Tag Archives: Dryw Owens

A Lot LIke Birds

Local Rock Band A Lot Like Birds Release New Album DIVISI on Equal Vision Records, Headline Hometown Show at Goldfield • May 30, 2017

Earlier this month on May 5, A Lot Like Birds released their latest full-length album DIVISI on Equal Vision records. This culminated a creative journey that began more than a year ago when the band entered the studio, retooled with a new lineup and ready to get down to business with Sacramento-based producer Dryw Owens. The final product contains songs that are “about acknowledging your past and facing your future. It’s about starting over, without forgetting where you’ve been,” according to the band’s press release. Memory certainly seems to play as a central theme in songs such as “Trace the Lines,” which expresses feelings of loneliness and confusion. Elsewhere, “The Story of Us” speeds up the tempo, utilizing cosmic imagery to describe desolate isolation, making it seem beautiful, though tragic. Fear not, though, you won’t have to be so glum when you welcome the band home. In fact, it’s cause to celebrate. DIVISI is a stirring accomplishment, and you’ll be able to feel its gravity live at an all-ages show at Goldfield Trading Post (1630 J St., Sacramento) on May 30, 2017. Also performing will be Household, Hearts Like Lions and Owel. You can purchase tickets in advance at Goldfieldtradingpost.com.

**This write-up first appeared in print on page 11 of issue #240 (May 22 – June 5, 2017)**

Sianvar

At Arm’s Length • Post-hardcore Supergroup Sianvar Get Lost, Stay Lost on Debut LP

If existing as a band separated by state lines, conflicting tour schedules and regular old life hiccups were big hurdles to leap, no one told Sianvar. The post-hardcore supergroup—consisting of Will Swan (Dance Gavin Dance), Donovan Melero (Hail the Sun), Sergio Medina (Stolas), Joe Arrington and Michael Franzino (A Lot Like Birds)—are without a doubt one of the hardest-working musical entities currently making the rounds not just in the Sacramento area, but probably in much of North America.

When I catch up with Medina, he’s pulled over at a truck stop with about a two-day drive left to his home in Las Vegas from outside New York City, where his band Stolas has cut their sophomore record with producer Mike Watts. Medina is doing the long haul at a brisk pace in order to have enough time to relax and rehearse before Sianvar begins a month-long tour throughout the West Coast.

On top of the rush between his recording with Stolas across the country and the impending Sianvar record release and tour, vocalist Melero recently completed a run of dates with Hail the Sun after finishing up the band’s third full-length, Culture Scars. Swan and Dance Gavin Dance have plans for a new record, as does A Lot Like Birds, both of which will almost certainly call for touring. It’s a maddening-sounding schedule that necessitates a lot of long-distance decisions for Sianvar.

“I used to think ‘fuck, how would that work as a band?’” says Medina of Sianvar’s scattered members. “That didn’t seem like a way to function in my head. It’s been perfectly normal for us in Sianvar, though. For me it’s just something we gotta do to operate and continue, and to me it’s not very much a big deal.”

Stay Lost, Sianvar’s debut LP, assumes a frantic pace not unlike what you’d expect the sum of each member’s other bands might coalesce into. Heavy guitar effects add sonic flourishes to progressive technicality on songs like the album’s first single, “Omniphobia,” a paranormal meditation set to caterwauling emo aggression. Fans of Melero’s Hail the Sun will revel in his Anthony Green-like range, while fans of post-prog giants like The Mars Volta will hang on every chord change and phrase manipulated by the Swan-Medina tandem. It’s a relentless kind of racket best served repeatedly for its full effects to become absorbed, like any good progressive band.

The songwriting, according to Medina, and as you may well imagine, can be tedious.

“Sometimes something will stick and I’ll want to change it and put it under a microscope and say, ‘Why did we do this? Why don’t we do this?’ explains Medina. “Will will say, ‘Why do you want to change it? It already feels good.’ I think as a musician I want to think something cool shouldn’t have sprouted that quickly. There were a lot of times when we were writing the album with those kinds of moments where we’d do something cool and then Will would get out his phone and we’d record very quickly so we wouldn’t forget it.”

Adding to the disjointed nature of the record is the fact that by virtue of the band’s schedules, they went in weeks apart for the recording sessions that resulted in Stay Lost. Far be it for you to be able to tell, though. Songs as frantic and ruthless as “Anticoagulant” or “Psychosis Succumbing” are testaments to the band’s innate songwriting chemistry—a melodic maelstrom made explicitly for the sordid corners of your psyche.

Despite the extra effort obviously necessary for Sianvar to exist, Medina insists that the band member’s other groups are supportive.

