The OaKs

Two calls - Radio Edit

Mon, 02 Jun 2008 15:37:25 -0700

The Two Calls (of Dietrich Bonheoffer)

Wed, 27 Feb 2008 16:13:22 -0800

The Heart is a Lonely Hunter

Sat, 15 Dec 2007 18:24:01 -0800

Masood

Sat, 08 Dec 2007 23:10:32 -0800

Survey For a Distribution of Winter Clothing

Tue, 26 Jun 2007 16:25:30 -0700

My Father's God

Tue, 26 Jun 2007 16:23:52 -0700

Message from the Moon

Tue, 12 Jun 2007 14:18:30 -0700

My Heart Is Weighed and Found Wanting, Kabul

Tue, 12 Jun 2007 14:15:25 -0700

The Sins of My Fathers

Tue, 12 Jun 2007 14:05:08 -0700

For Hugh Thompson

Tue, 12 Jun 2007 13:53:48 -0700

Attraction Of The Pilgrim Fair Game

Sat, 01 Mar 2008 11:39:13 -0800

The OaKs play live in the WNYC studios on PRI's Fair Game

oaks on fair game masood 1.MP4

Sun, 24 Feb 2008 22:01:03 -0800

Oaks 2007 recording "Songs For Waiting"

Thu, 03 Jan 2008 16:26:25 -0800

The trailer for the OaKs' new album Songs For Waiting, to be released March, 2008.

The Heart is a Lonely Hunter

Tue, 31 Jul 2007 10:13:33 -0700

The OaKs live at The Peacock Room

Old Bones.wmv

Tue, 10 Jul 2007 15:54:29 -0700

The OaKs play "Old Bones" live at the Peacock Lounge in Orlando. June 2007

Melissa sings with Ingrid Michaelson. Best. Night. Ever!

