Jesse Tabish eschewed high octane pop for a subtle, more complex approach to music when about a dozen years ago he split from the guitar-driven All American Rejects – a band still in its infancy at the time – and started to explore music behind a piano. A few years after that, the players that would make up Other Lives came together and started writing music that has been described by critics as ‘near magical’, ‘vividly cinematic’ and ‘lush and haunting’.

With orchestral dressings running the gamut of strings and woodwinds, the band’s latest offering, 2010′s Tamer Animals has netted them high praise in both press and music circles, impressing a starwart rock quintet from Oxford, England (that’d be Radiohead) enough to ask the Stillwater, Oklahoma-based group to hit the road with them in 2012. WTDP? had a chance to talk with Tabish about all things Tamer Animals, the music scene in Stillwater and landing the opening slot of a lifetime.

WTDP?: Listening to Tamer Animals, we were curious about the song writing process for the band given the breadth of instrumentation on some of the songs… whether it started with guitar or piano. How does a typical Other Lives song come into being?
Jesse: With Tamer Animals, one was the prominent way. I would arrange… or have an idea for a tune. Then I would start arranging with orchestral software. It’s called Reason, actually. It’s just a program. Anyway, I would arrange these ideas and I would kind of have the demo. From there we would take it on as a recording project. We would kind of start from scratch again with those arrangements in mind and build note by note of the tune. We never played these songs as a band, nor did we want to. We wanted to be as idealistically as possible about the arrangement. A lot of surprises kind of came doing it that way instead of just the band in the room hashing out things. That is more than likely most of the way the tunes came about.

WTDP?: Do you tend to write on piano or guitar more?
Jesse: It is usually piano the most. I was a guitar teacher for about nine years. You have a guitar in your hand through the hours of the day, so when I get home I would throw it down and head for the piano.

WTDP?: How was the music scene in Stillwater as the band was coming up?
Jesse: It’s not much different than it is now. There’s not really a venue or too many bands that were around. There was one place called Mike’s College Bar. We had our first show there. It was a scene between us and another band called Colourmusic. They have continued to stay in Stillwater as well. It’s kind of this friendship that was made throughout the years of doing records and hanging out… chatting about each other’s records, what we aspire to be. It is a really sleepy town. I wish I could say there is this really thriving indie rock scene, but there’s not. But I think that’s what I actually really love about the place. I’ve come to think of it as an opportunity because there were no influences coming in. I think the band was kind of left to its own devices to figure out what it wanted to be.

WTDP?: The Other Lives path was much different than that of your earlier band, All American Rejects. What was the attraction for you to move more towards the folk-inspired pop sound?
Jesse: I grew up. You know what I’m saying? I grew up. The music I was being introduced to when I was 17 and 18 were bands like God Speed You Black Emperor, Sigur Ros and Radiohead. These bands really made me change everything. I started playing piano around that time as well. That, and just wanting to write more mature and thoughtful music.

WTDP?: Speaking of Radiohead, how did the upcoming tour come about?
Jesse: We played a gig in Oxford, their hometown. They happened to come out. We played a pretty good show. Our manager goes way back with them also. We ended up chatting after the show and we all just sort of hit it off nicely. That’s basically how it came about. We’re just really humbled to have the opportunity to be playing with our favorite band. It’s a real honor.

WTDP?: Have you made any changes to the show knowing you’ll be playing much larger venue – like bringing other musicians out with you?
Jesse: We are actually. We’re bringing on a violinist named Daniel Hart. He’s a really fantastic player. Yeah, we’ve been home for about a month and we’re getting to kind of work on the set a little bit more.

WTDP?: What are some of your favorites guitars?
Jesse: I have a Taylor (acoustic) that has been so good to me. I also have another guitar that I need to get fixed. It’s a Seagull. It wasn’t my first guitar, but it was the first guitar that I really started writing songs on. It’s kind of like your first love, you know? I also have this early ‘90s Mexican Tele that I think is just a really great sounding guitar. All of the guts in it are really cheap and weathered. It kind of has a low output that I think gives it a real charm.

WTDP?: When it comes to effects, do you use many at all?
Jesse: We use looping. Some reverb and delay pedals… as well as some overdrive.

WTDP?: Tamer Animals came out around nine months ago. Is it too early to start thinking about the next album? Have you been writing?
Jesse: I have been writing quite a bit for the next one. I get a chance to write quite a bit on the road. I’m in the phase of just playing around with ideas. I love this phase, you know? The editing comes later. This is the time to explore.

New Orleans’ Mutemath kicked off their 2012 Odd Soul tour in Houston this week bringing along a spectacle of lights, keys, reverb, delay and a boatload of new music. In fact, the quartet filled its set list with every song from its latest album, Odd Soul – for better or for worse, according to frontman Paul Meany – as well as fan favorites from its back catalog. The night commenced with the group parading through the crowd in marching band fashion, banging drums and crashing cymbals, until they reached the stage. It would be the first of several band/crowd interactions throughout the night.

Meany leapt to the stage behind his trusty Hammond organ and struck the first chords of the new album’s title track, jolting the crowd into a minor frenzy. For the next two hours, the band delivered their unique brand of cool that’s made up of equal parts of ’60s psychedelia, funk-flavored jazz and modern pop. Some might call it quirky if it wasn’t so powerful. Meany was all over the place – behind the organ, up stage at a synth station, over at guitarist Todd Gummerman’s small keys set-up, huddled behind a sort of Kaoss pad contraption… even strapped to a keytar.

Gummerman played a revolving trio of guitars – including his über-slick Galanti Grand Prix (featured in the video for the song ‘Odd Soul’) – and, at the end of the gig, even picked up his pedal board and played it like an instrument. The rhythm section of Roy Mitchell-Cárdenas and Darren King were rock solid throughout. Mitchell-Cárdenas showing his multi-instrumental talents (and skills with a capo’d fretless bass) while King dominated the drums with frenetic precision.

A bit later in the set, Meany rode a sort of rolling cart out into the floor for an electronica intro to ‘Equals’, while Mitchell-Cárdenas strapped on a six-string for the main riff work. King also rode the cart out later, then outfitted with stripped down drum kit. Meany later stage dove onto what amounted to a lighted air mattress.

Highlights of the show included a raucous version of ‘Allies’ off the new one. The crowd buzzed favorably when the band launched into ‘Control’, the single from the band’s previous album, 2009′s Armistice. Some of the older songs have aged better than others. While the crowd greeted ‘Chaos’ off 2007′s self-titled album with enthusiasm, the song – a more uptempo dance number – felt a touch out of place giving the heavier groove of the band’s current material.

Even though it was their first show, the band was easily in mid-tour form. They brought it… hard – and the Thursday night House of Blues crowd was appreciative. It bodes well for anyone planning to see them as they make their way across the US through March.

Check out some pics from the show, including gear and set list photos, below.