“It was a little delicate at first for A Lot Like Birds because it was their whole rhythm section playing in Sianvar,” admits Medina. “That quickly blew over, though. Stolas is the newest band out of the four of us, so we’re at the bottom, but anything that’s come from Sianvar has only helped us. My bandmates have always been cool with that.”

It behooves Medina and the rest of Sianvar to strike out with their own identity, too. While the band can’t help but wear its incestuous influences on its sleeve, Sianvar is probably more concerned with being super good than being a supergroup.

“Nothing we’ve come up with has been deliberately trying to be this or that,” says Medina. “It’s bound to happen that some parts end up sounding like DGD or Hail the Sun. But we definitely strive to make sure this band, not only musically but with the way we present ourselves, goes with Sianvar’s vibe and makes it different and makes it standout as its own other band, not just a side project of a bunch of musicians.”

Produced by Dryw Owens at Roseville’s Little Russia Recordings, Sianvar embellished their lofty aural alchemy to huge heights, with Owens encouraging the copious use of pedals to propel the band’s strong rhythmic talents to wall-of-sound levels. Songs like “BedRoots” are practically void of dynamic shifts, approximating the kind of fantasy-prog decadence of Yes, Trans-Siberian Orchestra or the indulgent depths of black metal luminaries like Gorgoroth.

Interestingly, it’s probably safe to say that Sianvar’s muses were nowhere near any of the aforementioned artists, and it’s ironic that toward the end of “BedRoots,” some of the jazz fusion leanings of Swan’s DGD-compositions are finally unveiled a bit. The band’s fearless exploration of deafening squalls of sound is admirable, if only when it’s contrasted a bit by a spoonful of soulful sugar.

With so much on the horizon for each member of Sianvar’s other bands, it’s unsurprising that it will be difficult to maintain the momentum for the group beyond the upcoming tour and release, being facilitated by Swan’s label, Blue Swan.

“We don’t really think about it but kids at shows think it’s crazy that we’re all in a band together,” says Medina. “I don’t really think of it that much, but it is kind of a cool thing. It’s a very family-oriented work flow.”

Sianvar will be celebrating the release of their first full-length Stay Lost on Aug. 5, 2016 with a show at The Boardwalk, located at 9426 Greenback Lane in Orangevale. This all-ages show will get started at 6:30 p.m. with special guests My Iron Lung, Save Us from the Archon, Subtlety and A Foreign Affair. Tickets are $12 in advance, $14 the day of the show and are available online at Theboardwalkpresents.com.

Sianvar

Surviving the Era

Adapt or Die: Surviving the Era Discover their Voice on Sophomore EP

Ryan Sollom’s name might ring a bell. His former band Shortie had quite an impact on the 2000s music scene in Sacramento, and at the time it seemed whether someone liked them or not, everyone had an opinion on the matter. Sollom was much of what made their sound unique, and his talent was evident.

However, in 2006, the group abruptly parted ways, with some members going on to the project Will Haven, while Sollom continued on his own path, first with the band One Dying Secret, and most recently in 2014 with Surviving the Era.

Surviving the Era is due to release their second album, Parallax, the follow-up to their self-titled debut, on June 18. The album, recorded at Little Russia Recordings with Dryw Owens behind the controls, includes the recently dropped first single, with subsequent video, “Queen of the Sea.” Other than Sollom, the group currently consists of Kyle Newton and Kevin Cortez on guitars, Seth Borges on bass and vocals and Jake Cooley on the drums.

When discussing the transition from their self-titled debut to the upcoming release during a phone interview with Submerge, Sollom regarded the prior release as not really being representative of the band as they exist now. “The self-titled [album] … really the first five or six songs, the first batch we ever wrote,” said Sollom. “As we were recording it, we were writing other songs.”

“Pretty much the day it came out it was outdated,” he continued. “We were coming into our own. Our identity was already changing by the time that EP was back and we were putting it out. It was hard to push on people because it wasn’t who we are … It was who we were the first couple of months as a band. Our identity naturally changed. We knew what we wanted to be as far as style of music we wanted to portray and what we wanted as individuals, so [Parallax] is an exact representation of Surviving the Era.”

When listening to the various tracks that make up Parallax, it’s not difficult to find both similarities and differences between the style of Surviving the Era and Sollom’s prior work. His vocals and the recording are far more polished, while the music that backs his vocals has softened a bit, giving off more of an early 2000s emo/power pop feel than the more pop-punk vibes featured in many Shortie tracks. At the same time, Surviving the Era’s tracks are still drenched in guitar-driven goodness, and there are definitely tracks from the old days that line up with Sollom’s most recent work. A good example is “Queen of the Sea,” which would pair nicely with Shortie’s “Every Single Word” off of their 2005 album, Without a Promise.

