Quick Jump
Biography
Notable Shows & News
What's the Buzz on the Band?
Fan Quotes
Individual Band Bio - Andy Kropf
Individual Band Bio - Steve Q
Individual Band Bio - Mark Kovaly



Biography
In 2008 Ocean Street played 206 dates and 2009 is on pace to be just as busy. The dots on the tour map range from Key West up to Minneapolis but most stops on the tour occur in college towns and beach towns in the Southeast with a focus of building friends and fans along the way. The year also saw Ocean Street play in support of many prominent acts including Sister Hazel, Gin Blossoms, Lifehouse, Corey Smith, Zac Brown Band, and Lonestar.

Over the past several months, Ocean Street has adopted an exciting yet refreshingly simple policy aimed at bringing its music to the ones that matter most, the fans. Thanks to the band's sponsor Southern Tide (www.southerntide.com ), music people everywhere now have the opportunity to receive Free CDs at each of Ocean Street 's live shows. The sample tracks may also download for free by clicking here. For a full album, just visit the Store Section on this site or go to iTunes and search for Ocean Street .

The band's independent self-title release reached the CMJ Top 100 for radio play on college stations as well as finding its way onto the television airwaves. Songs from the album were licensed for use on six MTV shows. “Till I'm Gone,” was played in three different episodes of MTV's “The Real World” and was featured on a AAA Sampler CD alongside pop icons Paul McCartney and Marc Cohn. The band's song, “Say My Name” was heard in the MLB Network's “We Are Young” and documentary on Dimitri and Delmon Young.

Lately, Audiences at shows have heard new songs “Hummingbird,” “Back to Me,” “Summer After High School” and “Everything” though none have been officially released. The band is plotting to record these songs and others live this fall for a Spring 2010 release.

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Notable Shows & News
2008 saw Ocean Street headline shows throughout the country and open for many prominent acts including Sister Hazel, Gin Blossoms, Lifehouse, Corey Smith, Zac Brown Band, and Lonestar.

Recently, the band signed to a Management deal with the Kevin and Bobby Roberts of BRC in Nashville , TN. BRC is an esteemed firm whose clients include music greats Merle Haggard, John Anderson, Grand Funk Railroad, and the late Waylon Jennings.

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What's The Buzz on the Band?
Quotes from Press and Industry Insiders:

"'Till I'm Gone' is a hit. You know it the first time you hear it. Then you prove yourself right every time after that." ~ Michelle Berlin, Cherry Lane Publishing.

"When I play ' One Horse Town ' for folks on Music Row, you'd think they just heard the intro to 'Stairway…' for the first time." ~ Platinum Producer, Michael Knox.

“The minute I put this disc in I was whisked away to the college radio years. An indie band with something to say in every song talking about how the world has gotten worse though it could get better.” ~ Rev MC, Tollbooth Magazine

“A clear and immediate identification with the feelings of others – A spiritual empathy …to write what we feel but cannot put into words ourselves. Add to that the ability to put these hard-driving lyrics into a musical format that hits our emotional depths deeper than even our own friendships can.” ~ Eartaste Webzine

“The thirteen tunes on Ocean Street 's debut are über catchy and provide a vivid musical canvas for Kropf's blue-eyed soul while Kovaly's piano work echoes the honky-tonk virtuosity of Chuck Leavell.” ~ Matt Wake, Upstate Today Newspaper

“Every once in a while, a band comes along with the style and comfort to fit all tastes like a pair of worn-in Rainbows. Ocean Street merges starter band charm with crowd-pleasing songs.” ~ Natalie Custodio, FSView

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Emails From A Few Fans
“You guys rocked the roof off of AJs!!!!! If x=u, then Y not!!!! “ ~ David Dean

“We saw you guys every night at spinnakers and never got sick of it! i vote you come up to Milwaukee , Wisconsin ASAP! You should definitely think about summerfest!” ~ Brittani Bauer, UWM class of 2011.

“So I doubt you remember this but when you guys were in Jonesboro , GA (bout 20 minutes south of Atlanta ) yall stopped at a place called Truett's Grill, and I definitely served you guys! and you gave me and my coworkers yall's CD! that was like 2 years ago and I just wanted you to know that your CD is still in my CD player!” ~ Michelle Arnold, University of East Georgia , Class of 2010.

“Whoa!! Spinnaker's rocked w/ you guys! We DID listen to your CD on repeat on our 14 hour drive! Well done, well done!” ~ Meghan Shulze, Mizzou, Class of 2009.

“Best band in the south!!! i love you guys.” ~ Jared Foster, Ole Miss class of 2009

Individual Band Bios


Andy's
I was born in Raleigh , NC but by the time I could ride my bike with the big kids in the neighborhood, my father was transferred to Atlanta for his job. So at the end of my Kindergarten year we packed up and moved to Roswell , a suburb north of the ATL. I actually grew up a baseball player and really didn't do anything related to music except to sing in the car just under the volume of the radio and in class for my 3 rd grade teacher Mrs. Mueller. She was a really sweet, old lady with a church lady wardrobe and a glass eye. She had a piano in the classroom and every single day, sometimes the entire day, we had big sing-alongs Mrs. Mueller was the first person to tip my parents off that I could sing a little bit. But really, most of my time was spent playing sports. Eventually I honed in on Baseball as my primary sport and then my only sport. I played at Pope High School , then Vanderbilt University , and then even got to spend a few years with the Detroit Tigers organization. I dotted the map with the Tigers, spending time in small cities from South Florida all the way up to the Great Lakes . After baseball was done with me, and you always know when the game is finally done with you, it was time to embark on my next minor league career: Music.

