Music like OZMA

Ozma is an American rock band from Pasadena, California. The band's sound is a mix of nostalgic new wave–influenced power pop and contrapuntal Casiotone-driven melodies sustained by heavy guitar riffs. Since their formation in 1995, Ozma has released five studio albums and toured the U.S., Japan and Canada more than thirty times, including extensive touring with stylistically similar groups including Weezer, Nada Surf, Rilo Kiley, Superdrag, The Rentals, The Get Up Kids, Piebald, Saves The Day, Asian Kung-Fu Generation, and Rooney.

Ozma was formed in September 1995 by Ryen Slegr (vocals/guitar), Jose Galvez (guitar/vocals), Patrick Edwards (drums) and Daniel Brummel (vocals/bass), when Brummel was introduced to the others by Galvez, whom he met on AOL while looking for a band to join. In 1996, the still-unnamed band were joined by Katherine Kieckhefer on keyboards, before deciding on the name "Ozma" (taken from the L. Frank Baum books on the drummer's mother's bookshelf) in 1997, and in 1998 were joined by expert keyboardist Star Wick, who replaced the departing Kieckhefer. After their early 4-track cassette demos Cuatro and Ocho were well received by friends, they released Songs of Inaudible Trucks and Cars in early 1999, a collection of demos and live tracks, released on home-made CD-Rs and later republished on MP3.com as Songs of Audible Trucks and Cars (due to a character restriction). They then self-released what is considered their first "proper" studio album, Rock and Roll Part Three, on January 1, 2000. This consisted of "a few thousand" (estimated by Brummel) CDs manufactured by their own label, Tornado Recordings. During these early years, Ozma "played almost anywhere in the California state area," garnering a strong regional following.