Formed in the summer of 2006, Ocoai have quickly garnered the praise of their peers as well as a devoted following of fans.
Guitarist (and engineer/producer ) Travis Kammeyer and drummer, Tim Smith met in the small but immensely talented music scene of Johnson City, TN. Upon discovering similar interests, the two formed their first band together, 24 Hour Front Desk in early 2005. After 24HFD dissolved, Kammeyer and Smith wanted to try something different. Kammeyer who had shared ... (more)
Formed in the summer of 2006, Ocoai have quickly garnered the praise of their peers as well as a devoted following of fans.
Guitarist (and engineer/producer ) Travis Kammeyer and drummer, Tim Smith met in the small but immensely talented music scene of Johnson City, TN. Upon discovering similar interests, the two formed their first band together, 24 Hour Front Desk in early 2005. After 24HFD dissolved, Kammeyer and Smith wanted to try something different. Kammeyer who had shared guitar and vocal duties in 24HFD, wanted to shift focus from vocals all together. Thus Ocoai was born with one mission: to be the loudest and heaviest band around.
Without a vocalist or for that matter a lyricist, the table was wide open for musical development. To complete the line up, guitarist Joe Armstrong and bassist Bo Dugger were brought on board. The varying musical influences of the individuals serve as a catalyst for developing songs that have a sort of push-and-pull effect on the audience. Ambient guitars swell into crunching riffs while sparse back beat rhythms develop into a tsunami-like driving force, until every accent is pounded into your brain.
After a year and half of playing shows and recording more than an albums worth of songs that were passed amongst friends, shared on social networking sites or self-packaged and sold at shows, Ocoai decided it was time to deliver a proper record. Recording in the winter and spring of 2008, Ocoai would assemble the seven songs that make up their first full-length record, Breatherman (comprising over 50 minutes worth of music).
When seeing Ocoai live, one thing is clear; their mission to be the loudest and heaviest remains but has since expanded to include a desire to deliver a start to finish musical journey thru emotions that are as varied as the band members themselves.
Source: Ocoai
