Taking an unusual DIY approach, indie folk band Oliver Hazard has found an audience
Jun. 30—The members of Oliver Hazard are used to taking a DIY approach to finding an audience.
The indie folk band created its own festival in its hometown of Waterville, Ohio, and embarked on a series of "Living Room Sessions" to tour through the United States.
Now the band is adding a trip to the farthest reaches of the nation to its musical outreach.
After a Thursday show at 49th State Brewing, Oliver Hazard heads to Hope for a pair of shows over the weekend at Creekbend Cafe.
Singer-guitarist Mike Belazis, Devin East (vocals/guitar) and Nate Miner (vocals/keyboards) were all around 28 years old when they got serious about launching the band.
"We weren't young people," Belazis said. "We all quit our jobs to do something that was kind of crazy. And with that, we made a really conscious decision not to rely on this old model of trying to be a musician."
The Living Room Sessions were developed as a model that fits the band's sound — harmony-driven with instrumental ebb and flow. The concept took off and carried the band to success somewhat on word of mouth, with the hope of turning a majority of the small crowds into fans.
"We never wanted to play like a bar where you're kind of background music," Belazis said. "We're like a pretty quiet group. We sing a lot. So the harmonies and all of these little details need to be put in the right context."
In Waterville, the band gained a loyal following early on and in 2018 launched Oliver Hazard Day, a one-day festival. What started as a pretty ragged affair soon grew as the trio invited bands they toured with to participate. The first festival was "a stage in the middle of the road" and grew to the point that they were able to rent out a much larger venue — the local minor league baseball stadium.
"We were able to kind of grow in a really grassroots fashion here," Belazis said. "That core foundation from where we grew up really inspired a lot of faith in what we were doing."
The band's methods have worked as their following has grown and they've garnered fans worldwide, with more than 1.3 million monthly Spotify listeners.
The band's next release, a self-titled LP, is due out on July 14. Recorded in 2020, it's a step forward for the band's sound, which is reminiscent of vocally driven groups from the 1960s and '70s like Crosby, Stills and Nash.
"This will be a second kind of our sophomore album and it's definitely a growth point for us, sonically," Belazis said.
The band hopes to make the best of some downtime while in Alaska, with trips to Talkeetna and Girdwood planned as well as hiking and rafting.
Oliver Hazard
Thursday
7 p.m. at 49th State Brewing
Tickets $30
Friday-Saturday
7 p.m. at Creekbend Cafe in Hope
Tickets $25 or $45 weekend pass
(Correction: A previous version of this story listed Griffin McCulloch as the band's keyboard player. Nate Miner replaced McCulloch in the group earlier this year.)
