It should come as no surprise that Levy & The Oaks are firmly planting roots in today’s ever-evolving musical landscape. The Asbury Park-based four-piece seamlessly blends clever lyrics, spangled melodies and heady arrangements to deliver a powerful one-two punch of Indie Pop and Grassroots Rock, while putting a tasteful spin on modern (and not so modern) culture.
Levy & The Oaks have released “Slowly in the Water” the first single off their upcoming LP of the same name. Of the single, lead singer Duane Okun says, “The track is about rebirth. Finding yourself feeling lost, extremely envious about those around you who seem better off. The first verse maps a struggle between society and status quo. What defines us? So many of us feel trapped in a mindless routine. The second verse needed a kick, so we went with a hip-hop influenced style for vocals. The format never changed, everyone added their parts and sang along. One of the easiest songs written for the record.”
Comprised of Duane Okun (lead singer/rhythm guitar), Lou Panico (bass/backing vocals), Chris Colon (lead guitar/backing vocals) and David O’Neal (drums), members of Levy & The Oaks have played all over the world with acts like Incubus, All American Rejects, Say Anything and many others. Additionally, they performed at CMJ and South by Southwest with a variety of mainstream acts.
In this interview feature, we chat with Levy & The Oaks about their new project, influences, challenges in the digital era and more.
Q&A, links and a stream of Slowly In The Water below.
Where are you from and what style of music do you create? (In your own words, not necessarily in marketing terms or by popular genre classifications.)
Asbury Park, New Jersey. We play an aggressive style of folk-based rock. Ultimately, our songs start on an acoustic guitar. We then take the grassroots lyrical sentiment of folk and put our own spin on it with a variety of sounds and instruments.
What led you down this path of music and what motivates you to stay the course?
Ever since I heard the music of the early 90’s I’ve had this desire to write and inspire. The music of Nirvana and others were more than just simple melodies and words to me. At the risk of sounding cliche, it was my anthem of the future. It was an anthem of now. I wanted to be part of that type of movement. I didn’t know how or what I was going to do, but I knew I wanted to be a part of it. I wanted to give back into it what it gave me and inspire others the way it inspired me.
Who or what are your biggest influences when it comes to your creativity?
My writing style always seems to have this strange optimistic cynicism to it. I can be very weary and at the same time very positive. Everything is out there already. I’m not trying to reinvent the wheel. I just try to find a different way of saying it and approach from different angles. I use my surroundings, modern (and not so modern) culture, and my existence and life experiences as my creative canvas. My biggest influence are my bandmates and the handful of amazingly talented artists I’ve had the pleasure to share my art with over the years.
How is your new release different than previous ones? Did you set out to accomplish anything specific?
I have played with Lou (bass player) in other groups before so we have pretty good chemistry when it comes to songwriting. Besides him everyone else in the band is new and are people I haven’t played with before this project. Dave our drummer has a very gospel-inspired style with insane chops. His drumming style is nothing like drummers I’ve played with in the past. I’ve never played with a slide-guitarist either. We honestly weren’t sure what we were going to sound like. We just went for it. We wanted to be honest and kept the songs as simple as possible. The last thing we wanted to do was over-think it.
Do you face any challenges as an indie musician in a digital age? On the flip side, how has technology helped you (if it has)?
The world is literally at your fingertips these days. The fact that every song is so easily accessible these days, in my opinion, has devalued the process. Instant gratification sounds great in theory, but the appreciation and respect for the process gets lost in the ether. People forget how long it takes and how much time is spent on bringing an album into fruition from beginning to end. Instant gratification tends to devalue a lot of the things I love about doing what I do. On the plus side, people are starting to care again. It’s like, “Oh yeah, physical artwork IS cool. I think I’ll pick up their vinyl record and display it in my living room”.
How do you feel about streaming services? Any romantic attachments to the physical formats: vinyl, 8-track, cassettes, CDs?
There are certainly ups and downs of streaming. On the one hand you have a chance for millions to hear your music on one site or phone app. On the other hand, how many of those people are purchasing and listening to an entire album? You know, from front to back. Most listen to one song, and that’s it. You know, until the next one is released. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t want to generalize. There plenty of true music lovers out there that WILL purchase the album and love it in its entirety. But at the end of the day, if most listeners are only getting into one song at a time, the music industry is going to follow suit and ultimately make it more difficult for artists to create full length albums. I want to spend weeks/months in the studio piecing together an album from beginning to end. I want it to say something, mean something. I’d much rather do that then go into the studio for a few days here and there just to bang out a “single”. I’m an album lover. I’m a vinyl lover. I want to hold a tangible product.
Where can we follow you online and hear more music?
- www.facebook.com/levyandtheoaks
- twitter.com/levyandtheoaks
- www.instagram.com/levyandtheoaks
- Levyandtheoaks.com
Anything else before we sign off?
Our first single ” Slowly in the Water ” is on iTunes, Spotify, and Soundcloud. https://soundcloud.com/levyandtheoaks. The pre-order for our debut self-titled album is also live on iTunes and drops Oct 21st. We celebrate with all our friends and family Oct 28th at Webster Hall Studio where we’ll be having our album release show. Come on by and check us out!
