From Oslo On Preventing Onstage Fainting Spells

From Oslo's frontman Josh De Laurentiis sports a San Jose Sharks cap in support of the ice hockey team he currently barracks for. "I am celebrating their win," he admits, smiling widely. Referring to said cap, drummer Joel Penman laughs, "I don't think he's had it off!" We're sitting at a high table, sharing a jug of Sample brew. Penman says of the duo's impressive, recently released self-titled EP: "It just kind of happened."

"[Jez Giddings] came up to us after we played and said he [wanted] to record us for free," De Laurentiis enthuses, "record a song just for fun 'cause he liked it." Fast forward to the studio. "He dialled in a sound really quick and he got Joel's live drum sound really good and then we were just, like, 'Obviously this is the guy!'" Providing an example of Giddings weaving his magic, the frontman remembers, "Joel had just gone, and I was finishing off my vocal takes and I was like, 'Oh, man! If only we still had Joel to do some screams to the end of this little part' at the end of Quick Fix, 'cause it just needed that extra energy; and I can't do that — Joel can... And then Jez's like, 'Hold up a sec,' and then he went back and grabbed Joel's [pre-recorded] vocals." Penman clarifies: "From that other song."

"We were gonna see that Quentin Tarantino [movie] The Hateful Eight so we paid, like, shit-tonnes for the ticket as well 'cause it was the 70mm one."

"And he managed to put 'em in!" De Laurentiis marvels. When asked how he recreates this section of the song live, Penman laughs, "I just scream and try not to faint." Has he actually come close to fainting onstage? "Oh, I've seen stars a lot of the time, yeah."

Having previously played in a five-piece, which Penman explains "kind of fizzled out", the pair were inspired to form From Oslo while attending Laneway in 2013. "I think we had a few beers, we weren't too boozed-up, but I think I just turned to Josh [and] said, 'Let's start a band.' We were watching Cloud Nothings at the time so we were getting pretty inspired, 'cause they're pretty raucous on stage." The benefits of playing in a two-piece, with only two schedules to align, aren't lost on De Laurentiis: "For Joel to just be able to say, 'Hey, I'm doing nothing, come over and have a jam..."

Songwriting for the pair usually starts with rough ideas hummed into phones. So do they ever listen back to these recordings and think, 'What was I thinking? That sounds like shit!' "They all sound like shit, I can guarantee you," De Laurentiis confesses. "I don't think I'd show anyone the ones that I do on my phone, 'cause they're really embarrassing." Penman chuckles, "I'm sure mine are worse."

On whether they found out in advance when one of their tracks No Sound was premiered on triple j's Home & Hosed, Penman reveals. "Dom [Alessio] emailed us that arvo or something." De Laurentiis adds, "We were gonna see that Quentin Tarantino [movie] The Hateful Eight so we paid, like, shit-tonnes for the ticket as well 'cause it was the 70mm one. So I was so keen for that and then this came up and I was genuinely like, 'Errrrrr...'" Rest assured, From Oslo skipped the movie, instead celebrating "that first spin" with "a slab".