August 28, 2007
Don't Call Them Alt-Country
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Oakley Hall is much more versatile than you think
On paper, Oakley Hall comes across as just another run-of-the-mill entry into the No Depression sweepstakes. Band members cite Dylan and old-school country artists such as Johnny Paycheck and Kitty Wells as influences. Guitarist Fred Wallace even went so far as to customize his Fender, stringing and tuning it as if it was a banjo. Vocalists Pat Sullivan and Rachel Cox have the whole male/female harmony-meets-vocal swap on serious lockdown. Call them Wilco, with some female vocals tossed into the mix for good measure.
On second thought, don't even think about calling them that.
"On the surface, sure, it seems like we're doing the same things as the whole alt-country movement," explains Sullivan. "I don't doubt that as kids we all listened to the same Creedence records. We're both doing things with deep roots. Our roots may cross paths along the line but ours certainly don't go through theirs. I like to think we inject a little more life into our song readings."
Country kin or no, Philadelphia has the chance to affix any label to the Oakley Hall sound when they roll through Johnny Brenda's next Wednesday. Openers and local faves the Teeth merely add even more spice to Oakley Hall's sweetly schizophrenic stew. Don't be surprised to get a little taste of several genres throughout Wednesday's musical mashup.
"Our influences really do pretty much run the gamut," explains Sullivan. "Claudia [Mogel], our fiddle player, really listens to a lot of Cajun music. Rachel [Cox] loves Kitty Wells - as do I, and Fred [Wallace] and I are both serious Lindsay Buckingham acolytes. He (Buckingham) strung his guitar like a banjo, too, so it's not like that's without precedent."
Oakley Hall's drummer, Greg Anderson, is somewhat of a surf rock fanatic. Although Anderson and the band have parted ways since the recording of their upcoming release, I'll Follow You, the California sound is reflected through Anderson's skin slapping, Sullivan's vocals and even Wallace's strumming on the new disc.
"Regardless of the singular influences of different band members, we all seem to share some love for the Flatlanders and Little Doug Sahm and the Sir Douglas Quartet," says Sullivan. "They just really seemed to let themselves get weird within structural parameters. That's the kind of stuff that really inspires us."
In fact, Oakley Hall even cribbed their name from the California-based pulp author of the same name, thus solidifying one more Cali connection.
"We're all pretty big fans of Mr. Hall's writing and it just seemed like a fun name for a band," says Sullivan. "A few years ago, his wife contacted us after coming across our site while doing a Google search using her husband's name. Since then, we've sent him a few CDs and he's mailed us some of his books. Whenever he gets together with his writer friends, they're not shy about letting him know how jealous they are that he has a rock 'n' roll band named after him."
Many might find the concept of referring to any band whose sound even slightly hints at alt-country as "rock 'n' roll." Those Philistines need only reach back so far as Oakley Hall's last album, Gypsum Strings, for solid examples of these guys flat out rocking the Casbah.
Confidence Man opens with an Iron Maiden-esque intro and several tracks throughout the disc display strong Krautrock influences. Sometimes it sounds like Uncle Tupelo, Kraftwerk, Neko Case and Can somehow stumbled into a single studio and, lacking anything better to do, recorded a surprisingly coherent album.
Admittedly, Gypsum Strings was a slight departure from its predecessor, the mellow and twangy Second Guessing - a concept that seemed somewhat strange considering the fact that both were released within mere months of one another last year.
"In reality," explains Sullivan, "the albums were made more than a year apart from one another. It was merely a result of label-shopping and unavoidable delays that made it appear that we were the hardest working band in 2006. We still may have been - don't get me wrong - but our recording schedule wasn't that hectic."
Sullivan also notes how the band's mesh of touring and studio time in 2006 led to a looser approach to Gypsum Strings.
"After Second Guessing came out we were already touring with [Gypsum Strings] songs. We did a lot of playing - getting looser as a live band and just letting our instruments breathe more," explains Sullivan. "We didn't seem to have enough space for everybody, sonically, so we just expanded a bit. We didn't go in thinking we would record Gypsum Strings. We just wanted to get loose in the studio. Once we decided to take it easy, things just fell into place and we totally captured the record."
