The Oaks

The Oaks (sometimes stylised as "The OaKs") are an American rock band based out of Orlando, Florida, created by singer-songwriter/guitarist Ryan Costello and drummer/percussionist Matthew Antolick. The band's sound contains elements of indie rock with classic rock, soul music, jazz, folk music and modern rock. The Oaks have gained international attention through their original fusion of music performance and humanitarian aid. Costello spent two years in Afghanistan, living among recently returned refugees, teaching agricultural techniques and directly participating in food distributions. When he returned to the United States, he vowed to get the word out about the need of the Afghan people. The Oaks is the result of these aspirations. Biography Costello and Antolick met as students at the University of South Florida. They played together in the project "Figure vs Ground" before relocating to suburban Orlando and creating The Oaks. Costello was pursuing a BA in Biology, while Antolick was working on his Master's in Philosophy and teaching Environmental Ethics. In 2003, The OaKs' Ryan Costello sold everything he owned, joined a humanitarian organization and moved to Afghanistan. Costello lived there for two years, working in the Central Afghan mountains with returned refugees, teaching them creative agricultural techniques and becoming fluent in their native language, Dari (Persian).