Oliver Hazard

On this episode of Fuegostine's Music Club, Matt (fuegostine) sits down to talk with Mike of Oliver Hazard. Oliver Hazard is an indie folk trio that originated in Waterville, Ohio. The band started when Michael, who was working as an outdoor educator in California, decided to play a dive bar show in Ohio. He convinced two friends to join him, and after a successful performance, they continued writing songs and won a recording contest. They quickly gained attention and signed with a record label. Oliver Hazard is known for their storytelling and harmonies, and they strive to create a sense of place in their music. They also prioritize their mental health on tour by focusing on good sleep, healthy eating, and exercise. The band is proud of their upcoming songs 'Blood' and 'Raindrop River' and will be releasing an EP named after the latter. They are currently on tour and hope to continue building momentum.

Transcript

Matt (00:03)
the following is a conversation with Mike Belazis who is a member of the indie folk trio Oliver Hazard. Oliver Hazard has been making music since 2017 and has a new album being released in the upcoming months. Mike and I talk about the origins of the band as well as the struggles of touring and what it means to have their own day in their hometown. I hope you enjoy the conversation I had with Mike of Oliver Hazard.

Matt (00:22)
Okay, yeah, so happy to have Mike, one third of the trio that is Oliver Hazard with us. Mike, thanks for being here, appreciate you.

Michael (00:30)
Yeah, thanks for having

Matt (00:32)
So I think the best place for me to start being the history major that I am, I have to ask about the name Oliver Hazard and kind of where it comes from. I mean, I know where it comes from, but just curious if you guys knew the history prior, if it was just kind of random or what the basis behind that

Michael (00:54)
For sure. Well, it's funny. like, I mean, we love history and, you know, I think that's definitely like an interest of ours. But the, I think the impetus behind the name was more of like a trying to keep a regionality for, you know, who we are and like kind of link ourselves to a sense of place. And so when we first started the band, the band started in like a kind of a weird, fast pace, like serendipitous way. like.

Basically, I was working as an outdoor educator out in California and I spent a lot of time in the mountains with students. We'd do these two -week trips and you wouldn't have a phone or anything. So I'd make a lot of handwritten lists. A lot of the lists were like, hey, this is what I want to do by the end of whatever year it is. These are some goals that I have. And one of the goals for that year in particular was play a dive bar show.

in Ohio, where I grew up. It this really cool dive bar and I've always wanted to perform at it. I'd never really been a musician that played outside of my bedroom. So I took the show and a friend of mine was like, I can give you 20 minutes. He was a local. So I was home for two weeks in Ohio. I came home from California basically to see my family for Christmas and I was like, I'm going to do this 20 minute dive bar show.

And I hit up two buddies of mine and I was like, hey, do you want to play this show with me? I'm kind of terrified to it by myself. They said no originally. then they're like, like after, you know, some, some convincing, they were like, all right, we'll do it if we take it seriously. So we showed them some songs I was writing. There were like five of them. We put them together like in really simple arrangements just to make the show really easy. And we played it for our friends. Everybody loved it. And

That kind of gave us the confidence to keep writing more songs. So we wrote another five songs the week after. And that same week, I was at this dive bar that I'd played the show. But during the day, I went and met a friend for a beer. And another buddy walks in and goes, hey, did you hear about the contest? And I was like, what contest? like, this local studio is doing this recording contest. If you submit your name, you win free recording time. And I was like, cool. So I took a fake band name, put it into the lottery.

