For the new fans reading this, why don’t you tell us a little about yourself?
My name is Tim Nordwin. I'm the bass player in OK Go.
When/how did you decide to become a group?
I was working as a pillow maker, and Damien was a candle maker. We were like, "It's weird that we make things that people would buy at a casual store, like Bed, Bath and Beyond", We had that bond, the Bed, Bath and Beyond bond. We decided we should write songs about this. You know, I'm totally lying to you right now [laughs].
In all honesty, Damien and I met when we were 12 at camp. It's always been a dream of ours to start up a rock 'n roll band of ours. We later met Andy and Dan in our teenage years, and then it sort of became all of our dreams to be in a band together. We're all such music dorks, and so it was just one of those things like, "Let's be music dorks together and start a band".
How did the band decide on the name, Ok Go?
Damien and I, as I said, went to camp together. It was an art camp, and we had a drawing class together. There was this smelly stoned art assistant that always hovered over us and told us how to draw and stuff like that. We never really wanted his advice, because we didn't like..well, it's not like we didn't like him, we just didn't like his advice that well, you know? He would hover over you and talk your ear off forever. And we'd just be like, "Can we please draw? Can we please draw?". He would sit there and give us instructions, and at the end of every instruction he'd always say, "OK, OK, OK, Go". We always thought it was really funny that no matter what he said, he'd end it with "OK, OK, OK, Go". So "OK Go" became a stupid, not very funny, inside joke between the two of us, but when it became time to think of a name for the band, it seemed like the obvious choice for us.
How long have you been performing?
We have been performing for about four years.
If you could describe yourself in 3 words (band, personality, music), what would they be, and why?
I would say...JUMP, JUMP, JUMP!
How would you describe your music?
HOT, HOT, HOT [laughs]!
Do you have a favorite song on your CD? If so, what song, and why?
My favorite song is "There's a Fire". That's my favorite song on the CD. I like the way it's produced and, I don't know, it's just a little bit different from all the other songs. It's just got this groove that's a little bit different from everything else on the record that I like.
Do you write your own music?
Yes, all the songs on the record are original material.
Where do you find your inspiration?
Oh, gosh. I find inspiration in Chai-Te latte's. Let's see, I find inspiration in the acting of Jimmy Stuart. I find inspiration in the music of Queen, and in the films of Wes Anderson. The color orange, I find to be really inspirational. We draw from all sorts of inspiration [laughs]. Like I said earlier, we're total music dorks, so we draw from a lot of places. A lot of the bands we like are Cheap Trick, The Cars, The Pixies, The Cure, The Smiths, Stoned Roses, T-Rex, David Bowie, The Beatles, Run DMC, Slick Rick. It's all over the place.
What are your goals/hopes to accomplish with your music?
I hope to make another record, and I hope to be able to continue touring, and I hope to be able to constantly work on music, and work on creative projects all the time. We've made a record, we've done 13 short films that we acted in and wrote music for, we've made a ping-pong instructional video, we've choreographed a dance to one of our own songs and performed it on a Broadway stage. You know, we've worked on a lot of stuff, a lot of creative projects that we're proud of. We'd like to continue to do that.
What can fans expect to experience at your shows?
Oh, wow. A lot of drooling, can expect to drool a lot. Frothing at the mouth, racing heart [laughs]. I don't know. It's a lot of energy.
The band has some up-tempo songs. Do you think fans would dance to those songs at shows, or mosh?
It's great when they do dance, but, you know, I like to dance to it, when we play it. So, it'd be great, if they danced.
You are currently on tour with The Donna's. A lot of guys would love to tour with them. How does that feel?
It feels great. They're some of the nicest people we've had the pleasure of touring with. They rock, extremely hard. Yeah, we couldn't be happier to be on tour with them. It feels great.
When a show is over, are you hyped up and stuff? Or are you exhausted?
It depends on the night, and what we've done that day. It depends. It goes a little bit of both. It's hard to go to bed after most shows, even if I am tired. There's a big adrenaline rush from playing and stuff like that. We have a lot of fun playing, so I would say, more often than not, we're hyper after the show.
If in a few years, you are no longer are singing, what would you do? Would you still want to stay in some area of the music industry?
I'd probably want to learn how to fly.
Regardless of what happens in the future, do you think you'll look back on these days as the "good old days"?
Yes, I will look back on these as probably some of the weirdest days.
And last, but not least, if you could say anything to the fans reading this now, what would you say?
My glasses are perscripted [laughs]
That's it! Thanks for your time!
Awesome! Cool! Thank you very much. Signing off.
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