Out of Our Minds

Out Of Our Minds (also abbreviated as OOOM) is the second solo album from Melissa Auf der Maur released on March 30, 2010.

Released six years after her self-titled debut, the album was also accompanied by a feature film and comic of the same name. According to reports, the album has been completed since 2007.

Background and production

In a 2007 interview with Billboard magazine, Melissa Auf der Maur confirmed she had completed her second solo album which was "part of a multidisciplinary Viking-themed project that includes a short film and comic book." It was also mentioned that guest musicians, such as Ryan Adams, Vince Nudo and ex-Tinker member Steve Durand, who had also written songs for and played guitar on Auf der Maur, would also appear on the album. Glenn Danzig confirmed on August 18, 2008 that he had recorded a song titled "Father's Grave" with Auf der Maur and claimed it would be included "on a track for her new CD." In the three years it took her to record the album, Auf der Maur also stated that there were "many stops and starts while I was exploring alternative creative outlets." "I was the only one there for the whole five years. I had 12 studios, 25 musicians, and 7 engineers but it wasn't like anyone was with me for the journey", she told Kerrang! in May 2010. Asked about inspirations for the album, she said:

Out of Our Minds (film)

Out of Our Minds (often abbreviated as OOOM) is a 2009 fantasy film written by Melissa Auf der Maur and directed by Tony Stone. Starring Auf der Maur as the female protagonist, the film tells the mythological story of "a fantasy world where a Viking heart, a car crash and a bleeding forest connect." The film uses a musical score, composed entirely by Auf der Maur and her band, and features no dialogue in order to focus on the "striking optics" and was released as "part of a multi-disciplinary Viking-themed project that includes a short film and comic book", as well as accompanying her second studio album of the same name.

Development on Out of Our Minds began as early as 2005, when Auf der Maur began the recording sessions for the album, and pre-production began in summer 2006. Independently self-produced and financed, the film itself was shot over the course of two years, in autumn 2006 and spring 2007 in Stone's hometown in Vermont, United States, where he had previously directed the simarly-themed Severed Ways: The Norse Discovery of America (2007).Out of Our Minds premiered at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival on January 16, 2009 and was also screened at the Woodstock Film Festival and NXNE among others. During her North American and European tours in support of the album in 2009 and 2010, Auf der Maur also held screenings of the film. The film was released on DVD as part of her package including the album and comic book on March 30, 2010.

Out of Our Minds (song)

"Out of Our Minds" (also abbreviated as "OOOM") is a song by Canadian alternative rock musician, Melissa Auf der Maur, written by Auf der Maur, long-time collaborator and producer Jordon Zadorozny and Priestess drummer Vince Nudo. The song was released as Auf der Maur's fourth single, and first from her second studio album of the same name, on November 9, 2009 as a free digital download.

Origin and recording

"Out of Our Minds" was originally written solely by Auf der Maur prior to the conception of the OOOM project. Speaking of the song's origins in January 2010, she said that it was "written early in the creative chapters of [the project]" after "[a] rush of inspiration" and developed both the song and project from thereon. The "rush of inspiration" described by Auf der Maur was later cited to be how she "found the center" of her new musical endeavor. In an interview with The Dumbing of America, Auf der Maur expained the embyronic version of the song:

The album version of "Out of Our Minds" was recorded over the course of 2007 at various locations throughout North America. The majority of the song was recorded at French Kiss Recording, co-writer Zadorozny's recording facility in Pembroke, Ontario in Canada, with additional recording at Cherokee Studios in Los Angeles, California in the United States. Further, but minor, recording and "tweeking" was done at La Hacienda and Sunset Lodge Studios in California, Ponderosa Studios and Planet Studios in Quebec, Warehouse Recording in British Columbia, and Ishlab Music and The Clubhouse in New York. The master recording of the song was mastered by Adam Ayan at Gateway Mastering in Portland, Maine in the United States.