and we ended up winning the recording contest that week. And so those 10 songs we had written before and after this dive bar show, I called the studio and was like, hey, can we just record all 10 of our songs, even though we won one free song, can we record all 10 of them, just put a bunch of mics in the room, let's do it live, we'll be in and out in an hour. And he was like, yeah, sure, whatever. And so we did that, we recorded all 10 songs, and then I had a flight booked back to California to go back to work, like

couple days later and I was listening to the songs the night before I left. was like, damn, are pretty good. And so I hit up a buddy of mine and he was like, dude, we should probably think about doing this for a living. Let's put it out there. So I sent it to a friend who worked at a record label down in Los Angeles and that week they asked us if they could help us release the record. And so we didn't really know much about the music industry. I was working as an educator. Another member was working as

construction worker and the other one was like selling copy machines. You we're all working just like regular old jobs. And so we wrote the album, recorded it for basically for free and got like a record label to want to release it all within three to four weeks. And so everything happened really fast. Like the two guys didn't even believe there was a record label. They're like, yeah, right, man. You know what mean? They're like on their lunch break at their job. And so

I was like, no, no, I swear. I think they want to help us release this. I think we can try to do this if we want to. So anyway, at that point, we didn't even have a band name. And so we were like, OK, how do we choose a band name? And so we went through all these iterations of just horrible names that everyone, it was like a group text. There was like zero validation because there were just so many names. And I was like, these all don't mean anything to us. And so I was trying to think of like, I was talking to a friend of mine and

She was like, well, where are you from? And I was like, well, we're from this town called Waterville. I grew up in a town next to Waterville. It's called Perrysburg. It's named after this guy who, you know, we grew up 10 minutes from Lake Erie, and it's named after this old sailor that was kind of the victor of this War of 1812 battle that happened on Lake Erie. And she's like, what's his name? was like, his name's Oliver Hazard Perry. She's like, Oliver Hazard, that's pretty cool. I was like, yeah, it is pretty cool.

And so we ended up choosing Oliver Hazard because the namesake kind of linked us to this special place where this band started. And it's also that special place that we still reside today. We throw our own music festival here. We try to give back to the community anytime we can. And yeah, I think it's like this is kind of the foundation for the band. So it feels like a fitting name for us.

Matt (05:47)
Yeah Yeah, yeah, I mean I would agree that I think that's like the perfect thing tie it back to where you're from. I love it kind of like talking about the music festival too. What is Like oliver hazard day mean to you guys, you know having your own festival in a town that's not very big I would assume That's gotta mean right? It's kind of pretty much the same place I grew up. So

Michael (06:05)
No, it's a couple thousand people.

Matt (06:10)
I imagine it's gotta be a pretty big deal and what does that mean to you guys just to have like your own day and to kind of be recognized and

Michael (06:17)
Totally. Well, it all kind of started in a very similar fashion where we actually approached the town and we were like, hey, we'd like to collaborate when we were first starting because we didn't have any money. We were like, do we like, you want to do like a joint t -shirt, like all -or -hazard, Waterville, t -shirt. It was kind of a dumb idea. And she was like, no, not really. And the mayor, this is the mayor, she was super smart. And she was like, why don't you guys just rip a concert downtown?

put a stage in the middle of the road, and we can do that? She's like, sure, yeah. She's like, just sign this form and we'll block the street off for you. We're like, that's so cool. And so she was the one who kind of helped us kickstart the event. yeah, I mean, in a town like this, there's just not a lot of access to music. We've got the dive bar that we played at, and they get some good acts every once in a while. I saw Justin Towns -Earl and Warren Treaty and some cool acts when they first starting.

You know, there's really not a lot of access to music unless you're to drive, you know, an hour to two hours away or you wait until some summer event comes along where, you know, a good artist comes through, but that's pretty rare. And yeah, I think it feels like this mutually beneficial day for us where we're able to give back to the community. We donate a lot of money to our local arts commission. A lot of folks.

and get to see these artists that would never stop here. Indie artists like us and the artists that we book would never stop within 60 miles of this town. So it's really cool. And then for us, it's really cool to see the reaction of the folks that we book at this festival.

folks like Illiterate Light and Bendigo Fletcher and Jack Sines and all these like indie artists that we love, they come to our town and they're just, their eyes are like glowing. Cause they're just like, this is such a magical small town. I can't believe that you guys are from here. You know, like the mayor will like introduce us. It's just got this like, kind of like this Tim Burton -esque, you know, magical land vibe to it. So it's cool to just be there and experience it.

