How do you pronounce
Ominotago?
"ah-min-oh-tah-go!"
Band Members:
Beau Powell- vocals, guitar
Chelsea Kerwath- vocals, bass,
keys
Stu Hutton - percussion
---------------------------
" We don't mind last minute gigs!
As long as we have nothing else
booked, we will be there."
So Beau, from the first moment that you met Chelsea, what drew you in to want to join forces with her?
I was living on Parkwood, it’s a block away from Carytown, and I was walking my dog around noon on
a Sunday. I had just woken up, and I heard music and I thought it was the Gaskets. I had met them
several times, and I couldn’t figure out why I could hear them from my backyard, even
though I lived right next to Carytown. So, I went out there and the Watermelon Festival, unannounced
to me, had been going on for several hours. (Laughs) So, as soon as I came out and heard The
Gaskets playing, I just had a feeling like it was an opportunity. Like something could really come my
way. After The Gaskets finished, the guy with the clipboard who was in charge of the music said they
were missing a couple of people to play. So I was like, “well, I've got a guitar” and
he said, “you got it with you?” And I said, “yeah”. So the guy was like "Go get it!” and I ran home and
got it. I ended up playing for 45 minutes- maybe an hour. Then I ran into a friend of mine and we went
inside and drank a cup of tea. When we came back out and came through the alley- way I could hear
someone singing “Atlantic City” by Bruce Springsteen, and I thought, "Whoa, that is a cool cover for a
chick to be singing." I’ve never heard a girl sing that much Springsteen, especially “Atlantic City”. So, I
turned the corner and sure enough Chelsea was there singing. I just planted myself on the sidewalk
dumbstruck, my jaw dropped. When she played “Still Running” and put on three capos, that blew my
head off. I was like “Man, I barely ever use one capo, and she figured out how to put three on a guitar
and make a difference. My buddy who was with me at the time, my roommate, was like “Man, you
gotta go talk to that girl.” Just from the way I was standing there gaping he knew I was interested. So,
yeah, I went up and talked to her and offered to help take her equipment down. I invited her and her
friend to come by our place to get out of the heat. So that's how we met.
Chelsea, tell me about the first time you ever heard Beau sing. Do you remember what that first song
was?
Yeah, it was the day we met. He and
his roommate had worked up an
awesome cover of “Here Comes The
Sun” and they did the whole two part
harmony thing. They played it great
and I was blown away because I
thought Beau sounded like a male
Tracy Chapman. He had that kind of
quality and richness to his voice, and I
thought, "Oh, it’s so beautiful." I was
shocked that no bands had found him
yet and taken him. So, I was like
“YES!” and just snagged him. It was
definitely an immediate infatuation. I
was really blown away by the whole
thing. (laughs) I was shocked that he
hadn’t done much yet. He had played
a couple of open mics’ at that point
and that’s it. I was like “Oh my god!
you need to get out there!” (laughs)
Beau, you grew up around your grandparents and you were exposed to a lot of big band music and
swing right?
Right.
Was there ever any one moment or one musician or one song that kind of planted the seed for you to
start yourself on this journey for a new career?
Now that I think back on it, my
dad has told me that this one
time I dressed up like
Springsteen and jumped on my
bed lip-syncing to "Born in the
U.S.A." , but I think the first time
that I consciously ever got the
urge to pick up a guitar was
when I was five and watching
Back To The Future, the first
one. When Marty gets up and
plays "Johnny Be Good", it was
the highlight of my existence at
the time. As soon as I saw that I
was like, “Dude.. that guy is just
about as cool as you can get.”
Now Chelsea growing up you were exposed to music like The Beatles and Bowie. What was the
musician song or moment that gave you the desire to play music?
Jeez. That’s a hard question... Well, this doesn’t really relate to the old, you know, Classic Rock
greats, but when Jewel first came out, my mom saw her playing on TV and said “I don’t know why, but
I just picture you doing that.” I had never had any desire to be a musician, so I was like, “Really? That’
s kind of weird.” And then like a whole three to four years later I picked up a guitar, and Jewel was
definitely an inspiration at the time. My dad plays guitar, so you know, that was around. I definitely
didn’t think that I was going to be a singer for a long time.
Speaking of playing guitar, do you guys remember the first song you learned how to play on the guitar?
I think it was “Who Will Save Your Soul” by Jewel. It was just four chords.
I think mine was a little bit too ambitious. I think mine was “Dust In The Wind”.
OH GOD! (Laughs)
That was probably the first thing I
learned how to do.
"After you met on that magical day,
August 10, 2003, how long was it
before you two knew that you were in
love?"
When he came through the alleyway
and saw me! It was immediate.
Now how long after that was it that you guys found yourselves on stage together?
Well, for a while there I was playing at Potters, when Potters used to be around. I was doing that
pretty regularly. I was just getting Beau to open for me and play on my breaks. I’d play a few and then
he’d play a few, just back and forth. Eventually, maybe a month and a half or 2 months later
we started really collaborating and learning each others' material and harmonizing together. It just
worked out and we moved in together after only knowing each other for like a month. (laughs)
It probably would’ve been sooner than that if I hadn't had a roommate at the time.