“I think that naturally with life you change, you adapt. I think Surviving the Era, as individuals, have grown and changed. Circumstances around my life has changed too. The writing has changed. As an older person I can not shun any happy feelings, where when I was younger I was like, ‘Oh, this is happy … I don’t want to write about that,’ where now I’m like it’s a happy-vibing song and happy things come up when I’m writing lyrics, I’ll embrace that. Of course, yeah, things have changed, life has changed, writing songs have changed a little bit, but as far as inputs go for myself, I’ve always been influenced by the same stuff. That’s who I am.”

Prior to Surviving the Era, Sollom was in a project called One Dying Secret, which ended in 2013. He had actually left Shortie to join the band, and while he is no longer involved in the project, they did make it a healthy seven years of existence, which in band years is almost an eternity. Unfortunately, the group tasted minor success, but in the end Sollom was only left wanting more.

“We released one EP officially, put one EP out for free and we ended up going out to Los Angeles and recording, doing some demoing for John Feldmann [Goldfinger, producer for Panic! at the Disco, Atreyu, The Used], and we ended up doing two songs and putting those out for free as well. That was in hopes of landing something for John Feldmann on his record deal, and that went really well. Then, things just kind of fell apart after we got back from Los Angeles. The people in that band just kind of ‘lost their fire,’ if you will.”

If you track the timeline of Sollom’s various projects, from Shortie to the present, you will only find one year where he is not officially in one of the three projects previously mentioned. When it comes to music, this really isn’t an alternative option: “If I found myself not being involved with music, I felt off-kilter,” says Sollom. “I’ve always been involved with something, as an individual I have to be. It’s everything to me.”

When asked whether or not he has ever considered working apart from a group atmosphere, Sollom says he prefers the company of others. “I don’t have enough balls to [work as a solo artist], I don’t think. I love creating with other individuals, because of the aspect of what they bring. I have nothing against the Justin Timberlakes or something like that, but I like creating with people, because that’s how things blossom and take different shapes. You can have an idea and work with someone else and that thing will change to something even better. It keeps things fresh, you get different perspectives. I love creating with other people, it’s just a much better fit for myself.”

Sollom has spent his entire life in Sacramento, with all three of his projects performing a majority of shows in the area. While this does not make him an expert on the local music scene, he definitely has perspective on the subject. When asked about the state of the scene, Sollom echoed other musicians in the area that have recently felt frustrated with the current environment.

“I feel the [Sacramento music] scene is really bad right now,” said Sollom. “A decade ago it was thriving … there was lots of all-ages clubs, lots of bands that would play together and help each other out. I think it was a much more vibrant scene. Now, with how things are ran, from local bands having to sell tickets to draw people to shows … that sucks. People should be able to make up their minds if they don’t want to see you day of [the show]. They shouldn’t have to commit in advance. It’s been ridiculous, and a lot of bands feel that way. So, I think that has hurt the scene. I think the lack of clubs, the lack of all-ages venues hurts the scene. It seems like there’s not a whole lot of bands … I mean, there’s a fair amount of bands, but compared to what it was back in its heyday, it’s definitely a dying scene.”

“I love Sacramento … born and raised,” Sollom continued. “I think even if there was a level of success with Surviving the Era, I still probably would want to live here. I love the fact that Sacramento is not far from the Bay, not far from the mountains … It’s always good weather. The city itself, we have an arena coming in, and that brings possibilities for new music stuff. I love it. I’m a loyal guy.”

The band, due to drop their new album, will continue to develop their live sound as they work toward a full-length album, which Sollom said he would like to do in the coming year. In the years they have been active, they have been quite active in the live scene, essentially playing any place that will take them.

“Last year we played over 100 shows,” said Sollom. “There’s a lot of bands I know that won’t play unless it’s a big show, and that is totally not our motto. We play everywhere and anywhere because we want the experience. We’re trying to build our show ourselves and get as good as we can. There’s no show not good enough or too small. No house shows yet. We would play a house show in a heartbeat. I love house shows. It’s cool because it’s so not formal. We’re down to play, send us a message if you want us to play your house show.”

Parallax will be released on June 18, and you’ll be able to celebrate with the band when they play live that very day as part of a stacked lineup at this year’s First Festival. The mammoth two-day music festival runs from noon to 10 p.m. at Southside Park in downtown Sacramento on June 18 and 19, 2016. Just a few of the other bands performing will be Epsilona, Death of Reason, Sun Valley Gun Club, Tell the Wolves and Drop Dead Red. To purchase tickets in advance, go to Firstfestivalsacramento.com, and to learn more about Surviving the Era, go to Survivingtheera.com.

Change in Course for Consider the Thief

Consider This!

