About Torben Floor

Torben Floor is no more but lead singer and songwriter Carey Ott is now an acclaimed solo artist. Please vitsit www.careyott.com for up to date information. Chris Ott and Doug Sale are currently in The Quicksand Brothers. The bio below ends in 1999.

Torben Floor waxes powerful, melodic, and harmonic, using the standard configurations: Two guitars with vocal (Carey Ott, John Moony), bass with vocal (Chris Ott), and drums (Doug Sale).

"The songwriting and the emotion music can evoke, now seems to be an afterthought," states Chris Ott, Torben Floor's bassist and resident philosopher. "Right now it's all about the image and sound of the moment. We've always stuck to the belief that it's a great song and a great band that stands the test of time, and history seems to have proven that. Look at the classic bands, such as the Beatles, Doors, Led Zeppelin, etc. What did they do? They learned from the masters of the craft, the bluesmen, songwriters, and performers that came before them and then once they had absorbed enough of that, they took it to another level. That has always been the vision that keeps us going."

That being said, I guess you could say Torben Floor is a band full of twenty-somethings that considers itself from the old school. Songwriting, musicianship, a great live performance and their own identity are what they consider important. So, ever since making a collective move into the greater Chicagoland area in 1995, the three original members (Doug Sale and the Brothers Ott) have been honing their live chops, and recording demos with respected producers such as Steve Albini (Nirvana, Bush, The Pixies, Page & Plant), Mark Rubel (Hum, Poster Children) and Jimmy John:on (Cheap Trick), in the hopes of eventually getting the chance to make the album they've been training themselves to make for the 9 years that they've been playing and performing together. The band finally added the missing piece of the puzzle with guitarist/vocalist John Moony in the summer of 1997.

Since adding Moony, the band has been moving closer and closer to that goal, continuing to write new music and slowly building recognition by playing shows throughout Chicagoland and neighboring hot spots for live music, especially college towns like Madison, Champaign, and DeKalb. Torben Floor has also showcased twice at the MRMF/ St. Louis and recently at the CMJ Music Marathon in New York City.

As far as recording their new music goes, Torben has taken an unexpected turn. They've gone back to basics. Their upcoming CD, Live Music in the Apartment consists primarily of home recordings (hence the title). Chris explains, "We felt that these recordings captured the essence of the new material so well. Of course if we had a few weeks to work in an amazing studio..."

The album especially showcases the talents of lead songwriter and guitarist Carey Ott. Often the recordings were made by Carey alone, immediately after the song was written. "That excitement of finishing a new song, the rawness of the feeling that went into it..." said Carey. "We decided to do an experiment by putting this stuff out there, and see if the people who hear it agree with us."