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Twin Town High (vol. 8) |
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Alex Oana: Back on top again
Wednesday 02 October @ 10:20:04 |
 by Louis Lenzmeier
Alex Oana has won another award. Recently, the guy who’s worked with everyone from the Honeydogs to Kid Dakota to Spymob was named Producer of the Year at the 2002 Minnesota Music Awards for the second consecutive year.
PULSE: There has been plenty of conversation lately about the state of the Twin Cities music scene. Some say it’s been as strong as it’s ever been and some say it needs help. How do you feel about the current scene?
OANA: In the last few years, the Minnesota music scene has thrown off the shackles of trying to be something for someone else. In the 90s, bands were caught wondering if they should be grunge like the rest of the world when grunge had already been invented here 10 years before by the Replacements (and others). Simultaneously, Minnesota was ahead of the national curve with an original Americana sound. It seems that music here has long gone without reward of record contracts or national attention. The scene seems to have recently come to terms with this by letting go of the outside expectations, an especially healthy reaction in the current singles-driven industry climate. Music is always better when it’s made for the sake of itself or to please its creator. The labels will come if the music is that good.
PULSE: You have won the producer of the year from the Minnesota Music Awards the last two years. How does that feel?
OANA: It feels like I have many friends in the music scene and I’m honored to be recognized and appreciated by them. Winning this award does not mean that I am better than the other very talented nominees, it’s just that the people I work with happen to be into the MMA or wanted to vote enough to become members of the MMA. The other producers in that category are very accomplished.
PULSE: What are you working on now?
OANA: I’ve been recording a great new band called Romantica at Seedy Underbelly. They have really strong pop songs and vocals influenced by Irish folk. I’m perpetually working with Kid Dakota on our megalomaniacal masterpieces at my studio Citycabin and at Seedy. I just had my first vinyl pressing! It’s a potential Spymob single that Arista is sending out as a promotion on translucent, lime-green vinyl. The Alice Peacock record just came out on Aware/Columbia, the same people who brought us Train. I’m also playing in a band called Vicious Vicious. It’s been the greatest thing ever. Thanks Big E!
PULSE: If you had to choose, would you rather be on stage or in the studio.
OANA: I have to do both. It’s like engineering and producing. It’s hard for me to do one without the other. I can’t be in the room as the engineer and hold back my production ideas. It’s also much more efficient as a producer to know how to get sounds. It’s like when I’m on stage I can hear the room, and do the right things with my sound to fit in the mix properly.
PULSE: Is there any artist that you have worked with that you think has the shot of making it to the next level?
OANA: Every time I work with a band I believe in it so much. Often, the music is deserving of a wider audience. That’s what music is about, communication. There have been many times when I was convinced a band would be signed and reach millions of people. The industry is perhaps only as fickle as the gatekeepers at the label, whether that is A&R or the top execs, who decide what is going to be shoved down our ears on the radio. This idea of well-funded promotion contradicts what I said earlier that “When music is really great you can’t hide it.” And there you have it! The contradictory state of the music business.
PULSE: You have worked with several artists and have been involved in numerous projects. From your perception, what makes a good and bad recording project?
OANA: Communication again. You must have musical communication, verbal communication and an openness to failure. Being great and being willing to fail because you tried to go further. Anyone can have a great musical moment, if they know how to be authentic. Making records is a collaborative effort. The people involved have to trust one another and be willing to listen to their collaborators. At the same time, I love people with strong vision who stick to ideas they believe in, but in a manner that takes the feelings of others into account. Eric Fawcett (Spymob) has been a great teacher to me in all these areas. As a kid who loved Legos, I have to admit I love building things, something you can hold up and look at. That’s what making records is, too.
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