Evan Bakke Photo
O.K. Company
“I’m looking for a little bit of trouble,” sings LaQruishia Gill on “You Got Me Up,” one of two new songs by the New Haven-based band O.K. Company, formerly known as The Let Loose and currently finding its way back into the music scene after quarantine with a new release titled A Mini EP and three live shows over the next two weeks.
“It feels good to know we’re going to play live again,” said Austin Morrison, the band’s drummer, who, along with Gill, spoke over Zoom about O.K. Company’s past year and future plans. But first things first: Why the name change?
According to Morrison, the band began in 2016 and has morphed and evolved over the years. The current lineup features Gill, Morrison, Joshua Wyrtzen on keyboards, Pete Greco on guitar, and James Smith on bass. (Morrison, Wyrtzen, and Smith are the only original members still with the band).
“We’re different now, and LaQruishia was pumping out names for a while, and we liked that one,” said Morrison. “Because of the shift during the pandemic, we stopped doing all the old music, changing and transforming, so now’s the time,” said Gill. “The name change is representative of getting something new and different.”
“LaQruishia was like, ‘we’re an OK band and we’re good company,” said Morrison with a laugh. Gill laughed as well and explained further: “It’s the vibe of ‘we’re not trying too hard,” as in, “we’re not super fancy. It’s solid music by solid people having a good time. It feels like it fits.”
The good times were put on hold initially during the pandemic shutdown last spring. “The first two months we took a break and went our separate ways and hunkered down,” said Gill.
Brent Peterkin Photo
Performing at a Gather New Haven fundraiser in October 2020.
“A couple times a month, we started getting together low-key,” added Morrison. “Everyone wanted to be safe and wanted to make sure everyone was cool to do this. The State House was generous to offer us their space and let us spread out more.”
“Our first rehearsal we said, ‘let’s see what happens,’” said Gill. “We tried the old songs and said, ‘you know what? Let’s do other stuff.’ Every practice was different. Josh had written some new songs and brought those, and everyone joined in. Once we were in a good rhythm of new songs, Pete said, ‘let’s record all of it.’”
The band ended up with more than a few new songs. “I started a group Google Drive file called ‘Covid Sessions,’ and now there’s like 20 or 30 songs in there,” said Morrison. “It’s crazy, there’s so much. To keep creating and collaborating with friends was life-giving for me personally. Now we have this catalogue of music. This new material feels like us. It’s nice to look at all the songs there. They’re a lifeline for me.”
In October 2020, Morrison suffered injuries to both upper extremities as a result of a “crazy accident,” he said. Morrison is co-owner of a concrete polishing company. He was on the job using a piece of equipment he had “used thousands of times,” he said, when it took three of the fingers on his left hand and “snapped” his right ulna and radius.
“First thing I said to my partner was, ‘dude, what about drumming?’” Morrison said. “For a while in the back of my mind all I could think was, ‘am I ever going to be able to play music again?’” At the end of October 2020, he underwent surgery for his left hand and then spent months recovering.
EP cover art.
In December 2020 the band put out a Christmas single and Morrison played on that with one hand, but he was determined to get back to using both. “I told them, ‘guys, I’m gonna figure this out,’” Morrison said. After a second surgery he also had occupational therapy, where he received adaptive equipment for his left hand to help him hold a drumstick and thus play drums the standard way again. “It’s not 100 percent, but it’s been awesome,” Morrison said. “That was huge. It gave me a lot of positive energy to keep going on.”
For now, there is A Mini EP consisting of two songs — the groovy, blues-tinged “You Got Me Up” and the sexy slow jam “Together,” recorded in September 2020 at Sonalysts in Waterford, though there may be even more releases on the horizon.
“We had three or four possible songs, and those two were successfully recorded,” said Gill. “We said, ‘these songs are so good, people are gonna like these,’ and then after that, we hit molasses and they didn’t get finished until April,” she added with a laugh. She also noted that the band had a bunch of more recent songs up on Soundcloud as well, and three weeks ago the band recorded five more songs.
The band members are looking forward to sharing as much of this new material as they can at their three upcoming live shows – this Friday at Cafe Nine with Stefanie Clark Harris (with whom they played at the Stack in September 2020), June 26 at Westville Porchfest, and July 1 at Stella Blues.
Karen Ponzio Photo
Performing at The Stack in September 2020.
“We’re open to more,” said Morrison. “We have a lot to pack in.” The gigs will be a sort of “last hurrah” for bassist James Smith, as he will be moving to North Carolina soon. They are hoping to send him off in a celebratory way, playing their new music and sharing it with the New Haven music community, with whom Morrison has even more reasons to celebrate.
“During my recovery — all the support from local people, musicians and more — I felt the love big time,” he said. “You try to put good out there, and to get it back, that’s what kept me waking up and moving forward.”
O.K. Company’s new EP can be streamed on Spotify. More information about Friday’s show can be found on the Cafe Nine website, and information about other upcoming shows can be found on the band’s Facebook and Instagram pages.
