Atlanta post-punk trio Omni have made their second contribution to Lagniappe Sessions, the covers series maintained by OG music blog Aquarium Drunkard. Back in 2016, they tackled Alice Cooper’s “Identity Crisis” and the Boys Next Door’s “Somebody’s Watching Me.” Since then they’ve released a pair of great albums for a pair of venerable indie labels — 2017’s Multi-task for Trouble In Mind and 2019’s Networker for Sub Pop — and now they’re back to once again tap that Lagniappe.
This time around, Omni have covered Billy Joel’s “The Stranger” and 10cc’s “Art For Art’s Sake.” Here’s a statement on the former from band members Philip Frobos and Frankie Broyles: “We are big Billy Joel fans and “The Stranger” is definitely one of our top 5 favorite Billy Joel songs. We once had a drunken audience member jokingly demand we cover him. We have now done it. This one’s for you, Stranger.”
Regarding the latter, they write: “We listened to this song a lot in 2019. It became something of a tour anthem. It’s got that classic 10cc wit. How Dare You? was on repeat last year. It felt right to give this one a go. We wrote to Kevin Godley when working on Networker. Looking for some sage advice. We never heard back.” Bastard! Anyway, interesting to hear somebody cover a 10cc song besides “I’m Not In Love” for once.
Both covers are available to stream and download for free at Aquarium Drunkard.