It doesn’t take too keen a memory to recall when the underground was rocked by a relatively new animal; a post-hardcore beast gnashing a row of melodic incisors, besmirched by a heavy metal overbite. The critics called it metal-core, then screamo, then a whole host of hyphenated hyperbole until a style of song that sprung from an Iron Maiden fever dream began to homogenize, embraced a pussycat’s slippery sheen, and is now essentially a safe haven for tough kids gone soft. It’s sad but true: Screamo is a fucking joke. Metal-core is a caricature in a Mall of America comic strip. The death rattle for a once mildly exciting punk rock overture has shaken its final clangs.

Sacramento’s Consider the Thief (nee Heartshed) has been toiling within the confines of this breakdown-heavy haze. They are set to release what will no doubt be regarded as either a complete about-face from what their fans expect, a risky career move in a still-fledgling existence, a “fuck you” to what would have surely been a cakewalk into the mainstream-or most likely all three. Guitarist Sean O’Sullivan, formerly of Dance Gavin Dance, attempts to explain the chronology of events leading to this spring’s release of Signs and Wonders.

“All of us paid our dues playing in heavier bands for years before this,” explains O’Sullivan. “After the release of Soldiers and Saints [the band’s self-released debut EP] we decided we wanted to take a leap of faith and write songs that didn’t rely on what had become a crutch for us: screaming and busy guitar/drum work.”

Soldiers… found the band contented in a sound equal-parts Vheissu-era Thrice and a just-crowning Thursday, emerging behind a wall of punishing metal riffs and algebraic time signatures, capped by guttural yelps and pin-prick melodies. It was an underground release that garnered the praises of everyone from Punknews.org to mega-hip glossy rag Alternative Press, who placed the group among their “100 Bands You Need To Know” in 2009.

While still unsigned, the band (rounded out by pianist/vocalist/guitarist Dryw Owens, vocalist/guitarist Jordan Wells, bassist Zack Walkingstick and drummer Lucas Allen) seemed to realize that their artistic bents remained malleable, and with a creeping disdain for the impending creative flat line of their young catalog, they turned a musical corner.
The process was a trying one for O’Sullivan.

“Writing this record was pretty intense for all of us,” says O’Sullivan. “The first song we wrote after the EP was the softest any of us had been a part of. There was that learning curve with the new material, how to go about writing more dynamic and emotive songs. I suffered writer’s block at one point and during that period experienced a lot of growth and was humbled by watching the other guys write.”

The result of such growth has ushered in an atmospheric wash of layered songwriting more akin to the vibrancy of UK sonic-rock supergroups like Radiohead, with a marked emphasis on lyrical themes. These themes rear most poignantly with takes on the Christian parables “The Good Samaritan” and “The Prodigal Son.” But O’Sullivan is quick to note the band’s neutral stance with regard to the presumed theological imprints on their music.

“It wasn’t really a purposeful thing at first,” explains O’Sullivan. “I personally feel it’s important for an album to have a well-rounded lyrical theme. My biggest worry with the lyrics on this record is that people would think that we’re some sort of bible-thumping Christian band. These stories Dryw sings about [are] just as powerful to an Atheist as they are a Wiccan or a Catholic. We’re not trying to convert anyone with a sing-song Jesus chorus; we just want to convey the power and relevance these stories still have.”

The fear of alienation, while something that most artists might invoke as tantamount, took a back seat for Consider the Thief in the process of writing their new material.

“We had a good laugh as we were writing these songs,” says O’Sullivan. “We knew that the kids who love our old material would most likely not gel that well with the new stuff. The vast majority of people have had nothing but good things to say.”

With their initial successes, O’Sullivan points out the band’s gratefulness for exposure on a national level while still remaining unsigned. Signs and Wonders will be self-released by the band, and should be available exclusively on iTunes by May, with a CD release show still in the planning stages. In the meantime, Consider the Thief is gearing up for its future.

“We’ve been so focused on writing and recording that we hadn’t really thought too far into the future, but we are now,” says O’Sullivan. “The reality is sinking in that we have to move on this—that this is something really important to us and, hopefully, to others, is really motivating us to spread it around.”

Breaking a mold that in previous bands they most assuredly helped create is bound to receive attention, good or bad. For the record, O’Sullivan summed it up as succinctly as possible.

“What bugs me most about the current music scene is the overwhelming fear of failure bands seem to have when it comes to doing their own thing,” he explains. “Bands are giving up because they can’t survive and we’re seeing good, hardworking bands break up or lose members to horrendously awful Auto-Tuned crunk groups, and there’s no desire to attempt something that might not pan out. I’m not saying we have that ideology of creativity cornered, but I can for sure say that the record we just wrote is as honest a record that I’ve ever been a part of, and I’m 100 percent proud of it and of the guys I work with. Hopefully people take notice of the bands that are working hard and support them so that they succeed…otherwise we’ll see screamo-crunk-whatever in the top 40!”