Oh, Jeremiah–the phenomenal duo of Jeremiah Stricklin and his wife Erin Raber–is ready and rearing to unleash their greatness on the world. Their debut album The Other End of Passing Time is set to release on August 19th. A work with an inherent theme–the presence of the devil–, this album comes to us with influence from Southern gospel and rock. It’s a quirky, gorgeous, incredible work with subtle nuances that set it apart from literally everything else out there right now.
For a taste of the wonderful you’re about to fall in love with, check out Oh, Jeremiah’s video for “Happy Now”.
In honor of their upcoming release, we spoke with Jeremiah of Oh, Jeremiah. Until now, he didn’t quite realize how afraid of clowns everyone and their mother is.
If you could introduce yourself in anyway possible, how would you do it and what would you say?
I’ve always been a fan of people jumping out of cakes. I think I’d be pretty great at that. I would jump out of the most delicately crafted buttercream feast and be the perfect gentleman. “Greetings, old chap. Have you had the red velvet?” It also has the potential to create a very repetitive and signature meet cute story. Sample dialogue:
“How’d you and Jeremiah meet?”
“Oh, we met at a birthday party…he ruined the cake.”
I’d be famous for being the guy that ruined your kids birthday party.
What/who has been the most influential thing in your life to make you who you are today?
I got fired from the only “real” job I ever had. I worked there for three months and I got fired 3 days before christmas. I was so devastated I swore I’d never work a job I didn’t believe in and I was going to let music take the driver’s seat. I’ve never looked back and that experience helped me realize how I was settling by not chasing the only thing I ever loved: music.
Tell me about your video for your song “Happy Now”.
I met the film crew online by accident. They expected me to say “I want to do a video where I’m chasing a girl and playing with a band on a rooftop.” So naturally, when I said I wanted to be a clown at a kid’s birthday party, there was an awkward silence. When they realized I wasn’t kidding, we really started to have fun with the concept. My friends let me crash their kids’ birthday party (Knoa in the video). I never realized how many people are really afraid of clowns. One kid gathered all of his friends, demanded their attention, and declared publicly in an impromptu address that “THAT CLOWN IS GOING TO HURT EVERYBODY!”
I love acting and the whole process was really fun. The crew slept at our house for 3 days and we were all sleep deprived and living the best days of our lives.
“The Other End Of Passing Time” is your newest album. What was creating it like?
We went to a place called Parsonsfield, ME with a guy named Sam Kassirer. He has a farm house called the Great North Sound Society. We all lived there for two weeks in the winter (a very cold winter). It was a very surreal experience of becoming a family with these people who come together to make a great record. We’d eat together, record together, and live inches away from each other for two weeks. It was my favorite music experience ever.
Did you encounter any challenges while making the album?
The second song, Hello Ghost, was originally called Side of Time. Our producer and genius pointed out how the lyrics and melody were holding the song back. So I had to re-write the whole song in the studio using the skeleton of the old song. It almost didn’t make the record.
How would you describe your music?
The quirky lyrics and harmonies of Simon and Garfunkel meets the somberness of Damien Rice and the haircuts of R.E.M.
So there are a lot of iconic pairings (ex: Batman&Robin, mac&cheese, John Lennon & Yoko Ono, JFK & Jackie O, etc). If you were an iconic pairing, who/what would you be and why?
I like to think we are a Wendy’s Chocolate Frosty and french fries. A combination that confuses some until they’ve tried it and now they can’t picture the two apart.
What’s up next for you two?
We just moved to Athens, GA. We have work to do to make this home for us and our music. So far we love it very strongly. We also have more touring to do. There are too many awesome places in the world not to visit and play music inside.
The Other End of Passing Time is out August 19th. It is available for preorder now.
