Osker

Osker was a Los Angeles melodic punk rock band who formed in 1998 and split in February 2002, ultimately due to the departure of their drummer. The line up originally consisted of Devon Williams on vocals and guitar and Dave Benitez on bass. They never had a full time drummer, however Phil Drazik was the longest standing.

Osker broke away from the typical SoCal punk band with the release of their second CD Idle Will Kill. Previous to this was their first full length album Treatment 5. Both contained cynical and snotty lyrics about teen angst. As a consequence to their stage antics, among which was Devon's brutal sincerity, criticizing conformity in the punk scene and "fashion", as well as their crowd-taunting habit, Osker were labelled as one of the most hated, mean acts on Epitaph.

"I decided that it is about just doing what you want, while you have gallons of mohawks and leather jackets telling you that they do what they want, I don't believe them... I respect the person that says, "I don't care for that" because there is no extreme, it's pure sincerity. Punk is doing what you want despite the infiltrators, outside of the skateboards and shoes and hair and patches and the diets and the tattoos. I am Devon and I have 5 close friends, the rest of the world is divided into the helpers and the clueless." - Devon Williams.

They released two albums, Treatment 5 and Idle Will Kill. After the split, Williams announced they had been working on a new album (tentatively titled Thriller), however it was later said by Benitez to be a joke.

"The split between Dave and I is astounding to me. I always thought we were the next Simon and Garfunkel. I thought we would be our generations Hall and Oates ... Of course, I plan on killing Dave." - Devon Williams.

Other projects

Devon Williams now plays guitar in Lavender Diamond.

He also played in folk/acoustic band Fingers Cut Megamachine (although he has said that he is hesitant to use the word folk, "given its connotations today"). He previously worked at Amoeba Records in Los Angeles. He released his first single and first vinyl under his own name in August 2007 on L.A. RECORD. In April 2008 he released Carefree on Ba Da Bing, his first album released under his own name.

Dave Benitez now plays guitar and sings in the band The Black Heartthrobs, who are rumoured to soon be recording an album set for release on the Aggravated Music label, which has supported Roscoe and Fingers Cut Megamachine in the past.

Drummer Phil Drazik now plays in punk/hardcore band End on End, which has released several records, including the most recent Why Evolve When We Can Go Sideways. They have toured extensively throughout the United States, Europe, and Japan.

Members

• Vocals + Guitar : Devon Williams
• Bass : Dave Benitez
• Drums : Phil Drazic

• Drums on Idle Will Kill : Ty Smith on track #s: 1-4, 9-11 - Phil Drazik on track #5 and Kelly Kusumoto on track #s: 6, 7, 8, 12-14.

Discography

Albums

• Treatment 5 (Epitaph 2000)
• Idle Will Kill (Epitaph 2001)

EP's

• Osker/Blindsided Split 7" (Bankshot! Records 1998)

Compilations

• Punk-O-Rama III (Epitaph, 1998)
• Smash Ignorance Up! (Possible Problem Records, 1998)
• Punk-O-Rama IV (Epitaph, 1999)
• Punk-O-Rama V (Epitaph, 2000)
• Punk-O-Rama VI (Epitaph, 2001)
• Crazy/Beautiful Original Soundtrack (Hollywood Records, 2001)
• Noise Annoys (Kerrang, 2001)
• Vans: Off The Wall Sampler (Cleopatra Records, 2002)
• Bankshot! Mass Destruction (Bankshot! Records, 2003)
• The Aggravated Music BBQ Sampler (Aggravated Music, 2004)

Other

Osker was the punk band playing at the house party in the mainstream movie Crazy/Beautiful (2001).

External links

• Osker Picture Gallery
• Osker on Epitaph.com
• Osker at Allmusic
• Osker discography with cover art
• Fingers Cut Megamachine fan site
• August 2007 Interview with L.A. Record
• Interview with Osker
• Devon Williams' Blog
• End On End
• The Black Heartthrobs on MySpace
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