Catching up with Cleveland rockers Oregon Space Trail of Doom

Ryan Fletterick and Nolan Cavano of Cleveland band Oregon Space Trail of Doom describe their sound as a hodgepodge.

"There's a main dish which you could say is rock and roll roots or psychedelic rock and roll. But the flavor profile from song to song changes. And within a tune there are labyrinths and corridors," Cavano said.

"It's really hard to categorize our sound. Psychedelic rock, in my opinion, is fairly generic. So I like to say exploratory rock," Fletterick said.

The band has been releasing music since 2019, including their full-length album, "Into the Wood."

The band also has a background in jazz, so they formed another project called Oregon Space Trail of Jazz.

"So we're like, Well, you know, we could get a gig at like a cocktail lounge and just do instrumentals and make a quick buck, which then could fund Oregon Space Trail Doom. And from there, it just caught on. It's like we have just as big as a following for Oregon Space Jazz as we do for Doom. And honestly, sometimes I prefer the jazz stuff over the Doom," Fletterick said.

Both bands were really ramping up when the pandemic hit in 2020. Oregon Space Trail of Doom was traveling to play South by Southwest (SXSW) in Austin, Texas, when they decided to turn around and head home.

"That was March 15th, I believe. And the 16th is when Governor Mike DeWine declared [the] lockdown. We had just came in the day before. It was really surreal," Fletterick said.

"2019 was a whirlwind for us as a group. I mean, we were gigging. We were flying by the seat of our space trail pants. And I think that over the pandemic, there was so much uncertainty, there were so many ebbs and flows of feeling inspired, but then what was to become of it and when were we able to get back to normal? What is normal? And I think I'll always be nostalgic for that B.C. — before COVID — kind of feeling and mood and fire," Cavano said.

The band also reflected on what the local music scene looks like now.

"There's there's a plethora of a bunch of new bands that are doing a great job at just reigniting Cleveland scene, like Orefice Roth and then some other people who previously didn't play music are now starting to play music, like Kyle Osborne. He has a business called Outlandish Press. He's an author. But I really give respect to those people who kind of use the pandemic to just create something and start something new. I think Cleveland is regaining a trajectory, in terms of arts and culture. And I'm still happy to be a part of it," Fletterick said.

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