The Oaks
Words: MacKenzie Pause
Photos: Courtesy of Band

Every band has a different story of its conception. A similar taste in music, the need to express artistically or fortune and fame may motivate some to embark that musical path. It’s not everyday, however, that a life changing journey to Afghanistan creates a band devoted to delivering music with a message.

The story of The Oaks begins in Afghanistan where Ryan Costello (vocals, guitar, mandolin, keys) spent two years living with families in the rural mountains, teaching agriculture and nutritional development as a humanitarian worker with Global Help Network International.

Costello said: “I realized that I was unprepared for how much I would be stretched in such an alien culture, learning a new language, not just a spoken language but a whole new cultural language. Before heading back to America, I found myself thinking a lot about my generation, about the culture or irony and apathy that as American youth we’ve cultured around us, and about how eventually we realize the emptiness of that. I wanted to bring that in our music, building on humanitarianism, but deeper than that into the ideas of catharsis and change, of confronting yourself in honesty, of really seeking for truth. It was that stretching pain and ultimately visible change in myself that challenged me to start this band.” 

When Costello returned to Orlando, he joined up with Matthew Antolick (drums, marimba, percussion, keys, electonica) who shared musical taste and philosophical views. This collaboration sparked the idea to create a philanthropic band that could carry a message and make a difference.

“The music has always been a kind of impressionism of the things we think and feel,” said Antolick. “I guess that's true for all artists to a greater or lesser extent, but we try to take it further by really trying to bring these ideas forth through the music itself. Tempo, groove, scale modes, instrumentation, and time signatures are all expressive devices.”

These guys don’t just talk about what could be done for change. They donate 50 percent of profits from CD and download sales to Global Hope Network to aid widows and refugees in Afghanistan. Making money takes the backseat to their musical message.

Altruism, self awareness and introspection are ongoing themes for The Oaks. While some bands write about love and broken hearts, The Oaks are writing about Hugh Thompson, Martin Luther King and Ghandi, not to mention a slew of other humanitarian icons.

“Hugh Thompson decided that he was the one who was going to affect change in the situation he found himself, even if it meant risking his career or his life,” Costello said. “He was a metaphor for me.” 

Although the first album, Our Fathers And The Things They Left Behind, delivered straight forward messages, the next album from The Oaks will carry over themes of self-reflection, but intends on covering varied subject matter.

“The album draws from a wider palette than before,” Antolick said. “That's partly due to the more impressionistic approach to musical composition, combined with a much more metaphorical approach to lyric writing on Ryan's part. Metaphor is so rich with possibility as far as what the listener is going to draw from the overall experience of the song. It's always fascinating to see what people think our songs are about. There is often more than one relevant interpretation.”

The band plans to start recording their new album in July, and should be released by November. The album will be recorded at Costello’s older 1950’s era Orlando home, complete with large wood floor living room.

“It just cries out to be recorded in,” Costello added. “The sound and feeling that comes bouncing back to us in that living room are really inspiring us right now.”

The Oaks started with two men with a meaningful message, but has since grown. Jeremy Siegel (bass, brass, mandolin), Melissa Reyes (vocals, accordion, bells, mandolin), Rachel Schalm (vocals, bells), Greg Willson (guitar, vocals) and Tim Cocking (Wurlitzer, accordion, keys, bells, trumpet, vocals) add their talents to the folk based music that sounds like what would happen if Radiohead, Paul Simon, The Album Leaf and Yo La Tengo got together one day to jam. 

“I feel really strongly that we’ve just scratched the surface of our musical potential as a band,” Costello said. “I’m excited because I feel like our music will speak very strongly for itself.”

Antolick added: “It seems like every time we play together we get stronger and tighter, and the energy and intensity grows even more. I love it when we play a song in a loud club that transitions to a quiet section, and all you can hear is the music. I look up, and everyone is watching us, absorbed in the experience of the sound and the melody. That's when the message and medium become one with the audience. It's wonderful. It's why I play music, and take the time to make it.
 
The Oaks’s music can be purchased at www.myspace.com/wearetheoaks , www.theoaksband.com and iTunes. Get new music and feel warm inside from your charitable donation. To read all about Ryan’s journey to the Middle East, visit www.theoaksband.com/bios1.html .