OVERLORD is a pop band that was started in Philly and is now based in Brooklyn, NY. Their songs are excellent and they really deserve a bigger following. Leader George Pasles was nice enough to answer some questions and assures the DAGGER readers that world domination is just around the corner.....

 

Where were you born? Did you grow up there?
Born and raised in suburban Philadelphia.

What was the first record you ever bought?
I think it was a very used black Capital Beatles ’65 at a flea market - a confusing introduction to the group: “Mr. Moonlight”!

Was the guitar your first instrument?
Sort of. At about 7, I got my brother’s half-size guitar when he moved up to a full-size acoustic. I didn’t progress much over the subsequent decade, but I did take piano lessons. While I never really learned to play piano, the music theory I picked up explained how the guitar worked better than any guitar lesson ever could.

Was Overlord your first band?
In any sort of creative sense, yes. I was on the periphery of a few bands before, but I had no musical skills to contribute. Back then, showing up to practice seemed to guarantee membership in a band.

If not when/how did Overlord begin? How did you pick the name?
In high school, I didn’t really listen to music, play any instrument usefully, or know how to write songs. I didn’t have any ideas of any kind. But I did know other people were in bands with tough-sounding names. So first, I needed the toughest-sounding band name I could think of. Then I studied the structure of songs I liked, and spent a lot of time alone with a cassette four-track.

Are you tired of people asking if you're a metal band?
It never happens because I always bring it up first. That’s my doctrine of preemption, as well as the first sentence of any review we get. And I wouldn’t want anyone who judges music by a band name to like us. But if a record deal hinged on the name, we’d be Captain Zweibel’s Magic Zygote Express faster than you could say “ethical lapse”.

Who are some of your biggest musical influences?
I don’t like much, but I like it a lot. 50s to 80s stuff mostly. I could (and do) talk about the Beatles for hours on end. On the earlier side, there’s Chuck Berry, Buddy Holly, Roy Orbison, Little Richard, Del Shannon, the Stones, VU. Most rock recordings up through the psychedelic era usually have some good ideas in them. Then there’s the Smiths, early REM, Morrissey… anything being played in cars in which I was a passenger ended up being influential. I’m neophobic, but highly impressionable.

Other than Tris it looks like a different band on the new one (IN SOVIET RUSSIA..) from the previous one (TICKER SYMBOLS).
There was no constant band during Ticker Symbols - I recorded most of that album alone. Tris started playing with me at the end of 2005, just in time to record one of the last tracks. Sarah was in overlord from 1996 to 2000 before she wisely left for NYC. By 2007, we were living down the street from each other again, so playing together just provided a forum for hanging out. I saw Matt playing with Palomar (which Sarah had joined) in 2003. I immediately added playing with him to the list of things I wanted to do before I died. Now all that’s left is scaling Kilimanjaro. They’re supremely skilled musicians and great singers as well. My multi-track runneth over. I do not want.

What was the biggest difference in recording those two records?
This is the first full-band, all-studio record I’ve ever done. Previously, I’d do most of the songs solo, and then do a few with an outside engineer and the live band. The biggest difference was not having to worry about listeners suffering through my sub par bass, drum, or synth playing.

Where did the title, IN SOVIET RUSSIA, MY HEART BREAKS YOU come from?
It’s based on shlock comedian Yakov Smirnov’s Russian Reversal jokes. It’s a hilarious introduction to historical revisionism as a form of self-preservation.

Will there be a full tour for the record?
I suspect we’ll pop up here and there, and get out of town before anyone knows what’s happened. It’ll be the Predator Drone Tour.

What is the weirdest thing that has ever happened at an Overlord gig?
overlord played an atheists rally on the Mall in DC (live on CSPAN!), and there was a security scare when the Park Service thought a box of overlord CDs in front of the stage was a bomb. Only the lyrics proved to be incendiary, however.

Do you prefer recording or playing live?
When I was a wee tyke, I would lie in bed and replay how the school day went. I’d beat myself up about an instance where I could’ve made a funnier joke, or said something more interesting, or handled a situation better. Recording songs has always appealed to me because it consists entirely of second chances. You can keep editing a moment until you optimize it. That’s the least rock’n’roll thing anyone could ever say. Playing live is 100,000 worries, very few of them about music. For years, it felt like an obligation. But with this line-up, everything changed. We started getting really good. If things continue on their current trajectories, I will prefer playing live to recording by the end of this interview.

What's next for the band? More recordings?
I’m still making videos and pushing this album, so I haven’t given too much thought to what’s next. But three songs have been demoed for the next release, if/when humanity clamors for it. In the meantime, hopefully we’ll record a live album. We’re almost a punk band live, and some documentation of this would help future historians answer the question: did overlord ever record a live album? Also, I’m planning a radio station tour. It’s a live show where you don’t have to worry about turnout.

What are your top 10 desert island discs?
Revolver, the White Album, Sgt. Pepper, Abbey Road, Beggar’s Banquet, Vauxhall and I, Louder Than Bombs, Led Zeppelin II and IV, Nebraska.

Final thoughts? Words of wisdom? Anything you wanted to talk about that I did not ask?Writing songs was something I did while I tried to figure out what I wanted to do with my life. But I never figured that out. So now there’s a pile of CDs. I guess that’s what I did with my life. I’m not sure what to make of that.

Is Storm Tower Records your own label?
Storm Tower Records is a PO Box in Philadelphia. But a vast assemblage of fictional characters lives in that box, none more fascinating and terrifying than Gunther Wundermunchen, President and CEO of Storm Tower Records. His behavior makes Suge Knight look like Herb Alpert.

 

www.overlordusa.com