If you ever wanted to live in Southern California, well I kind have a way you can – or at least live there vicariously through Ocean Park Standoff. OPS gives off MAJ beachy, southern Cali, chill vibes that you’ll want to pick up and move their stat. Their music is raw, and makes you feel like you are part of the stories their music talks about. Ethan Thompson, Pete Nappi and Samantha Ronson are all already established in the music industry individually, so blending songwriting, DJing, producing and electronics into one new, addicting, creative concoction, called Ocean Park Standoff, just feels so right. These three truly bring something exciting to the table, so I was honored to interview singer-songwriter, Ethan Thompson, on behalf of the entire band. Check out my interview below with him to get a feel for their music, songwriting process and how they all vibe. I promise after reading my interview with him and listening to their music, you’ll fall in love with their energetic music, so much so that you’ll want to plan a beach bonfire or a backyard party tonight just to play their music!
Her Campus UCF (HCUCF): To start off, how did the name Ocean Park Standoff come about?
Ethan Thompson (ET): We came up with it because Pete and I were traveling to Samantha’s every day, which is in North Hollywood and one day, we were a couple hours late, and it was a couple days after we decided we wanted to take on this project we were working on and make it a band. So, we were stuck in crazy traffic and there was a road block with a SWAT team, helicopters, with all the stops pulled out. When we finally got to Samantha’s house, and we looked up online what was happening and we found out there was a standoff happening on Ocean Park. After we found that out, Samantha immediately said “That’s our band name”, so that’s what we went with and it stuck ever since.
HCUCF: I like that there’s a story behind it. With that being said, how did the band form?
ET: Pete and I connected awhile ago in LA, and we’ve been working together for a couple of years. We were doing a bunch of writing and producing with a lot of other people, and we’d always bring each other onto one another’s projects. Then, he had a session with Samantha and they had good vibes and liked each other, and then Pete asked to bring me into the mix and that’s when I joined. From there, we started writing together and the first two songs we wrote, we absolutely loved and we weren’t writing them for anyone; we just wanted to write songs. Samantha suggested that we take our pop-writing hats off and just write songs to write songs because we didn’t care where they went. After we wrote a few songs together, that’s when we decided we were going to become a group.
HCUCF: I love that the process was organic and came about in such an effortless way. Anyways, what is something about your band that you think your current fans and potential fans would be surprised to know?
ET: As far as we’ve been going along and traveling through the music industry, we just want to make sure that our music is representative of what is around us, that it’s real and connected to people. There is so much garbage in the world, left and right, and we want to make sure our music is an escape for people who are coming to see our shows. I’m a songwriter to the core, and when we do these shows, it is very much jumping into a character that I haven’t really been able to explore and I now get to animate and bring it to life. So, we like, as a band, that we are able to do that, and at our shows, we want to offer an escape to the audience and remind everyone that we are going through obstacles, too. I definitely hope people can get this vibe from our music.
HCUCF: Awesome! Okay, so I kind of have a fun question to ask. What emojis represent yourself and your two bandmates, Samantha Ronson and Pete Nappi, and why?
ET: The one I always use for myself is the dragon, not for any particular reason. I just like dragons and if they were real, I’d totally have one! For Samantha, I’d say she would be, because she uses this emoji a lot, the skeptical face and then Pete would be a lightning bolt because he’s an electrical boy. He plays the laptop like no one I’ve ever met.
HCUCF: So, to bring it back to your music and performances, what is your favorite about performing live?
ET: My favorite part is just getting lost in the songs, the moment and in the crowd that is there. It’s really, honestly been an amazing experience for me to be apart of this band. We never really expected this to go this far, and it was just something we were going to do for fun and post our content on SoundCloud. But playing live has just been so much fun and I get totally lost in the songs we’ve written and I’m able to bring people along with me on that journey. This is the first time I’ve really been able to connect with the audience, so I’m enjoying it all. I like that we have this camaraderie, sense of team and connectivity that we have when we are on stage and then we get to send it out to the audience and that it returns back to us. This is something I haven’t experienced before, and every time we don’t play a show, I’m always bummed out. And then every time we do play a show, we are so wild about it! So, it’s been a really fun experience for me and we’re all just having a blast when we are out there performing.
HCUCF: I like that you all enjoy yourself to the fullest when you’re on stage! Alright tough question: GIFs, memes or bitmoji and why?
ET: Definitely GIFs all the way! My favorite GIF is the old school Godzilla one because they’re all kind of hilarious!
HCFUCF: So back to the music, I wanted to know what the writing process of your music is like because you’re a songwriter ultimately?
ET: The process that it was with the band, when it started off, was we were all going through a bunch of changing things and the industry, along with life, always has its ups and downs. But, all of us were kind of in different points in our careers. Pete was producing, I was doing my solo stuff and writing for a lot of different artists and Samantha had been DJing for a while and when we came together, it just naturally became this therapy session because we got to sit there and talk about all of our issues. Pete and I knew each other for awhile, but Samantha and I didn’t really know each other for that long, but she was talking to me like we had been friends for 100 years. When we were writing songs for the EP, the whole thing was very therapeutic for us. We would talk about what was going on in our lives for one to two hours, and then we would just start jamming and playing something together. Pete would set something up on the computer and we would all start creating together. From there, we would start lending out melody ideas and we would then pick one we really liked. Generally, we would always be talking about something that was bothering us like past relationships or something along those lines. All of our songs, to me when I look at them, have this therapeutic thing where we just talk through our problems together and then start writing about them. So, it has been a really great thing for us. Even though we are signed, we don’t feel any pressure and we just write about what is going on around us and what we are feeling. Sometimes, the writing process produces garbage songs, but I would say we usually come out with something great 70% of the time!
HCUCF: I like that the writing process is natural and pressure free. What band or artist, dead or alive, would be your dream tour or song collaboration?
ET: Nirvana, hands down! For the band, definitely Nirvana, but for me, personally, Tom Petty 100%!
HCUCF: So going back to writing and performing, do you and your bandmates have any pre-performance rituals and or things necessary for writing or recording session?
ET: Nothing really for the writing process that I haven’t already said, but before the show, Pete and I definitely have a drink or two to celebrate the moment. We gather around and put our hands in the middle to get us ready to perform. Following that, one of us will say something motivational before we jump on stage.
HCUCF: Awesome, I love that! Anyways, this is kind of random and because you said you drink a little before the show, I wanted to know what you think my first legal drink should be?
ET: If you go out, definitely get a Moscow Mule! Those are really good, but my drink of choice is a whiskey water.
HCUCF: And finally, can you give a little tease about your debut EP coming out in January?
ET: This whole thing has been one big journey for us and we just hope everyone is ready to hop on the journey with us! We want take this beyond the backyard of LA and the house where we’ve been working on our material for the past few years. So, we’re just excited! We are very dedicated to these songs and they encompass stories that involve all three of us. We can’t wait to show them to whoever wants to listen and anyone who wants to come to our shows and hang out with us.
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Images: Hollywood Records, Universal Music Group; GIPHY