Oso Oso frontman Jade Lilitri always wanted to play Riot Fest, and now, it’s his first stop before embarking on a US tour. The Long Beach-originating band recently announced their tour, starting in Washington, D.C., with Carly Cosgrove and Kicksie.
Oso Oso will be playing their latest album sore thumb, which they dropped in 2022. The 12 tracks make up their fourth album since debuting in 2015 with Real Stories of True People Who Kind of Looked Like Monsters…
Ahead of Oso Oso’s Friday set at Riot Fest, Lilitri spoke to us about the tour, new music to come and more.
sore thumb
- computer exploder
- nothing to do
- father tracy
- give a fork
- all love
- fly on the wall
- describe you
- pensacola
- because i want to
- nothing says love like hydration
- carousel
Oso Oso @ Riot Fest 2023
Foo Fighters, Turnstile & More
Friday, September 15th
You recently announced your US tour this winter. How are you feeling about it?
I haven’t seen if anybody has bought tickets yet, but if they have or are, I’ll start getting really excited about it. If not I’ll be nervous the next couple months. This is the last tour we’ll do before recording new music, so that’s exciting as well.
Do you have certain songs that you’re especially excited to play live?
I love to play “computer exploder” because it’s usually early in the set and fun how it builds but especially just because most of those lyrics are directed at the people who listen to the band. They’re the “little row boat” (thats taking merrily down the stream [laughs]), talking about how I felt like I was taking for granted all the love and support the band receives because it’s truly one of the most special things in my life. But, also at the time during COVID, I was upset about being a musician and feeling stuck in life and broke and just wanting to eat mushrooms and take Adderall and watch documentaries that make me cry [laughs]. Kinda dumb, but its cool to actually get to sing that to the audience.
Tell me about the vision and songwriting process behind sore thumb.
We had a month in our friends studio, so it was mostly just spur of the moment, demoing and throwing out any idea that came to mind and building off that.
Did you pull from your personal life a lot to write the songs, and is that often a part of your process?
For sure. I always like to do that and then sometimes disguise it a bit in a story or something so it’s not as embarrassing to sing about [laughs]. Sometimes I’ll just have a moral or a lesson that I think I’ve learned in life, and I’ll put that in a story.
Before you embark on your tour, you’re playing Riot Fest. Are you looking forward to playing a festival ahead of the tour, and what can we expect from your set?
Yea super stoked. I actually always wanted to play Riot Fest and thought we would be a good fit. Festivals are one of the most fun parts about being in a band because there’s usually so many bands you want to see its almost hard to look forward to playing your own set. We’re just gonna play our songs and try not to talk as much as possible because I’m bad at talking over the mic often.
Are there certain sets you’re most looking forward to seeing?
Friday has Tegan and Sara, which is gonna be epic. Also, gotta see Parliament Funkadelic.
What does the future look like for Oso Oso?
I have no clue honestly. I’m gonna be talking to a psychic medium in a week. I don’t think they do future stuff, but if she has some insight, I’ll ask [laughs].
Riot Fest 2023 Tickets + Lineup
Don’t miss Oso Oso at Riot Fest 2023 on Friday, September 15th, playing alongside Turnstile, Tegan and Sara, Say Anything, Foo Fighters and more.
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