Matt (08:19)
Yeah, mean, yeah, for us, like, and where I grew up, kind of the same issue, like artists don't come within probably like 200 miles of here, like Philly is the closest place and that's a solid drive for me, like two hours.

Michael (08:30)
Yeah, that's a lot.

Matt (08:37)
Yeah, something like that around here would be amazing as well. Like just the access, because people don't realize when you're in rural areas, like across the country, the access to these types of things is so minuscule and there's not a lot of money put behind it. It becomes really, really hard to make something of it if you're trying to. really got to, you know, up and move almost to do something with it. So this is...

Michael (08:52)
for

Yeah, definitely. Yeah, it's really cool.

Matt (09:05)
Yeah, so you guys recently played Newport Folk Festival too. How was that? I imagine that was like a pretty big bucket list memory for you guys. It had to be cool.

Michael (09:15)
Yeah, honestly, we dreamt about it since we started. And I swear I emailed Newport Folk Festival the day we started the band, immediately I was like, I'd love to play this festival. I probably emailed them being like, hey, we started that band. Just want to let you know we're on your radar. You know what mean? I loved that festival. It's such a huge piece of folk history. And I emailed them every

from 2018 until now, just like giving them updates on the band and they were very cordial. They'd be like, thanks for the update. Like, you know, not this year, but you know, thank you. And then so finally last year I shot them an email and was like, hey, I'd like to invite you to our Boston show. Cause I know a lot of the folks who run it are from that area. That's kind of the closest music market. And they came to the show last fall

They really enjoyed it. And then I shot them one last email just being like, hey, you know, we don't want to play at this festival just to perform it and to gain fans. What we really want out of this is to meet other artists. we're from an island. We're from Waterville, Ohio. There's no other bands here that are doing what we're doing. And we just love to be a part of a community of other artists that are doing similar things to us and get a chance to meet them. And of course, we want to play a show.

Matt (10:36)
Right.

Michael (10:37)
show folks what we're made of. But at the same time, for us it was about just being part of that community and that was our biggest takeaway. The festival is so special and there's just a level playing field where you can see so many of your heroes and they're all super approachable. I feel like I met more people in the weekend than I thought I would meet in a lifetime that are heroes of mine. it was really cool, it really special.

Matt (11:00)
Yeah, that's like easily one of the top five festivals I want to get to at some point or another. just looks yeah, it looks absolutely magical. Looks like a great place to be. So you guys, I'm curious, like when you guys are on a tour.

Michael (11:07)
Totally.

Matt (11:14)
How does that affect your mental health on a day to day? So I know for me, when I go out and travel, even if it's for a week, I come back and I feel like I'm absolutely spent. And you guys do it for months at a time, but half a year probably even. Is there a way you re -center yourself on a daily while you're on tour? And then what does that look like maybe when you're back home?

Michael (11:25)
Totally.

Totally. Yeah, I mean, it can definitely be tough. While we're on tour, especially at our stage, it's very difficult to like find a break, you know, because not only are you like playing the show, that's only 45 minutes of the day, but like, you know, four hours before the show, you're loading in and then you're sound checking and then you're just like trying to find like a meal after you set up your merch table and

trained the merch person who might be selling their merch that evening. We don't really have a tour manager or any of that. We're decorating our own stage and putting up the lights and the banners and all that stuff. Not to mention, we drove six hours before that just to get to the show. You're sleeping maybe six hours a night if it's a pretty burly tour. So yeah, it definitely stacks up.

