ORYAN

ORYAN was formed in 2008 when Ryan Megan and Ryan Schoonmaker began playing together in New Paltz, NY. Megan, an anti-folk singer and guitar player, and Schoonmaker, a drummer with a taste for progressive rhythms were sick of the local music scene. They despised self proclaimed “jam bands” who would gladly forfeit a tight, well written tune for another ten minute keyboard solo. Worse yet were the seemingly endless number of “hardcore” bands whose live sets sounded like a soundtrack for a tort...

ORYAN was formed in 2008 when Ryan Megan and Ryan Schoonmaker began playing together in New Paltz, NY. Megan, an anti-folk singer and guitar player, and Schoonmaker, a drummer with a taste for progressive rhythms were sick of the local music scene. They despised self proclaimed “jam bands” who would gladly forfeit a tight, well written tune for another ten minute keyboard solo. Worse yet were the seemingly endless number of “hardcore” bands whose live sets sounded like a soundtrack for a torture victim, played with poorly tuned instruments. Where had all the solid, well crafted, kick ass rock music gone? Fusing elements of folk, progressive and classic rock, and even hints of metal and country, the two musicians began crafting tracks of a truly unique nature. They quickly realized that their mutual love for varying, and what some might assume to be clashing, genres of music created a sound and style that is definitively their own. Adam Gosney, the lead guitar player, joined them in the spring of 2009 and quickly fit right in with the duo. Rounding out the quartet is Paul Moran, the bands fifth and hopefully permanent bass player. ORYAN recorded their first EP in the summer of 2009 at Millbrook Sound Studios. The EP is made up of 5 tracks that Megan and Schoonmaker wrote while living and rehearsing in a run-down farm house in Red Hook, NY. The sense of isolation, loss and over all bleak tone of the EP was most certainly shaped by their surroundings as well as their twisted sense of humor. The band is currently writing tracks for a full length album which they plan to release early in 2011. They are headed in a new direction, one which is more raucous and upbeat, but still laced with their own brand of foreboding, post-apocalyptic tones.