Would I be writing about The Away Days if they weren’t from Istanbul? Fuck if I know. The Away Days got my attention because they’re an indie band from Turkey—but their songs kept it.“Places like London, New York or LA may be better places for an international Indie band. We called the band The Away Days, not because we feel we don’t belong to Istanbul or Turkey, but because we don’t feel like belonging anywhere. And maybe Istanbul didn’t have a great deal of influence to our music, but it has been a great home for us," the band's Oguz Can Ozen explains. "We're a lucky generation where Internet helps us overcome geographical obstacles and increases chances of visibility if you really produce good things.”The Away Days' members met as freshmen in college and bonded over their shared musical tastes and influences. Forming a band, especially when having those tastes is “quite one in a hundred thousand in Turkey I’d guess,” was almost inevitable.“We both listened to Selda and The Strokes when we were kids. Especially I was into Joy Division, The Stooges, The Smiths," Ozen recalls. "But now, as we begin our twenties, we're trying to find some rare music influences through far east and India."Being a solid mix of 2006 Brooklyn, forever Flying Nun, and The La’s if they were mentored by the Reid brothers, it makes sense that Away Days are the go-to openers in Istanbul for (previously) Portishead and Paul Banks and (in the Fall) Owen Pallet. We and you are blessed enough to have a free song of theirs to download and have and keep forever. You were probably on the market for a new favorite indie band and what the fuck have those other guys done for you lately?
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Zachary Lipez is a global indie music head. He's on Twitter - @ZacharyLipez.