One way that we manage it, we manage it in a few ways. think, especially like with our age, you know, it's like we started this band when we were in our late twenties, you know, we all quit our jobs in our late twenties. It's not like we started the band when we were like 21, you know? And so we, the grind period of like sleeping on hotel floors and doing like the motels and all that stuff, like that didn't last super long. After two years of doing it, we realized we were like, dude, this is not.

sustainable. Like we're, we'd rather just not be in a band if this is what it's going to look like, you know what mean? So we spend a little bit more just to like have comfort while we're on tour. That's one way we manage like our mental health is like, we don't really like take like a huge consideration of, I mean, obviously there's a budget, but like we don't, we're not like afraid to stretch it to get like a nice Airbnb where all three of us get a room every night or to go to

a restaurant and eat a healthy meal that might cost a little more instead of just pounding bar food and fast food. It's unsustainable. So I think one way we manage it is having really good sleeping accommodations where we can have our own space and get ample sleep, which I think is a huge part of mental health. If you don't sleep enough, there's a direct scientific relationship to limited sleep and poor mental health. And I think there's also a

similar correlation between not eating well and mental health. And so we make sure to like nourish our bodies with like regular food as much as we can. And we try to find like unique options of like the healthiest food we can find. And we, you know, I think last month in June or like month, month and a half ago now, we, we did a month long tour in the West coast and I think we only had to eat fast food one time.

out of the whole month. So we were doing pretty good as far as like eating well. So I think those are two of the main things we do. And then I wake up and I try to run in the morning. I'm not even like a big runner. I like other forms of exercise, but when you're on tour, you just kind of take what you can get, you know? So that's one thing I'll do. I know Nate does it as well. And it's a good way to like explore the town too. You just like wake up and kind of just run aimlessly around whatever.

Matt (14:38)
Alright.

Michael (14:48)
small city that you end up in and find a cool coffee shop. yeah, I'd say between exercise, getting good sleep, eating good food, those are some of main ways we try to maintain it on tour. and also just like not micromanaging each other, just like everybody has their tasks. And like, if you can find some solo time just while you're working, like in like setting up your merch booth or whatever it is, you know, we all just

We all know what to do and we try to just give each other space, which is really important as a trio. And then when we get home, when we're off, we're off, spending time with family, spending time with your partners or whoever you're going home to, and just making sure that you unwind for at least a week before turning all of our Hazard Switch back on.

Matt (15:35)
Yeah, yeah, especially to like you guys aren't officially. Are you you're not signed with the label? Is that correct?

Michael (15:42)
So we actually ended up signing with a label called Network out of Vancouver last year for this upcoming record. then, yeah, so we just signed with them recently.

Matt (15:52)
Nice. Well, congrats on that. mean, I imagine, that take any of like the, you know, being smaller or even indie artists, have a lot of hats that you got to wear in terms of social media, you know, and everything else. Does that take any of that burden off or is that still kind of sit with you guys?

Michael (16:11)
Not really. I'd say like labels in a way are kind of more of like a... they're almost like a bank or like a funding source for your records, you know? So it alleviates like stress of trying to find like thousands of dollars to record our next song, you know what mean? Which can be really expensive process for folks who don't record and produce their own music, which a lot of people do these days and we're super jealous of that. But

But yeah, I'd say all of the social media burdens on us right now and like all the day -to -day business management and all that stuff, it's a lot, know, even when you do have partners. I think when you get to a certain stage in your career, you can hire like business managers and have like, you know, having your management run your social media and all that stuff. yeah, I mean, for us, we know that the brand is best right now.

if we run it, you know, and it's our identity. So it's tough to kind of give that up right now, you know. Maybe one day when we're older and don't care as much, we can just kind of let someone else put a post up every week. But for now, I think we're just growing and we really want to keep that growth and, you know, keep that trust with our fans, you know, that when someone responds on social media, it's us, you know, and we're kind of giving them.

time of day.

Matt (17:32)
Yeah, yeah, I think that goes a long way in connecting with folks. yeah, it feels like nowadays everybody really just wants to feel like they're talking to somebody who actually understands them, gets them, relates even in the smallest way. So I know I personally love that about artists, if it's somebody I can relate to and they just message back, even if it's something small, it's cool.

Michael (17:48)
for sure.

Totally.

