OTiS

Artist Information

Biography

Drenched in soul, nestled deep in a groove, OTiS is the product of time and experience. The band strings together sounds that have deeply influenced their lives to create music inspired by everything from soul to funk and back again. Singer Craig Alan had a dream to unite like-minded, passionate musicians, and his dreams are most certainly coming true. Since 2009, the Brooklyn band’s presence has been on the map, but in the last year they’ve solidified a reputation as a show stopping live act, with powerful musicianship and song writing chops to boot.

OTiS has recently made appearances at the cult-favorite Montauk Music Festival and the Escape2NY Music Festival. They remain in the rotation of NYC’s hottest venues including Sullivan Hall, Brooklyn Bowl, and their new favorite- Rockwood Music Hall's Stage 2 on Manhattan’s Lower East Side. 2012 has seen OTiS branching out into the Boston and Philly markets, so be on the lookout for them up and down the East Coast.

*More good news as OTiS receives songwriting praise from the International Community, placing FIRST for song of the year (2011 International Songwriting Competition) with their single 'Makin' Love Easy.' Currently, OTiS continues to promote their second album, “Music Elevator." This exceptional sophomore album has been getting bodies and minds moving in all the right directions. Look for it on iTunes, Spotify, Amazon and Bandcamp.

Finally, be sure to check out their debut music video “Automatic People,” filmed entirely on the streets of Brooklyn, currently up on the video page of this EPK.

Instrumentation

Craig Alan - Guitar, Lead Vocals
Theo Moore - Percussion, back vocals
Dominick Magnotta - Drums
Dave Lowenthal - Bass
Justin Etheredge - keys
Joe Scatassa - Trombone/ Horn Arrangements
Atsushi Ouchi - Saxophone Tenor/Alto

Discography

'Music Elevator' Copyright OTiSRock Music, 2011
-A New Addiction
-How It Is
-Stuck
-Makin' Love Easy
-Gone Away
-Automatic People
-Creeping
-Every Story
-Other Man
-Sophia
-Bump
-Can't Explain
-Reprise

'OTiS' 2.26.2010 (Self-titled Debut)
- All Over Again
- American Dream
- Trying to Believe
- Andelusia
- Colorado
- Reconstruction
- Situation Song
- Tin Can
- Die Easy
- The Way it Goes
- Under the Gun (LIVE)

'OTiS LIVE @ Southpaw' 7.2.2010

Links

• Facebook
• Twitter
• MySpace
• Band Camp

Audio

• A New Addiction
  Listen  
• Stuck
  Listen  
• Making Love Easy
  Listen  
• Gone Away
  Listen  
• Automatic People
  Listen  
• Creeping
  Listen  
• Every Story
  Listen  
• Othe rMan
  Listen  
• Sophia
  Listen  
• Bump
  Listen  

Lyrics

• A New Addiction
• Stuck
• Making Love Easy
• Gone Away
• Automatic People
• Creeping
• Every Story
• Other Man
• Sophia
• Bump
• Making Love Easy

Video

Automatic People.mov

Jesus' Children- OTiS covers Stevie Wonder

Photo Gallery

Press

• Going Up With OTiS [+ Show ]
  

  What can you say about a funk band – the songs are catchy, they have a good groove, you can dance to...What can you say about a funk band – the songs are catchy, they have a good groove, you can dance to it, some of the licks would make good hip-hop samples, right? What makes Brooklyn soul/funk band Otis any different? Arrangements, neat songwriting touches and unpredictability: they switch from one era to another in a split-second and make it seem totally natural, their solos aren’t long, but they make them count within some of the most entertaining, sometimes psychedelic charts this side of Steely Dan. Their influences are strictly oldschool, spanning from the 60s to the 80s. They’ve got three albums out: the one you should immediately download without wasting one more second, if your wifi is screaming and you love classic funk and soul, is their free Live at Rockwood Music Hall album at their Bandcamp site (where they have their two studio albums streaming as well). This one is the best way to get to know them because it doesn’t have all the studio overdubs or the big brass section, but what it says is their songs are so strong that they stand up with just basic guitar, keys, bass and drums. And although the sound quality isn’t pristine – it sounds like somebody recorded it on a good-quality phone, with a group of chatty girls just close enough to be annoying – it’s a gateway drug to the rest of their stuff.
  
  Their most recent album Music Elevator (Otis – get it?) is their best. They particularly excel at oldschool 60s soul grooves. You’re Makin’ Love Easy (another free download) blends a warm Memphis vibe with 70s funk, a summery Willie Mitchell-style horn chart, David Lowenthal’s slinky bass, and Steve Cropper-esque guitar for the same kind of vibe that Robert Cray was working about ten years ago. The attractively blues-tinged Sophia adds some carefree Beatlesque touches as well as a nice contrast between Justin Etheredge’s biting, echoey Rhodes piano and Craig Schoenbaum’s jangly guitar. And the big funk/soul anthem Creeping is packed with cool psychedelic touches like a weirdly oscillating drone that literally creeps in when the lyrics get worrisome, and a little bit later a mysterioso Riders on the Storm electric piano interlude.
  
