Get To Know: Aki Oke

After putting his solo project on the back burner for the time being, the Kent singer-songwriter pulled a full 180. He came back swinging with Aki Oke: an electronica-based project that pulls from so many musical styles while never sacrificing it's ability to get you moving. We caught up with him for a chat about their creative process, the importance of the age-old music video and the collaborative nature of the overall project.

So to start it all off: how did the project materialise?

The whole thing has just been a leap of faith. I’ve basically put my other project on ice and walked away from it because it wasn't aligning with where I was. I compare it to the idea that you're probably not wearing the same shit you wore at 17. It’s like with visual artists; if they do an exhibition, you don't expect to see their older works within that show, do you know what I mean? You want to see what they're cutting into right now, and you want to see something new. It's kind of funny how music has to put on the old shirt to please people. There's obviously a balance to strike; some stuff is just great. That was at least my kind of reason for starting Aki Oke; it almost felt like not a choice.

I'd made a lot of stuff; essentially three album cycles and a lot of visuals between 2020 and 2023. And I was also doing it independently, so there was no other creative entity on it. Being a solo artist too, it was a crazy endeavour. I kind of reached the end of the line. I'd been working with the same management for 10 years. And then they had ambitions with another band they were working with; I had a drive to start a new project, and we didn't have time to properly invest in it. And I was also kind of gagging for a fresh start and to do things on my own terms. So, yeah, I started Aki Oke with my brother. So that's how it got made. So my brother's a mix engineer and a post producer. And I'm the producer, writer, and the front of it, I guess. And then the live show I do with my friend Daniel. So we kind of built it just with the homies, which is nice.

Aki Oke from the offset is quite a curveball in terms of production compared to your solo work, but have there been overlaps in the creative process or has it felt completely different?

Yeah, definitely. I think, genre mashing, for lack of a better term, is more popular than it's ever been. And I also think that the appetite for music that is a bit more, I'd say daring, maybe rather than experimental, because I don't think I'm doing crazy shit that's pushing the boundaries of sound. But I am being provocative and daring with the things I'm choosing to put together as well as the character that I'm choosing to sing from.

I would usually co-produce or demo out Will Joseph Cook stuff. Aside from some acoustic cuts, I would pretty much always work with a producer. If you're always collaborating or outsourcing that part of the process, you'll make amazing stuff, but it won't be your true voice. So Aki Oke is my unfiltered production voice. With it being more solitary, there are no checks and balances, and no one is trying to push it into any safe space. But I've been secretly making weird electronic cuts since I was a teenager, but I just hadn’t managed to get the skill to a point where it's better than working with a producer. So I feel like there was this tipping point when I was like 26; I’m like: “Oh shit, I'm actually kind of getting like good enough to do this now.” And then working with my brother on it, you know, he's a mix engineer that I live with. It was just staring me in the face, like: “You should do it right now, work with Charlie on this shit.” I think that also removes a lot of stress from the process. People say there's pressure for artists to release lots of tracks. I personally want to release loads because I like making music. But it can be fucking expensive. You know, everyone has to get down payments and be paid immediately, and you have to wait on producers and whatever. So I wanted to be creatively self-sufficient in all the dope stuff that we're making; I got better at video editing and honing my production so my brain doesn't have to go through other filters the whole time.

How did the collaborative side of things this time round differ from collaborations under the Will Joseph Cook name?

I mean, the first track I put out, like it's not me singing on it; it's my friend Lonnie Gunn on vocals. And that was intentional to drop the first track and then have this vocalist seemingly disappear. And then she reappears on the mixtape and stuff, dipping on and off: maybe like a bridge or a verse here and there, which I think is cool. She’s doing bits at the moment. To use some insufferable terms: she’s really hot right now!

When I was writing ‘City in Love’ I was like, “This would sound so much better with a female vocalist on it.” And it did.

I think it’s also part of the thing that I got exhausted with. It's not inherently bad to be a solo artist. I think if you oversaturate your experiences with one thing, you get sick of it. But I was a little bit tired of the me show. And I think that when you build a brand around your name and when you're a singer/songwriter, then there's actually a lot less slack like that. That genre, that world is a lot less lenient to you.

For example, if I want to shoot a music video for an Aki Oke track, I don't have to be in it if it doesn't serve the idea. Like we did a video for the track ‘Totally Hot Waiter’ and I'm thinking, “I want to get my really hot friend to be the hot waiter.” And it might be cringe if I put myself as the totally hot waiter, which, if it was a Will Joseph Cook video, it would be implied, because people will see my name and think, “Why is he not in it?” I feel like the creative director of Aki Oke, and it will be whatever I wish it to be, and it won’t be the fucking me show every time. Only if it serves the track. It's another way to get more creative freedom to do exactly what I want, you know. I'm just trying to make the best thing I can.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ab06q62qfz4

To follow up from my last question: anyone on your mind you’d like to invite into the Aki Oke universe?

