What started as jam sessions at Riverside Apartments has turned into an upcoming local band where all frequencies are welcome. Opus & The Frequencies is a Columbia-based band composed of all USC alumni: A group of guys who “want to rock out with the whole city.”
Lead singer Tony Opus, guitarist Kirk Barnes, bassist Steven Tapia-Macias and drummer Jesse Tortorella all bring different musical interests and backgrounds to the band, which resulted in a vintage feel to its not-so-average music.
“My voice, particularly, isn't velvety, like R. Kelly or anything like that,” Opus said. “It's like very in your face — grungy Led Zeppelin kind of stuff, loud and proud.”
On top of his vocals are the combination of Latin and funk, rock 'n' roll and indie rock that the other band members add to the mix, said Opus.
“We kind of do a little bit of this, a little bit of that. We do our own thing,” Barnes said.
This leaves the band without a definitive genre, but instead space where different genres can collide to create unheard of rhythm, Opus said.
Since the band started around three years ago, Opus & The Frequencies have been able to bring their music to local venues such as New Brookland Tavern.
“Having been in that bar many times, seeing shows there from my freshman year, all into my senior year, I'd always dreamed about playing there,” Opus said.
Running into people who have seen them perform creates a community feel that gives them the motivation to keep going as a band and do everything better, Tapia-Macias said. That feeling of motivation and desire to better themselves is visible in the band's latest single, "F.A.M." ("fine-ass motherf—"), which the band describes as “an anthem for feeling yourself.”
“I had a lot of doubts in, like, my character as a person,” Opus said. “I didn't think that I mattered, and I hated feeling like that.”
Opus said he feels like a lot of the male population often feels this way, but "F.A.M." is about finding your confidence despite those feelings and realizing that you are a "F.A.M." just the way you are.
To go along with the single, a music video for "F.A.M." can be expected in late March or early April. Tapia-Macias is the brains behind the first music video they are making together. The music video will take place in a high school and Opus will be dressed up as somewhat of a nerdy kid, Tapia-Macias said.
“He’s like this nerdy kid that’s kinda getting kicked down, but then breaks out of that shell, you know, in an environment that’s full of stereotypes,” Tapia-Macias said.
This is a way to play into the theme of “feeling your self-confidence," said Tapia-Macias.
A music video isn’t the only thing in the making from Opus & The Frequencies. The band is also currently working on an EP of around six to seven songs to be released in the summer.
Included in this EP will be the song “Invitation,” which Tapia-Macias said is one of his favorites to have been recorded and put out into the world because of its funkiness and urge to make people want to start dancing. This song also includes what he said is his favorite Opus & The Frequencies lyric, which is “everybody hear the sound, it’s time to get down.”
While Opus & The Frequencies creates new content to release for their fan base, their current music can be found on its YouTube. Updates are also posted on the band's website.
Support from the local community means a lot, and the band wouldn't be where it is today if it wasn't for their supporters, Opus said.
“The Beatles weren't always The Beatles," Opus said. "They had to play some dive bars."