Oliver Hazard Brings Waterville, Ohio to Union Stage

Before music became a business and road trip anthems created millions, the genre that lay at the heart of American society was folk: communal storytelling meant to unite young and old, turn strangers into friends and create homes. With time, it’s undoubtedly changed. You can find Bon Iver in Twilight soundtracks and Grateful Dead cover bands lining the tapestry of modern Americana. But coming out of Lake Erie’s western shore is a band that holds no reverence for ego, but rather takes to folk’s tradition of making a home.

Indie folk trio Oliver Hazard is a starry-eyed group hailing from Waterville, Ohio. They made their way to Union Stage on February 27 for a night of music and coming together. District Fray got a chance to better understand where they’re from and what hometown roots mean to them.

District Fray: From a quick search, Oliver Hazard Perry comes across as an esoteric prominent naval figure. What prompted you to name your band after him? Which song of yours would the sea dog probably like most if taking an educated guess?
Oliver Hazard: We grew up on Lake Erie where Oliver Hazard Perry was a historical figure with a lot of significance. It seemed like most folks knew his name. Towns were named after him. We wanted to choose a name that had a local tie to where we grew up, so we borrowed his first and middle name. Plus, people thought they had heard of us because of the name familiarity, so it helped us grow when we first were getting started. I bet he would like “Dandelion.” I’m sure he saw a lot of those growing back in 1812.

Your “Fly Right” music video showcases the beauty of your hometown Waterville, Ohio. Not many people come into adulthood still appreciating where they grew up. What about Waterville pulls you in and keeps you a fan to this day?
The town and the community there are really the foundation of the band. We have so much support from the community with our local shows, our music festival, our merchandise production, everything. Someone is always willing to help. The sense of place really inspires our songwriting.

Speaking of your appreciation for your hometown, you created a one-day musical festival there, Oliver Hazard Day, to show off your music and other great artists (Bendigo Fletcher, Riddy Arman, etc.) while helping local causes. What brought on this idea? And if you could choose anyone, who would you have perform at next Oliver Hazard Day?
We initially created the festival in conjunction with the city of Waterville. We really wanted to find a way to raise funds for the band when we first were getting started, in addition to serving our local community. We tried to find a way that could be mutually beneficial. The idea was to uplift the town as we grew. We love bringing great musical artists to a town that otherwise would never have access to indie music. It would be great to get some of the indie folk greats one day: Caamp, Lumineers, Mumford, Bon Iver, etc.

I’d love to get an idea of what your influences are. And aside from artists we’d expect, who’s one artist or band that no one would expect Oliver Hazard to be huge fans of?
We all really enjoy music from the late ’60s and early ’70s: Jim Croce, Neil Young, CSN, Joni Mitchell, Bob Marley, The Beatles, etc. Mike [Belazis] is a big fan of old rocksteady and dub reggae, which seems to be an outlier.

What are you expecting from the Union Stage crowd? Where have you really enjoyed playing?
This is not our first trip to D.C., but it is our first time at Union Stage. We played in D.C. twice before at Pie Shop and Songbyrd. This will be the largest stage we’ve played, and we cannot wait. We are hoping the crowd will come early and really listen to our set. We hope they enjoy, listen closely and hopefully help us sing a few songs.

To learn more about Oliver Hazard, visit their website or follow them on Instagram at @olihazard.

Union Stage: 740 Water St. SW, DC; unionstage.com // @unionstage

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Mela Rodrigues-Oliveira