Tue, 17 Jun 2008 14:20:48 -0700

Last night, I got to sing up onstage with Ingrid Michaelson at the Social. TWICE. Ahhhh!!!!! :):) This is what happened: First of all let me say to preface this that since the Hotel Cafe show at SXSW back in March, Ingrid has quickly become one of my favorite female singer/songwriters. Ever. And her song "The Chain" is my favorite of hers. By far. Earlier in the day, I tried to track down the song "The Chain" by Ingrid. I had first heard her perform this song in her... More... Last night, I got to sing up onstage with Ingrid Michaelson at the Social. TWICE. Ahhhh!!!!! :):) This is what happened: First of all let me say to preface this that since the Hotel Cafe show at SXSW back in March, Ingrid has quickly become one of my favorite female singer/songwriters. Ever. And her song "The Chain" is my favorite of hers. By far. Earlier in the day, I tried to track down the song "The Chain" by Ingrid. I had first heard her perform this song in her short set that she did in Austin, TX at SXSW this year. She, Allie Moss (her back up singer/friend) and Kate Havnevik (and I think Jessie Baylin, although I'm not positive) sang this GORGEOUS song. It was a round (you know, like when one person sings, then the other comes in, and then another: like Row, Row, Row Your Boat) and it quickly became my favorite Ingrid song. Suffice it to say, this is the song that made me fall in love with her music. And it's not available ANYWHERE to download. She had it up on her myspace for awhile, but took it down recently. A couple of months ago, I listened to the thing over and over while at work. I wanted to listen to it today, but couldn't find it ANYWHERE--not myspace, itunes, nowhere. It simply wasn't available. Anyway, Brenda, Becca and I got to the Social and as soon as I saw Ingrid's stage set-up, as thrilled and excited as I was to be at the show, I was a tad disappointed because I saw she only had one back up singer (Allie Moss again). I realized that she probably wouldn't sing "The Chain", because you definitely need at least three female voices to sing it. Halfway through her set, Ingrid said: "So, I wrote this song that's a round called "The Chain." Anybody heard of it? It was up on myspace for awhile." She got a few hoots of recognition, but hardly anybody seemed to know it. "Thing is, we need at least one other person to sing it. Does anybody here know the song?" I felt a burst of adrenaline and my hand shot up, then I timidly retracted. Ingrid obviously didn't see me because we were to the far stage right side. My friend Becca who was with me grabbed my hand and pushed it up further, and yelled "She knows it!" Ingrid turned her head in our direction and asked, "Really?" With a sly, fake-pompous attitude she asked "How much vocal training have you had?" A few answers shot through my brain: I had this inner dialogue with myself that sounded a little something like this: I could say I'm in a band. No, that's just tacky and if I were in the audience and I heard someone else say "Actually, I'm in a band", I would scoff derisively at them. I can try and be witty and say "I vocal train in the shower" but that's kind of an overused joke. Hmm...or I could actually be HONEST and say I've taken a couple months worth of voice lessons or I--Instead of saying anything, I just kind of laughed nervously. Despite my pathetic lack of wit, eloquence or even words, she said, "Get on up here." So I jumped up onstage in front of the where Allie was standing on stage right with her microphone. There was an extra mike stand and they told me I could take that one. Becca later told me that while I was adjusting the mike stand, apparently Ingrid said "Whoa, adjusting the mike stand. Impressive." and I guess some people cheered at that, but I was kind of too nervous and in a daze to notice... Allie pulled me aside and quickly ran through the chorus part that I was supposed to sing in like 10 seconds. I think she just wanted to make sure I could at least hold a tune so I wouldn't completely ruin the song in the event that I sucked. Allie explained to me the song structure and told me when I should come in. Ingrid asked me if I knew the words, and she made me say them with her;) The part that I sing as the round is: "So glide away and so be healed And promise not to promise anymore And if you come around again Then I will take the chain from off the door" Allie looked at Ingrid and smiled and said, "Yeah, she can sing it." So Ingrid began. I couldn't believe this. This is like something out of a crazy awesome dream. I was nervous... My hands were shaking a bit. I hardly looked at Ingrid, because I was so afraid I'd mess up. I was just kind of looking at Allie because I knew she would cue me when to come in. After Ingrid and Allie sang through the verses and choruses, Allie nodded at me to come in and I sang WITH them. There's this part where the instruments drop out and it's just the voices singing the chorus in a round. It was seriously the most surreal thing to be singing my favorite song by the artist (who is one of my faves) up onstage into a freaking microphone with said-favorite artist WHO WROTE the song. The audience went crazy. I think it's best summed up in something one of the people said to me later: "We were all living vicariously through you. It was amazing!" And to top it all off, Ingrid invited me back onstage for the final song! She looked through the audience and said "Where's Melissa? Let's get her back up here." I protested, saying I didn't even know the song, but Ingrid said it was really simple and that she was going to teach all of us. So I hopped back up onstage and Allie shared her mike with me. I honestly can't even remember the words or the melody or even the name of the song we did, but it was so incredibly fun to stand up there and just sing my heart out. And then at the end, we all bowed together like they do in theatre. And that was it:) Overall, it was an AMAZING show. Ingrid really is the whole package--she's a brilliant songwriter, an amazing vocalist, achingly funny, bluntly honest, creative, down-to-earth. She excels at establishing a personal connection with the audience. Very hard to do at all, and she does it so well. Haha wish they would let me tour with them just to sing that one song. I totally would. haha;) --- For pictures go to - http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/pages/The-OaKs/20750985013

