No cut-and-paste sound

It’s not easy to find a recording studio with a producer experienced in old-school analog recording technology. This detail was so important to local folksy-blues duo Blue Oaks, however, that they traveled miles away to East Palo Alto to track their debut 7-inch single “Hit By a Train From New York City Blues.” There, the duo worked with Jack Shirley at The Atomic Garden Recording Studio, which typically attracts punk and metal bands, to record the single and B-side “Skeleton Key.”

But, while both members are fans of the analog aesthetic, sound quality alone wasn’t the sole reasoning for studio choice.

“If we recorded it digitally on my laptop, it would sound pretty good—with the patches you can probably replicate certain sounds,” says Blue Oaks singer-guitarist Brendan Stone. “Most people probably wouldn’t know. But we would have to live with knowing that say, we screwed up that drum part and just pasted that in there.”

Drummer Cody Walker couldn’t agree more.

“There has to be full takes. There is no cut and paste. I think that jeopardizes the authenticity of the whole thing,” he says.

Walker’s vehemence on the subject might explain why after five years of Stone flying solo under the moniker Blue Oaks, he picked Walker to join and make it a band proper in 2012.

Now, together they apply this philosophy of dodging the easier digital route to stick with older, more hands-on technologies.

Stone has an endless fondness for all things old—he grew up listening to ’50s and ’60s rock ’n’ roll, he owns an a ’60s Cavalier Coca-Cola vending machine, and even had a saddlemaker craft a custom leather guitar strap like he’d seen some musicians of days past do.

Still, the music of Blue Oaks isn’t retro. Sure, there are influences like Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash in the mix, but Stone has just as much love for doom metal and Radiohead.

“People ask me all the time, ’Do you wish you could live in the ’60s?’ I’m happy that I live now, because I’m able to keep something alive for our generation, because it needs it more than ever with computer technology,” Stone says.

What Stone does bring to his music is an appreciation for older traditions. Blue Oaks’ music is a loose amalgam of blues, country, folk, rock ’n’ roll, and soul. The songs are gritty, mysterious and sometimes wander into the familiar sounds of past generations, all while taking unpredictable detours.

“One of the best things about being able to write music is being able to pick all the things you like and put them together. I’ll write an intro that sounds like Muddy Waters, then I’ll bridge it into a Neil Young-sounding verse, then going into some superdroney, buzzy Sabbath-y riff,” Stone says.

He’s very passionate about structure in particular, but not interested in the traditional verse-chorus-verse-chorus route. The band even has a near seven-minute opus, “To Be Kind Is Sin,” that some have suggested they make shorter.

“I don’t think they understand that we’re not looking to make it a radio-friendly song. The point is to have it build and change,” Stone says. “When I listen to music, the dynamics and progressions are what’s most inspiring. It’s not the hooks. Our songs will start at one point, go through a whole spectrum and end up at another point.”

When the pair structures its songs, more often than not, the two don’t know where they’re going. But they like the freedom to be imperfect, a quality that’s needed to chart new territory.

“You need the freedom for accidents to happen. A lot of bands make sure that everything’s perfect. I think the computers have a lot to do with that. Personally, I’ve been really disappointed going to shows in the past year; everything’s so precise,” says Stone. “That’s not what you get if you see us live. … I would rather risk playing a bad show than have everything be pitched and autocorrected.”