Maintaining a unique sound while keeping roots as a guide is a daunting task in today's music world. Everyday countless bands emerge, searching for new pathways of musical definition and sound.
While the vast majority of new bands find it difficult to achieve originality in their formative years, Rochester's Oshe has found a comfortable place they can call home. Oshe will be bringing their unique and highly original blend of rock, funk, fusion and jazz to McGarret's at 11 p.m. Thursday.
Since their conception in the summer of 2000, Oshe has encountered many of the habitual growing pains a younger band typically feels: tough financial situations, band members still being in school and the strain of building a local fan base.
While initially coming together as a quartet of young men looking for a way to have their musical voices heard, they quickly shifted gears towards turning this dream into a reality.
"We sat down and decided that if the group was to continue, it would have to become more serious," said Oshe keyboardist, Jake Savage. Using momentum from the handful of shows they played that summer, the band simplified the quartet into a trio. The three remaining members - Ken Love on bass, Adam Ochshorn on drums and Savage on keys - would then set out to finish their schooling while playing gigs wherever possible.
"Though two of us went back to school that fall, we agreed that the following summer the goal was to play music, and not to have jobs," he said. "In order to financially support ourselves doing this, it meant that we had to try to book a lot of shows."
On trekked the members of Oshe, continuing their academic pursuits while performing gigs whenever possible. In the summer of 2002, they would travel to neighboring Vermont and Pennsylvania for their first out-of-state gigs in their short, two-year career. By then, he said, "it became apparent to us that we did indeed want to do this for a living."
"So the following fall, Adam and I moved to Rochester where Ken was finishing up his degree at RIT," he continues.
Now, the foundations were properly laid, and Oshe's distinctive brand of improvisational-heavy groove exploration began to take hold. Fusing varying elements from 1970's era electric Miles Davis to new-school jazz-funk pioneers, Medeski Martin & Wood, the band's sound became a refreshing look at what was to come in both the local, and regional live music arenas.
Over the next year, Oshe played packed clubs throughout the northeast. From the famed Lion's Den in New York City to the Tralfmadore Caf?(c) here in Buffalo, they proved to be a blossoming band with the talent required to craft something out of their dream. By the time December came around, Oshe was a headlining band, and the prospects are only becoming greater.
"This past December, we were thrilled to permanently add a fantastic guitar player to the lineup. His name is Will Senisi," he said.
With the timely addition of Senisi on guitar, their sound became more diverse. Now incorporating more rock n' roll fundamentals to compliment their groove heavy sound, there was no looking back.
"As a trio we were described by a lot of people as 'heavy groove music' or 'ambient groove fusion.' Adding the guitar, especially the way Will plays, adds more of a modal rock element to the mix," he said. Whereas the trio often limited the possibilities in both their written song compositions as well as the live improvisation, the newly formed quartet was now capable of expanding and thus, delving into more areas with greater ease.
The Oshe train will be pulling into town at 11 p.m. Thursday at McGarret's, 946 Elmwood Ave. Cover is $3.
Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
