Emerging Rock Duo The Ovtfit Announce Their Artist Debut With Release of New Single "Hoax"

Out of Los Angeles’ South Bay comes the latest punk rock project formed by a pair of brothers with over two decades of experience in the rock scene: The Ovtfit. Established by Chris and A.J. Bartholomew, The Ovtfit is a new, yet familiar feeling band that will have you hooked once you give them a listen. We recommend for fans of: Rise Against, Thrice, Blink 182, Pennywise, Alexisonfire, Sum 41, Against Me!, AFI and similar.

The Ovtfit has truly been a long time coming. The initial writing began many years prior to the pandemic; However, because of conflicting schedules between their other bands, there was a long delay in getting the project fully into motion. Chris and A.J. both have been playing in various bands for almost two decades — sharing a long roster of past and present bands, many stemming around metal: Eyes Set To Kill, Blink 180TRUE, As Blood Runs Black, Lose Control, Wild Stallions and more. For The Ovtfit, they chose to dig back into their original punk rock roots for inspiration.

“At this point in time, we’re mostly known for metal music and projects… we didn’t want to do that. We went back to what we really loved back then before we got into metal,” says A.J.

He credits artists such as Blink 182, AFI and City and Colour as inspiration — noting that he listened to a lot of Dallas Green during the writing process. Chris nods to older, classic bands like The Misfits as well as modern day sounds such as The 1975 as influential contributions. The Ovtfit’s sound has a balanced blend of early to mid 2000s rock of the sub-genres we all loved at the start of the Y2K era. The initial impression of their premiere single “Hoax” is reminiscent of bands like Rise Against, Thrice and Pennywise. The remainder of the EP (release date TBA) contains bright, upbeat tracks, assigning “Hoax” as the edgier of the tracks. We chatted with the band to get to know more about “Hoax” and the evolution of The Ovtfit:

[CC]: This project has been in the works for years now. How exactly did The Ovtfit come together?

[A.J.]: “The two of us hadn’t written together in almost four years. We had these two songs laying around that we never got to record, but we really liked them. We finally recorded one, which was back in 2018 at this point. Chris was like, ‘Let’s keep writing’ — so we did, all through the pandemic as well.”

[Chris]: “Any time we came home from Warped Tour or touring with our other bands, we tried to write or record something. Then when the pandemic happened, we just kept recording. We’ve always been in bands with other people, so we knew it would be easy to continue this just as the two of us together as brothers. The process was much more streamlined with the two of us doing all of the instrumentals and vocals.”

[A.J.]: “Once we were into the writing process, we realized we wanted to take our time and do it right.”

[CC]: Where did the name The Ovtfit come from?

[Chris]: “I was watching a documentary on the movie Casino, and apparently all of the mob bosses back in New York were collecting money from the casino in Vegas and they were called The Outfit. I just thought it sounded really cool. We stylized it with the ‘V’ and made it our own.”

[CC]: Since The Ovtfit is just the two of you, I’d imagine there is less discrepancy as brothers and having full creative control between yourselves. At any point did you butt heads while writing and recording?

[Chris]: “Honestly not at all, which is why we were so sure of continuing this project together because it was so natural. We also feel comfortable speaking to each other however we want without anything even being hurtful or coming across in the wrong way. We just get each other.”

[A.J.]: “It is nice though… I’ve gotten into screaming matches in the past with other band members and it’s not fun. I think we are mostly on the same page. Even if I am super excited about something and bring it to the table and he [Chris] uses it, but in a slightly different approach — I’m cool with that.”

[CC]: How did “Hoax” end up being the first single?

[Chris]: “So ‘Hoax’ was one of the older songs that we wrote. We are releasing it exactly how we originally wrote it. Previously in one of our older bands, we tried to release it rewritten as a ballad… but it just wasn’t it. Our band members at the time thought it was too ‘pop’ for their usual heavier sound.”

[A.J.]: “We really liked it how it was. We were 100% set on releasing it with The Ovtfit just how it was intended to sound on our own terms.”

Along with the release of the single, the music video for “Hoax” is also now available to watch here. Inspired by their mutual love of basketball, the lighthearted face-off video was filmed at the Korean Friendship Bell in San Pedro, CA. We love the simplicity of the video that brings us back to those MTV afternoons watching “All Things Rock.” Stay tuned for more music and content from The Ovtfit in the future and follow them on socials for the latest updates.

Stream “Hoax” on all platforms by clicking here.

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