Jimi Hendrix, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Mudvayne, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Led Zeppelin, Pepper, Sublime, Rage Against the Machine, Nirvana, Eric Clapton, Blind Melon, madahoochi, black rebel motorcycle club, raw talented bands...
Sounds Like
Heavy Rock with a classic rock influence. It is hard for us to choose other bands that sound like our own music. You be the judge. Let us know.
Sitting in a room with the members of Columbia, Missouri’s OAKSHORE, you can tell that these guys have been hanging around one another for a long, long time. For starters, brothers Andrew and Jesse have known each other since they were unfertilized eggs. TJ and Eric came along around age 13 after meeting at 0an AC/DC concert. Before long, the band began gigging in their home town of O’Fallon, Illinois.
"It’s weird being in a band with your brother because you’re almost sick of it." Andrew says, "We’ve always had a room together and now we’re in the same house." When the brothers moved to Columbia to attend the University of Missouri, TJ and Eric naturally followed, keeping the band together. Under various monikers, Andrew, Jesse, Eric and TJ kept a bond that they have built into the mighty Oakshore.
Still, working and living and being in a band together with your brother and life long friends isn’t as easy as it may seem.
Jesse: "You gotta roll with the punches, you know if Rocky didn’t train so fucking hard, he wouldn’t be a bad ass."
Andrew: "What the fuck are you talking about?"
Jesse: "I’m just throwing some "Rocky" in there dude, what the fuck?"
But it’s just this bond the brothers and friends share off stage, that brings it all together when Oakshore is performing on stage. "We have a chemistry… the way we make the crowd drop all the bull shit and just rock, that’s what sets us apart." Jesse says.
Rock is just what Oakshore does, with a collection of songs that meld a classic rock feeling with modern alternative sensibilities. Their debut EP showcases the precision that you would expect from players that have lived a lifetime together. In addition to being great musicians, these guys are tight players together, crafting a crisp sound that is worthy of a thorough listen.
Fixed drives at you, with Andrew and Eric’s guitars weaving a sonic tapestry sometimes reminiscent of Godsmack’s Tony Rombola. Then they suddenly remind you of a Jimi Hendrix lick you heard a long time ago. Then Jesse breaks into a funky bass riff as TJ pounds Fixed back into a melodic crunch at the end.
Eric’s guitar solo on Abused, is as close to "God-like" flawlessness as any guitarist on the scene right now.
No Place brings Oakshore to a shining spot in the future of Rock Music. Andrew simply wails the penetrating chorus, "Already wrote about being abused, it so easy being used, the door’s shut on me, yet I’m left outside, ya remember the last Jesus" The acoustic mix showcases Oakshore’s tight songwriting, putting the message in front of a virtuoso guitar performance. While the full version grinds you until you can’t help but bounce your head along with the song.
So what does the future hold for Oakshore…
Jesse: "Hard work at every gig we get."
Eric: "You can’t read the future."
Jesse: "You bet we’ll be working our balls off."
TJ: "Our goal right now is…"
Andrew: "Bigger shows, bigger crowds in bigger cities…"
Jesse: "We’re not like everything else. You can’t put a label on us, ‘oh, Oakshore, they’re…’ You can’t really ‘genretize’ (sic) us. We’re not like that. We’ve got guns and bullets and shit…"
Andrew: "Chopping through your mind…"
Jesse: "Make chili come out yo head."
Andrew sums it up quite simply, "If I can play music every day of my life and have people at the shows, I’m happy. That would be bad ass!"
