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00:00Linkin Park was like awesome you know growing up in Cayman as well in the Caribbean hip-hop's quite
00:05a big deal and it had that element but it also had like the guitars and the rock singing which
00:09I
00:09always felt inside my soul would light me up so it had like all these different elements that I
00:13could relate to yeah definitely Linkin Park. Rock, metal, prog, and everything in between.
00:19Welcome to this episode of Talkin' Rock with Meltdown. Don't forget to follow the audio-only
00:24Talkin' Rock podcast on all podcast platforms and now it's time for today's conversation. Here's
00:31Meltdown. Hey it's Meltdown here in studio at WRAF with Jake Oldey from ONI. Hey Jake how you doing
00:38man? I'm great thanks for having me. Yeah dude you're you're kind of a kind of a local guy right?
00:42Pretty much. Yeah. Yeah I was born in Detroit and my mom's from Windsor. And then you told me you
00:48lived some of your life in the Caribbean? Yeah I still do but I have a place in Stony Point
00:55like 45 minutes from here. Oh yeah in Canada. Uh-huh. Right in my motorcycle through there for
00:59sure. Yeah great spot for it. Yeah it's awesome. Yeah. Yeah so so tell me about uh first of all
01:05living in the in the Caribbean how does that work? It's hot. I get that. You gotta dodge some
01:10hurricanes. Yeah no doubt. But it's great I love it. I could imagine. Wow I've only been down there a
01:15few times and sometimes I wonder what it'd be like to live down there. I do have friends I have
01:19one
01:19friend I should say an acquaintance who I know is taking a job in radio down there which is kind
01:23of
01:23crazy. Cool. Yeah you can do radio and live in paradise. Yeah. I mean that's that's
01:29unbelievable and we live here in the Midwest. Yeah I mean to me I guess I'm used
01:34to K-Man where I'm from but my place in Stony Point that's my piece of heaven. Like I
01:40I absolutely love it there. You don't sound Canadian. I don't know. No. No. Is that
01:46because you spend so much time outside of Canada? I guess. Yeah. I don't know. You
01:50haven't said A or right on yet. Right on A. And you're not a hockey fan apparently right? No not
01:56really. No. I'll watch it. Yeah of course. Yeah. You have to. It's the law in Canada. I just I'm
02:01not
02:01super into it. Right. I got you. I'm just giving you a hard time. It's fine. So uh your your
02:05band is
02:06called O-N-I. So tell everybody what what does that stand for? Obey No Illusion. Okay. Formerly known
02:11as Oni. Oni right. And it's a Japanese ogre demon and I thought it was really cool when uh
02:17I started the band. But now Obey No Illusion I've had a quite a long year. I went to rehab
02:25and got sober. Oh congratulations. Thank you. Yeah. And during that time I was like man Obey No Illusion
02:31that's kind of what I'm going through right now with like alcohol and drugs. Um did you have an
02:38illusion that alcohol and drugs? I always do. Yeah. Yeah. It's good for me. Right. It's not so.
02:44Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Some people can probably handle it and some probably can't. Yeah exactly. It's
02:49great for some people. I'm not one of those people. Did you find yourself were you creative
02:55uh doing that or no? No not really. Useless? Pretty much. Yeah. Yeah. And how do you feel now? I
03:01feel
03:01great. Yeah. Yeah. How long you been sober? Seven months and 20 ish days. Wow. That's great. What
03:09what was that what was that turning point where you're like I gotta do something? I I just you
03:14know uh not to go into too much detail but it was like I was doing really good not doing
03:22anything
03:22but I was like white knuckling it and it's really hard every day was hell and then I'd give in
03:28as I
03:29always do or did and uh that was like Christmas day like the evening of Christmas day and then boxing
03:39day I went way too hard and I kept going hard for like a few weeks and then went to
03:44rehab just kind of
03:46surrendered. Yeah. Yeah. Talk it over with your mom and that? My mom uh didn't know about it much
03:52until I was already going uh my wife though she was like you need help so yeah. Yeah well that's
03:59great. Well it's good to hear man. Thank you. Yeah so I know I just one of my friends just
04:03went
04:03through that too. I haven't seen him all summer long and next thing he comes back and he's he's
04:07been in rehab and he says he's doing great so that's awesome. It is. It helps a lot of people
04:11for
04:11sure. And by the way you just mentioned boxing day that's Canadian too so. There you go. Yeah boxing
04:15day. There you are. So so tell me about the band here so uh you got the new single right
04:20now the
04:20the cover of the uh REM track. Yeah. Uh Losing My Religion correct? Correct. Yeah and uh so why would
04:25you decide to cover that song? So my best friend he's my photographer he's over there right now Stubbs
04:32we were in the studio and Jordan Fish our producer was like dude we should do a cover and I
04:38don't normally
04:38suggest that but I think you know you have a really unique voice and anything you'd be kind of cover
04:44would
04:44be like a new take on a song. Sure. And then Stubbs goes how about REM's Losing My Religion?
