Today we’d like to introduce you to Oscar Morales
Hi Oscar, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Music has been part of my life since I was a baby. It’s ironic though, because I never really thought about wanting to make music or play in bands until recently. I remember that my fascination began with Daft Punk, specifically their Tron soundtrack. As a kid, that sound track was like explosions in my brain. The crazy textures and sounds that emanated from that album were completely alien to me and after hearing that I begged my parents to buy me a synthesizer to recreate the noises that were stuck in my brain. Inevitably, my parents got me a micro korg and signed me up for piano lessons that I took on and off for nearly 8 years. my teacher was Jeanine Attaway, who actually plays in a band from Austin called The Ugly Beats. She was a great teacher and very supportive for how bad of a student I was. I don’t think I would be nearly as good at any instrument I play without her, but I think I found that after trying to play keys for so long, it wasn’t my instrument. After that, I kind of went on hiatus and just stopped playing music all together.
It wasn’t until I got to high school when I actually started playing music with my friends. I would go see other bands from my high school play and I would always think to myself how much I wanted to be in their position. I didn’t feel like I had anything going for me, this was right after the pandemic and I didn’t have much passion or interest in anything, so I started a band with my best bud Jack Higgins, and soon after I met our drummer Jack Strüb. That was the beginning of my first band, Façade. We started jamming in my dad’s recording studio in our backyard. I was teaching myself bass, while Higgins was playing guitar, and Strüb was on the drums. We played a few gigs for our school and a few shows outside, but the band never really took off and it became more of something for us to do in our free time.
Thats when me and Strüb talked to a friend of ours, King Cude, he was the drummer of Red River Trucking Company at the time, but we enlisted him as our guitarist in a new side project. We met up and jammed one time before we knew this was something special. That was the formation of our current band, Oogwei. We’ve been playing as many shows as we can for about a year now and it’s taken us further than I ever thought we would go. I think our first show was a tunnels show sometime in December, 2023. Now we’ve gotten a lot of experience in the Austin Music scene under our belt. We just recently opened up for Jack White at The Paper Tiger in San Antonio and even more recently played a bill at New Guild CO-OP with one of our favorite bands from around town, Grocery Bag. I think the only reason we’ve gone this far is because me and my band mates truly do love music more than anything. It’s a dream of mine to make a living doing what we do and playing in these bands has helped me find myself and my new found passions in the music scene. I also recorded a few bands from my high school because of what I learned from playing music and seeing bands play live. I’m now going to ACC Highland studying Audio Engineering and the Music business, all thanks to that first band. I was never the same after I found music.
Huge shoutout to my Mom Rachel Kolar and my Dad Jason Morales who have influenced me more than I’ll ever truly know. Love you guys <3
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
It actually has been a lot easier than I expected. When Oogwei first started playing clubs around town, the thing we struggled the most with was the fact that we were all under 21. I think a lot of door guys just immediately think that your band is gonna suck if you can’t drink, but they’ll usually make amends with us after we get off stage.
We actually played a show where we got there hours earlier to drop off our gear and the dude working the door has a literal fit about us being under and basically tells us to fuck off. We probably walked around downtown for a good 5 hours before we we’re actually allowed inside, but after we played, that same dude came up to us and apologized for giving us shit and told us we we’re “welcome back anytime”. It’s liberating to have you’re band rock so hard it changes the mind of the door guy with a stick up his ass, but I digress, We still deal with that kind of shit all the time.
We just recently played a show where the dude working behind the bar was actually heckling us during soundcheck like it was a fucking comedy club. That kind of shit pisses me off in the moment but I never let it get to me because I know those kinds of dudes are just frustrated they’ll never be 18 and in my position. It sounds a little cocky but it’s true.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I truly do just love making music. Oogwei is something special because I feel like me and my mates can all just kind of let the little evil genius take the wheel and make something using that energy and we’re all always proud of what comes to fruition out of that.
I’m really proud of myself for actually changing my vision of what I want out of my life and making it a real tangible goal of mine to make music or be in the music business and really make a living from that, but I also know I have a lot to learn and a lot more time to put in the game.
I think that’s another thing that sets all of us apart is humble confidence. It can take you a long way if you just believe in yourself and your music. I think one of the most important things I’ve learned is that to be a good musician, recording engineer, etc… to make it in any field really, you just need to be a nice person. A person that people want to be around, or get in contact with. That is truly the one of the most important qualities that I try to keep in the back of my mind always.
So maybe we end on discussing what matters most to you and why?
I would probably say that my relationships with my band mates matter the most to me. Those dudes are my brothers and to lose our spark would destroy me.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://linktr.ee/oogwei
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/oscarmo_____/profilecard/?igsh=MWZiN2xuY2g5NW0xbg==
Image Credits
Carson Roller
Janine Schafer Corn
Julia Copas
