O.A.R.

O.A.R., short for Of a Revolution, first surfaced on Midwestern college stages during the closing years of the 1990s. The five-piece shifted from regional jam-rock draws into alt-rock acts that reached the upper tiers of Billboard rankings while assembling a vast, self-generated audience through nonstop live work. Four members hail from Maryland and one from Ohio. Their breakthrough on college radio arrived with the reggae-tinged roots number “That Was a Crazy Game of Poker,” which carried the independently issued Risen to multiple Billboard chart placements after its 2001 release and established the band as national headliners.

Major-label efforts such as In Between Now and Then in 2003 and All Sides in 2008 brought wider commercial traction over the ensuing decade, even as the group sustained its concert following with frequent tours and a steady stream of live albums. That loyalty persisted into the next ten years, lifting The Rockville LP—titled for the band’s Maryland hometown—to number one on Billboard’s Independent Albums chart and number 13 on the Top 200 in 2014. After the 20th-anniversary double-disc set XX appeared in 2016, O.A.R. recorded its ninth studio album, The Mighty, issued in 2019. The emotionally charged Arcade followed in 2022.

The group formed in Rockville, Maryland, in 1996 around Marc Roberge on lead vocals and rhythm guitar, lead guitarist Richard On, saxophonist Jerry DePizzo, bassist Benj Gershman, and drummer Chris Culos. Roberge and Culos had played together since childhood, and Roberge had performed locally with both On and Gershman. DePizzo, raised in Youngstown, Ohio, met the others at Ohio State. Their first recording, the independent demo The Wanderer, came out in 1997; several songs were written while Roberge and Culos studied abroad in Israel, and the sessions took place on a minimal budget in Culos’s basement.

Two years later “That Was a Crazy Game of Poker” ignited campus audiences, prompting the band to book shows around class schedules and invite fans to tape performances, thereby expanding their reach. A second independent demo, Souls Aflame, surfaced in 1999 and secured distribution through Alternative Distribution Alliance. By the time Risen arrived in 2001, the accumulated interest enabled them to enlist producer John Alagia; the album ultimately sold 60,000 copies without major-label support.

Any Time Now, a live release, followed in 2002 to satisfy core listeners before the band signed with Lava/Atlantic and delivered In Between Now and Then in 2003. Additional road dates supplied material for the concert album 34th & 8th. Stories of a Stranger, released in 2005, yielded the Top 20 Hot AC singles “Love and Memories” and “Heard the World.” Live from Madison Square Garden appeared in 2007. All Sides, issued in 2008, marked the band’s most refined studio work to that point and peaked at number 13 on the Billboard 200; the four-disc live set Rain or Shine followed in 2009. King arrived in 2011 after the band reunited with producer Matt Wallace. Live on Red Rocks documented summer-tour performances in 2012. The Rockville LP, their eighth studio album, topped the charts in 2014. XX, a career-spanning collection that added new studio tracks, marked the 20th anniversary in 2016. Studio sessions throughout 2018 led to The Mighty, released in February 2019, which entered the Billboard 200 and reached number eight on Top Rock Albums. Arcade, the tenth album, emerged in 2022, its expansive and introspective songs including the streaming hit “In the Clouds.”