I started writing songs late in school with a guy named Austin Williams. Austin has since moved on to become a working stiff in Charlotte but I will always remember the excitement of creating music with him. Our first recordings were on a 4 track recorder in his Georgia Tech fraternity house. Eventually, Austin had to move on. Just like clockwork, I was introduced to Steve and Mark. We have been writing and recording together ever since. We just started touring full-time about a year ago and I am pretty excited for the strides we have made in that time as a band. I am especially happy with how many people we have been able to get the music to in the last year. I would like to thank Southern Tide for helping to make that happen. If you don't own a Southern Tide shirt yet, I strongly recommend checking them out. Hope to see you on the road.

Thanks for stopping by and being a part of this thing with us!

Andy K.

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Steve Q
Whaddup? My name is Steve Queisser, but you can just call me Steve Q or just plain Q. I was born and raised in Indianapolis , IN and I started playing music on a cheap Casio keyboard my mom bought me for my birthday when I turned 10 years old. I was fascinated by theme songs and 80's music, especially Prince and Michael Jackson, but since my keyboard would only play one note at a time, I focused on learning the song's main melodies rather than the actual chord structuring. This unknowingly would be what I would focus on later on as a singer/songwriter and guitar player. Even though I got a guitar when I was 12 (one that I would eventually take completely apart and would later be unable to reassemble), it wasn't until my freshman year in high school that I caught the bug for guitar playing. My older brother, Mike, was actually trying to teach himself to play on my mom's old Goya classical guitar and left out a chord book on our living room table. I came home and saw it and thought I would give it a try. Looking back now, I seemed to take to it pretty easily and it never really seemed too frustrating to learn the basics. As I got better, I began to look for people in my school, neighborhood, or just anywhere really who were better than me to jam with . While I was attending Indiana University in Bloomington , IN , I started my first semi-professional band called Quesa Blues. Although we were also semi-terrible, I learned a lot from that project. Most importantly, you can make a living at doing something you love. When I left IU I was playing and singing all around Indianapolis , IN. As my musical taste matured, I began to realize that it was time for me to move on. I decided to move to Atlanta , GA where I was pleased to be greeted by a tight knit, yet open-armed, music scene. I was soon playing at local clubs around town where a common friend introduced me to Mark and Andy who were actively seeking a guitar player for their project. We set up a rehearsal one afternoon at Mark's house and the chemistry of our vocals and our song writing styles were really too obvious to ignore. I think it's going to be a fun ride!! Join us, won't you?

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Mark Kovaly
I was born in a little town called Port Vue, about 20 minutes outside of Pittsburgh . My earliest memory of music starts with my Dad, who was our church cantor. I remember being amazed at the way people responded to his voice, the inspiration they drew from him, and how everybody sang along. My sister was actually the first one to learn piano, and I thought she was amazing. That's where my road began. I would sneak downstairs in the middle of the night, trying to learn to play like her. I played softly at first, then increasingly louder as I became inspired. I knew I was playing loud enough for the house to hear it the night my Mom appeared over my shoulder. My growing love for music was matched by a love of sports. I loved all of them. I played baseball, basketball and golf through high school at South Allegheny , where my graduating class was just over 100. I went on to have a pretty good four-year baseball career at Washington & Jefferson College , where I still hold some of the single-season records. During my college years, I spent summers in Harrisburg , PA. While living with a host family, I worked construction during the day and played for a traveling baseball team at night. It was here that I taught myself the guitar and started writing songs. My very first performances were there in central PA, and I was hooked. I formed my first band my last two years of college, and we put on some pretty interesting shows. Especially the concerts in my room at Lambda Chi Alpha, with one of my best friends, Frank Aracri. After college I found myself playing at Jellyrolls, a chain of dueling piano bars. The next few years I spent developing my piano skills with hopes of becoming a strong, confident entertainer. I finally landed in Atlanta , GA , where a mutual friend introduced me to a young songwriter named Andy Kropf. Once I heard the songs Andy and fellow writer Austin Williams were working on, I immediately became part of their creative process. Our first collaboration was to finish a song they were working on, called " One Horse Town ." While an accomplished songwriter and guitar player, Austin had little desire to perform live. Enter Steve Queisser. At our first rehearsal in the basement of my house in Alpharetta , GA , we sang three-part harmonies that changed the path of my future. We all knew it was special. That day, the sound that people all over are coming to know as Ocean Street , was born. We began writing and playing local shows, and soon successfully made the jump to a full-time touring band. The last eight months have truly been a lot of fun as well as a lot of REALLY hard work. If you think it was easy, just ask anybody who has traveled with us. It's been tough! While they are not with the band anymore, Brian Stephens and Lance Price were a major part of keeping this project moving. It has also been amazing. We couldn't do this with out our fans, many of whom have taken on this project as their own. Having a room full of people singing our songs absolutely fuels our desire to keep going! I don't know where this journey ends, but I thank you and encourage you all to be part of our "Beautiful Ride!"

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