Oppenheimer (band)

Oppenheimer
Oppenheimer onstage in Madison, WI
Background information
Origin	Belfast, Northern Ireland
Genres	Indie pop, alternative
Years active	2004–2009
Labels	Smalltown America (UK) Bar/None Records (US) Fantastic Plastic Records (EU)
Past members	Shaun Robinson Rocky O'Reilly

Oppenheimer were an indie pop band from Belfast, Northern Ireland. The band was made up of musicians Shaun Robinson and Rocky O'Reilly. Robinson and O'Reilly were previously members of the now disbanded Belfast group, Torgas Valley Reds. They met in 2003, in Belfast. O'Reilly had been mixing sound and recording Torgas Valley Reds, whom Robinson drummed for. Inspired by their mutual love for Moog synthesizers, vocoders, and airhorns, O'Reilly and Robinson formed Oppenheimer in late 2004, using O'Reilly's spare room to record 3 songs, which they sent to their favourite labels.

Oppenheimer's music has been used in various North American television shows, including How I Met Your Mother, in the episode "Lucky Penny", Ugly Betty, and Gossip Girl.

Robinson and O'Reilly began recording music together in 2004 in Belfast. They claim that Oppenheimer is not actually named for physicist Robert Oppenheimer. Instead, the name was selected because the duo found it to be aurally and visually aesthetic. Their record label, Little Ruddiger Records, comes from Bart's Inner Child, a fifth season episode of The Simpsons in which self-help guru Brad Goodman believes Bart Simpson's name to be "Ruddiger".

Oppenheimer released their eponymous debut album through Bar/None Records in the United States in July 2006, and through Shock Records in Australia and Fabtone in Japan. Oppenheimer was later issued in the UK via Smalltown America with the initial pressing selling out. The album includes a cover of "Don't Call Me" by Belfast songwriter Tom McShane.

The first single from the album was double A-side 7", with "Breakfast In NYC" and "Truth Or Dare" along with B-side "Getting By". The vinyl single was released in the UK through Smalltown America in April 2006. A video for "Breakfast in NYC", directed by Brian Philip Davis was also produced to coincide with the single release. The music video was made available on the Oppenheimer MySpace page. In support of the album, Oppenheimer toured with Regina Spektor, They Might Be Giants, and Architecture in Helsinki. They also played numerous festivals in North America, as well as the Forfey Festival in August 2006 and the Glasgowbury Festival on 21 July 2007.