Matt (17:57)
So yeah, so I appreciate that. know everybody else does too. So in terms of like, if you guys have, you know, if you're writing or, you know, even if you're writing for your upcoming album, if you have, if you're having like a bad mental day, right? Is that something that you can kind of work through or does that help your process at all? Or is it something that kind of like derails it and kind of got to wait for a better day kind of deal?

Michael (18:01)
Yeah, nice.

Yeah, I think for me it's, I know everyone's different, but for me it's, it's pretty, it can be tough to like, I always think of it as like a hierarchy of needs, you know? Like I feel like if I don't have like all my basic needs met, it's really hard for me to like put art forward, you know? Cause art, I feel like is super important for humans, but they need to like be mentally and like physically fit

to be able to make it happen. It's a pretty laborious process, especially mentally. But yeah, think there's kind of a balance where maybe you are having a bad day or something happens that is emotionally reflective and you can kind of like, that doesn't disappear immediately. And I think when you do kind of muster up a little more strength and time post -reflection, you

I think it's easy to kind of hearken back to those feelings in a state of more stability and be able to write about how you felt. Whereas I think writing about it in the exact moment can be a little tumultuous. So yeah, usually for me specifically I think I definitely write more when I'm in a more stable and happier state than in the moment.

Matt (19:41)
Alright.

And do you think, so in just in general, guess, so it's talked about a lot across, I feel like a lot of different avenues, but I don't know if it's talked about enough for artists. Do think there's mental health, like resources for artists? Like if you're having, you know, really struggling, is there things you could reach out to or?

Michael (20:02)
You know, I think you're kind of hitting the nail on the head. don't know if, I don't really know of too many of them. You know, I'm sure that they exist. But yeah, I think that, I think that's something that's like often overlooked in the, in the music industry. You know, even at like, at venues, it's not always the case where people are like looking out for your mental health, you know? Like sometimes you enter a lot of these venues across the country and like you're kind of treated like a,

kind of like trash, know? like folks don't really consider like the strength it took to get you to that place. Whereas they just like woke up and like drove four minutes across town, you know? And I just think there's like, even just from the smallest things, like just hospitality of folks being like welcoming you into their home could go such a long way for mental health. You know, I just think like I grew up, my father was like a son of, you

Greek immigrants, you know, and I just, can like remember my grandparents and just like how hospitable they were. And I feel like that was just like a big part of like European culture. So I always get like pretty nift if like a venue isn't being hospitable. And I usually have like a, you know, I'm, I'm, I, I feel like an older adult, you know, and I, usually have that conversation with whoever it is and just like, Hey, we're going to, we want to be treated with respect. You know, I'm not sure who you had in here last night, but it's, we're not them, you know.

and we're going to treat you with the respect that you treat us. So, you know, let's just find a nice like common ground here because you might not be known, you know, you might not know what kind of day we had to get here and we don't know what kind of day you had. And so, you know, I think, you know, when it to mental health, I'm all about like starting from square one, you know, like how do we make people's days better just with these simple processes every single day and just like act more human and kind.

Matt (21:36)
All right.

Michael (21:54)
And I just feel like that's lost, you know, and now, you know, not even mentioning the fact that there are limited resources for mental health trauma and care during, you know, while musicians are on the road. Yeah, I know. I just feel like there is a big gap, you know, and musicians are doing a really hard thing out there and it's hard to, you know, fill that void with, you

along the road for musicians just because I don't think the right services are out there at the moment.

Matt (22:25)
Yeah, yeah, I think that was probably like not knowing a ton about the music industry prior to doing any of this. Like I think that's probably like been the biggest thing for me is that like I don't I don't think I ever understood what went into a day to day tour and the you know, the labor and the stress it put on artists and for them to have to be there and be like, you know, everybody wants them to be their best self every time they see him on stage and it's

Michael (22:45)
Mm -hmm.

Matt (22:52)
Yeah, I can only imagine the mental stress that that requires and requires you to kind of go through.

