By Kai Ma
In 2005, shortly after Hurricane Katrina devastated the north-central Gulf Coast, Ken Oak and Ed Gorski were driving through New Orleans in a Honda Element with a U-Haul attached behind it.
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“Trees were blown over, there were all these cars abandoned on the side,” recalls Oak. “We ended up at this abandoned house at the end of a cul-de-sac and we could’ve sworn there were people in there. When we got back on the road, the sign for the freeway was upside-down and we were just screaming.”
It seems almost fitting that Oak, who formed the Ken Oak Band with Gorski in 2004, witnessed such havoc on his first self-booked national tour. Much of Oak’s earlier work was inspired by a place that had to function under chaos: the peculiar (though non-catastrophic) setting of Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.
“My younger sister had the videotape, so I ended up watching it hundreds of times with her,” says Oak, 33. “My writing was influenced by that mad world, where things didn’t make sense.”
But Oak and Gorski, pegged as an acoustic cello rock act, aren’t necessarily promoting a life on acid. Nor do their songs evoke a sense of disorder. Hailed for distinctively fusing cello with folk and rock elements, the duo is known for lyrical songs laced with penetrating, melancholic chords and soulful vocals.
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The term “cello rock” can still be misleading, says Gorski, 27. Unlike Apocalyptica, the Finnish metal band that plays Metallica covers on cellos (thereby reducing countless horsehair bows to shreds), the Ken Oak Band’s style of rock isn’t heavy or in-your-face.
Instead, think Jack Johnson meets Yo-Yo Ma – yet not necessarily sounding like either.
“We’re hard to describe,” says Oak. “But we kinda border on soft rock, even though I hate that term.”
On a recent Thursday in August, Oak and Gorski, who share an apartment in Los Angeles Koreatown, were preparing to perform at the Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica, Calif. To pay the bills, the band plays almost every evening at the outdoor pedestrian strip (often wearing suits and skinny ties à la Franz Ferdinand). Since 2005, they’ve been on five national tours and have sold nearly 25,000 albums independently.
More indie singers and songwriters in Los Angeles are captivating audiences, thanks to Hotel Cafe, a Hollywood venue that’s helped artists such as Priscilla Ahn and Meiko generate buzz. The Ken Oak Band, which just finished a month-long residency there, also had their song “Inda” featured in Andy Fickman’s 2006 film She’s the Man.
The band’s first two albums, Symposium (2005) and Vienna to Venice (2006), were released under their own label, Cello Rock Records, and they plan to release a third, tentatively titled Good Advice, Bad Advice, in December.
The songs haven’t been recorded, or even chosen. Yet the name is an accurate representation. “There’ll be songs that are positive and encouraging, and other songs about getting drunk and breaking things,” says Oak. “The cello, which I treat like a third voice, brings it all together.”
Oak, who became a cellist when he was 8, never expected to become a cello-playing singer. And not too many do. “When the cello was invented,” he says, “the guy wasn’t thinking that people were going to be singing while playing it.” Another surprising element: chicks dig the strings. “You wouldn’t expect it. Cello was not the instrument that got you laid in high-school.”
Learning to play was the result of a happy accident. While Oak was living in Houston as a child, his elementary school’s music teacher needed a cello player for the orchestra. Oak, who’d never played before, was chosen to fill that void. “It got me out of class and I was cool with that,” he says. “But I had to carry it half a mile to school and back everyday. It was a lot bigger than I was. It must’ve looked funny from the street … this huge cello with feet underneath.”
The peak of Oak’s classical cello-playing career was during his senior year in high school. “Cello was an escape,” he says. “I just loved the way it sounded: sad and melancholy. It evokes a certain kind of emotion that is just very natural for me.” He even considered becoming a professional classical cellist. But when his teacher told him that his hands were too small to be a soloist, he switched to playing bass, then guitar.
Oak, who was born in San Mateo, Calif., spent most of his life moving around. He’d lived in Arizona, Colorado, Illinois, Maryland, Michigan and Texas before settling in Los Angeles to pursue a music industry degree from USC. He met Gorski in 2004.
Gorski was into Pennywise, and grew up listening to punk. Oak, who preferred the Indigo Girls, was influenced by vocal harmonies and new wave. Still, their differing tastes didn’t stop them from forming a band. Though they initially both played guitar (the cello was brought in later, as the suggestion of Gorski), Oak now plays cello and sings lead and Gorski plays guitar and sings harmonies. Both write the songs and are equal contributors.
Then why are they called the Ken Oak Band?
“I was a solo artist for a long time,” says Oak. “So much was invested in [my] name that to start over felt impractical. So we just stuck with it. It’s kinda been a long-running discussion. I know Ed has issues with [the name], and I would too.”
As for Good Advice, Bad Advice, expect the same emphasis on acoustic cello and guitar, but a style that is “more country-ish somehow,” describes Gorski. “Alt-country like Ryan Adams. But a darker version with some pop thrown in there to kick you in the face.” The new album may also incorporate drums and other instruments. But that won’t include the electric cello.
“I used to have one of those,” says Oak. “But a friend of mine borrowed it one time and he was sort of a crackhead. So he pawned it. It’s still in the pawn shop right now.”
