OWC RADiO Host, Cirina Catania, interviews Roger O’Donnell, an English composer and keyboardist best known for his work with The Cure, as well as bands such as The Psychedelic Furs, Thompson Twins, and Berlin. We talk about his latest album, 2 Ravens, his early days in East London, The Cure, and ballet.

Roger O’Donnell captured by Mimi Sheytanova

He gained his reputation as a world-class keyboardist and Moog synthesizer expert, and O’Donnell’s body of work includes several styles and genres, some collaborative and some solo, with many written for the piano and others conceived for strings and chamber orchestras.

In April of 2020 he released his solo album, 2 Ravens, made in collaboration with vocalist Jennifer Pague that was inspired by the intense beauty and quiet melancholic solitude of the countryside where he was raised in rural England. He wrote it just after returning from a whirlwind non-stop tour with the Cure, landing him back home facing his own solitude.

Roger has said he was born next to the piano in his parents' living room, and he first learned to play when his eldest brother taught him some 12-bar blues numbers.

He loves tech and enjoys using the most cutting edge innovations in the creation of his music, including equipment from OWC! Follow Roger at www.rogerodonnell.com

Note: Copyright (c) in any and all music in this interview remains with the creators.

In This Episode

00:18 Cirina introduces Roger O'Donnell, an English composer, and keyboardist best known for his work with The Cure, as well as the bands The Psychedelic Furs, Thompson Twins, and Berlin04:43 - Roger shares a mishap from a company that pressed his record, 2 Ravens, and how he sorted it out.10:05- Roger talks about how he met Jennifer Pague, an LA-based sound designer, composer, and songwriter. 15:19 - Why did Roger leave art school and switch to music? 21:52 - Cirina and Roger talk about musical instruments' revolution in the years of the 60s to 80s.27:37 - Roger tells the story of how he joined The Cure and the incredible albums they created while he was with the band.33:48 - Roger talks about his album Love and Other Tragedies, where he played with cellists Julia Kent and Alisa Liubarskaya at the Grand Kremlin Palace in Moscow.39:00 - Roger describes how OWC equipment works flawlessly and fit seamlessly into his workflow.44:33 - Roger shares how he wants to buy a house in Maranello in Italy, where he a lot of his friends live.45:49 - Check out Roger O'Donnell's new album, 2 Ravens on Apple Music, Spotify, or buy the vinyl record on Amazon to listen to his music. 

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Transcript

This is Cirina Catania with OWC Radio. I'm speaking with Roger O'Donnell of The Cure, and I want to talk to him about his most recent work, 2 Ravens as well. There's a huge story here, a long career, and I'm thanking OWC for sponsoring OWC Radio to allow me to speak with amazing musicians like Roger. Roger is a keyboard player, a composer, best known obviously, for his work with The Cure, but his solar orchestral work is amazing. And the 2 Ravens was performed with a string quartet and cellos. He also likes tech, and that's appropriate because OWC radio is the marriage between technology and creativity. Although I think that Roger and I probably have something very much in common in that we're a little bit old school. And we still love vinyl. Hi, Roger.

Hi. Yeah, I think we still love vinyl.

Oh my gosh, I love vinyl. I love vinyl. I had hundreds and hundreds of albums that I had collected over the years because I was raised in the military, and I could buy albums for $2.60 at the PX when I was growing up. But a lot of them were stolen. But I tell you, I went to buy 2 Ravens, and I'm ordering it on vinyl.

Oh, cool. It should sound good. We had some minor, well, I guess major technical issues on the first pressing plant we used the record company,