Ocean Park Standoff’s energetic and positively uplifting beats influenced by hip-hop and pop/rock positions them as the one of the hottest bands to watch out for.

The American alternative pop band is made up of Samantha Ronson, Pete Nappi and Ethan Thompson.

Their current single “If You Were Mine” is doing really well on the radio and has continuously been on the hot AC and Billboard Adult Pop Song charts.

The music video for “If You Were Mine” now has over 5.4 million views and and the song has garnered over 19.5 million streams.

Their first official single “Good News,” received massive praise since its 2017 release with over 40 million streams and landing on the hot AC charts as well as multiple Spotify playlists.

We had a chat with the band about themselves, their music, and their upcoming plans.

How did it all start? What’s Ocean Park Standoff’s story?

We started getting closer around three years ago. Pete and Samantha met in a session in LA, and hit it off working together. Pete and I (Ethan) had been working together for a few years prior, and always brought each other into sessions. So Pete brought me in and the three of us wrote Good News and Lost Boys in our first few sessions. Samantha had a DJ set opening for an artist that we all went to, and after the show we talked about doing a set for fun with the songs we had been working on. One thing lead to another, and that idea turned into the last two years of tours!

How would you describe your music?

Hip Hop influenced Pop/Rock. Aggressively uplifting, like Jack-Jack from The Incredibles.

You never know quite what’s coming, but you’ll leave happy. 

How do you usually come up with new music? Do you mind walking us through your process of music making?

We start each song a different way. It usually starts with a hook idea, track idea, or just chords on any instrument laying around. Samantha and I write most of the melodies and lyrics, and Pete does most of the production. It starts with one of us being excited about one thing, to all of us dancing or throwing out what we made over the last few hours. If we are dancing, we will work on it to a full demo. 

Where you draw your inspirations from?

Anywhere from a conversation with a friend, book reading, other artists, and things that happen in our lives. I usually get a lot of ideas and just throw them in the notepad on my phone to use as car parts for future songs.

If there’s an artist that you can invite over for a private dinner who would it be and why?

Anderson. Paak.

A: I think he’d turn a private dinner into a party *YES LAWD* and B: He is such a strong musician and performer. I’d love to talk those topics with him.

Out of all the songs that you made, is there a specific favorite?

It changes from day-to-day. On some days a particular song sticks it’s neck out to save your day, and others it’s just another card in the stack. “Photos & Liquor” from a lyrical and where I was in life at the moment is one of my tops. Also the way that song came together with Pete’s production was so fun to create. 

Dream Project / collaboration and why.

Queen. We answer this question a lot and it changes. My reason for Queen today is that their music was so complicated, catchy, and well thought-out. I would love to watch and hear about their process. From afar it looks like trail error repeat until something sticks, which is pretty much what we do. 

Top 3 music in your playlist right now.

“Bubblin” Anderson .Paak

“Superposition” Young the Giant

“when the party’s over” Billie Eilish 

If you were a book, what book would you be and why?

Eragon, because I want to ride a dragon that’s also my magic homie.

What can fans expect from you in the upcoming year?

Music, music, music. We have so much of it. We are making plans to release A LOT of it. Thank you so much!

Check out the music video of their hot new single, “If You Were Mine!”