Interview: Levy & The Oaks To Release New Out Of The Blue EP

There’s a whole lot shakin’ going down in one of the best music scenes you’ve probably never experienced; Asbury Park, NJ. Although irrevocably and permanently attached to one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Bruce Springsteen, the shoreside area continues to serve as a hotbed for up and coming talent.

Last year, Levy & The Oaks officially entered the fold in Asbury Park and beyond with their self-titled debut LP. Wasting little time and continuing to ride momentum gained, the band is now gearing up to release an unplugged EP, Out Of The Blue, out May 19th.

Featuring five stripped down tracks, Out Of The Blue shows Levy & The Oaks expertise in crafting folk/Americana songs with pop sensibilities and whip smart lyrics. To learn more about the band and the EP, we sent Levy & The Oaks’ Lou Panico some interview questions.

Check out the responses while streaming “Slowly In The Water” below.

Hi, Levy & The Oaks! Congrats on your new Unplugged EP. Can you tell us a little more on who you are and how you first came together?

Thanks! Our unplugged EP is called Out Of The Blue and features 5 exclusive acoustic songs.

Our story is pretty simple. Duane (lead singer) and I, Lou Panico, have been playing together for years. Before Levy, we were in a band called SOCRATIC (Drive-Thru Records). Once our label went under, we continued to write music together. The thing about writing and playing music, is that once you get a taste of it, you never want to taste (or do) anything else. It’s even more addicting when you find someone you connect with creatively and are able to write with so effortlessly the way Duane and I do. It’s something we certainly don’t take for granted.

So the story goes, once we had a batch of new songs written, we started talking about putting a new band together. That band became Levy & The Oaks.

What’s your songwriting process like? Who are some of your biggest influences?

Ah! Well, the thing about Duane is that he writes more songs than I can count. We are never without new ideas when Duane is steering the songwriting ship. Once he has a song idea, we’ll get together and come up with the roadmap and arrangement for it. I’ll take his ideas, tweak it a bit and add my own flare and recommendations.

At that point, if all goes well, we can play the song all the way through on a basic acoustic guitar or piano. Then we record an acoustic version of song. I then listen to that demo about a million times before bringing it to the rest of the dudes. From there everyone adds their own personalities to it and we add the song to regular rotation at rehearsal. Next thing you know, a song is born.

Our musical influences range from The Beatles and The Beach Boys to Nirvana and Blink-182. Most inspiration for lyrics come from normal, every day current events and life lessons that we all experience throughout the journey. Most of Duane’s lyrics tend to be bitter-sweet with a hint of inspirational undertones.

How did you arrive at the idea to do an acoustic EP?

All of our songs start on an acoustic guitar. It’s how we write. It’s the foundation of every song on our self-titled debut LP. We wanted our listeners to have a change to hear us in our most basic form. There’s something so special about being able to strip away all the other instruments and hear a song in a completely different way. We didn’t want to pass up the opportunity to share that with our audience.

My favorite thing about the acoustic EP is that you get to hear the songs the way we first heard them in our heads and in our first demos. There are a lot of great vocal performances on the acoustic EP and the songs are a true representation of how we hear them before they evolve into full-band performances.

It’s almost as if the acoustic songs are straight from our musical diary, if we had such a thing. They’re intimate and almost private in nature. We want to share that intimacy with our fans and hopefully make some new ones along the way.

What are some of the larger themes at play on your self-titled debut and how do they translate to the tracklisting on the EP?

The album is about self-awareness and rebirth. Every track references one or the other (if not both) as the underlined themes. It’s about finding and accepting yourself for who you truly are. It’s about choosing to change for the better, accepting love, and becoming a new.

“Remember Where The Wind Blows” is one of my favorite songs on the EP. It never really translated with a full-band, so the acoustic EP was the perfect time to debut it. It’s about feeling weak and insecure. It’s about accepting that it’s OK to feeling weak and insecure. You’re not crazy. It doesn’t make you a terrible person to feel emotions.

It’s human to feel emotions (even the “bad” ones). It’s about addressing the fact that everyone gets down in the dumps sometimes and everyone is allowed to feel that way. All that matters is what you do about it.

Could you describe each of the songs on the EP in three words or less?

Definitely not. That’s like asking me what my band sounds like. It’s the hardest question to answer. I know I’m supposed to have an “elevator pitch” for the band (at least that’s what they tell me), but we’re the worst at describing our own music. We’d much rather someone give us their interpretation of us.

That’s probably the best thing about music. It resonates differently with everyone. How a song speaks to me isn’t necessarily how it’s going to speak to you. Our music has always been up for interpretation and we wouldn’t want it any other way.

Any new Asbury Park-based artists/venues/purveyors of the arts you could turn our readers onto?

A ton! Asbury is FULL of upcoming artists. is certainly one of the most notable. Their fanbase is booming and they deserve every bit of success they’ve been working so hard for. Check them out!

In terms of venues, the House Of Independents is my favorite one around. Amazing venue with a ton of great events and live performances. Last summer I put together an “Asbury Park Summer Sampler” which showcased a handful of local Asbury artists of all types of genres. This summer I’ll be compiling volume 2.

Hit me up on any of the Levy social media pages and I’ll be happy to send a copy to anyone interested in hearing what the Asbury area has to offer!

Where can we follow you and where can our readers catch you live next?

All our music is on Spotify and iTunes. We also have vinyl packages of our full-length LP available to order and at shows. You can follow us on Instagram and Facebook at @levyandtheoaks. We have our own website @ levyandtheoaks.com.

If you’re in the area and would like to check us out, here is a list of upcoming shows:

4/2 – The Asbury Hotel, Asbury Park, NJ
4/9 – Noise In The Attic @ The Inkwell in Long Branch, NJ
4/29 – Langosta Lounge, Asbury Park, NJ
5/15 – Wonder Bar, Asbury Park, NJ

Any parting thoughts? Open platform!

Happy to speak to you! Thanks for your time. We have a ton of new music coming out, so stay tuned! Hope to see you at a show 🙂