Oaken Interview

1.For those that have never heard of you before, can you tell us a little bit about the band?
F:We play dark and heavy music with new songwriting approach at least for us and we are using
extra percussions and synth. The band started as a project. All of the members are coming from
different styles of bands and Oaken is the common platform for us to create something different
from our „mother bands”.

2.Recently you have released an album how would you describe the musical sound that is presented on the recording?
F:Since lyrically it has a monumental theme we wanted it to be manifestated as well in the
sound. The subject matter was so cohesive that rather than writing single songs we focused on
creating a flowing  album. To make it more colourful we asked some friends to collaborate and
experimented with recording techinques, instruments. We used big spaces for the drums. It was
recorded in a cave-like huge stone room thanks to the very talented sound engineer, Dexter from
Supersize Recording. Our aim was not just to write a heavy record but to have an ongoing
athmosphere.

 3.What are some of the lyrical topics and subjects the band explores with the music?
G: The lyrics are inspired by universal social problems and historical events but these are not
depicted in an obvious way. Mostly I write about inequality, religion and dictatorship. If it feels
good to sing the words at the rehearsal than those are the right ones.

4.What is the meaning and inspiration behind the name 'Oaken'?
G: Well we had hard time finding a name that everyone liked in the band. After a while we
decided in the letter Ö¨ because it can be a circle, symbol of completion, eternity. Played some
shows and a really funny thing happened. Timo from Alerta Antifascista Records was emailing
with our then-guitarist Zsolt. Our band came up and Timo was well surprised to hear that he
plays in O, a german post-rock band. We had to change it. Oaken was just obvious from there
since we had reference of trees in the lyrics, it kind of makes you think of something old,
precious, mysterious.

5.What are some of the best shows that the band has played so far and also how would you describe your stage performance?
G: Music is the most important thing at our shows but if anything else adds to the experience
that's great. The band consists of two guitars, drums, bass. I use a tom, synth so we mostly
occupy the whole stage since we play smaller venues. We always find ways to have fun
everywhere. People usually say it is like a celebration, a ritual.
D:
Normally we try to play as hard as we can on all of our show,most of them goes well, others not
so much, but for me our best show was in Berlin on our second tour, we played with some really
great bands and the venue was awesome as well, oh and befor the show Timo told us that he
want to release our next LP, so that was a really a night to remember.

6.Do you have any touring or show plans for the future?
D:
We will do a tour between May 12-28, this will be our longest tour so far, we will visit places like
Czech repubilc,Germany,Denmark,Netherlands,France etc. Beside this tour we will have a few
shows in Hungary and for the summer we have two festival invitations as well.

7.The new album was released on Alerta Antifascitca, are you happy with the support they have given you so far?
G: We have never experienced such support. Alerta's work made it possible to reach a lot of new
people with the record. We are really proud of King Beast and have put a lot of energy into it so
we could not be more happier with the commitment the record label is showing.
D:
Yeah, we are really greatful for Timo for his tremendous support, you can say that this is a dream
come true, since he released some of my favorite records before. We couldnt ask more i guess,
so yeah, we're really really happy that King Beast came out on Alerta.

8.On a worldwide level how has the feedback been to your music by fans of hardcore and extreme metal?
9.Where do you see the band heading into musically during the future?
G: As we are getting more and more gear we get louder and noisier. I think we will experiment
more together. Also we have a new guitarist who filled out Zsolt's void quickly and brings new
creativity to the band.
D:
Its hard to say, a lot of things influence us all the time, and we always try to experiment with
instruments as well, so maybe our next stuff will be a post rock record, who knows =)

10.What are some of the bands or musical styles that have had an influence on your music and also what are you listening to nowadays?
D:
My main influences are NOFX,The Spectacle,Amenra,Catharsis just to name a few, but beside
these all time favorites i listen a lot of different music like post-rock,hip hop or doom. I love
everything that the Body or Thou puts out, and im also  into Full of Hell a lot, and Svffer from
Germany made a pretty big impression on me since i saw them a couple of years ago. Oh and i
almost forget that the last Black Heart Rebellion LP is the shit =)

11.What are some of your non musical interests?
Well beside music all of us like to travel and visit interesting places. Some of us are really into
martial arts and that sort of stuff, others are into comic books and football, or making random
videos for themselves. But the main passion for each of us is music.

12.Before we wrap up this interview, do you have any final words or thoughts?
Thank you so much for this interview and for your interest, it means a lot to us!
Please keep support DIY music!