Regardless of how Oakley Hall is labeled, they rarely disappoint live. The tight harmonies and musicianship displayed on their studio recordings is magnified when they find themselves thrust on to center stage.
As Sullivan succinctly explains, "The thrust that our six personalities create together is the defining piece of our band more than anything else."
On second thought, don't even think about calling them that.
"On the surface, sure, it seems like we're doing the same things as the whole alt-country movement," explains Sullivan. "I don't doubt that as kids we all listened to the same Creedence records. We're both doing things with deep roots. Our roots may cross paths along the line but ours certainly don't go through theirs. I like to think we inject a little more life into our song readings."
Country kin or no, Philadelphia has the chance to affix any label to the Oakley Hall sound when they roll through Johnny Brenda's next Wednesday. Openers and local faves the Teeth merely add even more spice to Oakley Hall's sweetly schizophrenic stew. Don't be surprised to get a little taste of several genres throughout Wednesday's musical mashup.
"Our influences really do pretty much run the gamut," explains Sullivan. "Claudia [Mogel], our fiddle player, really listens to a lot of Cajun music. Rachel [Cox] loves Kitty Wells - as do I, and Fred [Wallace] and I are both serious Lindsay Buckingham acolytes. He (Buckingham) strung his guitar like a banjo, too, so it's not like that's without precedent."
Oakley Hall's drummer, Greg Anderson, is somewhat of a surf rock fanatic. Although Anderson and the band have parted ways since the recording of their upcoming release, I'll Follow You, the California sound is reflected through Anderson's skin slapping, Sullivan's vocals and even Wallace's strumming on the new disc.
"Regardless of the singular influences of different band members, we all seem to share some love for the Flatlanders and Little Doug Sahm and the Sir Douglas Quartet," says Sullivan. "They just really seemed to let themselves get weird within structural parameters. That's the kind of stuff that really inspires us."
In fact, Oakley Hall even cribbed their name from the California-based pulp author of the same name, thus solidifying one more Cali connection.
"We're all pretty big fans of Mr. Hall's writing and it just seemed like a fun name for a band," says Sullivan. "A few years ago, his wife contacted us after coming across our site while doing a Google search using her husband's name. Since then, we've sent him a few CDs and he's mailed us some of his books. Whenever he gets together with his writer friends, they're not shy about letting him know how jealous they are that he has a rock 'n' roll band named after him."
Many might find the concept of referring to any band whose sound even slightly hints at alt-country as "rock 'n' roll." Those Philistines need only reach back so far as Oakley Hall's last album, Gypsum Strings, for solid examples of these guys flat out rocking the Casbah.
Confidence Man opens with an Iron Maiden-esque intro and several tracks throughout the disc display strong Krautrock influences. Sometimes it sounds like Uncle Tupelo, Kraftwerk, Neko Case and Can somehow stumbled into a single studio and, lacking anything better to do, recorded a surprisingly coherent album.
Admittedly, Gypsum Strings was a slight departure from its predecessor, the mellow and twangy Second Guessing - a concept that seemed somewhat strange considering the fact that both were released within mere months of one another last year.
"In reality," explains Sullivan, "the albums were made more than a year apart from one another. It was merely a result of label-shopping and unavoidable delays that made it appear that we were the hardest working band in 2006. We still may have been - don't get me wrong - but our recording schedule wasn't that hectic."
Sullivan also notes how the band's mesh of touring and studio time in 2006 led to a looser approach to Gypsum Strings.
"After Second Guessing came out we were already touring with [Gypsum Strings] songs. We did a lot of playing - getting looser as a live band and just letting our instruments breathe more," explains Sullivan. "We didn't seem to have enough space for everybody, sonically, so we just expanded a bit. We didn't go in thinking we would record Gypsum Strings. We just wanted to get loose in the studio. Once we decided to take it easy, things just fell into place and we totally captured the record."
Regardless of how Oakley Hall is labeled, they rarely disappoint live. The tight harmonies and musicianship displayed on their studio recordings is magnified when they find themselves thrust on to center stage.
As Sullivan succinctly explains, "The thrust that our six personalities create together is the defining piece of our band more than anything else."
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