Meet Chris Oak | Musician, Singer-Songwriter, Businessman, & Entrepreneur

We had the good fortune of connecting with Chris Oak and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Chris, why did you pursue a creative career?
Before going to collage, I originally wanted to be a Filmmaker, Director, and Actor working on movies. Later on when I went to collage, I studied mechanical engineering at Pennsylvania State University expecting to work as an entrepreneur in the renewable energy sector. Once I graduated college, I spent 9 months applying to engineering jobs but was constantly facing rejection after rejection. It was quite overwhelming being constantly denied the opportunities to work in the filed that I got my degree in. I began to ask myself “am I really not good enough of an engineer to get hired by anyone?” By 3 months in to applying to engineering jobs, I told myself “well if they are not going to hire me, then I’m going to hire me.”

I asked myself “What Is something of value that I can add to this world that not many others can do?”. At that moment, I realized immediately that my value to this world was Music. From that moment on, I started finding as many open mic nights as I could in Los Angeles to perform at. From there I began performing my music in front of strangers for the first time and learned how there was a huge difference between playing a song well and performing a song well.

Eventually I got a job working as a Lean manufacturing engineer for Edelbrock in Torrance, CA and while working there I was still pursuing my music. The legalization of marijuana was happening at that time and I saw an opportunity to be able to make an impact in the cannabis industry. So after 11 months of working for Edelbrock and realizing how much I disliked working in a corporate job, I began to pursue building my cannabis Company Hazzy Treez full time. Due to this, I took a break from working on my music career because Hazzy Treez was demanding so much of my time and focus. I was still writing music during this time of my life, even though I was not performing like I was before.

Now fast forward to the past 2 years and Hazzy Treez was finally able to make enough extra income that I could use it to invest into my music career. So, I began going to a music studio in San Marcos, CA called Ronin Music Studios to record some of my first songs.

Now it has been about 18 months into recording professionally and pursuing my music career again. Ive been the happiest I’ve ever felt in my life. Being able to create art that resonates with others and hopefully helps others is one of the most rewarding feelings Ive ever experienced.

Giving the world this gift of music is a privilage of mine and my greatest honor. I ultimately make music for myself to fill my soul, but the fact that my music has the ability to impact others in a positive way, is one of the most rewarding experiences of my life.

I choose to pursue a creative career because it was ultimately something I always wanted to do. Whether it was filmmaking, acting, or music, there was always something creative I wanted to do with my life. As you have learned from my journey, Ive tried the traditional corporate route, but it was not for me. I would rather live my life doing what I love rather than doing something that will just simply pay my bills.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
At the age of 6 years old my piano teacher Lyn Pohlmann began training me in classical piano theory. She would teach my little brother and I every week and we slowly began to develop our skills on the piano. As a young boy, I didn’t like practicing scales and studying the theory as much as I liked playing the songs. By the age of 12 I discovered that tI didn’t need to play just classical music, I could play any song I wanted by just watching other people play on YouTube. The first song I learned on Piano was In The End by Linking Park and that was the beginning on my personal musical journey. I purchased my first CD ever at the age of 12 and it was American Idiot by Green Day. Still to this day one of my favorite albums of all time.

From the age of 12-18 I began playing a bunch of songs on the piano from various artists like Clocks from Coldplay to Apologize by One Republic ft. Timbaland. I use to be bullied all throughout elementary school and middle school, so I would escape to find a piano to play during my lunch breaks to get some peace for myself. The bullying was at its worst in the 4th grade when I would pay other students in 20oz bottles of soda to hangout with me at lunch, just so I wouldn’t be alone. Music was really an important escape for me while I was at school to get away from the bullying.

At 14 I performed at my middle school talent show and played the song “What Ive Done by Linking Park” in front of my entire school. It was the first time I had ever been on a stage and performed in front of such a large audience. Immediately after the talent show, people who had never spoken to me began to approach me and welcome me into their groups. This was my first time realizing that I didn’t want to be liked by people simply for my talents, I wanted to be liked by people for who I am as a person.

At the age of 18 I started my freshman year in College at Pennsylvania State University and during my lunch breaks I would spend time in the library playing piano. My parents were kind enough to buy me an electric piano for my dorm room so that I could continue playing my music. It was at this time in my life that I began writing some of my first songs on piano which has been with me on this music journey ever since.

From 18 – 27 I spent most of my life working on my career/business endeavors from engineering, to cannabis , to hot sauce, and of course writing music.

My first experience ever going to a recording studio was in Costa Mesa, CA at the age of 23 where I was charged $250 an hour for recording. After 3 brief sessions, I was broke with little to no money to continue recording my music professionally. I realized really quickly that if I was going to record my music right, I would need a lot more money to afford recording music the way I had envisioned.

At the age of 28 I was finally able to get enough money to start paying for studio time because my businesses were doing well. This time around I was introduced to my current producer Daniel Bourget by my past roommate John Safari. Daniel was able to provide to me a more affordable rate for production costs, without needing to compromise on quality. We started working every few weeks on recording my first ever Album and it included all of the music I had written of the year from the age of 18 to now. Along this journey, I have written more music and have been collaborating with many other artists to explore new genres and styles of sound.

Im so proud of myself, my team, and my family for all supporting this incredible journey of sharing my music with the world. I couldn’t have the privilege to do what I do without the help of every single person and experience along the way.

People have told me that my music is positive, happy vibes, and authentic to myself which I really appreciate. It’s such a great compliment to hear when people say that my song is stuck in their heads. For my first album, I have written primarily about love and relationships but for my second album that I’m working on, I’m exploring deeper topics such as loss, heartbreak, judgment, society, hypocrisy, pain, and depression. I want to create music that explores deeper topics and helps to give people a voice.

Becoming a musician was a choice and it was fairly easy because I knew in my heart it was something I always wanted to do. I do realize through that to become successful in music and make a living from it is something extremely challenging that will take many many years to achieve. I’m in this for the long run and will be playing music for the rest of my life. One of my life goals is to perform in front of 100,000 people. Stick around and follow along to watch me achieve this dream of mine because I’m striving for Rock in Rio in Rio De Janeiro to accomplish this goal.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
Biggest Musical influences:
Green Day, Linkin Park, Ed Sheeran, Coldplay,

Personal influence:
John Safari, Tanairy Robles, Daniel Bourget

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chrisoakmusic

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@chrisoakmusic

Other: TikTok: www.tiktok.com/chrisoakmusic
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/0Ln5LsxjK3ZsdRrB9SYNBO?si=pQ1Unll2QLqnRuZeI3Gblw
Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/us/artist/chris-oak/1195216432

Image Credits
Tanairy Robles of Rising Lab