John O'Regan a.k.a. Diamond Rings
The Singing Lamb: So do I call you John O’Regan? Johnny O? John O?
John O’Regan: Oh yeah, that’s cool. Sure, let’s do that. Let’s do John O!
Is that what your friends call you?
John: My friends started calling me that when I moved to Guelph when I was 18 and no one had ever called me that in my entire life. I got Johnny O in kindergarten and then it stopped; I wasn’t so keen on the “Johnny” thing. When I moved here (to Toronto), that kind of transferred more or less and it’s easier to say. My last confuses people with the apostrophes and it’s hard to spell.
It’s not that hard to spell! What about the story behind the name Diamond Rings?
John: There really isn’t much of one! Its words that sounds nice. Surprisingly, it wasn’t really taken by anyone; it’s a little tough on the Google-search. Well, ‘Diamond Rings music’ – just straight-up ‘Diamond Rings’ you get engagement rings and, you know the blood diamonds…
Do you run the Twitter account then?
John: I don’t have a Twitter! There’s a Diamond Rings Twitter but it’s some other guy.
Yeah, you get mentioned quite a lot on it because I think the guy mentions anything with “Diamond Rings” in his tweets!
John: Well thanks to the guy who runs it!
So I have to ask about the Pitchfork thing: where were you when you found out, how did you feel, etc?
John: I was in bed! My roommate, Colin Medley, who filmed the video, is a big time fan of the worldwide web and was up early in the morning, on his way to work and was checking his Google alerts because he posts a lot of videos and obviously likes to see what happens. So I heard him out in the hall kind of like, giddy little schoolboy at Christmas time, like “Oh my god! Oh my god! We’re on the Forkcast!” I was literally sleeping and then I got up. It was exciting, for sure!
Was the video Colin’s idea?
John: The video was pretty collaborative. We live together, we watch a lot of music videos together on YouTube and it was really good because instead of having to get together and e-mail or over the phone, we would literally just meet in the living room to storyboard the whole thing. We shot the whole thing in our apartment or around our apartment. So we pretty much figured out how we wanted to look and made the storyboard together; all the editing and everything obviously. My cousin did my makeup and helped me with some of the dancing. Yeah, we shot it in two days.
You’re a pretty good dancer, by the way!
John: I’m a little spastic but I’m trying to get better!
It’s your style though!
John: Yeah it’s good. I’d like to condense it a little; like kind of, organize my thoughts. We’re actually in the planning stages of a new video right now! For one of the new songs that John from Kids on TV is helping me with the choreography for. It’s going to be more Janet Jackson-inspired. The video for “Nasty Boys” for Janet Jackson; I don’t know if I can be Janet but I’m going to try!
Was the first one more Tiffany-inspired?
John: The first one was actually, make-up aside, a direct rip off of Vanilla Ice’s “Ice Ice Baby” and MC Hammer’s “Can’t Touch This”. It was shot-for-shot.
Why do you look so damn good, who does your makeup?
John: My older cousin, Lisa Howard was a professional esthetician.
What do you do when she’s not around?
John: I cry. I’ve had a few shows where she’s not around; pretty much any show not in Toronto, she’s not around. I’ll try to find someone I know in the city that I’m playing to do it for me, which usually works out. But she’s going to come over this weekend and teach me how to do it. I’d like to be able to do it myself. Makeup is really good, I wish I could wear it all the time but it takes at least a half hour to do so it’s not always practical.
There’s a large component of gay men in the room* who were pretty blown away by you, what do you say when you’re approached by these men who want to know what the situation is?
John: That actually doesn’t happen that often…
Yet!
John: Yeah, not yet! I don’t know. Case-by-case basis…depends on how cute they are!
Oh, zing! So describe your style! What is John O’Regan’s fashion sense?
John: Honestly, I’d like to say that it’s a little more thought-out and planned and have some sort of catchphrase but I feel like a lot of times people don’t necessarily have a plan for what they’re doing which is what I like to do. With this project, at least, I wanted an outlet where I can play songs on my own and be able to communicate with people and just being up there by myself, there’s got to be something eye-catching up there. Also I like really tacky shit; you can get away with a lot of stuff when you’re on stage.
Are you going to change eye makeup colour accordingly to your style?
John: We already do change it up; show by show. We change it depending on what I’m wearing. I feel like it’s an exciting time to be in a band and to have an image that you can consistently be manipulating. And I think people like fans are more open to people doing that now. 30 years ago, you’d have your big album and then go away and people would forget about you and then you’d come back with this new look and they’d be like “Whoa!” and now you can change your MySpace photo and go do a photoshoot and come back and change your whole look and your whole sound in an hour and I want to be able to take advantage of that. Consistently be able to keep people on their toes, not knowing what they’re going to get!
Speaking of bands, you’re in The D’Urbervilles! Is any of the Diamond Rings sound going to affect the D’Urbervilles’ music?
John: I think if anything, it would just be vocally. I find it pretty hard to sing differently than I sing if it was just me. Musically, it’s really quite different. These songs are vocally and lyrically driven; music’s more of an accompaniment to the singing melodies. The D’Urbervilles are getting crazy these days; it’s pretty much like a collaborative effort. The new songs that we’ve been recording sound like Rage Against the Machine for 30 seconds and then they sound like Survivor and they’re all six and a half minuets long. They’re definitely different but there’s obviously some overlap but only in as much as what I bring to that band but I’m like 25% of a whole.
You should convince them to wear make up!
John: Ha! I don’t think that’s in the cards with that group which I think is great too. If there’s anything I’ve learned in music I think things really work well when people get a sense that the group or the individual on stage is working within their comfort zone and they’re comfortable and they’re having fun doing what they’re doing. And when they start forcing people outside of that, I think things become inauthentic and I guess kind of fake. But maybe we can do it for Halloween. We’ve done some Halloween shows and had some good outfits.
Have you planned out your costume for this year yet?
John: Honestly, I’m bad with Halloween. I always make my plan the day before and sometimes it’s sometimes a hit, sometimes a miss but I feel like I probably should step on my game this year. Yeah, we’ll see.
So do you have any plans for a full length album with Diamond Rings?
John: Oh yeah, it’s over half done already. I’ve been working on it all summer with James Bunton from Ohbijou. I recorded the bed tracks and all the beats on my own and then we do vocals and guitars and mixing together. Katie Stelmanis is singing on one of the songs, she already did her vocals. It’s going to be a really awesome song; I’m really excited about it already. Kate’s great. So yeah, playing shows, finishing the record, having fun!
Awesome! And finally if you were singing animal, what would you be?
John: Giraffe; it’s tall and kind of elegant!
***
* This interview took place outside the Gladstone Hotel where Diamond Rings opened for Kids on TV.
** This interview was also partially conducted by Lauren Schreiber. Thanks, Lauren!
***
For more Diamond Rings,
MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/diamondringsmusic
Don’t forget to catch Diamond Rings tonight at the Garrison with Katie Stelmanis and P.S. I Love You! Tickets will be $8.00 and are going to be on sale at the door. Be there!
