For a while now, there has been a significant lack of rock music about. The new wave of indie bands are sufficient I guess, but even their guitar based musings are starting to grind everyone down. Thankfully, back in March of this year, Chicago four-piece OK Go released their second album 'Oh No' - a collection of refreshingly rocking tracks. In a move away from the "nerdy pop opus" debut from the band, their second offering was based more around the "push and pull of the rhythm section, capturing the emotional feel of rock and roll" according to lead singer Damian Kulash.

To give you some background info on the band, Damian Kulash (lead vocals) and Tim Nordwind (bass) met at summer camp when they were 11 and formed a band called The Greased Ferrets featured folding chairs played as drums. They then met Andy Ross (guitar/keyboards) in high school and Dan Konopka (drums) in college, but somehow didn't really become OK Go until 1999, even though they all believed that someday they'd play in a band together.

Recorded in Sweden, the band's second album saw them working with producer Tore Johansson - a man who worked his magic on Franz Ferdinand's debut album, as well as producing many of The Cardigans' hits. Johansson's influence certainly had an effect on the sound of the second record, but Kulash isn't quite sure how to put his finger on how he went about this. On their first record, the band wrote about 60 songs before laying any tracks down, and when considering their second release, they decided to make an album with a clearer tone and some consistency throughout. Johansson was perfect for this and his work with the two aforementioned bands were fine examples of this. There’s a rougher grit to 'Oh No'. From the chaotic torrent of crashing guitars that launches 'Invincible', the anthemic lead track, to the acidic chorus of 'The House Wins', the album’s stinging final song, the album surges with electricity. "We wanted to make an album that sounds like our band, and not a heady, self-conscious studio project" says lead singer Damian Kulash. "Everyone tells us rock and roll is a shadow of itself - a sad old milk cow smiling at the farmer every morning. We still see a bucking bull smashing around the stable".

Ask anyone about OK Go, and those in the know will immediately mention their somewhat unique and fantastic music videos. In fact, I am surprised it has taken me this long to start ranting on about them! The first single from 'Oh No', 'A Million Ways', was hugely successful largely down to the power of the Internet and word of their video spreading through sites like youtube (yes there's yet another band who have gained recognition through the world wide web). The video was shot in one take, and cost $10 - a budget that would make even the toughest of rap stars break down in tears. It featured the band members performing a routine in their back garden choreographed by Kulash’s sister Trish - even the camera it was filmed on was borrowed from a friend. The video was released without their label's consent or knowledge (very rock and roll) and soon became a phenomenon. If you check out the band's myspace page, you can see exactly how much of a phenomenon it was, with 125 videos of fan's own versions of the band's videos. Where did the idea come from? "It was intended as something for the live show. Rock shows can be a bit predicable, serious and heavy, and we wanted something fun where we could drop our instruments and break into dance. It would surprise people and make it memorable. The video is actually a practice tape, my sister helped me choreograph it in my back yard. The tape got onto the internet and the next thing I know it’s the most downloaded video in history!" explains Kulash. Not a bad way to spend $10 some might say! The video for second single 'Here It Goes Again' is equally as entertaining, but this time the band have upped the ante and have introduced treadmills to their videos - performing their routine on running treadmills. Seeing is believing my friends.

With the increasing number of bands making the most of the internet, does the band feel that the internet is an important part of what they do "We spend a lot of time communicating to our fans through the internet. It's the only way to get people engaged in the community. We've got our myspace page and our guitarist keeps a blog, so we try to stay involved," explains Kulash.

The band can also cut it live, with a tour of the UK earlier this year producing excellent reviews and gaining some more fans along the way. Personally encores are pretty pointless If you ask me, but with OK Go I think I would have to make an exception. For their encore, the band perform 'A Million Ways', not with their instruments, but with their infamous routine. To see it on film is one thing, but live and in person is something I would like to see.

OK Go may not have had the commercial success that they deserve, but that's what's great about the band. With so many bands emerging now (I personally thought that might die down by now) catching the eye of the average music fan is important. Clor are the only band that have made me interested through interesting videos prior to Ok Go, and now they have disbanded, it seems that I have a worthy replacement. Some might say that it detracts from the music, but in this particular case, it seems to only enhance the already well written and performed music. Bring on the next video I say, and let’s all get involved with the routine.

THE SINGLE ‘HERE IT GOES AGAIN’ WILL BE RELEASED ON SEPTEMBER 25TH THROUGH ANGEL MUSIC