04:50And he was like whoa and I was like damn it's a good idea. And then we we did it
04:54and it was just
04:55awesome and I I think it has kind of like a Linkin Park what I've done kind of vibe to
05:02it and then
05:03like the bridge is like that death metal part which is really cool. Yeah. So it's just all over the
05:07place in a really cool chaotic way. I'm as a fan I'm stoked. No that's great. Yeah and
05:12no I guess this a lot of times when bands cover stuff like that has the has the band heard
05:18it or
05:18do they know anything about it? REM? I'm not an REM guy to be honest. No but have they did
05:23do they
05:24have to sign off on it? How does that work? REM? Yeah of course they have to sign off on
05:28it it's
05:28their song. Yeah I get it but it's like have they heard it? Yeah they've heard it. Oh they have?
05:32Yeah yeah. What'd they say? Um they liked it. Oh okay. Yeah. Well that's good. Yeah it feels good
05:39coming from them legends like that. Yeah for sure. Were you an REM fan growing up? Not really. Um
05:44not that I'm not a fan like I love that song. Uh I don't I if you ask me any
05:49other song I think
05:50you'll probably name like one more. What's the other one? Uh end of the world as we know it. Right.
05:54Happy shiny people. Sure. See I don't even know the name so I'm not like I couldn't call
05:58myself a fan. Um but yeah I like my version for sure. Yeah no that's great man I just saw
06:04it
06:04earlier to say it's kick ass. Thank you. And you got the new single uh drop in October 9th and
06:09then
06:09a new uh the record release in early 2027. Is that right? Yes. Tell me about the new single. Uh
06:14the
06:14new single is heavy melodic um animal inside is the name of it and it's a pretty cool gory music
06:24video
06:25not in the music video. It's like a narrative thing but it's gonna be cool. Uh I like it a
06:30lot.
06:30It's uh has like an industrial kind of new metal thing going on. I like it. Is that where is
06:37that
06:37where your band kind of lands in the new metal? I don't know. I'd say like modern metalcore
06:43like adjacent to like all the production based stuff but as like whenever I do something I want
06:50to do something else. So at the beginning it was all riffs and now I'm like away from the riffs
06:56and
06:56I want the riffs back. So we'll see what happens. You know I we're always moving around. I was gonna
07:01say when you go in the studio or when you're writing stuff you just kind of go where it takes
07:04you?
07:05Yeah I I just I like it all and I forget how much I like certain things when I don't
07:11do them and I want
07:12to do them again. My first record was prog metal pretty extreme metal and then I did an EP that
07:19was
07:19a bit more chill more like what we're doing now but with some prog elements and then the album after
07:25that was like a classic more speed metal metalcore record almost like Trivium or Lamb of God and then
07:33did another record that was kind of what I'm doing now like the production based metalcore stuff
07:39and then a few more EPs like that. Here I am now. I don't know what tomorrow holds man. Yeah.
07:45I like
07:45it all. I like it all. I'm babbling now but I do like it all. Now have you if you
07:50hopped on any tours
07:50or any festivals? Yeah we were just on tour not too long ago with Aurora Wave and we have tour
07:57dates in
07:58December this year yet to be announced and then hopefully you know we were just talking about playing
08:05the show here in Detroit at the Gene Simmons thing. Oh Rock and Bruce? Yes. Yeah. Yeah. We want to
08:16do
08:16that and I want a headline around here too at some point but it's just like talking to my manager
08:24about it and stuff so. So you know all the stuff that you just list off what are what are
08:29kind of
08:29some of the some of the bands or artists that that influence you it sounds like dude sounds like
08:33you're all over the place huh? Linkin Park for sure. Yeah. Uh Breaking Benjamin, Three Days Grace, Slipknot uh
08:41fuck. So I guess it's some of the new metal chorus type stuff. Yeah for sure. New metal. Post grunge
08:46new
08:46metal for sure and uh definitely like some heavier stuff like I'm a sucker for lamb lamb of god and
08:54uh
08:55I like my sugar quite a bit too. I don't know. What was the band that got you into music?
09:00Linkin Park. Linkin Park. Okay. For sure. Yeah around probably around the early 2000s. Yeah I mean it was like
09:05that was the first thing that I was like proud to be like I like this band.
09:10Yeah Linkin Park. That was like my choice because I like cousins and stuff they were like you listen to
09:14ACDC and Led Zeppelin I was like this is cool. Yeah. And then Linkin Park was like awesome because you
09:20know growing up in Cayman as well in the Caribbean it's like hip-hop's quite a big deal.
