Oliver Future to stop in CoMO

By Kelsey Whipple

Published Aug. 31, 2007

Oliver Future's new album, Pax Futura, is a modern "Tale of Two Cities."

It's a crooning, danceable story about a young band and its big move from Austin, Texas, to Los Angeles. But luckily for frontman Noah Lit and his four band/housemates, this is one group for whom things are always the best of times.

Two years ago, the band, which will play Monday at Mojo's, dove into the Loa Angeles and the result was no belly flop.

"We had a really funny show at The Derby, the club they go to at the end of 'Swingers,'" Lit said. "It was going pretty OK for a show on a Wednesday night or whatever, and then I heard somebody in the crowd yell out, 'You guys are actually good.' We knew L.A. was going to be all right after that."

Before the tour, Oliver Future's days generally "involved getting up at the crack of noon, injecting a whole lot of coffee into our veins and playing a whole lot of music," Lit said. And despite his quips about the band joining Oprah's Book Club and reading out loud to each other on the bus, nothing much has changed.

"Every time I think that something is going to be a certain way, I'm always wrong," Lit said. "We just keep rolling along. We were in Iowa City yesterday, and that was a blast. We're actually kind of doing a Big 12 Tour, strangely."

The only problem Oliver Future seems to have is with the comparisons surrounding the band, all of which are heavy. In songs such as "Stranger Than the Stranger," which deals with the band's Los Angeles alienation, the 20-year-old Lit can't escape comparisons to Thom Yorke and Damon Albarn.

"I tried specifically not to make it sound like we tried to be Bowie," Lit said. "We just try to sound like The Beatles, but I guess it doesn't work. We've been compared to British bands in the past, but I swear we're not, and we're not affecting anything. In the end, it's like, 'Fine, fine, if you have to compare us to Radiohead again, at least they're awesome.'"

Drummer Jordan Richardson and keyboardist Josh Lit, Noah Lit's brother, are new to the band this album. Josh Lit said there was some angst involved in his inclusion with the band.

"We're kind of The White Stripes in reverse," Josh Lit said. "I mean, we're definitely not Kings of Leon, but at the end of the day, at least we're not the Gallagher brothers."

With the help of producer Adam Lasus, who produced Clap Your Hands Say Yeah's debut album, Oliver Future's second album is evidence of a changed band. This time around, the band brought weightier lyrics into the studio.

"All of the songs were recorded live, and we really stepped up the songwriting," Noah Lit said. "You have to be motivated by what's going on around you. I don't think we want to be coming off as preachy, and we're definitely not Rage Against the Machine, but we'd like to be concerned citizens against the machine."