We Are OFK: How an indie band wants to change music biopics, out August 18

You’ve probably seen a music biopic movie or tv show: a story of the rise-to-fame of some band you know. You’ve probably heard songs by a virtual band, animated characters playing music recorded by real creative artists.

We Are OFK is both of these things.

• OFK is our virtual band, with real songs on streaming services, like any other band you like.
• We Are OFK is a video game about the origin story of our band.

With me so far? Okay so we’re kinda making a biopic about ourselves. An auto-biopic, for you word nerds… 

The story of a music biopic usually goes like this: A small-town artist works hard, isn’t appreciated, and almost gives up. Then they meet a record label executive who “gets it”, or they impress somebody famous at a bar, and that person launches them into stardom. They record an album! They go on tour! They see the world! Sex! Oh no, drugs! …They hit rock-bottom. Their friends are angry or sad or whatever, and some combination of these terrible things motivates the artist to turn their life around. They rediscover their love for music and remember why they do this in the first place. I like these stories! They’re inspiring, but they’re so big.

Do you know how many artists become megastars? It’s not a lot. Most musicians never “make it”, and making music does not pay a living wage. But still, tons of people make music, no matter whether they get paid or not. Those big pop-star stories are inspiring, but I think the people just trying to make anything… that’s magic to me.

Same thing with virtual bands. They’re so glamorous and imaginative, but they’re larger than life. For all of us on Team OFK… we don’t know anyone like that, really. We’re mostly hanging out on couches, doodling, eating sandwiches in a park, or ordering delivery noodles again.

We Are OFK is our indie-sized experiment at making a smaller biopic. A smaller virtual band. An imagined group, created by artists, musicians, and game designers who all know how hard it is to just make something, finish it, and put it out into the world, because we still struggle to do that most days. What would it look like to create virtual musicians who watch performances of these pop-stars on their laptops in bed, and know they’re probably never going to play a stadium concert? We wanted to tell that story – how hard it is to make music, to write even one song, to record another video to post online, and hope someone leaves a nice comment. Getting through day jobs, loneliness, awkward group chats, someone at a party who won’t stop talking to you… all of it.

We made our biopic as a game, because we feel close to this band, our band, and we want you to, too. You’ll decide things they say, what texts they send, how they express themselves as they go through their smaller journey of trying to make something they can be proud of. I know we’re proud of this game / band / episodic series… the whole thing!

We Are OFK premieres August 18 on PS5 and PS4, and then every week after that, until you have all our episodes, featuring all OFK’s new songs from their debut EP.

Not a full album yet, because hey making stuff is hard! We all have to start small.