Oceans Away

Oceans Away is an East Coast Grass Roots Band with a blend of Irish tunes from Newfoundland. Band members are: Rick Andrews, Jim Coates and Roger Andrews. They all were born in St John's but spent most of their growing up in the town of Winterton, Trinity Bay. They used to spend weekends with a bunch of local musicians in someone’s home, usually in the kitchen, singing and playing traditional songs passed down from generations. They now live in Ontario and formed the Band, Oceans Away. The sole purpose of the band was to capture the pleasures of those Saturday night sing alongs and further make them available to others to enjoy and trigger the memories of home.
Their musical background includes formal training with wind instruments. Like most homes the string instruments would be the popular instrument of choice. All three members of Oceans Away have played in local bands and most recently found concerts to be the venue of choice. Their music is up beat and filled with that down-east in your face flavor.
In, 2002, they released their first CD entitled, Oceans Away-Memories of Home-Music and Songs of Newfoundland. The CD contains eleven selections mostly all traditional songs, such as Maggie, The Boston Burglar-Fields of Athenry-Sing Me Back Home-Donegal. In 2004 the band released its second CD A Rock in the Ocean which happens to be the name of the title track. Both CD’s were produced and engineering by Eugene Rea and completed in his own studio, Rea Studios.
Oceans Away have an inherent love for traditional music such as ballads and shanty songs. This style of music has been played for some 500 plus years on the East Coast of Canada and served to be largely entertainment for many generations.
Festivals the boys have played includes Burl’s Creek East Coast Music Festival; Cambridge Newfoundland Club; Oshawa Pavilion; Saint Lawrence Market in Toronto; Jeff Healey’s in Toronto; Nashville North in Toronto and the Fergus International Truck Show in Fergus, Ontario.
Their music has shared the airways with Ireland; Newfoundland and the current you tube offerings have had great acceptance especially at this time year where the song “Christmas in my Hometown” has been shared around the globe.
Some of their highlights include opening for The Fables on tour and sharing the stage with many local east coast bands. Special events such as the 4th of July Cambridge Festival and many others.
Their eagerness to share their music and spread the East Coast ways has made these boys a popular and in demand bunch.