Oskar Interview

A few sad and unfulfilled individuals haven't partaken of the Oskar experience yet. If you are one of those people, check out their website now, find out when they're playing, and go and see them. The London-based four-piece are working tirelessly to bring us some really gorgeous, chilled out, folky music that firmly promotes the assertion that you don't have to shout to be heard. After having recently seen them open for Jonathan Richman, I decided to take the liberty of asking them a few questions about what they do and how they do it.

M-N: How did you start writing and recording music?

We are all from very musical backgrounds so have been playing music for as long as we can remember. However, it all came together properly when we met each other. We started off by covering songs by our favourite artists and then realised we could write our own. We started recording our own music as soon as we realised it was possible to do it from home. We had been in the studio many times and found that it had not worked for us as being under pressure to get something recorded in a certain amount of time really hinders the creative flow a recording should have for it to sound full of life. We slowly built up the equipment we needed and learnt how to do it ourselves.

M-N: Your first EP, Seal Sands, was quite refreshing in the way it side-stepped the fashion conscious music industry machine. How does the new home-made record compare?

The new CD (soon to be old, we are recording a new CD this month) is certainly more upbeat and although we have stayed true to ourselves, has more commercial potential. We have changed a lot since Seal Sands mainly due to the fact that Sarita has joined the band since that recording. It gave us a new lease of life and we have started to write more songs to fit with the sound we have always been trying to achieve.

M-N: Where do you think you fit into the picture? Do you feel part of the current music scene?

We certainly feel that we fit into the current music scene, more so with our new songs. It's a shame that in the current music climate you have to think about how your songs fit in but unfortunately that's the way it goes and from it, I think we have really improved and developed our song writing skills.

M-N: What have you been listening to recently?

Cat Power, Neil Young, Modest Mouse, Stellastarr, Nina Nastasia, The Killers, Hal, Proud Mary and many more!

M-N: Seeing the band live is quite something and your music lends itself well to live work. How does your tendency towards live performance impact upon your recorded work – are you as comfortable in the studio as you are on stage?

We are certainly more comfortable with our live performance at the moment. However we are working on the recorded aspect of the band. We are working with the producer, Natt Chan at Kensal Studio's, for the first time this month and are really looking forward to having some input into our recorded work from a professional.

M-N: You recently played at Glastonbury (twice). How did it go?

Glastonbury was amazing, we had such a great weekend and got a great response from the audience – we definitely want to play there again!

M-N: What's next for Oskar?
More songs. More gigs and at some stage, a new release. We are currently unsigned and are building up a team at the moment, we already have our PR and music lawyer in place who have been invaluable to us and are helping us look for management and a record deal, so we shall see what happens next!

For more details about the band and future releases please refer to www.oskarmusic.com