About OPOSIUM; The OPOSIUM Story
Formed in March 2005 as a result of lead singer & guitarist Richard McLester (aka Mr Hair) and keyboard wizard Sam Hanson (aka Mr Brain) playing together for some ongoing concerts, work began in earnest for Oposium at the end of 2006 when the band released their first single Behind The Rain. This track won Oposium a national award and endorsement deal from keyboard and electronics manufacturer Roland. In Easter 2007, the band sailed their psychadelic blue piano out to sea off Branksome Chine beach, Poole. The then Mayor of Poole, Councillor Mrs Judy Butt gave a farewell speech to the piano and Sam Hanson gave a performance of Grieg's "The Holberg Suite" on the now sea worthy piano. Further acheivements in 2007 included being selected to play for the largest unsigned festival in Dorset "Sound 07".
As a result of the fantastic way Oposium's Piano In The Sea turned out, BBC South Today reporter Freddie Rostand interviewed both Richard and Sam in a behind the scenes feature at the Oposium studios. This interview was aired at the end of January 2008.
On December 29th 2007, Oposium hosted a large scale concert in aid of local Poole-based charity Routes To Roots. The event featured Oposium as headliners with other local bands and musicians performing in a huge church which the band, using sponsorship from local businesses allowing for a massive lighting display, spent 3 days transforming. For this concert bassist Scott Blandford (aka Doctor One) joined up with Oposium and has continued to play with the band since. The Mayor of Poole again turned up to lend his support to the cause and Oposium were able to raise a substantial amount for the charity. This was the beginning of a relationship between Routes To Roots and Oposium in which the band agreed to help promote the charity's cause alongwith any exposure that Oposium receive.
After finishing their track 'Behind The Rain', Oposium then set about completing their 5 track EP called 'Life Under The Sun'. That EP included tracks such as 'When Love Steps In', 'Can You' and the anthemic 'I Will Wait For You'. However shortly after completing it the band decided that five tracks left the project unfinished. A further 8 months in the studio brought about the finished 'Life Under The Sun' 12 track debut album. This included the additions of orchestral arrangements to tracks such as 'Can You' and new tracks such as 'Fallen', 'Come Awake', and 'This Is Why We Fall'. Oposium are now begininng the long process of promoting the album and the band's upcoming shows will feature setlists centered around the album.
Over the past year Oposium have honed and refined their sound, being able to incorporate the huge sound of the church organ into their set. Their alternative and progressive sound combines extreme virtuoso classical piano with funky heavy guitar riffs and soaring vocal melodies.
Over the last couple of years Oposium have set about filming & producing innovative short films to their tracks. With Behind The Rain proving a great success with the piano in the sea concept, the next video to be shot was 'When Love Steps In'. This involved Richard & Sam being coming very close to getting arrested in London after "illegally" filming in both Canary Wharf and Trafalgar Square. The video for 'Come Awake' involved an all night church film shoot for which Richard grew his hair to massive proportions. Most recently, the band spent one of the wettest days of 2008 exploding two pianos they managed to acquire.
In September 2008 the band completed their current lineup by teaming up with session drummer David Waller (aka Professor StiX). This lineup will be taking 'Life Under The Sun' onto the road over the next year. So far the band have already had exposure on local radio stations such as Hope FM 90.1, Forest FM 92.3 and Salisbury-based Newspaper The Sarum Link. Oposium have also just finished recording a promotional single called 'Everything Is Now' which will be used to promote the larger album. 'Life Under The Sun' will be self-released commercially under Oposium's own independent label Conical Sphere Records.