09:26Mm-hmm. And like rap and stuff and it had that element but it also had like the guitars and
09:30the rock singing which I
09:31always felt inside my soul would light me up. So it had like all these different elements that I could
09:35relate to
09:36and um yeah definitely Linkin Park. Yeah Linkin Park uh for somebody of your age and stuff I'd imagine would
09:43could be a turning point and and you know when that record first came out I think it sold like
09:4740,000 copies
09:48the first week and that was insane for a record that no one had ever heard of. For sure. And
09:51you know and they and I mean just you know they're from their first single on it just took off.
09:56Just took off. Rightfully so. It's amazing. Yeah did you ever get a chance to see those guys?
09:59Yeah I saw them when I was like I want to say like maybe 11-ish years old in Detroit.
10:07Okay yeah here yeah. And
10:08that was really cool at a festival and then I saw them again in the UK uh with Chester and
10:16then I saw them
10:17again in the UK like last year with the new vocalists. What are you doing over in the UK?
10:24Oh my mom is there sometimes. Okay. Yeah yeah yeah. You're like a globetrotter. I know it's weird.
10:29Yeah. So living down in the Caribbean you talked about you know all the the rap and stuff like that
10:35is there like a rock scene like do bands come there? Sure. I mean where they play it? I'm sure
10:40like the hotels
10:40and like different venues and stuff. Um I I used to play there uh I haven't in years but there's
10:47definitely bands like local bands that do their thing and that's awesome. Um what about major bands?
10:52Where do you see major bands? You don't know really there. They're just on vacation there huh? Sure. Yeah.
10:58You bump into them in hotels or something. Yeah there you go. No that's great. I record all my music
11:04there though for the most part. Between there and I'll go to like my uh I have a studio down
11:09there um
11:11but I'll also go like to LA sometimes or Nashville to record to. Okay whereabouts in Nashville? Uh
11:17near Frank uh in Franklin. Franklin. Yeah Franklin. There's a lot of studios down there. Yeah um Ray
11:23Lazier from Korn is my buddy. So I'll go to his place and what a legend. I mean that dude
11:27is something
11:28else. He's like my uncle. I call him Uncle Ray. Geez. Yeah he's cool. Is he on any of your
11:32music? He's on two songs.
11:33That are unreleased. He's unbelievable. That will be released in the future. Outside of Neil Peart and
11:39maybe perhaps Danny Carey. Right? I mean Neil or Ray is unreal. Untouchable. And it was such a trip too
11:45because like one day I was at a studio and it was me and the bass player from Spirit Box
11:50Josh Gilbert
11:51and him and we started jamming dude and it came out so sick and it sounded kind of like corn
11:57not gonna lie.
11:58That was the vibe everyone in the room was trying to do and that song is called Battle and I
12:03can't
12:04wait for it to come out. Is that gonna be on the upcoming record or you're just gonna drop it
12:07sometime
12:07in the future? A little undecided but it will be in the future dropped 100 percent. That's great.
12:14Who else do you know in the business? Who else do I know in the business? Fuck. A lot of
12:18people man.
12:19The business is small. To get smaller the longer you're in it. It's true and like I'm not even like
12:24in
12:24a big band you know but I know people in big bands. Yeah. It's a trip because like I have
12:29such bad
12:29imposter syndrome where it's like I don't think I'm that good at what I do or my band's that big
12:34or
12:35like whatever like I shouldn't be in the room with these guys and then they'll be like Jake you're
12:39fucking awesome. I'm like no fucking way you said that to me bro. Shut the fuck up. I don't take
12:43compliments well right. It is a trip and I think younger me would be very stoked.
12:51Oh of course. You know. Well you're not the only person. Just to be on the show right now talking
12:55to you for example. I'm like freaking out because I've been listening to Riff every summer since I was
13:01I don't even know how old you know. Well that's cool I guess I guess maybe Riff had a little
13:05bit
13:05of your musical. Oh for sure. Yeah. It's definitely a full circle moment. I remember talking to Carla
13:10from Butcher Babies in this very studio one time and she's like uh and she said she heard something
13:16in the back of her dad's car and I go maybe it was on this station. She goes 100%
13:19for sure it was on
13:20this station. Yeah. Because she grew up in Southfield you know. That's awesome. Yeah it's pretty cool.
13:24But no that's great you know you talk about you know the the this imposter syndrome like you said
13:28that you're not the only one though. There's a lot of guys like that in this business. I bet.
13:32Yeah. And yeah you go down to Nashville and you probably meet more people. Yeah.
13:36For sure. Well what's the name of the record? Can you say or no? It's gonna be self-titled.
13:42Okay. It's gonna be called The Bay No Illusion. Gotcha. Yeah. Well dude thanks so much for coming
13:47in here. The uh the new single is out like I said the uh Losing Losing My Religion from R
13:51.E.M.
13:51And um and you got the new record coming out and the sobriety man. Congratulations. That's
13:56really good man. I hope you can keep that up. Oh me too.
13:58Check out Talkin' Rock with Meltdown on all podcast platforms and WRIF.com.