Today we’d like to introduce you to ‘Ok I Love You’.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
Tommy (band leader & guitarist) and Brooke (bassist) had experience in middle school jazz bands playing trumpet, learning music theory and understanding how a band functions.
Once they got into high school, the two of them started to jam together. They both realized that they were interested in songwriting, and guitar and bass became their main passion.
For Tommy, the transition from trumpet to guitar was largely inspired by his interest in Rage Against the Machine. That interest led him to joining the local School of Rock, where he grew comfortable playing on stage and learning a lot of songs really quickly.
On the side, Tommy convinced his little sister Abby to also join School of Rock and they also started to jam together, eventually inviting Abby’s friend Carter Croasdale into the mix. Just like with Brooke, the three of them started experimenting and recording, albeit at a lower skill level due to Abby and Carter’s younger age.
For Brooke, the transition from trumpet to bass was largely inspired by Guitar Hero at Dave & Buster’s as well as the influence of Tommy to learn bass rather than guitar.
For about 3 years, they spent some time writing and recording using MIDI drum tracks while trying and failing to find a real drummer that was interested in joining a band, if you could call it that at the time.
Then, after returning from a gap year in Winter Park, they resumed the search. Now in college (and surrounded by other like-minded musicians), they found their first drummer, who didn’t turn out to be the best fit. Then came the second, who showed much more promise.
Then, one fateful new year’s eve, the band gathered together in the basement to play some songs for the party. After a couple songs, it was suggested that Carter jump in and play a song or two. It was then that everyone in the room simultaneously realized that the young inexperienced kid that they’d known actually ripped–way more than the other guy.
Shortly after that experience, they fired their drummer and against better judgment decided to stick with the MIDI drums for their first album, Voidfall, which was nearly done.
In addition to finishing the album, they were producing a music video for one of its songs: Tent Song. But they had a problem. They had no drummer to be in the video. So, they made a last-ditch effort and called in the only other drummer they knew: Carter. He agreed to help under the condition that he be able to join the band for a while.
So, the three of them named themselves Kapei (after Tommy’s Minecraft username, of all things) and were set to play their first show at Blue House Boulder, which Brooke had been volunteering at for some time.
After playing a few more shows that summer and writing lots of new music the following winter (amid returning to (and dropping out of) school), they were invited to play at the very first “Backyard Brawl,” hosted by some friends from School of Rock. It was at this show that Tommy’s little sister Abby volunteered to run the sound for the show while also inviting her friends Annie Tanner and Phoebe Mertens to help sell merch.
This first Backyard Brawl (in August of 2023) was super successful for being a small show in someone’s backyard. The crowd was mostly made up of the headliners’ (Germ Theory and No Reason to Care) fans, but it was because of this show that more opportunities presented themselves to Kapei.
The partnership between them and Germ Theory was a crucial part of Kapei’s growth because the two bands were able to work together to make shows happen consistently. But, the band was having a hard time staying on top of emails, ordering merch, and even coordinating practices. Luckily, Annie (previously just a merch jockey) stepped in to save the day, volunteering to become the band manager.
A few shows went by with Annie as the manager, and things were definitely picking up.
Then came the second Backyard Brawl in September of 2023. Germ Theory was back, and so was No Reason to Care. A few other bands joined the roster as well, and it turned out to be just as successful as the first time.
Not one week after that show, Annie and Tommy wrote the song “Breakaway” at 4:00am (finally finishing an old demo from nearly two years before), which would go on to be the most popular song off the band’s upcoming album “Ok I Love You.” It was this song that introduced Annie as a musical force in the band, planting the seed for her future addition to the official lineup.
In late October of 2023, they started to record the aforementioned album. It took 2 months in their home studio, with Tommy recording, editing, mixing, and mastering everything. It may not have been done professionally (and maybe it shows), but on January 1st of 2024, they released the album, gaining positive feedback and promising numbers in the beginning.
Once the album was released the band started to perform more of the new songs live, including “Breakaway,” which meant involving Annie on stage.
People really liked it. So they started to incorporate Annie into a few more songs to add some extra “flavor” to the sound. Things were going great.
