Sam Bassal – Ocean Grove ‘Ocean Grove Doesn’t Want To Just Be A Normal Band’

This week, Ocean Grove is set to release their most confident and self-assured work to date (our review here). Conducted under their own dutiful production, the regulations of their personal record label, and now more so than ever, in the safe confines of their ODDWORLD Collective, Ocean Grove has never been a tighter nor more unstoppable unit than right now.

We had the privilege of speaking to the band’s producer and drummer, Sam Bassal, about the creation of the album, the resurgence of nu-metal forces in 2024, and of course, what it means to be a part of the ODDWORLD!

Sam: Is that a SPEED jersey?

Georgia: Of course it is.

Shall I put mine on?

It’d be rude not to be matching! We should be matching!

Within 2024, I’m sure you’re well aware, it has become this nu-metal resurgence year, but it’s a sound that you guys have worn on your sleeve for quite some time. Obviously, you’re a bit ahead of the game, but what is it that drew you into this style in the first place and thus really hone into it on ODDWORLD?

Great question. I think, yeah, I mean, I like to say we’ve been authentically doing nu-metal for a very long time. I think it’s quite popular these days for a lot of bands to do what I think they call ‘nu-metalcore’, where it’s still just like modern metalcore, but it’s got maybe rapping and a few elements that make it feel like nu-metal. But when I was growing up, my first ever introduction to heavy music was a nu-metal band called P.O.D.

My mum is a Christian pastor and she went to a Christian CD store one day and she’s like, this looks cool. I’ll buy this. And so I had two P.O.D. CDs and a shitty CD player that would live under my bed with just enough length for me to plug in some iPod headphones into it. And I could listen to CDs every night. And the two CDs I had were two P.O.D. albums and I truly think that shaped how I make heavy music from just that single experience. And that’s why I think it feels really authentic when we do nu-metal.

I don’t like heavy music really that much, except for like authentic ’99 to 2001 nu-metal. So I’m unfortunately in those time frames, and that’s why I love that music. So I just love nu-metal from that. And I think that’s why we do it that way and why it sounds quite, I’d like to think, authentic and real.

I think as well as being authentic, it’s always very unique and personal to listen to. And how do you continue to keep it unique, do you think?

It’s a tough one. It’s really tough because I think writing music today is really tough because there’s only so much you can do notes-wise on a guitar or melody choice on a vocal. And music is so much more accessible today that really anyone can make music, which is a good thing. I think it’s a good thing. People who maybe shouldn’t be making music can make music, which is always tough. But you know what? It’s a creative outlet. So if you have the means to do it, you should absolutely be able to do it. But it’s a hard one. I think it comes internally for us to make sure that we’re not, that we’re just trying, at least putting a conscious effort in to do something that’s a bit different than what we have done. Or if we’re doing an older sound, like something we’ve touched on before in our career – like on ODDWORLD – is to just make sure it feels fresh. It feels fresh and right to us and if it’s not exciting, it’s probably not it. I’d say that’s how we measure things.

I think one of the reasons I was most excited to talk to you, is because you take on a very pivotal role in Ocean Grove, that being a lot of the production. Is there a sense of pressure for you to format and formulate a lot of the elements of the sound, or do you think there’s more a safety that it’s in your hands, someone who’s immediately in the party and has more creative control?

Great question. I think there’s both. There’s an element for me where it’s incredibly stressful for me. I always say, I joke when I say it but there’s always an ounce of seriousness, that making an Ocean Grove record is the best and worst time of my life because it has to, unfortunately, zap everything and life can only be about that. And it’s very, very time-consuming and stressful for me. But I’m sure the boys would agree, they call me the master controller, because I unfortunately am set in my ways and I will nine times out of ten end up with things that I want to sound the way I want and what I need or believe Ocean Grove should sound like. And the boys are very good with that. And they have such trust and faith in me that that’s just how we do it. We do it that way. And the boys just go, ‘yes, it’s in your hands. You make Ocean Grove sound like Ocean Grove, because that’s all we’ve ever sounded like. Recording music onto my computer internally saying, ‘yes, this is it. This is good’. And then it gets released to the world. So no one else touches it. And that’s that. So I guess there’s a lot of faith by now after our discography that we can probably write a pretty good song.

From that same production perspective, what has been, for you, I suppose, the biggest change, say, from something like Black Label to now?

