#ok koala

[messy-musical-mind]

Have I mentioned recently that I'm in a band?

[okkoalamusic]

We've got some fun shows coming up in the next couple months but they'd be funner if you were there!

...Oh, "funner" isn't a word? Well, I guess you gotta come to one of the shows and tell me that to my face

[okkoalamusic]

Time capsules are a weird concept. How can your present self determine what things your future self will want to remember? Releasing music publicly sometimes feels this way. The act of permanently preserving something born from your own brain brings with it some questions. Is this memory, this feeling, this sound what both the present and the future will need to hear? Is there something here worth saving, and am I worthy of saving it? My commercially released music does not represent all of my catalog or even summarize it, but when I look through these lyrics, I can see snapshots of where I was at the times when I wrote them. There’s magic in that.

[okkoalamusic]

Visit Original Link

We watched our greenhouse turn to dust It's all a dream now, only us All that we've grown lost to apocalypse A siren rolls off my martyred lips And as I lie down and look up at planets collide, oh, this wondrous disaster is boiling, and I know The sky will tear Sunrise somewhere

And as it all dims, my dreams expire And so I throw them into the fire I am lost for words, can't find the track As the train runs across my back And as the marks on my skin leave me naked and wide open, I try to muster the strength within my bones and I'm tired, I'm bare Sunrise somewhere

I watch my own blood from the gloom I'm killed in cold blood with no tomb I watch through my fingers as angels fly Not one of them lingers except to watch us die I see the starving, the burning, the swift violations; we're dying down here, you don't hear what we're saying, it's Not right, no fair Sunrise somewhere

You thought you'd lose me, but I'm still here Is there a new me behind these tears? I'm fine, I swear Sunrise somewhere///

[okkoalamusic]

Hold onto joy.

New single "Roaring Lungs" out March 7.

We'll be playing it on tour March 6-15 so please learn the words and come sing them back at us.

[okkoalamusic]

THE MARCH RADNESS TOUR (with updated flyers)!!!

Tickets for select dates available at linktr.ee/okkoalamusic.

3/6 Nashville - The 5 Spot

3/8 Chicago - My Place Ohio

3/9 Lansing - The Avenue

3/10 Columbus OH - Dirty Dungarees

3/11 Pittsburgh - Local 724

3/12 Brooklyn NY - Purgatory

3/13 Philadelphia - Khyber Pass Pub (JUST ANNOUNCED)

3/14 - Lynchburg VA - Super Rad Arcade

3/15 - Charlotte NC - Petra's

[okkoalamusic]

Tumblr gets to see this first...

Announcing THE MARCH RADNESS TOUR!!! We're hitting 8 new cities we've never been to and playing with past and future friends. Which show are you coming to?

3/6 - Nashville, TN @ The 5 Spot (w/Felix Tandem (co-headliner!!!), Hussy Fit)

3/8 - Chicago, IL @ My Place Ohio (w/tenmonthsummer, Background Character, Fujiko)

3/9 - Lansing, MI @ The Avenue (w/Motion Sick, Clipboards, no problemo!)

3/10 - Columbus, OH @ Dirty Dungarees (w/New Modern, MINUS)

3/11 - Pittsburgh, PA @ Local 724 (w/Happy Hours, Trading Twilight)

3/12 - Brooklyn, NY @ Purgatory (w/Eevie Echoes & The Locations, warm wishes)

3/13 - Philadelphia, PA @ *venue TBD* (w/WATERMEDOWN, Fuzzy Slippers)

3/14 - Lynchburg, VA @ Super Rad Arcade (w/Her Majesty, Anosmic)

3/15 - Charlotte, NC @ Petra's (w/Leaving For Arizona, Those Dogs)

Flyer designed by the incredible Hailey Fetting (more individual flyers to come!)

[okkoalamusic]

Diary 4/19/2020

As a frequent consumer of live music, I’ve become increasingly bored with shows where artists just play their instruments on stage without making any visible effort to make the performance interesting or memorable. I’m no longer impressed with the fulfillment of a desire to hear my favorite songs in a live setting or the demonstration of players’ technical abilities. I want to see something, FEEL something that I couldn’t get by just listening to recordings. As a performer, it is only fair that I turn this critical gaze onto myself. As an artist who barely exists outside of a couple recordings and some scattered DIY shows, I have not been very concerned with my stage presence up until this point, as my agenda has been to capture people’s interest with my music and promote, promote, promote so they stay connected after the show’s over. But I don’t know if that’s enough anymore. Every artist, especially in the city I live in that’s full of wannabe creatives, believes in their own creations with varying levels of confidence, so demonstrative performance and self-promotion does nothing to separate me from the rest of the pack, some of whom honestly bring little to the table in terms of original and refreshing content. I don’t mean to sound cocky - my music’s worth is not for me to determine, so perhaps other people think it is no different than others’. But there is a part of me that doubts that the quality of the art is in itself a primary determinant of impact. So in this time of isolation and reflection, maybe it is time to craft a stage presence for myself, a sort of character that I can slip into as needed. After all, the music I write is often a way of externalizing my feelings and separating them from myself so that I can move forward away from negativity that would tie me to the past, and maybe this detachment should bleed into the performance as well. I often say things in rhyme that I have been too cowardly to say or unsure of how to express directly, so I believe my persona should reflect this poetic boldness. Self-confidence is not something I’m sure I possess. I am very skilled at second-guessing my every decision. The stage should be a place to shed that reservation. My character is confidence. Confidence in my words. Confidence in my talent. Faith in the idea that the awkward, imperfect communication of my creation is worthy of being placed on a stage in front of an audience. Maybe I don’t truly believe that. But maybe I don’t have to.