History of Otuzbeslik Band
Otuzbeşlik was formed in 2014 by singer/guitar player Ekim AYYILDIZ (Eko), drummer Caner SARIOĞLU (Cany) and bass player Osman C. GENÇTÜRK (Osabi). Volga OKAN (Vogi) joined the band as the Lead Singer in 2017. Although the band has been playing music together for more than twenty years and performing live shows for 5 years now, their first recording is released on 20’th of March, 2020.
Timeline
1991 : Ekim AYYILDIZ and Volga OKAN become friends and start to play together. Volga was playing the bass at that time.
1991: Ekim AYYILDIZ forms the band Mecaz-ı Mürsel in High School with his classmates; singer Osman ALTUNOK (Sans), drummer Oğuzhan TİMUŞ, bass player Güneş ENGİNEL and guitar player Alper Eylem ERSOY. Bass player Aytuğ ÇETİN jonined the band afterwards.
1992 : Osman Cem GENÇTÜRK (Osabi) forms the band Nikotin with drummer Kubilay DEMİRKAN (Kubi) and guitar player/ singer İsmail UZDİL.
1992 : Volga OKAN and Caner SARIOĞLU form the band ALE with their class mates Emre TAMAÇ and Derya SAĞLAM in High School.
1994 – 1997 : Volga OKAN and Ekim AYYILDIZ perform live shows together for the band TAMİRCİ PARTİ together in Naval Academy. Osman C. GENÇTÜRK joins the team and they perform their first show together in Naval Academy, Istanbul, TURKEY.
2004 : Osman C. GENÇTÜRK and Ekim AYYILDIZ start to write songs together and perform with singer Osman ALTUNOK and drummer Kubilay DEMİRKAN in a small house in DATÇA. Some of the songs produced by this effort are Sen Giderken, Zorlama Kırarsın, Bıktım Artık.
2006: Caner SARIOĞLU, Volga OKAN and Ekim AYYILDIZ start to play these songs with singer Osman ALTUNOK and guitar player Emre TAMAÇ.
2008: Ekim AYYILDIZ, Caner SARIOĞLU, Osman ALTUNOK, Volga OKAN, and Emre TAMAÇ compose and perform the songs; Efetur Blues, Bela Şarkı, Benim Ülkem together.
2012: Osman C. GENÇTÜRK and Caner SARIOĞLU form the band LAF with guitar player İ. Cenk YAY (Ani) and plays some cover songs. Ekim AYYILDIZ joins the band GENE GEL with singer Dean CUMMING, bass player Ahmet KAZAN and drummer Akın PANGAL in Izmir.
2014: Ekim AYYILDIZ, Caner SARIOĞLU and Osman C. GENÇTÜRK use the band name OTUZBEŞLİK for the first time for their live show on Shaft Bar/ İstanbul in 2014. Singer Osman ALTUNOK performs a couple of songs with the band.
2015: Otuzbeşlik performs at the SHAFT Bar again with guest musicians; singer Dean CUMMING, drummer Burhan ŞEKERLEME, and singer Osman ALTUNOK and also Volga OKAN performs at the stage for the first time with OTUZBEŞLİK as a singer.
2015: Volga OKAN forms the band BRICKS’N BONES with drummer Burhan ŞEKERLEME, guitar player İ. Cenk YAY, bass player Umut GENÇ and they play a couple of live shows together.
2015 – 2016 : OTUZBEŞLİK perfoms couple of live shows in Istanbul at the venues like SHAFT Bar, 60 m2 Jazz Club, Tunnel Sahne, and CARAVAN Rock Bar. Singer İrem ÖZDEN and singer Ekin ÇAPAN joins the band for some of the shows. Ekin ÇAPAN contributes to composing the song Taş Gibi.
2017: OTUZBEŞLİK performs at the NEVERLAND Camping for the season openning. Guitarist Mario GUNDIN from Spanish metal band AREM 3 joins the band for another show in 60m2 Jazz Club.
2018 : Volga OKAN joins the band as the lead singer and the band starts to work on their new setlist for rocking harder! OTUZBEŞLİK builds their home studio in Orhanlı.
2018: OTUZBEŞLİK performs couple of shows in Istanbul at the venues like Monc, Buddha and Ağaç Ev in Istanbul and 6.45KK in Izmır.
2018 : OTUZBEŞLİK starts to write new songs for their first album. Taş Gibi and Şiddete Bahane are the first products. Ekim AYYILDIZ composes and writes lyrics of Kara Kopek while Volga OKAN creates lyrics of Gel. Another song called Yağmura Hasret comes from Ekim‘s archieve.
2018: Ekim AYYILDIZ composes Düşmem Dersin based on the lyrics by famous Turkish Philosopher Mevlana. OTUZBEŞLİK performs at Asos Neverland Camping, İzmir 6.45KK Bar, Cunda Motofest, and Ağaç Ev in Istanbul.
2019 : Band starts to create with a higher tempo. Osman C. GENÇTÜRK writes Zor Geliyor and Volga OKAN writes lyrics to Züppe which is composed by Osman C. GENÇTÜRK. Ekim AYYILDIZ re-arranges one of his recent songs for the band; İner Bayraklar Yarıya. Some of the sessions are recorded at Ankara ÇSM Studios.
2019 : The last song is about the story behind the name OTUZBEŞLİK and called Otuzbeşlik Koş Yardıma. With this final song, band starts to record their album with the sound engineer Mert MORTON Aksuna and Hakan ŞEREMETOĞLU owner of Mors Studios. Mix and mastering of the album is also conducted by Mert MORTON and the album is released on all Digital Platforms on 20th of March, 2020.
