Band-to-Band Interview: Omnigone and Half Past Two
Bad Time Records are the biggest thing to happen to ska in a long time. In the brief six years of the label’s existence, they’ve been consistently putting out the best ska records from We Are the Union’s Ordinary Life to Flying Raccoon Suit’s Moonflower to Catbite’s Nice One.
Two of their biggest success stories recently have come from “bubblegum ska” band Half Past Two with their new album Talk is Killing Me and straight-edge ska hardcore punk band Omnigone, a band formed by former members of Link 80, and their latest record Feral. Two bands that couldn’t be more different, Half Past Two and Omnigone are united by a label that explores every subgenre of ska.
Adam Davis of Omnigone and Tara Hahn of Half Past Two took a moment to sit down and interview each other, which made for a throughly interesting discussion about these two powerhouse bands of the New Tone ska movement.
Adam’s Questions for Tara
When writing lyrics, what do you find works best for you? How often are you writing lyrics and what is your preferred method?
I write about stuff I have going on with people in my life usually. It can get me into trouble sometimes! If it’s really obvious, I’ve had friends ask, “Is this about me?” But I’m just getting things out; it’s cathartic! If the inspiration strikes, I will write lyrics immediately, though lately, I have been so busy with my family life that I haven’t spent a lot of time writing. Telling you that I haven’t written lyrics in a while makes me want to go off and write some right now.
I know you had a lot of nervous feelings about how this album would be received. Now that it’s been out for a few months, and you’ve had some time to reflect, if you could go back and talk to yourself a year ago, what would you tell her?
Every release is scary! But you’re right, this one was especially scary because so much was riding on getting this record made because I had this overwhelming desire to quit music completely. If I could go back and talk to myself a year or more ago, I’d tell myself that everything I’m doing is RIGHT and PERFECT and to feel the feelings, maybe even more intensely. Really try to enjoy the success because to me, this album is a huge personal success.
Balancing parenting, a marriage, and a band is a lot to juggle. How do you stay organized, and what drives you to keep going?
Woof, the balance part is difficult. To be honest, I am terrible at balance, and I stretch myself very very thin, but I think I prefer it that way. I look at my calendar, and sometimes I’m triple booked, and I honestly have no days off. I couldn’t do any of it without my husband; I know I really lucked out that I have a partner that supports my art and my goals with the band and can run our home while I’m away. I keep going because I cannot imagine my life without music and my band. It is a part of me!
We talked outside of a show, and I had misinterpreted some of the lyrical content of the new album. When a song is out in the world, how important is it for the listener to understand your exact meaning?
Everyone should listen to music and get their own feelings from it. It’s like going to a museum; a work of art will speak to different people in different ways. Music is totally the same. I find it really special when fans will tell me how much a song means to them, and they usually have a story or a reason that it does. I like hearing that stuff. I think you’re talking about when you thought “Never Saw Me” was about women taking down bad men, but I wrote it about protecting myself from a stalker I had in the past. I actually really like your point of view about the song.
Half Past Two continue to write, record and release new music. What are you looking forward to trying more of on future recordings?
One thing I like about being in Half Past Two is that we’re always doing things just because we want to! I really want to keep working with Reade (Wolcott). I don’t have any specific goals for our future recordings, just to keep having fun with my friends and, fingers crossed, people will like it. Even if they don’t, we’ll still keep doing what we’re doing; that’s just how we are.
Tara’s Questions for Adam
There was only one year between releasing Against The Rest and FERAL. Did you have the songs for FERAL already written while you were releasing Against The Rest? And what pushed you to release another album so quickly after ATR?
Ultimately this is the pace we would like to keep for releasing music. Baz and I feel like we are making up for lost time; in both of our opinions this is what we should have been doing since 2002. Much of Against the Rest was written during the pandemic, so as soon as we could hit the studio, we were ready to go. With FERAL, all of the music and a lot of the words were songs Barry wrote by himself. Currently we have a folder with 30-plus songs on it, and I don’t mean riffs or short ideas; I mean full songs. Some of them are lacking lyrics still, but the music is there. I also hope this pace helps inspire other bands to be quicker about releasing music.
Now that the album is out, which is your favorite song? Is there a particular track that you’re especially proud of or were eager for people to hear?
I’m very proud of the album as a whole. It feels like a very cohesive selection of songs for us. I think “Quicksand” ultimately was the song I was most excited for people to hear, hence it being our first single. However, other songs like “The Youth” or “Regress” sound unlike ska punk I’ve heard in the past. This is also the first record where all the songs have elements of ska in them, even though we made the decision to record an album with no horns.
As you were working on FERAL, did you find yourself thinking about the legacy of your music in relation to your kids? How do you hope they’ll connect with your work in the future?
I hope that my kids can see that even in middle age, I’m still unapologetically being exactly who I want to be, playing the music I want to play. They see a community of like-minded individuals working toward creating a more inclusive environment. I take my youngest son with me to a lot of shows, especially Gilman. Our conversations are a lot different than the conversations I had with my own father. He’s been taking trombone lessons because he wants to join my band. I try to explain to him that in a few years, he may want to do this with his own friends and go to places like Gilman on his own. I want him to be able to take a bit of ownership and belonging immediately and to share that with his peers.
I think as far as working on music, being a father weighs heavily on my mind when writing lyrics, mostly because I really feel my mortality in a way I didn’t before. I know this is “temporary,” and we don’t get a do-over. I’m trying to be as present as possible and enjoy the moments as they happen. I think a lot of that sense of urgency comes out in the lyrics.
There are some really powerful moments in the lyrics. Can you share a bit about the writing process and any standout experiences that shaped the songs?
I guess that’s a little more about the performance than the lyrics. I think “Fare Share” has the chorus I’m the most proud of because I needed SO many words to fill it out. The lyrics that Baz wrote that I think are the best are “Again & Again” which is a lot slower than a lot of our songs in the past. Emotionally, I connect the most to the lyrics in “Grief.”
At 20, I made the decision that I wanted to be in Link 80, and shortly after that decision, Nick Traina died. I’m incredibly stubborn, so I stuck to my decision. With some hindsight, I can’t believe we kept going without Nick. I can’t believe we lost such a talent before he ever hit adulthood. Nick gave Link 80 three years for his life, and I’ve given another 27 years to music, and I can’t help but feel a deep sadness at every new experience I have that Nick didn’t get to have those experiences. It strikes me at the weirdest times too, but what can you do? You carry them with you and move forward.
