us”, had lacked. “…this game in the music industry, a lot of it is about momentum, and it just sucks having to constantly be in a position of clawing back momentum, rather than just being stable and being like ‘okay, here’s an album, like, let’s go’.” The band – consisting of vocalists Luke Holmes and Dale Tanner, guitarist Matt Henley, bassist Twiggy Hunter, and drummer Sam Bassal– have spent the last handful of the year in the studio writing it, but conceptually they have been working towards this sound for almost four-five years. “Finally, to release an album where [continuing momentum] isn’t playing a major factor… is a really nice feeling,” Dale shares, adding that the band was finally able to focus all their energy on creating and delivering the best product possible, taking the best of old and new Ocean Grove.
When discussing the album’s unique sound, Dale highlights that the return to a “heavier, darker record” with “down tuned guitars” was intentional, drawing from the band’s early influences of “nu-metal, early 2000s/late 90s” rock and “taking a departure from how far [they] adventured and explored and experimented outside of that original sound with [their] last two records”. Throughout the album’s creation, the band’s evolution was evident, with Dale emphasising that their years of experience on the road had contributed to refining their sound and live performance.
The concept of Oddworld is an idea that the band had “toyed with back in The Rhapsody Tapes era”, where they had released the Rhapsody Manifesto (still up on their website) outlining the band’s doctrines and what they stand by, etcetera. “At the very end, one of the last lines has got ‘C:╲genre:<odd world music???>’ and that’s sort of the very first time that we had mentioned that, as well as in the lyrics in that album once or twice. [The Oddworld has] been this concept and idea that we have flirted with and included in lyrics and in merch and in music videos and all these things.., even on our last album cover, it was there, you know, smack bang on the album cover.”
With the self-defined world now fully realised on this new album, Dale explains it feels like “…coming home and kind of relaunching again” in that it harmoniously sits above a sound that was with them at the beginning.
Although OCEAN GROVE embraces elements of nu-metal in ODDWORLD, they’ve long avoided “being pigeon holed into any particular genre or world”, even choosing their band name with the intention of “not letting [it] give away too much as to what sort of sound to expect”. Dale admits while they now more comfortably embrace the terminology of nu-metal and things like that for the clarity of festival bookers, they continue to resist being tied down to one scene. “The trouble with putting labels on things is that – whether it’s consciously or subconsciously – you are setting someone up to have an expectation for better or worse, and I think that’s something that we’ve always tried to avoid with our music and with our art and the way we present ourselves. We never like to give too much away, never want to be sort of too obvious with anything, always want to leave someone asking a few questions and wanting to dig a little deeper.”
That attitude rather perfectly enmeshes with the Oddworld universe. “We like being the odd one out”, as often when they get placed on a lineup that seems off-centre, it works to their advantage in appreciating the band’s unique position in the musical landscape and they fully lean into it as a result. This, Dale believes, sets OCEAN GROVE apart from the “homogenised and… quite vanilla” trends in music today.
For OCEAN GROVE, it’s all about presenting an energy that transcends genres, allowing listeners to engage with the music on a deeper level. When discussing their sonic influences, Tanner emphasises OCEAN GROVE‘s commitment to staying true to their roots and “not try and sort of be copycats to the BRING ME THE HORIZON‘s of the world”. Dale reflects on the band’s influences and how they draw inspiration from a range of artists, blending influences from bands like LINKIN PARK, LIMP BIZKIT, and KORN, while still carving out their own path to create a sound that’s uniquely their own. “We’ve always liked to actually stray from what the current trends are in order to stay left of centre,” he says, emphasising that “there might be one song that might sound like LIMP BIZKIT, there’s another that sounds like LINKIN PARK, but as long as there’s that variety, no one can be sort of too hard pressed in terms of being pigeonholed.” This balance between honouring their influences and forging their own path is a defining characteristic of Oddworld.
As OCEAN GROVE prepares to spread the gospel of the Oddworld across the global music scene, their journey seems to be just beginning. With this album, the band has re-forged a distinct identity, and it marks a powerful new chapter, one that is sure to leave a lasting impact on both their fans and the audiences they rock out with.
Oddworld is out now via ODDWORLD Records/SharpTone Records.
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