The story behind Masood

Sun, 09 Dec 2007 15:55:58 -0800

More about The OaKs' song "Masood": It was early December, 2004. 26-year-old Ryan Costello had just moved into a new house on the west side of Kabul with a South African family, having lived there only one month. With only a scant knowledge of the local language, Farsi, Costello began walking the streets near his house during the day determined to make friends in the neighborhood. After several days of hanging out with and taking photographs of the local school age children, he was invited by a middle aged man into his mud-walled shop and offered tea. Not knowing the local custom of declining invitations at least three times, Costello said "yes", which surprised the man who frantically looked around, realizing he had no tea to serve. At that moment another, younger man with a beard and leather jacket who had been standing in the corner of the shop spoke up, "You must come to my house and have tea with us." Just a few hundred feet away Costello approached an old rusty gate racked with bullet holes and walked into a courtyard where the shell of a blown-out building stood. Up the winding stairs and into a carpeted living room, with thin cellophane over the gaping hole blown in the wall, Costello sat and waited. After a few minutes, in walked a young boy, around sixteen-years-old, with clear eyes and a wide smile. "Hello, welcome. My name is Masood." Thus began a close friendship between Costello and Masood. Taking him deep into the heart of the city's swarming bazaars, Masood helped Costello buy a Chinese bicycle for 20 American dollars. Masood and his brothers took Costello all over the ancient city, from the mined mountains on the outskirts of the city where the faithful gather holy water from a sacred spring to the bird bazaar where birds from all over Asia are traded and sold. Their unlikely friendship grew deeper, as did Masood's English and Costello's Farsi. Masood shared his life story, how his father had been a renowned judge before the war and how they lived in a large house, which they now huddled in the remains of. One sub-freezing night in the middle of winter, Masood showed up on Costello's doorstep with red, worried eyes. "Can I use your phone to call my brothers out on the west side of the country?" After some prompting, Masood shared with Costello that his father was near death with an undiagnosed illness. Masood took Costello in the cold night to his house, up the stairs and into a small back bedroom, where Costello saw Masood's mother, brothers, and sister huddled around his father who lay on a cot on the floor, a loud rattle in his chest. Masood invited Costello to come and sit with him next to his father, and they sat together for some time. Masood asked if Costello would pray over his father, and, raising his hands in the Afghan custom, he did. That night, Masood's father passed away. The next day began 40 days of mourning. Masood came over to get Costello one early morning soon after, and Costello walked into their courtyard to find relatives from all over Afghanistan had come to pay their respects for Masood's father. Many of them walked up to Costello and thanked him in broken English for coming to spend time with him in his last hours, and for praying for him. Costello and Masood continued their close relationship for two more years after this, until Costello left for America. Masood changed after his father died, becoming more sober and pensive. He shared with Costello the weight he felt on his shoulders to rise up and provide for his family and to take on their name. Three years later, as Costello sat around in his living room in Florida one summer strumming on his classical guitar, he began working on a song that would weave in the story of Masood with another Masood who was killed in late 2001, Ahmad Shaw Masood. An Afghan mythic hero who rose up mighty armies to fight first the Russians and then later the Taliban, Masood from an early age carried himself as a warrior and a walking message to his people never to let themselves be ruled from without. Called "The Lion of Panshir", Masood gave hope to his people in a hopeless time. As a composite of one personal friendship and one mythic story, Masood came to be one of the centerpieces of The OaKs' new album Songs For Waiting.

New Album (and the OaKs begin to emerge from exile) scoll down for pics

Thu, 29 Nov 2007 21:02:41 -0800

It seems like July 23rd was years ago, the day that we began this long journey, holing up in my 1950's wood-floored house with instruments piled up around our heads, but on November 20th we finally finished our new album! We've called it Songs For Waiting.

And what a journey it's been...for myself, I've learned a lot. This is the first record that we did from start to finish ourselves, including the mixing (the first record Martin Feveyear out in Seattle mixed for us while we looked over his shoulder). With this album we wanted to mold each part of the process in our own hands...which was scary in some ways!   The inspiration for the sound of this album really came from my living room, a house we rent in the old section of town (Winter Park) where we wrote and crafted most of these songs. The deep resonance of this room just creates a feeling, a real atmosphere, and our whole goal was to play into the room and just capture that feeling. From the very beginning, our vision was to use as few modern recording techniques as possible - just to set up room microphones and play our instruments, mic'ing them in the way we wanted them to sound on the recording.

Most music is recorded to capture the best possible "tone" of the instrument, usually mic'd at a very close distance, and then artificial reverb is used to try to make each instrument blend together. What we did from the very beginning is tried to picture where each instrument would be placed in the stereo field and then mic'd that instrument with that end in mind.   So when we recorded background vocals, and we wanted them to sound like they came from behind the main voices, we stood 10 feet back from the microphone. In some ways this was kind of a crazy way to make an album, very old school, but once we got into it it felt really liberating and we found ourselves getting really creative with the space in the room and all the places we could put the microphones for different feels and sounds. We even recorded our 1980's synthesizers by playing them out into the room.

One of the best things for me was the way we have really pulled together as a band through making this album. This is our first album as a full band, 6 members, when the first one was just Matt and I. A lot of times in concert or loud rehearsals I can't hear the intricate parts that each member is working out, but as the main audio engineer I got to spend hours and hours with each person in my living room helping to record their parts into my laptop and I got to witness what a range of amazing talents each person brings to this band. I feel crazy blessed to be a part of this! I love the way each person brought the right touch of minimalism to their parts, willing to drop something or change something to make the song better at a moment's notice. Each sacrificing themselves for the whole.