I couldn’t stand being away from Beau. It worked out pretty great. We were living together, so we
could spend a lot of time just working on the music thing and we’ve been full time musicians on and off
for 3 years. There have been many sessions where for 6 months at a time we wouldn't have any day
jobs and we’d be just living off of music. It's been really good lately, but back in the day it was rough,
lots of oodles of noodles. (laughs)
Wow, that’s dedication! So how did you decide on the name for the band? I know your website
mentions what it means, but how did you come up with Ominotago in particular?
My mom's a writer and we were going
through her Character Naming
Sourcebook, which has like all these
different nationalities and names
and what they mean and all that kind
of stuff. I was flipping through and I
was just trying to find something cool
and new. I was like “What would be a
cool band name that no one would
have?” And I found something that
meant Beautiful voice. I was like “ Oh,
that’s cool!” and I looked over and it
was such a symmetrical word. The
three O’s looked really cool and I
knew no one on earth was gonna
have that name, which they don’t.
(laughs) It worked out nicely. We
agreed immediately on it.
People still will say, "No really, what is the real name of your band?".
We still get a little shit for the name, but that’s okay. (laughs) There are some really crazy band names
out there, what’s that one that’s like a sentence long?
You will know them by the trail of their dead. (laughs)
I can’t remember, but ours is good.
Do you recall any other names that
you guys were kicking around at the
time?
Smoking Lamp, that was our first
band name.
I saw a sign when I was a kid that
said “The smoking lamp is lit” and
I had no idea what it meant and I
asked my dad about it. He said that
during WW2, the air raid drills were
obviously during black-outs and they
didn’t allow the troops to smoke.
Otherwise, you'd be able to see the
cherries on their cigarettes from the
planes above. The troops had a
lamp and if you saw it lit, you knew
you could smoke.
Metaphorically it was a symbol of peace. It meant that nothing was wrong at that moment. It meant,
you know, that you were safe. So, we thought that it was a cool name, but it didn't flow as well.
We became Ominotago about 2 years ago.
Now if somebody had never been to a Ominotago show, what can they expect?
I think we normally surprise people because we do such a variety. A few songs that we play are so
random that they’ll be like “Whoa! I didn’t expect them to do that!” We try to do stuff that's a little bit
harder to play acoustically.
A lot of people say that they never thought anybody would’ve covered that on an acoustic guitar.
And a lot of people come away saying, “Oh I like your version better than the original. Like, way
better.” And I’m like, "That’s awesome!" It’s really cool.
That is cool. Now Beau, you enjoy acting and comedy as well as singing right? Have you ever
performed in theatre or anything like that?
I worked for a children's theater, a local one, called Theatre IV. As soon as I got out of high school, I
immediately went into Theater IV for two and a half years. I did five consecutive shows with them;
some tourswere two to three to six months long. That’s definitely where I lost my stage fright,
in front of kids. Being laughed at by an auditorium full of middle schoolers will do that. They have a
valid reason to make fun of you too. I mean, I would make fun of me. It’s not like you can really make
some of these types of performances cool, because of it’s subject matter. For some of the
shows it really depended on the crowd. I mean, a lot of the time they’d respond really well, but a lot of
times we’d get some really smart ass kids, ya know? (Laughs) They’d really give it to you on stage.
They’d really tear you down. I have no shame anymore. I never get nervous on stage anymore for
that reason.
I kind of envy his road experience
because he's done so much hard core
touring. They did everything
themselves. They slept all crammed
together in a group of all these
different types of people.
It’s a tough way to live, it really is. It’s
like a combination of Road
Rules and Real World except there’s
no cameras. There’s just as much
drama. Just being cramped in the
van and the hotel room. Working for
5 months with someone all the time
Yea, they actually tell you not to take the job on the application, they have it written on the first page-
"Do not take this job!".
What are some of you other interests besides music?
Art was my first love. I love to draw, paint, and take pictures and all that. I’m probably a better artist
than a musician, technically speaking. With music, I’m self-taught and I don’t really know much theory.
With art, I really know my stuff. It’s just easier and more comfortable for me; but I love music way more.
It’s a passion. The art is really just a fun side thing. That’s about it. And video games. I love video
games.
You play as an acoustic duo and as a full band, both styles are so
different, which one do you enjoy the most?
He’ll probably say full band and I’ll say acoustic. (Laughs) isn’t that right?
Yeah.
Yeah, I have a harder time with the full
band because I'm not really a bass
player and that’s what I do in that!
(laughs)
My first guitar was my Fender Strat
that I play at shows. I’m just more
comfortable with that guitar.
It’s what you learned on, so I
understand that.
You both are incredible songwriters!
Thank you!
Chelsea, when you wrote “Sincerity”, some of the lyrics were “..even though you weren’t the first one
in my life I know this is the love for the first time..” There’s a lot of passion in your lyrics. Can you
share where some of the inspirations came for the songs “To Hold You” and “Still Running”?