But, after lots of time with other bands, venues, fans and new fans struggling with the name and its confusing pronunciation, the trio realized changes needed to be made. They’d been considering it a while, and finally decided to pull the trigger on a name change and a full rebrand. So they named themselves after the most recent album, Ok I Love You, and decided to finally go ahead and add Annie to the official lineup as a second guitarist and vocalist.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Well, we have the typical rock band problems–booking shows, running social media, building an audience and whatnot. Earlier on we had the Great Drummer Search, as described earlier, which finally ended with Carter.
More recently though, we’ve noticed that we have this funny little problem, where everyone “disappears off the face of the Earth” (as we like to put it) after we play a show. We’re not quite sure why it happens, but it always happens. We get home from a gig, put our stuff in the basement, then we all go home and forget to talk to each other for a week.
Also, we’ve struggled from the start to nail down what genre to call ourselves. We’ve heard crowds describe us as everything from emo-blues to “math rock but if the math was specifically geometry.” Some of us think we’re alt rock, some of us think we’re indie, some of us think we’re psychedelic. We’re really not sure. Any suggestions would be appreciated.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
We’re Ok I Love You, and we write music for people like us who like to lie awake at night and take the back seat in their own head while all the craziness spills out. We’re a comforting wall made of intertwined guitars and emotional (but kinda vague) lyrics that you can lean back on and float away to.
I think one of the biggest things that sets us apart is the huge range of influences on each of us. We’ve got one guy who grew up on slipknot and gojira, and another who was raised on folk/country (i.e. bruce springsteen, the decemberists) and spent middle school thinking dubstep was the coolest thing ever. We’ve got Annie bringing in the choir and musical theater influences, and then there’s Brooke, who could rattle off 20 weird underground/experimental bands you’ve never heard of without breaking a sweat. Over time, we’ve all grown toward a similar middle-ground with our tastes, but we’re coming from all over the place, really.
Having such a wide range of inspiration lets us explore our sound a ton. We’ll build a song out of one little seed of some riff or crazy pedal noise and expand that into something new every time, so we don’t end up too samey.
At the beginning of 2024 we came out with our second full album, called Ok I Love You, and it’s got some of our best work on it. One of our favorites is the two-parter song “Alien // Misaligned” and its accompanying music video. It’s about coming to terms with being an outsider, and letting other people sort of step in and take the spotlight, so to speak. The video brings back the fan favorite character of our first music video and takes him on a wacky adventure that reflects the theme of the song, and despite taking nearly 8 months to make, it was a blast the whole way through.
What was your favorite childhood memory?
Brooke: Growing up, my parents had a cropshare at a local farm. I loved our trips to harvest every season, but apple picking was my favorite. I remember running up the seemingly endless rows of trees until I got tired, and then to my amazement there were delicious fruits waiting for me on the ground. When we filled our baskets, we would go back to the farmhouse to warm up. It smelled like cinnamon and cloves, and they made the best spiced cider I’ve ever had. It felt like home in a way home never quite did.
Carter: My favorite memory was when I was leaving New York with my family and we missed both flights to we had to take a train home. We stopped in many cities and had many crazy experiences, including getting ourselves in the middle of a gang fight with two rival gangs, having a pipe leaking on our heads for a 8 hour train ride, and going to sleep on a window sill in a sketchy train station. We made it home safely, with many more stories to tell.
Annie: When I was little my dad would always take me around with him while he ran errands for his event planning company (and this company wasn’t for like little bday parties or baby showers, this company was for producing massive events for like Nickelodeon and Fox Racing). There were times when he would take me to this big ole’ storage unit where he housed these massive speakers that were more than twice my size. I remember always just climbing around these speakers and laughing my head off with my dad. Good times!
Tommy: I guess it’s not really my favorite, but there was the time I got the wind knocked out of me when my dad kicked a soccer ball into my chest one afternoon. Or there’s the time I had to be taken home from PJs-and-Polar-Express day at kindergarten because I was sick and puking all over the floor. Or the time I was suspended from middle school for ditching track practice (and climbing onto the roof). For some reason all I can remember of my childhood is horrible “incidents” like that… what does that say about me, I wonder?
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kapeiband/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@kapeiband
Image Credits
Annie Tanner, Abby Kapica, Phoebe Mertens
