BUSK 2015:
Onk Lou

Name:
Onk Lou

Genre:
Folkrock/Soul

Hometown:
Vienna

Age:
23

First contact with music:
I’m pretty sure it must have been the radio on my first ride home from hospital when I was a baby. I must have got the hots for people singing and so I tried to imitate that. Due to my young age and my inexperienced voice that naive attempt of imitation must have sounded like the yelling of some tiny nervous animal varying between the humming of a hungry bear cub and the squealing of an ecstatic little piglet. My fascination for that practice made me keep on going all day and all night completely unable to stop. So since that cost my parents years of sleep and due to the fact that I still do something like that in some way, I think that was the beginning of the misery …

What I like about busking:
Well the circumstances aren’t really the most inviting ones… There is no stage or amplification – so sometimes you have to try really hard to stand out of all the noise that comes from the streets or people talking. And what’s most important: Nobody is waiting for you … So what you do is standing there with your instrument, giving everything to people who pass you by and then sometimes there is someone getting interested in your stuff, stopping, listening and maybe giving you some change for it and that’s like a sip of water in the hot desert. 

Which concert impressed me particularly and why:
I once had the honor to share the stage with the Vodka Juniors from Greece and I witnessed the most impressive show ever. It all began with a way too long intro so you didn’t really know what there was to expect. Suddenly the sound grabbed me by my collar, beat me up into the attic and threw me out of the window into a pool filled with milk and honey. And before you knew it, 2 hours passed. Amazing!The soundtrack of my current life:
Soul, to make me get up in the morning … singing along with folk songs, so I know what to do with all the coffee … and Death Metal … just because I like how it blasts.

What does it mean to be a musician:

It’s a bit like driving a special vehicle: You got your body as your engine, your passion to fuel you up, your songs as the tires to keep you going, your confidence as the body, a rocky road and a horizon. If you need breaks, you shouldn’t get in and the steering wheel comes with the deluxe version … nobody can afford the deluxe version!

What does my family think about my choice to be a musician:
As I stopped studying to become a teacher because it kept me from making music, my biggest concern was what my family would think of it. And as I met them all some weeks later at my parent’s house, a bit nervous and not really prepared for any explanation, my father just said: “I always saw you on stages rather than in classrooms anyway.”

Dream concert:
An evening free from all terms, conventions or requirements with the artist and the crowd as a unity willing to give everything to make this single moment count for everybody. Sweat, honesty and energy. If that rare thing was given it wouldn’t even matter if the resurrected Johann Sebastian Bach smashed the keys, John Legend made the backings or God itself played some tight and bright triangle over my tunes.

Best or worst experience of my musical career:
Jumping in as a singer of an Austrian rock band for a tour trough Russia and playing in a small town called Balashov in the middle of Russian nowhere. Facts: There has never been any non-Russian band playing in that town. We were headlining the evening … Wednesday …at eight PM … AND THE WHOLE TOWN CAME TO GO COMPLETELY CRAZY ON A WEDNESDAY AT EIGHT PM!!

Here are my links:
www.onkloumusic.com
www.soundcloud.com/onk-lou
www.facebook.com/onk.lou
www.youtube.com/user/onklou