Spokane’s Oooooob performs outside the box

For the past 30 years or so, members of the all-original band Oooooob have been questioning authority, making their own rules and smashing the paradigm.

“We have always colored outside of the lines, and, outside of the box? I’ve never even seen the inside of it,” said keyboardist and singer Blunt Rapture, aka Brent Biever. “It’s more like unzipping and stepping out of a bunny suit.”

Oooooob members – Rapture, guitarist Rick Swanson, bass player Steve Stierwalt, percussionist Bink Olney and drummer Thomas Richardson, who also plays with the band Zerox Machine – have played in dozens of bands over the years. That lineup includes An 425lb. Yorkshire Sow, Cattle Prod, PNB, God Project, M’na M’na, Necromancers, Headpump, TFL, Strays, Beatrice and Happy Campers.

Original and experimental, they had a hard time finding venues in which to play so they created their own in garages, at parties, and in far-from-mainstream, underground-type clubs in the 1980s and ’90s.

In the summer of 2009, hundreds gathered for a reunion of the ’80s alternative scene. Oooooob formed to perform for the event, and they have been jamming together ever since.

Now, band members meld their sounds in a makeshift studio in Swanson’s North Side home, creating their songs organically; long jam sessions that suddenly become cohesive. One minute, they sound like they’re playing in the “Star Wars” bar scene, the next at a hippie gathering and the next, a punk rock club, their lyrics making sense one minute and none at all the next. They describe their sound as a mix of tribal, groove, punk, tech, new wave, rock and blues.

In 2011, the documentary film “Spokanarchy” premiered, shedding light on Spokane’s underground scene in the ’80s with interviews, vintage music videos and club scenes. In the film, some Oooooob members share their thoughts, including Stierwalt, who, during his on-air interview, shows how he shoots methadone into his foot, attached to a leg he has since lost. Still, his passion for music remains as does his sense of humor. “I work well at making things work,” Stierwalt said. “Oooooob includes a stroke victim, a guy with one leg, a guy with shredded rotator cuffs and an introvert, but we make beautiful music together, and you should see our light show.”

Blunt concurs. “You should come and see us before we die. Our music is the map of our minds.”

Oooooob has had only a few gigs since forming in 2009. Friday and Saturday, band members will share what they’ve learned and how they’ve changed over the past 30 years at Boomers Classic Rock Bar and Grill. Though they are not exactly classic, they are happy to have the opportunity to share how they rock and hope the reception will be good.

“We’re like a five-ring circus of ‘wakism,’ lifting you out of your usual,” Rapture said. “We might even cause a shift in the paradigm just a little.”