Psych-rock sextet Ocean Alley are on their way to becoming one of Australia’s hottest properties. They’ve had to use plenty of smarts to get to this point, from where they started.
The group describes their sound as a mix of different genres.
“It’s a melting pot of all of our influences and musical idols,” they say. “We are constantly changing and evolving our sound, so it rarely stays in the same place for too long. If I had to label it, I would call it rock with a surf-psychedelic main ingredient.”
Ocean Alley has had a great year, performing at the John Cain Arena in Melbourne to 10,500 people, but they certainly haven’t had it easy going the DIY route. “To me, [DIY] means doing it tough for a few years before finding your footing in the industry—sacrificing time, energy and money to do what needs to be done to make it to the next level,” they say. “We have done everything ourselves. From doing professional shows, our wonderful management team have been indispensable and are just as important as the band itself. ”
The guys feel that the music industry is just getting started again post-COVID.
“We’ve all had a long hibernation in terms of live shows and new material in general,” they say. “The great beast that is the music industry has got a lot of lost ground to cover, and in this post-COVID world, I think we’re about to see a massive shift in terms of what artists can accomplish. We had our ‘holiday,’ now it’s time to get back into the action!”
The new album is Low Altitude Living, and they say it reflects who they are as a band and individuals.
“Everybody in life has their own story, and we have tried to tell a piece of that through this album. We live by the ocean, we love our friends, we eat, drink, have a good time and try to find the many beautiful things that are out there to find,” they say. “The album talks about change, reflection, love and loss and camaraderie. We didn’t set out to explore those things intentionally, but it was how we were feeling at the time of writing and how we still feel.”
For more information, visit oceanalley.com.au.
