Office of Strategic Influence

OSI is an American progressive experimental supergroup formed by Fates Warning guitarist Jim Matheos in 2003. The name refers to the short-lived US government agency Office of Strategic Influence which was established shortly after 9/11 to manufacture and promote pro-US propaganda in domestic and foreign media.

Matheos asked Dream Theater drummer Mike Portnoy to lend his talents to what was initially to be Matheos' solo project. The original style of the project can be heard on the special edition of the CD. The track "The Thing That Never Was," a progressive instrumental, was written by Matheos before any collaborators were involved. Steven Wilson (of Porcupine Tree) was asked to sing on the project, but the style of the music that had been written to that point didn't appeal to him. However, late in the project Wilson contributed vocals for one track, "shutDOWN".

Matheos subsequently recruited Kevin Moore (Chroma Key), who had played keyboards on various Fates Warning albums in the 1990s and early 2000s and was the first keyboardist of Dream Theater before leaving in 1994. Moore edited and developed sections of that track, with further contributions by Matheos, into what became the 10 songs on the main CD.

Sean Malone was then recruited to fill the role of bassist and Chapman Stick player for the band. This left vocalist as the only position to be filled. Daniel Gildenlöw of Pain of Salvation was considered for the job, but as Moore was tracking his own scratch vocals in developing the songs, it became obvious that the project should continue with Moore singing.

Fates Warning often performs the songs "shutDOWN" and "The New Math" at their concerts with singer Ray Alder on vocals and Portnoy guesting on drums.

Mike Portnoy had been vocal about his disapproval of how the project turned out and stated he would not participate in another OSI album. Later rumors began to circulate that he would indeed record with OSI again when he was spotted in Toronto at the same time the second album was being recorded. He later confirmed this on his message board though his involvement was minimal the second time around.

OSI released Free in 2006, with Portnoy again on drums. Malone was replaced by Joey Vera, Matheos' bandmate in Fates Warning, on bass for five tracks (the remaining were programmed synth bass tracks by Moore) due to the distance and time issues surrounding Malone's teaching and doctoral studies in music theory at the University of Oregon.

On September 5th, 2008, Kevin Moore announced that he and Jim Matheos had been working on OSI's third studio album for a few months. According to his statement in the news section of the official Chroma Key website, Mike Portnoy has been replaced by Porcupine Tree drummer Gavin Harrison. Matheos will be playing bass. Mikael Åkerfeldt has since revealed on the official Opeth website that he co-wrote and performed vocals for a song titled "Stockholm" on the new record.

The most recent album, Blood, was released on April 27 2009 in Europe and May 19 in the U.S. via InsideOut Music.

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Line Up:

+ Jim Matheos (Fates Warning) - guitars

+ Kevin Moore (Chroma Key, Dream Theater) - vocals, keyboards

Guest Musicians:

+ Mike Portnoy (Dream Theater) - drums on Free and Office of Strategic Influence

+ Gavin Harrison (Porcupine Tree, King Crimson) - drums on Blood [1]

+ Steven Wilson (Porcupine Tree, No-Man, Blackfield, Bass Communion, IEM) - vocals on the track "shutDOWN" on Office of Strategic Influence

+ Tim Bowness (No-Man) - vocals on the track "No Celebrations" on Blood

+ Mikael Åkerfeldt (Opeth) - vocals on the track "Stockholm" on Blood

+ Sean Malone (Gordian Knot, Cynic) - bass, Chapman Stick on Office of Strategic Influence

+ Joey Vera (Fates Warning) - bass on Free

Discography:

+ Office of Strategic Influence (February, 2003)

+ Free (April, 2006)

+ re:free (EP) (November, 2006)

+ Blood (April, 2009)

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The Last album, "Blood", when I first time heard the new one, I was impressed and taken into the tunnel of amazingness. The absolute first time I heard this band, was in a car, driving somewhere with family, and my father had just found this somewhere, (he always keeps finding new stuff, and I get that from him), I knew I needed to have a closer look to this after we get home. It took me some time, and some growing, when I eventually got it running in my blood properly. And until now - one of the purest projects that I have heard. So complex, and yet simple. It takes me away, and lets me fall and crash and burn with flames, but this is all for good, only for good.

The information from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OSI_(band)

The pictures are from: http://www.last.fm/music/OSI/+images

The videos from: http://ww.youtube.com