INTERVIEW: Okey Dokey
Okey Dokey’s Aaron Martin on making music and getting it out there, and where to find good tunes in Nashville.
By Michael Ferrence
February 19, 2019
MF: I don’t know a lot about you guys. My buddy was listening to you on Apple Music and I checked it out while my wife, son, and I were in California last summer and we listened to you guys a bunch, and really enjoyed it, seemed like the perfect album for cruising around LA.
First question, since this is an email interview, my understanding is there are two primary songwriters in Okey Dokey, who am I talking with? Hah!
AM: You are reading Aaron (Martin) right now. I am an artist from TN, and also an Okey Dokey guy.
MF: When writing, what’s your approach? Do you collaborate on each song? Write individually, then bring it to the group and take it from there? Do you guys have a certain vibe in mind while writing the album, or just write and whatever happens, happens? (Or something else?)
AM: I think for me the key is writing all the time. I don’t think anything works every time and I find that mixing it up is a good way to stay creative. You also pick up lots of tricks that you can bring to the table when working with a large group of people. Another benefit of writing so much is that you get to enjoy songs as they were in the moment. I don’t think you can feel that way once you hit a certain point in the process.
MF: Do you actively plan to try to differentiate yourself from others or are you different just by being you?
AM: I think that people are very complicated and music is actually very simple. It is a way for complicated beings to write what has already been written ,but in the best packaging to gain a new perspective. Some have a heightened ability to transpose the tastes of multiple demographics of people into an arrangement that feels new and complex. We call these people different, we assume they strive to be different, however they are the ultimate same, and we need them to communicate similarities to us so that we may then make the best playlist.
Nah, we just record the stuff that makes us laugh.
(These dudes aren’t just writing rad songs, they’re also legit knocking out good jokes.)
MF: I’ve been there and for all the great things I hear about Nashville, and we had a great time, awesome food, it was very difficult finding good, original music. Almost everything was cover bands. We had to go out to some basement in a strip mall off the highway to find anything cool. Is that an accurate representation of Nashville? Is the best stuff harder to find? Why?
AM: Man, that’s unfortunate to hear. To be honest, I am truly shocked by this. You could lick a dime and skip it across a puddle in Nashville, TN and it would probably land in a gig bag. If only you had stumbled into The Basement, The Basement East, Cobra, The East Room, Fond Object, or Dee’s. I hope you have better luck on your next visit.
(Me too. I think we were at The Basement. Maybe. Or maybe those places didn’t exist in 2014. Next time.)
MF: What other bands have you been in? Are you currently in multiple bands?
AM: We have another band for all of our bad songs called Doohickey. That has taken up most of our time.
MF: How’d you learn to play?
AM: Both of us just started one day. That really is all you need to do.
(Totally agree, man. Just pick an instrument and start playing. Get some friends to do the same, and you’re in a band!)
MF: What kind of stuff do you listen to? Can you recommend some newer stuff?
AM: I listen to Nick Hakim lately. He is pretty rad. Listen to Liz Cooper, Rayland Baxter, and Becca Mancari. They’re cool, too. Listen to Jordan Hull.
(Thanks. This is awesome. I’m gonna check them out. Right. Now.)
MF: I had the idea when I was in college to go in a room for a weekend with my bandmates to write and record an album, and a dream that it would be one of the greatest albums ever, and we’d blow up. (sloooooowwww claaaap) I’ve since done something like that on numerous occasions. Everything but blowing up happened. I read that you ‘made the rare decision’ to write/record an album out in the woods North of Nashville. For real? Which album?
AM: I think that is typical for a lot of people in our circle. It’s natural to want to do that because you get to experience a different setting which creates different ideas and you get to be a different person, but it is definitely a trade-off because you leave behind all of the creative comfort blankets that you stockpile in your home studio or your friends basement.
(For real? Which album?! Email interviews suuuuck!)
MF: It’s extremely difficult to make it in music, to have enough listeners and followers who will buy your music and go see you play so much so that you can earn a good living. Unless you’re one of a few dozen bands, it doesn’t seem very glamorous. Would you agree? What’s a normal day like?
AM: I do think it is difficult, but you can’t think about that as a creative. There is this thing with people where you have to throw money into everything. I am a visual artist. When it comes to my career I truly hope that art is what I get to hang my hat on. However, I was given a chance to try to take a swing at music.To me it is something that is better when you just write what is real to you. Do we think about the songs in a business sense? Of course, but that is only because we refuse to let ourselves release a song to no one. It would be a complete misuse of a great opportunity, and I think that culture, even if it is from my dumb brain, needs to make as big of a splash as it can.
MF: Like I said, I’m a musician (anonymous) and prolific songwriter (completely, as yet, unknown). I tried for years and years in my teens and 20s to get my stuff out there, to build a following, but I was never able to put it all together and make that happen. I’ve been teaching ever since.
I haven’t given up hope (you should, dispshit), I’m still at it. I don’t tour or play many shows any more (because nobody likes you), but I’ve put stuff on Soundcloud, Bandcamp, YouTube, Apple Music, Spotify, and it’s good (seriously, the most recent stuff is called Paper Cloud, check it out), and I’m sure I’m not alone, there are probably millions of bands and artists who’ve gone unheard, without more than one listener.
How the HELL did you get people to listen to your stuff? How have you gotten it out there? (Congrats, BTW)
AM: Luck and working constantly is literally the only story to tell.
MF: I dig that. But I think a lot of people have that same aspiration, they want to be heard, but they aren’t. They’re lost. How do you make sure you’re heard, that your song isn’t released to no one?
AM: It’s hard to ever ensure people hear what we, or anyone for that matter, put out into the world. Something we’ve always admired and strived for is constant collaboration. Involving more players and singers and writers and producers means a larger community to release and promote the songs. Music can be made by one person, and that’s great, but we believe in strength in numbers and getting to work with people we love and respect in everything we do. To sum it up, we can’t ensure anyone ever listens to our music, but the least we can do is make the best art possible with as many great people as possible before our time runs out on this big floating space rock.
(Wanna collaborate on something? Seriously. I’ll email you.)
MF: Do you guys have day jobs or is music your thing?
AM: We both have jobs that we work regularly. I do artwork for a variety of people and Johnny is a barista at our favorite coffee shop in town.
MF: Why Okey Dokey? How was that not taken?
AM: Johny’s dad says it all the time. After hearing it on the phone so much we just had to.
(Using that same logic I should start a new band called, “Hey. It’s just me. We’re good. Nothing’s wrong.”)
MF: What role does social media play in your success? Do you think it gets people out to see you?
AM: We are only good at Instagram, maybe? And no.
(Hahaha! Good one! That’s cool.)
MF: What do you have planned for the future, musically and otherwise?
AM: The same. Always the same. Haha! Every day is an opportunity to set yourself up for success. So that is what we try to do.
MF: Thank so much for your time. Good luck with everything. I hope it all works out just as you’d want. Let’s talk again sometime.
AM: Thank you so much!
