The Ottoman Empire

An interview with Madison shredders The Ottomon Empire‘s Mary Zimmer

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Joan Osborne

If God were one of us, and his tour of duty brought him to Milwaukee, it’s a safe bet that he’d fill more seats than Joan Osborne did at the Modjeska Theater. Not as safe a bet is whether he’d be able to sing as well.

With five Grammy nominations under her belt, the question wasn’t if Osborne would sell out the 1,800 seat Modjeska, it was how quickly. Imagine the surprise when hundreds of tickets remained minutes before the Kentucky native took the stage May 11. The crowd was sparse – you could walk to within ten feet of the stage without a problem – but its diversity read like an open book on Osborne’s critically-acclaimed major-label debut, Relish.

There were the pop fans, weaned on the radio friendly “one of Us;” the music fans attracted to the show by Osborne’s endearing spirit and warm, folkish charm; and those that fell in between, more than willing to bask in the glow of songs that aren’t motivated by anger and rage.

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Ozzy Osbourne

Sitting across from Ozzy Osbourne in his Tucson, AZ hotel suite the night before he would kick off his year-ending Merry Mayhem tour with Rob Zombie and Soil, you can’t help but feel a sense of awe—It’s Ozzy Osbourne. Ozzy fucking Osbourne. And now, in the midst of the most widespread success of his career, he’s released Down To Earth—his most impressive album in practically a decade and is backed by what is arguable his most talented band to date—returning guitarist Zakk Wylde [Black Label Society], bassist Robert Trujillo [ex-Suicidal Tendencies] and drummer Mike Bordin [ex-Faith No More]. Less than 24-hours before embarking on the tour that would change the way we all look at the holidays, Ozzy was in rare form—Every part the heavy metal legend he’s cracked up to be, and more human than most of us ever imagined…

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Yoko Ono

An artist resting comfortably at the fringes of every popular movement since the 1950’s (performance art, rock n’ roll, weird videos, peace activism), Yoko Ono has been freaking out the straights for over half a century, man. Universally reviled by millions for supposedly breaking up The Beatles and generally being an undeserving Mary Magdalene to John Lennon’s rock n’ roll Messiah, it’s refreshing to learn that at 76 years old (Yeah, Baby Boomers, I didn’t believe it either, but have you seen Paul lately?) Yoko Ono is the opposite of being the mad queen of batshit crazy band girlfriends and a sweet lady confident in herself and her creations. Her English is still broken and sometimes she’s a little too “aw-shucks, I’m just an artist that walked into this great fantastically wealthy luck and fame.” But she’s unfailingly nice and stubbornly prolific. She released her latest album in 2009 with THE PLASTIC ONO BAND spearheaded by her son, Sean Lennon, and the disc, Between My Head And The Sky, has garnered the best reviews in her career. She’s gearing up for a reunion performance in February with the band and there’s going to be appearances by people like Eric Clapton, Paul Simon, Scissor Sisters, Bette Midler, Thurston Moore, Kim Gordon, and Mark Ronson. So she must have not pissed too many greats off. I guess there’s hope for Courtney Love yet.

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Otep

Lots of bands claim to have a cult following, but how many have fans who show up with severed pig heads and ready to propose marriage? How many bands are signed to a major label based on the strength of their live show, even before they release a single song? Hailing from Los Angeles, Otep is just that band.
A band since 2000, the two constants in Otep during that time have been classically-trained bassist “eViL j” and frontwoman, lyricist and band namesake Otep Shamaya. Of late, they’re backed by two new members, guitarist Karma Cheema and drummer Brian Wolff. The reasons for the lineup changes have varied, but Shamaya says that the center of the band remains the same: they are message driven, and center around art for art’s sake. Their latest album, “The Ascension,” has several songs co-written by Mudvayne guitarist Greg Tribbett, and the record is produced by Dave Fortman, who’s previously worked with both Evanescence and Mudvayne.  The band’s sound is familiar enough to anyone who’s heard any of the above bands, but also features flares of spoken word and a female perspective, rarities in heavy radio rock. The new albums is their third, and Shamaya says it’s best considered as a fusion between the two previous releases.

So what makes Otep so special that they have such a following?

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