We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Ty Gallaway a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Ty, thanks for joining us today. If you could go back in time do you wish you had started your creative career sooner or later?

I do wish I started earlier, and I think that is the only regret I have as far as my music career. I was always writing music and producing since around 2011, but I was mostly just messing around with electronic music or other styles of music that wasn’t necessarily my forte. However, experimenting with song writing in any genre definitely put me in a better spot for when I was ready to start Shady Oaks. I wrote a ton of bad music before I started writing some decent tunes. So maybe it was all timing in the end.

Ty, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

Shady Oaks was formed in 2019 with the vision of becoming some sort of folky blues project with an emphasis on softer jams and lots of improvisation. Sort of like a bluegrass band where we would all take bars to solo and just jam it out. We had a couple of tunes that were very open ended and had a ton of space for individual musicianship. I think we all got a little bored of some of the songs so we slowly got heavier and more rock driven. Then after our first show at Lost Lake, I kinda went crazy on stage and realized that we thrived in a high energy throwing ourselves around on stage style of playing. Something awoke inside of me and I had no idea where it came from other than I LOVED interacting with a crowd. When I think about it, I was a bit of a showoff on my high school lacrosse team. Diving across the field and doing all of this flashy stuff to get a rise out of my team and the spectators. I think I was able to channel that same style into music. I truly believe that the energy we bring is what has always set us apart from the other local acts. We have had bands try and “out play” us at a show but we will always be unmatched in that respect. I am most proud of the stage we are currently in. We are working as a team more than ever. Jonah (drummer) and our friend Sophie are both slapping out great cuts of video content to grow our tiktok. Isaac (guitarist #2) is a huge help with managing the merchandise, helping me (Ty) set up for rehearsals as well as letting us use his house to build a home studio and a practice space that rivals any rehearsal space we have been at. Hunter (bass) has been working on our branding, Spotify/distribution, booking, sponsorship and growing our followers on instagram. I tend to get bogged down and cloudy from all of the little things, so having everyone work on something allows me to free up time to continue writing and steering us in the right direction. We truly have an amazing team of talented individuals who are all my best friends. We also have a surprise new band mate in the works…. So stay tuned for that.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

My drive (like any creative) is to never have to be anything other than a musician for a living. I hate the 9-5 life and have never thrived in it. I get instantly bored and depressed by working on anything that is not music as well as the rigid caged animal like feeling that a corporate job can put on you. 5 days of PTO a year. What the hell am I supposed to do with that? If anything, I want one of those remote jobs all these kids keep talking about. But even that can create some sort of prison in your own home. I want to write music, make money off of royalties when I am sleeping, play shows, and play golf when I am not doing any of those things..

How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?

As an audience, I think people could maybe understand more that their interaction is what keeps us alive. We are lucky to have great fans that show up to all of our shows, buy our merch, like and share our social posts, and most of all; bringing new faces to our shows and teach them what it is like to be an spectator during our performance. The audience is just as important to the show as we are. It is near impossible to fly around the stage when you have a crowd of dudes in black Ts with their arms crossed looking at you like you are one of those strange art pieces of a hot dog covered in trash that is supposed to mean something more than it is. We need screaming, movement, and our routine SHADY chant that brings us to our full potential. You are the sun, we are the plant. Can’t flower and be beautiful without your sweet sweet rays of debaucherous synergy.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.shadyoaksband.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/shadyoaks_band/?hl=en
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theshadyoaksband/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCkc_GLvv35XGeMq5AJbnU4Q/null

Image Credits
Jason Meyers, Jesus Ortiz, Chris Carboni, Sophie Medvick