Ozma

So began the career of the band named for a princess from the land of Oz. The sound of the Pasadena-based quintet draws melodic sensibility from the best Britpop (think Oasis and Stone Roses), then marinates it in synths that sometimes burble and buzz, and other times coo and lullaby.

“I was trained on classical piano,” says Star. “But I remember when I first saw the Rentals, and they had old Moogs and Pro-Ones onstage. That sound was such a glue that held other instruments together, that I got fascinated with getting it. When I joined Ozma, they had an old Casiotone CT-700, and they were like, ‘Use sound number 55! It sounds analog!’ It’s basically two sawtooth waves, an octave apart.”

To further feed her fascination, Star went shopping. “The Casio had some other cool sounds, but I wanted more modulation, and to be able to create sounds too, so I did a lot of research into keyboards and finally got a [Clavia] Nord Lead 3,” which sits onstage below her Roland Juno-D, the ever-faithful Casio to her left. “For any tune with arpeggios, I tap tempo on the Juno to sync ’em with the band. We used a Hammond B-3 in the studio, which is why the next thing on my wish list is a Nord Stage or Electro. I want to get those organ sounds live.”

Perhaps because of her classical training, Star’s thoughts turn to synth programming when asked about what musical challenge she’d like to conquer next. “As we were recording Pasadena, our producer explained a lot about the concepts of synthesis to me. But what I really want is to be able to just hear a sound in my head, then create it on the Nord really quickly. I’m still finding my way around with that! [Laughs.] Also, when you’re just playing the factory sounds on a synth, a lot of them sound great in your headphones, but might be too piercing or too mellow in the context of the band. On the CD, there are tons of little keyboard parts that we did in Logic and Reason, and I’m really striving to duplicate more of those live. So I guess I want to become a wizard of keyboard programming!”

From what we heard at a recent show, she’s well on her way.