Definitely would have to be John Glacier. I really, really love their vocals. And I think working with Glacier, or Ledbyher, who are both a part of this really interesting wave of UK alternative rap at the moment. And I feel like it's the two artists that are spearheading it.

And it's just a space that I really enjoy. I enjoy the big names in the scene, like Fakemink; I rate what they're doing, but I like the heart and soul of those two. I think Ledbyher is so cool. I think she's going to be massive. I can see her being a pop star as well, in like a UK indie Doja Cat direction. Sade Olutola is also really fucking sick.

All the videos released so far have been extremely inventive and elevate the songs that soundtrack them, so I’m curious what inspired the visuals.

I think because I'm just like making so much stuff at the moment, the context I end up consuming other artists’ stuff is definitely visual. I'm still a music video lover. And I think that the short-formification of everything doesn’t help matters either. You know how people just say music videos don't have value anymore; it’s bullshit. They're the final destination. I think that's where you fully fall in love with the full vision of an artist.

It's also like an opportunity to subvert an expectation. For example, if I'm going to do a rap on a track, I want to kind of present in a way that maybe isn’t dressing like someone who's going to rap. I think it's fun.

I know they're cancelled now, but like I was a big fan of Die Antwoord back in the day. The visual world of their sound was just so insane. And you know, not to associate myself too heavily with the weirdness there, but looking at the Aki Oke visual world, I think they were definitely more the inspiration just in terms of how jarring and daring it is. And I want to keep pushing a boundary with the visuals. So I've got some big ambitions for the visual side. At the moment, it’s just like what I can make, like I said, with my personal limitations, with shooting on webcams and shit.

Debut shows have been kicking off, support acts abound, and you’ve just played the Great Escape festival in Brighton. How’s it feel to be back on stage with a whole new band, energy and dynamic?

I feel sick. I feel great. If I'm being entirely honest, I think live shows were a source of anxiety for me before. I’ve been removing a lot of the compromises while making this project, so when I come to share it, I'm really hungry to show people what I’ve been making.

And I think because the music is more bouncy as well. Like with Will Joseph Cook shows, I think I was always a little bit jealous of the higher energy bands and electronic acts and the kind of movement you can build with the crowd. And I think if you try and build that too much with just an indie singer-songwriter project, like you're never going to get there fully. So when the music is delivering such movement and intensity, you can actually sit back into your performance a little bit more because you're not like willing a certain reaction from the crowd; you can just let the music carry it. So we can be a bit more chill, a bit more, you know, nonchalant, if you wish; the music will do the moving. So, yeah, I think I'm just excited about it.

And I like seeing people's reactions to it because I think we're doing something kind of fresh with it. So it's quite satisfying, especially when we've been playing a lot of bills with, I guess, more indie guitar stuff, which is brilliant. But I kind of like that we're the wild card on a lot of the bills, you know, especially playing places like the George Tavern; it's not exactly like an electronic hub, but I think that’s the type of music people want in London. I think there’s a huge appetite, at least online, for this like, indie electro sound at the moment. So I'm calling it Indie Steeze. It’s the vibe.

One last one from me: what do you hope for the Aki Oke project? It feels like something meant for people to dance to and to dance with each other.

Honestly, my dream with the Aki Oke stuff is that, and it happened kind of when I did a DJ set last summer at Reading festival. I see it happening at the shows where you get like a bunch of kids that are bass heads that are into it for the dance production elements. And then there’s the club kids. Then there's a bunch of more queer hyper pop kids that rock up to it, and the people that come to the George Tavern wearing a fucking suit and tie. They're all looking at each other like, “Oh, we've all shown up for the same gig.” But there's no single box that the music is fitting into. So I dream that it's creating a space where it's blending these little subcultures of musical tastes. Yeah, I think that's it. I think in general with the music that I'm making is, and this has always applied to everything I've done, I'm like: “make the music you think is missing”. And then naturally in that process, you'll find your place. Because if you focus on what's missing, like the exact cocktail of sounds you want, then I think that's a good guiding light to making something worthwhile and something original.

So for me, I have my pop loves, my dance loves, rap loves, electronic loves. There’s no reason why those things can’t coexist. And if they did and I heard someone else do it, I’d be thinking, “That’s the best thing ever.” So it was like an arms race to try and make the perfect mashup of genres on a track. It’s why I’m making so much stuff; I’m thinking: “I have to be the person that claims this sound.”

I think anyone that makes a claim that any genre is crap or that music nowadays isn’t as good as it was five years ago, 20 years ago, whatever. It's like: music hasn't got worse. You've just stopped listening. You’ve stopped actively seeking out the good stuff.

The debut mixtape: lifewillneverbethesameagain is out now.