Michael (22:56)
for sure. Yeah, it's tough. It makes you have compassion for people. I always think back to when I was a kid, all the artists that took the moment to take a photo with me. And that was like, I didn't realize how hard that probably was for that person. It's actually funny. I really enjoyed when we were out on tour with Proxima Parada. Nico, he's

just the greatest human on earth. But we would have these long conversations about just your responsibility as a musician. I think he has a really cool perspective of just like, chose this profession and with this profession comes this responsibility. And that responsibility is to be a role model to a lot of these fans. And even if you are having a bad day,

He's like, I get it. It's like we all have bad days. But you have to show up for the fan in that moment. you can't brush them off because they're going to remember that moment for the rest of their life, no matter if it's a good response or a bad response. So it might as well be a good response. He gets really upset if he ever sees a musician just brush off a fan. He's just like, no, man. That's not what it's about. Yeah, I love that guy.

Matt (24:10)
Yeah, yeah, I've had a few conversations to say at least with with Nico about just different things like that. I swear I've never he's always been the nicest, the kindest and yeah, nothing but good things to say about any of the guys in Proxima, honestly. So what is?

Michael (24:28)
for sure.

Matt (24:32)
kind of changing gears a little bit in terms of the music you guys have put out or even maybe a song you've not released yet. What's the song maybe just you are you're most proud of and kind of why.

Michael (24:43)
Well, we actually have a song coming out soon. It'll be like end of August. We're going to roll out a song. It's called Blood Moon. And it's just like, I'd say it's one of the more different songs that we've ever released. And it almost sounds like, it's probably the closest song that sounds like music that I grew up on, you know? And like I grew up listening to.

kind of like more in this like alternative indie rock sound. So I'm pretty stoked about that one. And then there's this other song that is going to come out later this year. It's called Raindrop River. And I grew up listening to lot of like, you know, old folk music like Crosby, Nash, and Paul Simon, Grateful Dead, like all that stuff. And that was like what my parents were listening to. And I know Devin.

grew up listening to the same stuff. And that's kind of where our genre interests crossed. And that's kind of how we started this band. this song, the way that the harmonies fell out of us during the recording process, it just has this reminiscence to the 70s and the late 60s. So that one, I think we're super proud of, just because it feels like one of the more time -with songs that we've recorded, where you could kind of turn it on

you wouldn't really know what era it was recorded in, which I always appreciate that about artists. those two are two that I'm really excited about coming up here.

Matt (26:09)
Nice, and those are going to be, I'm assuming, just singles off of the album?

Michael (26:13)
Yeah, I think we're going to release the first half of the record as an EP. And so that'll be out this October or sometime this fall.

Matt (26:19)
Okay.

Nice. How about a song or even an artist that you think, you know, maybe nobody pays enough attention to?

Michael (26:34)
Hmm You know who I really enjoy and I got to meet him last or two weekends ago at Newport is this guy named John Craigie he's like a he's a very like traditional and untraditional folk artist at the same time and his his art of the storytelling aspect of his music is just like unmatched by anyone in modern music

It's almost more entertaining to listen to what he has to say between songs than actually during the songs because he's just so talented at storytelling. But he has this album that's called Capricorn in Retrograde and it's live record that was recorded in the Pacific Northwest in 2016. And it's just so special because it's almost a comedy album in a way.

you'll be in stitches, you're just laughing because of the inter -song commentary. And then when he does play these songs, they're very heartfelt and serious. So it's this cool juxtaposition of very serious songs and very dry comedy commentary. But yeah, I think he's totally like... And he would laugh at me if I said he was an underrated artist, because he's like, that's kind of just a backhanded way of saying that no one knows about me, you know what mean?

Matt (27:50)
Yeah, right.

Michael (27:52)
But that's also something I appreciate about him. He kind of calls people out for these really simple ways of saying he should get more notoriety than he does.

Matt (28:02)
That's funny. Yeah, I know if I've ever, I have to listen. I don't know if I've ever listened to any of this stuff, so I have to go back and take a peek at it.

