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Derek Fuhrmann
– vocals/guitar Shawn Manigly – guitar Josh Berger –
bass Tyler Ingersoll – drums
Jamie Orlando
– keyboards
Omnisoul,
a five-man outfit that create a refreshing and completely unique sound,
is poised to explode into the national consciousness with their debut
album, Things That Could Be Said in much the same way they have
in their native Delaware.
The
driving force of Omnisoul is front man and singer/songwriter Derek
Fuhrmann. “I really hadn’t thought much about a music career until high
school,” he recalls, “and even then I only discovered I could sing by
accident --
I wanted to be an
actor. I was told that to be an actor, I had to learn how to sing. I
wanted to see if that was possible, and people started telling me I was
good.”
Entering college at the University of Delaware exposed
Fuhrmann’s to classic rock acts like Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin as well
as guitar-centric outfits like Radiohead and Dave Matthews Band. By his
sophomore year he’d begun playing guitar, “and I almost immediately
started writing my own songs. I decided that I wanted to surround myself
with people who were more advanced musically than I was, since I’d only
been playing guitar for a couple of months.”
In an au courant twist from the usual way of choosing band
members, Furhmann went online and started doing profile searches for
“University of Delaware students, piano” and so on, collecting an
immediate database of potential partners. “That way I was able to cherry
pick the type of band I wanted to create,” he explains, “although Jamie
was the only one who actually was willing to meet with me and join.
Everybody else,” he chuckles, kind of ignored my instant messages.”
“Jamie” is keyboardist Jamie Orlando, a self-taught musician
who’d played in everything from jazz to techno bands before that fateful
first meeting with Fuhrmann. “When I first met Derek he had only been playing guitar for a couple of
months – I wasn’t sure what to think, but then he started singing and I
realized that this was something I should stick with.”
“I didn’t even know how to read sheet music at that point,”
Fuhrmann adds, “and here he was with a book of jazz standards. Instead I
asked him to improvise over my guitar playing and vocals. I figured if
he didn’t want to do that, he was not the guy for me, but he went along
with it. As a result I’ve learned a lot from Jamie.”
In the meantime, fellow Delaware students Josh Berger (bass)
and Tyler Ingersoll (drums) had been playing together in a number of
bands. “I’d met Tyler during our freshman year, when I was still playing
guitar,” Berger recalls. “He
came over to my place one day and we just played all day and into the
night. The police finally came and shut us down.” The pair was
eventually drafted into Omnisoul, to be joined a short time afterwards
by guitarist Shawn Manigly. He had sung with Fuhrmann for about three
years in a campus a capella group before auditioning for Omnisoul.
Realizing that a
fiercely held passion for music might not be enough, Fuhrmann and
Orlando took music management courses. “That helped give the band
direction,” says Ingersoll. “We would come up with a list of goals every
six months, and we were usually able to check each of them off at the
end of those six months. Today the list is a little shorter, since we’ve
done so much over such a short period of time.”
One of those goals was
to build a fan base of at least 25 people who’d come to every show – not
counting people the group already knew. “We thought
that would be impossible, but we blew that number out of the water
pretty quickly,” Fuhrmann says.
Winning a Battle of the Bands during what was its first real
gig gave the group even more motivation. “It’s about the music first –
about it being a great deal of fun and being something we’re passionate
about,” Fuhrmann says. “But there’s also the business aspect – which we
take seriously too. We know that if we want to achieve our goals and
build a long career, we have to take it seriously.”
Another huge burst of optimism came when WSTW, Delaware’s Top 40 radio
station jumped all over Omnisoul’s song, Waiting, leading to its
eventual inclusion on CBS’ Joan of Arcadia and in the feature film
Fantastic Four.
As the principal songwriter, Fuhrmann says he never lacks for
ideas: “It’s working off memories a lot of the time, which can be very
inspiring.” He then presents songs to the group, who each strive to put
their own stamp on the song.
Omnisoul worked with producer Gregg Wattenberg (Five For
Fighting) and engineer Greg Gordon (Jet, Oasis) in recording Things
That Could Be Said. The five band members are filled with awe at the
possibilities that lie ahead, as well as confidence that their quick
maturation will come across. “Music is a language, and we want to touch
as many people as possible with it,” says Berger. “Other than that, our
goal is simple:
world domination.” He adds with a laugh: “I’m only slightly
kidding.”
“A lot of the songs I write deal with experiences, either
personal or otherwise,” adds Furhmann. “I hope that people will relate
to the album…to me, that’s the greatest thing. It’s what makes playing
music so rewarding.”
www.omnisoul.com
winduprecords.com
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