Throughout the process of mixing we were guided, mentored really, by Alan Douches at West West Side Music, who's hand has been on everything from Paul Simon's Graceland to Sufjan Steven's Illinoise and Grizzly Bear's Yellow House. His insight, and more than that his confidence and encouragement in us and our music, has been totally priceless. Thank you, Alan.

And the finished product? Is beautiful to me. We wanted to make an album that transports, and I feel like it does that. We wanted to make an album that pushes ourselves musically, lyrically, and in songwriting, and I feel like it does that. The album art by Justin Mezzell is shaping up to fit it perfectly as well.

OK, you're dying to ask, when can I buy this thing??!   In a very short period of time we'll be posting a new song for download and another one streaming on this very site. Contact us now to find out about pre-ordering the new album (more details to come). The album will be officially released on March 4th....and we'll be playing shows featuring our new songs starting with January 5th, Saturday, at the Social.   Until then...
Ryan

PS. I also videotaped the recording process so we'll be putting together an album trailer video in the next month or two. In the meantime, here's some still images from the video:

A tree grows in NYC (from the frontlines at CMJ)

Thu, 15 Nov 2007 06:12:48 -0800

It's been a couple weeks since we played at Fontana's in New York City, and it's taken almost that long to get over how much fun it was! I had a bit of a different perspective on the whole experience, as I was there not only for the show but also to celebrate my one-year anniversary/honeymoon. This blog isn't about my time with my wife April, though. It's about The Oaks breaking new ground.

So as many of you might know, The Oaks have been on a self-imposed hiatus from playing live. This was so we could really concentrate on recording our second album. But we couldn't turn down the chance to play in the Big Apple, as part of one of the biggest music festivals in the country! We played a "warm-up" show on Sunday, October 14th, at the Social here in Orlando, opening for Caribou. It was a great show, and really got us pumped and ready to take on New York. The next day, Matt drove all the way up to New York by himself. Drummers. They're all crazy. The rest of us flew, mostly on Monday, although April and I flew up on Tuesday. I'd never been to The City before, and let me just say: NY taxi drivers are insane. After much rushing around and trying to find a place to eat in Chinatown that took credit cards (or even spoke English), April and I made our way to Fontana's.

It was a really neat place, although a bit smaller than I had anticipated. One of the bands that played before us was a Tampa band called Giddy Up Helicopter. They certainly had an interesting sound. For their age (they seemed really young) they did pretty well. Good for them! The band after us was a trio made up of three girls that had the most amazing voices. I'm fairly certain they were classically trained. I think they were called "3 Sisters."

But you didn't come here to read about them! When it came time for us to take the stage, we were psyched and ready. There was an almost tangible electricity in the air. After we lugged all our gear onto the stage (can't wait until we have our own roadies), we all started tuning. I plugged into this very nice Ampeg cabinet with 8 10-inch speakers. We sound checked, and the sound guy seemed very knowledgeable. We started with "Attraction of the Pilgrim", which is a tough opener for me, but a good one nonetheless. As we made our way through the set, it seemed like the room started to fill up more and more. Cameras were going off, people were swaying to the music, and it was just a lot of fun.

A bunch of people from Fanatic Promotion (our new promotions partners) were there. I felt like it was one of our top shows ever, sound-wise and performance-wise. My wife videotaped the whole thing; some clips can be seen on our myspace page.

I was a bit sad when it was over, because it was so fun. That set is emotionally draining, especially with "The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter" ending the show. And yet, I can't wait until we start playing longer, multi-set shows. The energy and level of musicianship we are reaching right now is awesome, just as a personal experience, and I can't wait to see what heights we can attain when we add more and more songs and grow even tighter as a band.

JS

(All black and white photos courtesy of the very kind Deanna Wallach with Dragon Eyes Photography)

Getting Back from CMJ

Fri, 19 Oct 2007 06:51:32 -0700

It was a pretty crazy trip but we made it with all of our gear intact. We opened fro Caribou in Orlando last Sunday and then loaded Matt's car and he drove 20 hours straight right after the show to The Bronx where we were staying. The rest of us flew. The show at Fontana's was great! It's a nice thing to see a whole set of new faces in the audience and to hear them singing along. Now it's back to the studio to finish up the next album. We have 3 weeks to go before it scheduled to be sent to mastering.