Lemuria's Sheena Ozzella Learned Everything She Knows about Pop Punk from the Buffalo Hardcore Scene

While Lemuria has existed for nearly a decade, the amount of steam they have accumulated in the past few years is immeasurable. Striking a deal with the typically hardcore label Bridge 9, Lemuria has become one of the biggest names in pop punk. Leading the group is guitarist and lead vocalist Sheena Ozzella, whose voice has helped define the band's sound. You may be surprised to know that Lemuria got started in the DIY hardcore scene of Buffalo.

Most people learn how to play guitar by themselves, alone in their room. They fumble through their favorite go-to beginner riffs (often including, or at least in my case, "Smoke on the Water," "Brain Stew," and "Iron Man"), not really getting the opportunity to share their playing with anyone outside of their immediate family. Sheena doesn't have this experience. Rather, she recalls learning guitar with the help of her extended family: the Buffalo punk scene. "I started playing guitar in 2003 in Buffalo New York, during the winter…I was involved in the Buffalo punk scene for a long time before that, and I would watch all of my friends' bands. I kind of just started to pick it up, and my friends would teach me songs that they wrote for their local bands. They would break the songs down for me and show me where to put my fingers. I got some of them down, not as fast as they could, but I could play them."

Drawn to guitar, she evolved from learning the songs of her friends' bands (along with a few Nirvana tunes) to writing music of her own fairly quick. Sheena remembers feeling embraced by the community, "I felt that the support of the people that taught me how to play guitar made me want to play more. I had these great musicians showing me everything that they knew; from how to change strings to what type of guitar do I want to play. I grew up in a really supportive musical scene. I did know mostly male musicians, when I was in Buffalo, but they definitely empowered me to be just as good as them. They actively told me I was good at what I was doing, and that I should stick with it."

When it came to finally purchasing her first guitar, Sheena's supportive community once again proved to be an important asset. Learning predominantly on her friend's Gibsons, she had it in her head that she wanted to her first guitar to be either a Les Paul or an SG. Finally, she settled on a guitar that is very much a midway point between the two: the Gibson Les Paul: The Paul. The Paul is a fairly well known Gibson, but was only manufactured for a few years between 1978 and 1982, shortly reissued in 1996 as The Paul II. A budget friendly version of the Les Paul, The Paul has the shape of a Les Paul with the thickness and playing style of an SG. Alex, who is the current drummer of Lemuria, had in fact purchased one shortly prior to Sheena's interest, which allowed her to see first hand how it played, before coming to the conclusion to purchase one herself. It has become Sheena's main guitar, and she continues to play it today, "I liked it…I never really had to buy another guitar".

Likewise, when it came to purchasing amps, Sheena's first choice remains an essential part of her rig still. "The first amp that I bought is an amp that I currently use. It is a Garnet Pro 400, Super Model, it is a head that was made in Winnipeg; they kind of became famous from the Guess Who, who used to use all of their amplifiers."

While she has since returned to the head, there was a few years stretch where the amp was out of commission due to technical issues. During this time, Sheena was able to experiment on a few different amps, including a Blackface Fender Bassman. Ultimately, she was searching for an affordable tube amp that could get a bit dirtier than the Bassman, she found this in the Music Man HD-130. "I wanted something super simple, an old tube amp. I wanted something that didn't cost a thousand dollars. Music Mans, at the time, were kind of floating around Buffalo, and I had a bunch of people tell me that that is what I should buy if I wanted something similar to a Bassman, but have a little bit more options…I love it. It is exactly what I wanted all along." Currently you can catch Sheena live playing both the HD-130 and the Garnet Pro 400, blending the amp's tonal characteristics for her tone.

While she has had the pleasure of often bypassing most of the rookie mistakes beginner gear connoisseurs make, Sheena recalls her one comical mistake purchase. Up until she misplaced the pedal, Sheena was using a ProCo Rat (a pedal used more frequently in metal and hardcore) to overdrive her signal. "Before I knew about pedals, I think the one thing that I bought that I would never use again, in Lemuria at least, was the Rat pedal. It was never what I wanted. It was too squeally, it never boosted what I wanted. It just kind of created a lot of noise and fuzz." After misplacing the pedal, Sheena replaced it in her chain with an Ibanez Tube Screamer, which she describes as perfect for her tone.

Sheena's musical experience may be unique for most, but offers a message to people who desire to but cannot yet play an instrument. Even though it can be argued that 20 is by no means young, it seems daunting to try to learn a new instrument outside of your teenage years. If you can learn something from this, it should be that talk to your friends for help, and if you want to do something, just do it. In ten years' time, Sheena has managed to learn how to play guitar, write songs, and can now be seen touring the world with Lemuria. What's stopping you?

Joseph Yanick is on Twitter - @joeyanick