Doomed Confessionary: Rusty Steele & Clint Kliewer (Oriska)
Oriska is a blackened post-metal collective headquartered in Fargo, North Dakota with members dispersed across California, Montana, and Minnesota. Featuring former members of Battlefields, Dispensing Of False Halos & Sleeping In Gethsemane, Oriska draws influence from their past outfits while crafting a unique blend of doom, post-metal and screamo into songs that are both sprawling and epic.
The band’s self-titled debut album was just released on November 15th, 2024 via Init Records and Mind Over Matter Records.
Oriska are Clint Kliewer (guitar, vocals), Mathew Ricigliano (guitar, vocals), BJ Moore (guitar), Rusty Steele (vocals, keys), JR Anderson (drums), Brandon Schiwal (bass), Ethan Ekeland (bass) and Steven Smedshammer (cello, steel guitar).
Can you say a few words about your band?
Rusty: Oriska was a vision I have had since 2018-2019 with several attempts to bring it to fruition, later realizing I could only build the idea as a collective effort and if I did not require all of the members to live in the same city. There was a time that most of the members did live in Fargo, ND, but since have moved on. We have all been apart of hardworking, touring bands in the past and missed that in our lives. Beyond bonding over the lack of creating music, we discovered that we have all suffered a great deal of loss, depression and profound anxiety. It helped craft our ship and strengthen our vision.
What was the biggest challenge for the band?
Clint: The distance between members. Three of us are in Fargo, ND, two are in Billings, MT, two in Minneapolis, MN, and one in Orange County, CA. This makes getting together very time consuming and expensive for those who travel. Fortunately, we’ve been able to get together every 1-3 months pretty regularly. Everyone has been really willing to put forth the time and energy to do marathon 3-day practice sessions for 10+ hours a day for a long weekend. Coordinating between 7 people’s schedules is also really tough.
The distance has also had a very unique impact on songwriting. We typically work out of a shared file, where everyone is able to contribute their own parts as the song progresses. We’re able to get really granular on the process as a result. We have written entire songs this way before ever rehearsing them as a whole band.
What can you be most proud of so far?
Clint: I’d say we are all really proud of this first record and the great shows we’ve had on the road in 2024.
Rusty: The wild amount of support from our friends, families, labels and fans. It has all accelerated relatively quickly and that is because of the growing support for what we have created.
What was your biggest regret?
Clint: The 11+ hour overnight drive from Sioux Falls to Colorado Springs was rough.
What was the best concert/tour so far and why?
Rusty: We have been fortunate enough to have largely successful shows from the start. The first batch of shows we debuted live on a run of shows with Uada and Abigail Williams and really set the course for us. This past October we put a lot of hard work into the Aseethe / Oriska Tour and that paid off greatly. Many of the shows on that tour had large crowds and tremendous merch sales, so it would be hard to pick just one!
Clint: Picking an individual concert is a hard one for me, but the whole 2 week tour in October was great. We all left that tour wishing it could keep going. If I had to pick one, Init Fest in Sioux Falls, SD was amazing though, as we got to play with so many awesome bands (Sinking Steps- Rising Eyes, Woman Is The Earth, In The Face Of War).
Photo credit: Hoos Photography
What was the biggest surprise on the music scene for you?
Rusty: Having an audience fully engaged in our live performance.
Clint: The reception we’ve gotten. I don’t know that we ever expected that our music would resonate with so many people so deeply. We’ve had several people say they were moved to tears after hearing our music. That’s just unbelievable to hear.
What is currently in your heavy musical rotation?
Rusty: Personally I am really into checking out new releases every week. Some bands that stand out off the top of my head that I return to are Sunrot, Thou, WRVTH, Crippled Black Phoenix, Respire, Cult Of Luna etc.
Clint: For me, Upon A Field’s Whisper, who we played with in Colorado Springs. Their CD is the only one I have in my car right now, and it’s on constant repeat, haha. Others for me are Fall Of Efrafa, Kauan, Woman Is The Earth, Eyelet, Black Pyramid.
What was the best advice you’ve ever been given as a musician?
Rusty: Kurt Cobain (taken from PG99 Doc #8) “punk rock should mean freedom, liking and accepting everything that you like, playing whatever you want as sloppy as you want as long as it’s good and has passion.”
Clint: “The first step to being good at anything is to be really bad at it first.”
What are your guilty pleasures?
Rusty: Driving long distances and silence.
Clint: Rootbeer floats.
Can you say something more about the current music scene in Fargo / North Dakota?
Rusty: I see new excitement with the youth movement and all ages shows happening, and alongside that I see a lot of enthusiastic musicians returning to the stage in reunited bands and new bands, because like us, they missed creating and performing.
Where can we see you live this year (concerts/tours)?
Rusty: I think we are about wrapped up for the 2024 year, but we do have a lot of dates planned in 2025 that we are unable to announce at this time.
What are your plans for the future as a band?
Rusty: We will be announcing weekend dates in the Midwest soon to keep us active and a couple of bigger tour packages we have yet to announce for 2025. We have a lot of new material that we are working on behind the scenes that we can hopefully record later 2025. Our goals are to continue to grow the band, find more avenues to release music and tour outside of the US.
Do you have any special plans for New Year’s Eve?
Rusty: Working Probably 🙂
Clint: Working probably 🙁
How can people best support your band?
Clint: Come out to a show, order the new record, hit us up on social media, or just stream the album wherever you stream music.
Do you have any message for your listeners?
Rusty: Thank you for the tremendous support. This music has become the therapy that was needed and all of the rekindled friendships truly matter. Share our music with a friend or someone who can identify with it.
Bojan Bidovc // music enthusiast, promoter, misanthrop and sometimes a journalist as well