Ships Have Sailed are quite the Alt-Pop up-and-coming band, and give me a sort of Death Cab For Cutie meets Imagine Dragons vibe. I heard about them (honestly) when they followed me on twitter a few months back. I almost never check out the bands that follow me first (especially if I hadn't heard of them before), but I am so glad I decided to. The first song I heard was "Summertime," a poppy, infectious song that didn't leave my head for days (seriously-- listen to it IMMEDIATELY if you haven't yet).
I got the chance to ask Will (lead singer, guitarist) a few questions, and these were the answers he gave...
1. What genre of music do you consider your work to be? Who are your major influences?
We call ourselves "Indie Alternative Pop", but our range is a bit more diverse than that, and a bit hard to describe in its entirety. I think like any artist, we're looking to carve out something unique for ourselves, and so we invite anyone reading to let the music speak for itself! We have a huge range of influences - everything from The Beatles to U2 to Nirvana to The Killers, Coldplay, Muse, etc...the list could go on forever, and we love to be inspired by new music as well as those favorites we already know!
2. How long have you all known each other? How did you meet?
At this point, we're a duo made up of myself (Will) and Dan Hange. We've known each other for about 6 years...both of us are transplants to Los Angeles from much more rural areas of the U.S. and we actually met through the audition process another band of mine was running to find a bass player...we had posted an ad on Craigslist and Dan was one of the bassists that responded (and ultimately the one we chose for that project as well). Dan and I have always gotten along; we have similar senses of humor and a good musical vibe, so as Ships began to materialize he was the first person I asked to join the crew!
3. When did you form your band? What inspired you to make music together?
Well, like I said, Dan and I were playing together in another project, and it had a very specific sound - kind of a rock, hip-hop fusion. I've always been a songwriter, and I had a few songs piling up that just weren't right for the other band, but I wasn't feeling like pitching them for any other artists and I really felt a personal connection and felt myself wanting to sing them myself. I started sketching out some pre-production in my home studio, showed them to a few people and was surprised at the incredible reaction I received...and that's kinda how the first EP 'Someday' was born. People reacted pretty quickly, even given the low-key launch of the EP, and so I realized I was going to have to whip together a live show pretty quickly...from there it's pretty much history!
4. Where have you performed? What are your favorite and least favorite venues? Do you have any upcoming shows?
We've performed in Brooklyn, Providence, RI, Boston, Austin, TX (SXSW) and Toronto, ON (Canadian Music Week) - and of course we play all over Los Angeles! One of our favorite hometown venues is the House of Blues, which is about to close actually, which is a bit sad. From the road, some of our favorites are The Met in Pawtucket, RI, Johnny D's in Somerville, MA and we also had an amazing time playing our SXSW showcase at Handle Bar in Austin, TX this year! Our next show is onSeptember 12th at Hotel Cafe in Los Angeles, which is one place we've never played before, so we're really excited about that!
5. Who writes your songs? What are the main themes or topics for most of your songs? Do you think these topics will change over time?
So far I've done most of our writing, but Dan has gotten more involved on a few of the tracks off 'Moodswings' and is showing interest in contributing even more to future works. Subject matter for our songs tends to vary, but the common theme that continues to echo through Ships Have Sailed is the concept of how every turn on the road of life can effect our future. I'm constantly fascinated by life and by the power of free will...what better to write about than the world we live in, the experiences we have and how they shape us into the beings that we are? Since I am constantly changing, we are constantly changing and the world is as well, I fully expect for our writing to continue to develop over time! :-)
6. Could you briefly describe the music-making process?
Some of my favorite songs just pop into my head in weird places...taking off in a plane, in the middle of a dream, on a beach in the middle of nowhere... It's really unpredictable and amazing, and I've learned to take a voice-recorded just about everywhere I go. I've gotten some weird looks singing myself a melody in public places...but it's totally worth it, some of my best ideas are completely spontaneous!
7. How has your music evolved since you first began playing music together?
Well, Ships Have Sailed is still really young, but I personally see a huge amount of development between our debut EP 'Someday' and our sophomore full-length album 'Moodswings'. I think 'Moodswings' was a bit more conscious of what we were trying to accomplish and convey with the album as opposed to 'Someday' which was a bit more of an experiment. I'm looking forward to our next endeavors and what the future might bring...we will likely be just as surprised as everyone else!
8. What's your ultimate direction for your band? Are you seeking fame and fortune?
Well fame or fortune would certainly be nice, but I don't think it's something that you can really expect as an artist. We are actively building our following, we love playing live, but are still trying to find a balance between being on the road and being in the studio - it's a bit of a balance when you're entirely indie, and priorities are important! For the moment, we're really happy to continue to create music that we love and share it with the growing number of people who've come to love us as well...
9. Is there anyone you'd like to acknowledge for offering financial or emotional support?
Currently we're self-funded, but anyone who buys our music is essentially an "investor" and winds up partially funding the future of our project. We of course appreciate all our family and friends for their support, but honestly the biggest source of emotional support is our fans. I can be having the worst day ever, and then I get a mention or message from someone on Twitter who just discovered us, and actually takes the time to tell me about it, and it will completely turn my day around - it's a real blessing! I also want to take a minute to sincerely thank all the music lovers out there who still purchase music! While streaming is a fantastic new technology that makes us very accessible to a wide range of people, the purchase of music is the single best way to show your support to an artist and ensure that the next album actually happens, and we truly appreciate every single person who chooses to support us in that way...we love you guys!!
10. Any last words?
We hope everyone reading this article feels welcome to come find us online (@ShipsHaveSailed), chat with us, check out our music and tell us what you think! We love getting feedback and learning how different people hear our creations differently...it helps us learn more about you, about ourselves and to hone our craft...we love hearing from you! :-)
Again, anyone who has yet to hear their music, look below for their single "Summertime" and I promise you won't stop listening for days.
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