Loud, proud and psychedelic, Oscar Suave are looking to serve up East Londoners with a slice of rock ‘n’ roll.
It seems psychedelic bands nowadays have fallen down the pecking order when it comes to East London’s underground music scene.
There is, however, a passionate and bustling sub-culture out there, with Oscar Suave one of the promising local acts determined to bring psychedelia up to date.
“We are loud – very loud,” says Oliver Davitt, singer-songwriter and founder of the three-piece outfit and self-proclaimed ‘fuzz band’. “We are pretty energetic with quite a carefree approach, we love to play live, it’s our favourite thing to do.”
Two out of three of the band members Erick Antoine and Gal Cohen, originally from France and Israel respectively, now reside in Hackney, while Davitt himself lived in Bethnal Green for years. “We rehearse there and most of our gigs are in East London,” he says.
With a very mature yet wildly imaginative sound, Oscar Suave sound straight out of the original psychedelic rock era. “The Velvet Underground, Pink Floyd and The Doors are my most influential bands at this present moment,” says Davitt.
“Erick knows loads of unknown sixties’ psychedelic music and he always sends me stuff to listen to. Sweet Smoke have an amazing sound and they have 30 minute songs. It’s great!”
It wasn’t easy to get to a sound they could truly feel at home with. Since their inception in 2010, the band have gone through several line-up changes and, after three years of experimenting with different styles, they are now sounding tighter and louder than they ever have.
Harsh but dreamy vocals and emotive lyrics are the main staple of their melodic and sometimes darkly orphic tracks, to the extent that it’s a wonder to think how they go about the writing process.
“It’s normally triggered from a feeling or stuff running through my head. Some songs have taken five minutes to write, some have taken months. I still have unfinished songs that are four years old. There’s no real formula – it just kind of happens.”