Michael (28:10)
Yeah, check that album out. It's a good intro. It kind of gives you a better perspective of who he is.

Matt (28:16)
Okay, yeah, no doubt. In terms of, so you guys, would you guys consider yourself folk music and then if you do, what kind of, what is like your favorite part about that genre as a whole?

Michael (28:30)
Yeah, think we do. I know that the lines are blurred a little bit. We have a lot of interest in the indie rock side of things. So every once in a while we'll release this next song specifically. For us it just feels a little... We always want a drum kit to come out and just rip. And then Dev's an amazingly talented electric guitar player, so there's not always...

There's not always like a lot of electric guitar and folk music in a way Not to say there's none, know Bob Dylan came out with an electric guitar in the 60s But you know, it's usually associated with acoustics. So I feel like we Especially the way we do our live stuff. It feels a lot more modern. I would almost call it like modern folk where there's a lot of bass and synthesizer and Electric guitar, but I think what really pulls us into the folk genre

like the storytelling and the harmonies and kind of we always said that no matter what direction we took the band the vocals would kind of be that like glue that makes us who we are and I still think that's kind of what glues us to the folk genre and even more macro than that I think what really can like give us that like folk genre aspect is just like the sense of place that's found in our music you know we're kind of

through our music I feel like we're like this looking glass into the Midwest, into like a place that people otherwise aren't really looking. And so I feel like no matter if you're like considered hip hop or whatever jazz or whatever genre, I think if you're telling stories and kind of creating that sense of place in your stories, I feel like there's a little bit of full within that, know, it's kind of part of the full legacy.

Matt (30:09)
Yeah, yeah, definitely. Yeah, that's that's partly like why I love folk music and, you know, kind of growing up in an area that nobody knows about. You can definitely feel that through folk music. feel like the storytelling is just the best. So, yeah. So how about, you know, a couple of minutes to maybe talk about the album or something that you guys are you guys are still on tour, I think. So, yeah, plug yourself here a little bit.

Michael (30:24)
history.

Yeah. So we actually head out on the 3rd of September. We're doing like a whole month with the 502s. They invite us out to support them. We're going to do a bunch of East Coast shows. And then in October, we're heading out on our own headline tour. And we're hitting like some of the biggest rooms we've ever played in before. And it'll be like a lot of major markets like Toronto, New York, Philly.

DC, Boston, just kind of like the main East Coast circuit. I think we're Syracuse for the first time, which is kind of cool. But yeah, and then right around that time, we're going to release an EP. I believe it will be named after the single that we're going to drop with it, which is Raindrop River. And it's a song kind of about where we grew up. We grew up with this river that runs through our town.

and it kind of links all the towns together just like a lot of how a lot of towns are set up and I think a lot of our songs kind of revolves around it's like almost like this bloodline for the band in a way and it even you know are the house that the band started in it's called 34 North River it's what our first record was named that's where it's like sits right on the river so it's definitely like a big piece of the band so yeah that'll be the the name of the EP

But yeah, we're stoked. think we're just hoping to, we've picked up a lot of momentum this year just with how much we've been on the road. And I feel like we're really putting ourselves out there. So we're just hoping that it keeps working as much as it can. We're kind of old school in the way where we don't have a crazy social media following, but we're putting in the labor on

on the road as well so she's trying her best.

Matt (32:21)
Yeah, 100%. Like I seen you guys live, like it was, I thought it was so good. Like the, guys filled the room without like a drum kit. I thought that was like so cool. Nico actually, Nico had actually commented on how loud you guys were for not having a drum kit as well. So yeah, if you guys have the chance to see Oliver Hazard live, I'd a hundred percent recommend it. And yeah, I can't wait to hear the new EP and yeah, man, thanks for just spending a little bit of time with me and chatting up. I appreciate you.

Michael (32:33)
Thanks, man.

for sure.

for thanks for having me Matt, appreciate it. Appreciate you.

Matt (32:53)
Yeah.