Ote For President

The name—Ote For President—is meaningless, but nonetheless sticks in your head, like their music. Though they’ve only been playing together a little over a year, Ote For President has won the Malibu Battle of the Bands “Audience Choice” award, runner-up in Club Nokia’s inaugural Battle of the Bands, and first place in Warped Tour Battle of the Bands. They’ve also made appearances at the Whisky A Go-Go twice, The Grammy Museum, and are gearing up for shows at Topanga Days and the Roxy. On top of all this, the band is preparing to record another few songs to add to their upcoming EP with producer Chris Garcia. “If we can make a living, one day, doing what we love, well that would just be pretty damn great,” says Cole Gann. All of them, Steven Driscoll (drums, guitar), Cole Gann (vocals, guitar, drums), brothers Jack (guitar, bass) & Charlie Sehres (keyboard, guitar), Guy Moore (bass, keyboard, drums), play multiple instruments, an aspect that live audiences seem to appreciate. Whatever instrument they’ve been on when they write the song is the instrument they perform with live. They just can’t help switching around. “When we write, one of us brings in an idea and it just blows up, in a good way, from there. We stay on the instrument it all started with,” says Jack Sehres. All the band members have been friends since birth. While the brothers Sehres hail from Van Nuys, the rest of the band resides in Topanga Canyon, a pocket of Los Angeles known for its rich musical heritage. The area also has long had a reputation for being unconventional. In that vein, the boys, ranging in ages from fifteen to nineteen, also follow suit. All are, and have always been, homeschooled. When they first started playing gigs just a year ago, they had covers ranging from Hendrix and Pearl Jam, to Sublime and the White Rabbits. Though their sound is still evolving--with originals from their EP such as “New Side,” “4am” and “Sit in the Sun”, and more recent fan favorites like “I Won’t Run” and “Not So Nice” paying homage to artists such as The Black Keys, Dawes and Audioslave--Ote For President hones in on a unique sound, more mature than their years. With such wide-ranging influences and tastes, they don’t want to be “pigeonholed.” In terms of their songwriting, the word “catchy” is the right adjective, but it doesn’t seem to wholly capture their sound. You think of poppy little choruses when you hear that phrase. Ote’s songs won’t leave your head for weeks, but they go deeper than that. While they rock out at live shows, a more careful listening of Ote’s original lyrics reveals another level. Whether you listen to them with your head or your heart, they throw a deep, sincere, rolling sound at you and it sticks. Manager Keith Krueger: 818-389-7176 oteforpresident@hotmail.com also check them out on facebook Ote For President is a Blues Rock/Alternative band based in Topanga, CA. The band consists of Cole Gann, Guy Moore, Jack and Charlie Sehres, and Steven Driscoll.