Meet Oolong

It’s been a long while since we featured some Long Islanders, so here’s Oolong from...Long Island. No, they’re not a piping cup of green tea, but they do deliver a piping hot mix of emo, math rock and some punk for good measure. 

Below, we chit chat about the scene on LI, Penguins potential flight patterns, and skateboarding tips and tricks. Peep it below and grab a cuppa!

A self-portrait by Oolong

Would you rather…

have a magic lasso that would make people tell the truth or everyone believes every lie you ever told? Why ?

Matt: I'd rather have the lasso, I don't like to lie so the second option would be sorta useless to me, haha.

Some questions with Oolong

Where do you get your haircut? Would you recommend them to a friend?

Vinny: I go to this place Bangz. Would definitely recommend. I didn't get a haircut for like 2 years because every person who cut my hair always ruined me.

Do you have a drink of choice? What is it?

V: I pretty much exclusively drink water and coffee/tea. I'm what you would call a water fiend. 

How is the emo, math, alternative scene out on Long Island?

V: The emo/adjacent genres have always been a staple of the Long Island DIY scene. Our other guitar player and I were introduced to DIY music through an incredible emo band called Reasons. While Reasons broke up, there are still some really sick active emo bands on LI. Some examples include Wait and Shackle, Ringside Tonic, Aspine, and Secret Tapes. There's so many classic emo bands from Long Island, it's really cool to be apart of that. 

When writing a song, do you privilege harmony, melody, or lyrics first? 

V: Melody and overall rhythm are the most important thing to me. When I write, I almost always write guitar parts first, then I improvise a melody over it. I make sure that I have a very solid and natural melody (with a general idea of how many syllables I want to use) before I even think of lyrics. Sometimes as I'm improvising cool lyrics come out. 

If you could give one animal species (besides people) the ability to fly which would it be? Why?

V: I would definitely give Penguins the ability to fly. I always felt bad for them since they couldn't fly to be honest.

What do you want to see from a crowd during a live performance?

V: Coming from the Hardcore scene, I love seeing alot of energy and people enjoying themselves. It's also always been a dream of mine to see people scream the lyrics. We played a show up in Troy, New York a couple weeks ago and it was wild. The crowd had so much energy and they knew the words to some of the songs. It was amazing.

What is the best trick you have ever landed on your skateboard?

V: Ummm, I would say the best trick I've landed was a regular tre flip (360 flip). I can still sometimes land them. Our bassists best trick is prob some inward heelflip variant. He's really good at skating. Our other member Jack who fills in for Sam.

Any final comments? (This is your electronic soapbox for one last answer.)

For final thoughts I just wanna say thanks for interviewing me. It's really cool, i never thought i would be interviewed Haha. This band is very important to me and it's amazing I get to do it with my actual best friends, it's kinda wild.