Derek O'Kanos — 28 September 2022 on Rocket Shop Radio Hour

Derek O’Kanos joined guest host Aaron Cross on ‘Rocket Shop,’ Big Heavy World’s weekly local Vermont music radio hour on 105.9 FM The Radiator. Catch up at instagram.com/okanos.music

On Wednesday, September 28th, Derek O’Kanos joined host Aaron Cross at the Rocket Shop Radio Hour to channel his infectious enthusiasm into a set of heartfelt, acoustic tunes that feature stirring chord progressions, expressively stylized vocal delivery, and personal, authentic lyrics.
Hailing from Connecticut, O’Kanos has been involved in music from a young age. He grew up in a family of musicians and music-lovers, and before long began playing in a band with his friends. This established an early love for punk and metal– starting out, “what we could play was punk rock.” As such, bands like the Ramones and Green Day were early voices in O’Kanos’ mix of artistic influence. He began playing solo acts at the age of 15, appearing at various “eclectic bills and variety shows” with his acoustic guitar.
Since then, O’Kanos’s musical journey has taken numerous twists and turns, even including a brief rap career inspired by his love of artists like Mad Conductor, Aesop Rock, and MF DOOM. Throughout, he has also remained a member of a group based in Hartford, Connecticut called O’K and the Night Crew, which has stayed together & active through O’Kanos’ move from Connecticut to Vermont in 2016.
The O’Kanos solo act, as exhibited at the Rocket Shop, is descended from this long career, but is also influenced by the circumstances of COVID-19. Since O’K and the Night Crew was spread out across various states in New England, pandemic-era travel restrictions meant that they could not meet, and so the band went on hiatus.
This disappointment also opened new doors, allowing O’Kanos to incubate new ideas and artistic influences: “... I discovered Nick Lowe and power pop, and then there was a pandemic.”
Now, on the other side, he has an impressive catalog of songs that demonstrate a mature synthesis of a wide range of influences. A great example is “Leviathan,” the closer of Wednesday's show, which draws on flavors of folk, rock and power pop to spin a maritime tale that speaks to “going through hell,” and frames difficult times in the language of sea-legends.
In addition to songwriting, O’Kanos’ musical involvement has found him at the head of a new record label, Oak Honest records. He initially started the label as a means to release his own music, but he soon began to feel that, “if it’s just me, that’s kinda stupid, right?” From that point, it wasn’t long before Oak Honest became the home label for a plethora of bands from across the northeast. The main criteria for what music he promotes is, in his words, “does this deserve to exist? 99.9% of the time the answer is ‘yeah.’”
This enthusiasm and can-do attitude is reflected in his advice to young musicians: “Just start… You gotta actually do the thing. Try to do everything as authentic and high-quality as possible.”
You can find O’Kanos’ music on Bandcamp, and connect on Facebook and Instagram for updates about future releases and shows. You can also find the once-again active O’K and the Night Crew on their Facebook page, and learn more about Oak Honest Records at the official website.

Text by Gideon Parker
Monochrome photo by James Lockridge