1. Being a diy band tell us how the prog symphonic death metal sounds of Oceans of slumber came to be?
We wanted to create a Progressive Extreme Metal band based around songwriting. The first two songs we wrote were early versions of "Great Divide" and "God in Skin" that were a bit simpler than the final
album versions. These songs were essentially brought to the group already mostly complete. When we started writing as a full band in our practice studio and songs like "Aethereal", "Primordial" and
"Memoriam" started to take shape we felt that we had found our sound through jamming and musical experimentation. There is no format for us, we like metal, write as a band and accept nothing but excellance
from our members; the result of this process is our sound.
2. You sounds goes from blistering epic death metal to elements of bands like strapping young lads to dream theater to post metal like Neurosis. Sometimes in the same track how did the sound come to be?
The varying styles of Oceans come from the different influences of the individual members; Sean and Ronnie come from a more traditional Metal and Post-Metal background, Anthony has similar musical background
but studied classical and Jazz guitar, Dobber and Keegan have most of the Death/Black/Swedish background. None of us listen to only one genre of music and we are constantly showing each other new and old
bands to jam and to expand our musical horizons. When we write songs we want the music to tell its own story and we all draw upon our influences to get this across. For example "Coffins Like Kites" is a song that
where a lot of the parts were written in responce to "hey can you write a riff in this time signature that has this feel?" or "ive got a great heavy riff that would flow after that, what do y'all think". You cant
credit hardly any of the riffs or sections to one member because we carefully critique and meticulousy go over each part and each change up adding and subtracting until we feel its done.
3.your from houston TX a hotbed of metal over many yrs like deadhorse and so many other. Are the members of Oceans of slumbers in other bands and has that and the houston scene played a role on your sound?
The previous bands of our members have definately left their mark on us. The initial formation of the band came about when Sean, Anthony and Keegan's more traditional metal band Lao Tzu lost its drummer and
Sean contacted his friend Dobber who had played in Viral Load, Infernal Dominion, Sect of Execration and Insect Warfare to see if he was interested in playing. He was not interested in joining the band but
suggested starting a new project with some very serious goals in mind. Ronnie had initially been the second guitar player in Lao Tzu and had sung and played guitar for a band called Six year Porno Binge among
others. Without these previous experiences we would not be what we are as a band or as individuals. Currently all the members of Oceans are in a Death metal band called Demoniacal Genuflection.
4. Why did you release aetherial your self and not seek a label to back it?
Our motto has been "go big or go home" since the formation of the band. We had the goal of self releasing an album that would rival any major label release from day one. We wanted to show the music world
that we could be self sufficient without compromise. Although we crave success we are not in this to get rich or be rock stars, we just want to share our music and have it become our sole careers. We also wanted
to show the labels out there what we could do on our own and if the right deal comes our way we will consider it.
5. Is there a running theme or story on the album? It seems more like a concept piece overall.
I wouldnt call Aethereal specifically a concept album but there are definite themes to be found. The idea of being mentally awake (not slumbering...) and being truly aware of world events and logical truths
just to skim the surface.
6. Love the mix of clean, guttural and hardcore vocals as it really adds layers. Will this direction continue on future releases?
This will definately continue as it is one of the core concepts of the band from the beginning. We are hard at work on new material at the moment and Ronnie is expanding on every level of the vocals taking
cues from bands ranging from Disincarnate to Soilwork to Boyz II Men !
7. What is a live show like for Oceans of slumber and do you prefer it to the time in a studio recording?
Live shows are the lifeblood of the band and we will always prefer playing live to being in the studio. Shows for us are all about bringing energy and excitement and getting the audience deeply involved
in the music. Who wants to see a band stand still and look bored on stage ? We move to the ebb and flow of our songs and transform from individual people to Oceans of Slumber when we are on stage.
The hardest part of recording Aetherial was achieving the live feel of the songs that we had come to know over the first year of playing them live. In the future we even plan on doing "live in the
studio" recordings in addition to our regular full length albums.
8. It tells a lot about a band what are the members of Oceans of slumber currently listening to?
Ronnie: Soilwork, Disincarnate, Dead Congregation, Nile, Jolly, The Dillenger Escape plan and NIN
Sean: Twelve Foot Ninja, Amorphis, Soilwork, Disincarnate and Volbeat
Anthony: Classical and Jazz radio, Opeth, Type O Negative, Meshuggah, Alan Holdsworth, Genesis, Rush and King Crimson
Keegan: Soilwork, Devin Townsend, Gojira, Abigail Williams, Soundgarden, Alice in Chains and Necrophagist
Dobber: Ulver, Scriabin, Kamelot and Godless Truth
9. Will we see any videos off the album as the music seems very visual to me.
We feel the same and have several possible video ideas that we are currently working on for this year. One of the ideas includes using Blackest Cloud and Great Divide set to a short movie. We love great
music videos and grew up when MTV was still showing stuff like the cool videos from Tool, Pantera and Metallica and we also love bigger concepts like the album length videos from Neurosis. A video is also
the main focus for the live in the studio project we mentioned earlier.
10. Whats your thoughts on the Digital age for selling music is it a blessing or curse?
Its neither; its just this generations way of sharing music and with it comes some great opportunities and some downfalls. We can never escape change we can only embrace it and make it our own.
Theres more music available than ever and the only way to be successful is to distinguish yourself from the rest and offer something that people are willing to pay for. The biggest curse is that so
many people waste their time and energy complaining on the internet for one side or the other.
11. Your working with clawhammer pr do you feel good pr and digital distro is better then signing to labels in 2013?
For a band like us pr and digital distro is the way for us to go unless we are on a big label. There is not a lot of room for success in the underground scene for our music. We want to be on a label eventually
and our current methods are on the timeline of our plan for the band.
12. You website Oceansofslumber.com and facebook site are visually stunning do you feel social media and blogs are the new underground.
To me the "underground" are the people that go the live shows consistantly. Because social media is so pervasive in our society, these people are able to use social media to their own ends while the rest
of the world laughs at the current meme trend or posts family pictures; in short social media is a tool for the underground scenes. Because we are a serious band we knew that this was essential to our
success in this day and age and took steps to make sure we had all the proper bases covered.
13. Thanks for the time any closing thoughts here..
Thanks so much for the interview ! We are so happy that people are enjoying our album and that it is getting to listeners across the world. Feel free to hit us up on our Offical website, Facebook or
Reverbnation for info, shows, merch or booking !
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