I would say the band members is a good start. I’ll say that we’re in a position where I like to look at it as a positive and a unique experience, where we plan to be identified as a heavier nu-metal, nu-metal influenced band. But there’s no one in the band that can scream. So if you go back to the Black Label days when we had Luke [Holmes], our frontman on stage, screaming, we could enter the studio, say when we finished that cycle, we went in to write The Rhapsody Tapes. We had a screamer. We knew the roles that we would write music for to accommodate what he would do and then what clean singing Dale [Tanner] would do and things like that.

But now we’re in a position where the band lineup is a little bit different and the strengths and skills of each individual member is different. We now have Dale in that frontman role where, we’ve worked out and he’s worked out [and] put a lot of time and effort into working out what his sound is. And we know what we have to write for him and he knows what he has to write and how he has to sing to show off his skill, which would be different to Luke. And Twiggy [Hunter] brings his own different skill and vocal set to the group as well. And so I’d say just learning over the years how to operate together and then also just knowing it’s different these days of how we have to write music just based on different skill sets and what everyone else can bring to the table, I guess.

One of my favorite parts about Ocean Grove is that, from a fan perspective, it’s very much more of a community. And you really hone in on that essence with the whole ODDWORLD scenario. I was wondering for you, did it ever shift your way of thinking about music becoming a state of mind more than a nine to five?

Yeah. It’s been a really hard one because it’s been my entire life and I’ve never even really had a real job. I finished school and I went on to just make records for people. So you could almost say that I’ve never really been able to escape music if I tried. But the community aspect, even on this record, we’ve introduced publicly for the first time, the ODDWORLD Collective, which is all five of us; Dale, Twiggy and I, and of course, Running Touch and Luke. But, sorry, it feels like I went off topic from your actual question, just then. Yeah. I think at the end of the day, I love making music. I love making music and I love putting it out and hearing a person’s feedback and knowing what it does for someone. So I guess even if it was more nine to five or things like that, at the end of the day, I’m not really thinking too much about that stuff. I just know that Ocean Grove is a really talented entity between us.

And we’ve got an awesome set of fans that enable us to even do what we do. So I can’t really say I put too much thought into that, but I just try to make music and hope that it works.

I guess I would answer that and go, I hope people like this because that’s all I can do.

I was lucky enough to listen to the album early and I definitely love it. It was a really cool experience listening to it. There are songs like ‘Stunner’, where you’re listening to it and you can pick up slight influences, like ‘She Likes To Move’ era type N.E.R.D I was getting from that. What albums did you find yourself immersing in to influence these creative choices?

I’m glad you said that because ‘Stunner’ is one of my favorites. I was just saying before, I wish it was a single. But that’s okay, because we’ll let people find that one on their own.

I’ll champion with you for that one, though. It’s okay.

Thank you very much. I think at the time of making a record, as funny as it sounds, I can’t really listen to too much music. So I think whenever I’m writing a song, it’s very much from my upbringing of influences. And for that, I think that’s why it always falls back on early nu-metal, which I love listening to. N.E.R.D., Pharrell, The Neptunes, and I always say, Justified-era Timberlake is a really big influence. And we’ve displayed that side of my music taste on songs like ‘Ask For The Anthem’.

‘Ask For The Anthem’ was initially meant to be a little bit more N.E.R.D vibe than how it turned out. And we’ve got some songs like ‘HMU’ from our Up In The Air Forever album which is in that vein as well.

But that’s the beautiful thing about being in a band, if you do it right, you’re able to create art based on things you love about bits and pieces from other things. ‘Stunner’ could be a Timberlake song, but it turns nu-metal halfway through and then it’s got a big nu-metal chorus and then a big riff, and then you’re back in Pharrell’s lane for a minute. So it’s nice and fun.

In terms of massive milestones for Ocean Grove, it’s safe to say you have been touring a lot this year. And I’ve always said it, whether it was me seeing you open at Penrith Panthers ripping up the riff or at the Manning Bar for your headline show not too long ago, your live show is always so electric, and I genuinely do think you’re one of the best live bands to see. How is it that you always strive to enhance your live presence and performance? How do you continue to make it something extravagant and unique?

I think I’m a really big advocate for smart setlist choices. I think that’s always handy. We’re very fortunate that because our discography is so mixed, we don’t necessarily have to get up on stage every night and play 15 straight-up metalcore songs that sound the same or like 15 rock songs. Because of that, when I’m making a setlist for a tour, I’m able to craft what I envision as a show and really bring moments of, ‘hey, we can open the show really heavy with these fun nu-metal songs and get everyone bouncing and then bring it back for a minute to an electronic thing that everyone’s going, whoa’. And then Twiggy can go and sing another song, and then all of a sudden the show is just constantly moving around. And it’s elements like that that I really enjoy doing. But I do think there’s a big element of Dale being a really, really good frontman. He’s incredibly energetic. I get the funny seat of the house sometimes when I get to see him turn around to me after we’ve just done five songs in a row and he hasn’t had a sip of water.