  With its spacy bluesfunk guitar and bubbly Rhodes piano, Every Story takes a lavish, lush early 70s Stylistics-style ballad and reinvents the genre. A New Addiction, with its neat intermingling of Sylvester Onyejiaka’s tenor sax, Dominick Magnotta’s drum breaks, soulful bluesrock guitar and swooshy organ, could be a Bill Withers tune, while the sarcastic kiss-off anthem Stuck could be the Crusaders around 1976. The fast, funky shuffle Automatic People, with its conscious lyrics and catchy, rising hook, brings to mind vintage Curtis Mayfield, while the swinging funk-pop of How It Is reminds of Steely Dan. The rest of the album alternates between harder-edged dancefloor funk like the wry, socially aware Other Man and a four-minute tune called Bump that the band could have made twice as long – and probably does in concert – and more mellow stuff like Gone Away, with its laid-back, latin-flavored Grover Washington-style groove fueled by Gerard O’Shea’s breezy alto sax. If oldschool funk and soul are your thing, get to know these guys, they’re a lot of fun.

• 'Want soul?' [+ Show ]
  

  Brooklyn’s got soul — but did you know? If jazzman Craig Shoenbaum has his way, you will — that i...Brooklyn’s got soul — but did you know?
  
  If jazzman Craig Shoenbaum has his way, you will — that is, once you see his band live at Southpaw in Park Slope on Dec. 10. Shoenbaum, the founder and frontman of the funky rock outfit OTiS, who, with the band’s new record, “Music Elevator,” is determined to shed light on the nascent musical movement that already includes acts like SouLive and the Royal Family — and gain a little notoriety and name recognition in the process.
  
  “The timing is right for us — we think of ourselves as soul, funk, and rock, but the soul sound is our thing; our new slogan is ‘Brooklyn soul,’ ” Shoenbaum said. “The music scene is finally curving back around again to bands that play their own instruments — and it’s about time.”
  
  OTiS’s sophomore album, released on Nov. 21, has a jazzy, full-bodied and soulful vibe — complete with buttery bass lines, classic keyboard fills, talking guitar riffs, and a horn section featuring a very windy trombone player Joe Scatassa.
  
  To support the LP, OTiS filmed its very own music video — a “Hard Day’s Night” spoof that features band members being chased by a mob of screaming girls through Park Slope (we couldn’t help but love the video; at one point, the band hides behind a copy of The Brooklyn Paper).
  
  “We just need to get noticed, have someone let us quit our jobs so we can play music full-time, and put the Brooklyn soul genre on the map!” Shoenbaum said.
  
  These guys are already well on their way.
  
  -reach Arts Editor Juliet Linderman at jlinderman@cnglocal.com or by calling (718) 260-8309.

• Makin' It: OTiS [+ Show ]
  

  Up next for TRT’s bold predictions for “makin’ it” in 2010 is Brooklyn’s own OTiS. I first caught wi...Up next for TRT’s bold predictions for “makin’ it” in 2010 is Brooklyn’s own OTiS. I first caught wind of OTiS a few weeks back thanks to one of our most reliable tipsters, Jake, who sent me the band’s cover of Pharcyde‘s “Passing Me By.”
  
  Did I fail to mention, OTiS is not a rap group, by any means, but lead singer Craig Schoenbaum sure had me fooled, which points to the band’s versatility. OTiS defines themselves with three words: Rock, Soul, and Groove.
  
  We can confirm after snagging OTiS‘ self-titled album in advance that those 3 words are certainly apparent from the album opener “All Over Again” to its closer in “Under the Gun.” But, for me the album’s stand out song has to be “American Dream,” the politically driven song that examines today’s world. Soap box not included.
  
  The funky bass-line paired with the soulful piano solo and band background chants will have you grooving in no time as Schoenbaum hooks you with the chorus of “We shoot first/We ask later/That’s just the way we do/When you’re shootin’ first and ask later/American Dreams comin’ down on you.” It’s a rarity for energy of a band to translate so strongly on a recording, yet OTiS manages to pull it off with ease.

• OTiS [+ Show ]
  

  It’s a question that you can’t ask without a bucket load of passion behind it: “Are you with me?!” I...It’s a question that you can’t ask without a bucket load of passion behind it: “Are you with me?!” I’ve heard it in some badass movies and from some badass friends. So you know, when a band like our latest feature OTiS, began taking root with this very question… you have a group of guys on the same very passionate page. The NYC-based OTiS is made up of funk, rock and jam induced artists making music for all the right reasons...
  

Setlist

OTiS can perform for 1, 2 or 3 hours- depending on the show.

30+ Originals
20+ Covers

Basic Requirements

Calendar