The Adventures of Oh Geeez, Not Again

Oh Geeez, Not Again. Photo Credit: Cameron Flynn.

For Sean McGibany, simply watching his favorite cartoons wasn’t enough – he wanted to help tell the stories behind certain episodes.

When the COVID-19 lockdowns happened in 2020, McGibany began writing original pieces of music based on episodes of animated series like “Ducktales,” “Amphibia” and “The Owl House.” He started a Youtube channel and began uploading each song, adding stills from the episode that the song was inspired by to help paint the picture. As fans of these shows realized they could experience their favorite episodes in a whole new way, the views began to pile up.

“It had developed quite a bit of an audience online – I started thinking that I needed to get more people involved in this,” McGibany says.

McGibany turned to his ex-bandmate Jack Gilmond, who he had previously played with in a band called Nitrogen, and Alex Dollenmayer, a drummer that caught McGibany’s attention with a drum cover of a Twenty One Pilots song. This trio made up the core of the band that would become known as Oh Geeez, Not Again – a name that might look like a typo, but is just McGibany being stubborn about having the correct spelling of the name taken when trying to create a Gmail account for the band. While that might seem like a hard detail to remember for fans or a choice that isn’t very SEO-friendly, McGibany enjoys the weirdness of the name.

“When I see someone spell it that way with the three “e’s,” they get it – they know the details,” McGibany says. “It’s really become a sort of calling card for me and the band. It’s become a litmus test.”

Through 2022, the band would continue to churn out cartoon-inspired songs, putting out one a week and allowing fans to vote on what the next tune would be about.

“We were building our connection with our fan base – we were really pushing with that,” McGibany says. “But by the end of that year, we were really super burnt out. We were doing too much.”

The band decided to go on hiatus in 2023, because the members no longer wanted to be tied so much to the shows that they were paying tribute to. But the break didn’t last – rather than elaborating on stories that already existed, the members of Oh Geeez, Not Again set out to tell a story of their own.

MAPMAKER is the result of that desire – a coming of age story told across 14 tracks. With this new project, the band expanded its lineup by adding Joe Ludwig of Fuzzy Surf on bass.

“It was our first time trying to do something wholly original and trying to relate to our audience on a personal level,” McGibany says. “It’s the work that we’re most proud of.”

MAPMAKER tells the story about a young character leaving home to chase their dreams in the wilderness. The protagonist faces challenges like forest fires and mythological beasts – all metaphors for the difficulties one faces when traveling into the unknown. It’s based on McGibany’s personal experiences of leaving home to go to college in Tennessee.

“Growing up in Wisconsin my whole life, that was a real adventure for me,” McGibany says. “It was a very stressful thing and a culture shock to leave home for the first time.”

MAPMAKER is a pop-punk concept album – fans of bands like Motion City Soundtrack and Fall Out Boy will find much to enjoy here. Rather than the melancholic pining over relationships that is so common in emo and pop-punk music, Oh Geeez, Not Again instead brings a bubbly, positive flair that carries the listener along on a grand adventure. It’s music that feels destined for an eventual live stage production of a musical based on the album.

The album kicks off with “Invocation,” where McGibany sings: “I want to tell you a story/One I’ve been writing for so long.” Background sound effects like chirping birds help paint the picture –  it’s an acoustic jam that opens up into a full band closing section, one that feels like McGibany is telling us his story only to be joined by his bandmates in their first ever original production together.

The pacing picks up from there and it’s impressive how fluid Oh Geeez, Not Again manages to be with the genres that they borrow from. The catchy “woahs” and “ohs” that serve as the chorus to “Departure” and the ultra poppy “Weightless” would fit right in on any major radio station. Songs like “Real World” on the other hand are more straight up pop-rock jams. It works for an album like MAPMAKER – a good story is going to have its varying parts and emotional ups and downs.

While MAPMAKER was released in September of 2024, both old new fans will be pleased to learn the band has just released an extended version of the album titled MAPMAKER: The Complete Expedition. This deluxe edition adds instrumental versions of the original tracks and expands upon the story, using six new songs to add new perspectives, such as the introduction of a romantic partner in the lead single “Think Fast.” It’s proof that the story told in MAPMAKER isn’t a singular experience – it’s one that can be expanded upon and interpreted in different ways depending on the listener’s own personal experience.

“MAPMAKER is a story that I’ve been wanting to tell and have told in my art for a while now,” McGibany says. “I want that to speak to anyone who is anywhere on that journey.”