Wow. “To Hold You” is actually about my friend, Jenn, from the first band I was ever in. We didn’t do
much of anything, but practice and hang out in the garage every so often. We had fun, though. Jenn,
my drummer, ended up getting Leukemia and stopped playing for a while. So, that’s pretty much what
ended the group. I was so worried about her. I remember the moment I found out about it. I wrote the
song for her just hours later, saying that she was being watched over and cared about. Luckily, she
had an amazing recovery and she still dabbles with music today. And the second one “Still Running”, I
can’t really tell you much about that one. That’s one that I wrote in the middle of the night and I
felt like someone was writing it through me, like, I don’t know. (laughs) I don’t really take credit for
writing that song even though I did. I don’t feel like I really did that much to write it, just kind of came
out of me.
Beau, you’ve written some very
powerful songs, like “Turning The
Tides” and “World Gone Crazy”.
What was your inspiration behind the
song "Ancient Eyes"?
That was a dream! I didn’t hear it like
a monologue obviously. I just woke
up and tried to put what I had dreamt
It’s not anything flowery. The whole song is pretty metaphorical, but it’s not very lyrical.
Do either one of you have a song that you really like, a faovrite?
I really love “Fur Chelsea” personally, for obvious reasons. (laughs) But, I really love the song “No
Shame”, that Beau wrote. It’s a new one. It’s really beautiful. That one's going to be great when he
finishes it. He still has a little bit more to do.
My favorites of Chelsea's are “Sincerity” and “Come Undone”. I’d also have to say that I prefer her
newer stuff because she’s learning to play the keys. It'll be on our upcoming album. I like where she’s
going with it a lot. It’s very, very progressively different from what she's done.
It’s got a different sort of vibe which makes it more interesting. I’m still trying to make it commercial
sounding, though. It won’t be super weird and hard to get, you know? (laughs) It’ll be more straight up
than that.
What is the best part about being a musician?
They say if you love what you do you’
ll never work a day in your life.
It really doesn’t feel like work even
though it’s our full time job. Yeah, it’s
just fun. The people are almost
always really cool. Like especially
here at Taylor’s, this is our very
favorite spot in all of this country that
we live in.
I think a true musicians goal isn’t to get rich or have the most cars and all that. I think the main goal of
being a musician to keep playing without being dead or broke.
To be able to continually keep up.
It’s just to play and to do very little else.
I think it’s really cool to have fans that love us, that are really hard core and request our songs. I hate
it when we go to places where nobody claps or seems to care. It's still fun to play those spots,
though, because we tend to try out random new material on those nights. Since nobody's listening,
who cares if you mess something up? It's fundiscovering a new song to add to the setlist.
What would you say the biggest challenge is to reach success here in Richmond?
Richmond, it’s not the best place. No offense to Richmond, we love ya, but its not the best place for a
musician.
I’m going to have to go along with the theory that Richmond supports local music as long as it gets on
national cable TV.
Look at Elliot Yamin, it wasn't until he was on television that people here paid attention and came to
his shows. It seems like people in Richmond don’t want to come out to anything. The people are just
so busy with their jobs and their families. They just don’t have time to go out and hear music, which I
understand. But, there are some towns where they’re like "Wow, what a great scene", like New York
City for example. They’re constantly going out and constantly willing to do something. I don’t know...
It’s just frustrating. But, we really have come to see that there are some good, hard core people out
here, it just took a while to get to it.
There's no parking and no cabs in this town. (laughs)
Yeah, to get people to come out, especially downtown, that can be tough.
Can’t get a ride, can’t drive
yourself.
Describe what it’s like to be on
stage and connecting with an
audience. Is it still exciting for
you or are you kind of getting
used to it.
I'll never get tired of people
giving us a good response.
We sound so much better when there’s a lot of people around. Like for some reason it automatically
makes us sing and play better. Even if we have five gigs in a row and we're exhausted, our best
show could be that last one, depending on the crowd. We somehow pull out the hardest songs on our
setlist just to please ‘em and it’s cool like that.
Where would you like to see your band go from here?
A national tour.
That would be awesome.
It would be nice if we could go to a different state or city every few days.
We’re starting to expand a little bit. We play in the Outer Banks a lot and we’ve got a D.C. gig possibly
in the spring. I think we'll book more when we finally finish the second album. It's going to sound great!
MySpace has helped a lot too. Hopefully that’ll help expand the Ominotago revolution. (laughs)
If you go to our shows you can purchase our CD’s, and if you e-mail us we can send you one also. Just
go to ominotago.com.
Here is the fishbowl question sent in anonymously from a "Richmond Fan". The fan wants to know:
I love your music! Do you all feel like you need to move away from Richmond to make it big? If you
decided to move, would you head to L.A. or NY- where would you go?
*Well, to be honest, we do feel a big move will be a necessary step in our careers. Not right away,
though. We'd like to tour around the different major cities first to figure out which one is the best for us.
More than likely we'll end up moving half way between Richmond and New York so we can still play for
our hometown fans while pursuing label interest.
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