And he’s come to pick up his drink bottle and he just looks at me and just goes, “Fuck”. So I think it’s a bit of that where it’s like setlist structure is great, but also Dale being able to engage a crowd and keep it fun. Us and the boys hold it down at the back and do our thing. And then I also say that I probably shouldn’t be in charge of lighting design because my plan is to always blind people with strobes and unfortunately create a visual that might be a bit much.

I have been a victim, I will say.

Okay, I apologize… somewhat.

You did mention a little bit earlier with ‘Stunner’, and there’s a whole lot of discourse people have now about album cycles and the release structure, but you guys did have a few singles that came out with this album. What went behind and what was the thought process to choose those certain singles?

I think with singles, we always try and showcase a little bit of each side of Ocean Grove. I think we’re not a band that you can just put out a song or two and it paints the full picture of what our band sounds like. So I think for the first few singles of this campaign, we really wanted to push the nu-metal songs to be like, ‘Hey, we’re back doing this sound in case you missed it the first time. Here it is again. Here’s another track to remind you that this the direction’. And then once that was achieved, we were able to just showcase some other songs that we thought were really catchy and great songs, like ‘Raindrop’ and ‘Last Dance’, which is also one of my favourites.

I think it’s always about putting your best foot forward when it comes to songs, because I always have this mindset that I think a lot of people take for granted album campaigns sometimes being like, ‘We’ll do this song as a single and then we’ll do this song as a single and then someone can listen to it, and then something else on the album’. But that’s not always the case, where sometimes you don’t really always have a listener’s attention to make it through three songs, you might only have someone stumble across you for 10 seconds. And if you don’t catch them in those 10 seconds, they might not ever be a fan for life, which is a hard thing to think about.

So I think if you always put your best foot forward and put forward your best representation of, I think, the band, I look at it that way versus like, ‘Oh, this song is going to be a massive hit’.  think this is a great representation of this side of our band, is the way I look at it.

Just to finish off, is there an extravagant memory or crazy memory that sticks out to you the most when you’re creating this album?

Besides thinking about how to make it not sound absolute dog shit and make sure we’re still doing a good job. I think the overall thing that I’ll take away from this album is the pleasure of freely writing music that holds a very nostalgic place in my heart with people that hold a nostalgic place in my heart is what I would say.

Working with Luke again and Running Touch. Fans know that they’ve been around in the past. We’ve written on the last few albums with those guys. But just to be a bit more open about it and go, “No, this is the band”.

We made a post trying to describe the ODDWORLD collective letting people know that Ocean Grove doesn’t want to just be a normal band that is three members, where I play drums, Twiggy plays bass and sings, and Dale sings. It’s so much more than that. We really do think of it as the ODDWORLD collective, where it’s just a group of five very talented individuals that all bring a different strength and an important something to the group that is why Ocean Grove is the way that it is, whether it’s history-based or right now.

Ocean Grove is this way because of what the five of us have been able to bring to the table and contribute. And so that’s probably what I’ll take from this, it’s that we got the chance to make a record with the five of us. There was not that much crazy thought process of anything we needed to do or didn’t need to do. It was just like, ‘let’s do this. Let’s make some songs. Let’s have some fun’. And that’s probably my positive from it.

I think that’s a beautiful sentiment to go into the album, which is coming up very soon. So hopefully people can listen to that and then go in mind with it.

Yeah, absolutely. I hope everyone listens to it because I think it’s very cliché to be like, ‘It’s our best stuff’, but I just think it’s our best representation of Ocean Grove and hope that’s what people can think of us for the years to come and have this portion of Ocean Grove in their brain would be awesome.

Interview by Georgia Haskins @ghaskins2002

This piece was created as part of the 2024 Music Writer’s Lab Commissioning Fund

ODDWORLD is out November 22 via ODDWORLD / Sharptone Records.
Get your copy here

Ocean Grove – ODDWORLD tracklisting

1. OG FOREVER
2. CELL DIVISION
3. FLY AWAY
4. STUNNER
5. RAINDROP
6. NO OFFENCE DETECTED
7. MY DISASTER
8. LAST DANCE
9. SOWHAT1999
10. OTP (ft New Babylon & Adult Art Club)