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Saturday ยท The Holy Grail
"The name The Sailing is exactly what we think we sound like," explains Tech Honors, keyboardist and singer for the Dayton quartet. "Not necessarily sailing on a sailboat, but more like sailing through space." Though they've been together for three years, they're just recently taking the first steps from their formative cocoon. Definitely worth the wait, as the band boasts some amazingly thought-out artsy rock with big balls. The Sailing has some familiar sounds, but they consistently dodge the "derivative" bullet. A combination of soft/loud/soft guitar-driven grooves recalls Radiohead and Muse, but Honors' vocals are too unique and varied to allow pigeonholing. There's also a greater focus on keyboards, but again rather than fall in line with today's mob of piano balladeers they liberally employ a host of patches, from tinkling toy piano to pipe organ. Plus, there isn't a hint of melancholy in their music anywhere. Even when it's low key, The Sailing's sound is very majestic and cinematic, offering an uplifting brightness to cling to.
"Inspiration mostly comes from anything epic," Honors explains. "Epic video games, movies, books and anything else that makes us want to raise one fist in the air and holler out a war cry while we reach for our light sabers and prepare for battle." Oh yeah, you read that right. The Sailing is not shy about their geeky tendencies. "Gus (Stathes, drums) is a Photo Hunt master, he scored over a million points once," Honors continues. "James (Webster, guitar) has never lost at Star Wars Trivial Pursuit, never. Michael (Kirkland, bass) can do an amazing impression of Gollum. Honestly, it's mind-boggling, and really creepy."
Honors himself works at Skyline and won a coney-making competition last year, a title he'll defend this month. "In summary, we're all really big dorks," he clarifies. More specifically, really talented dorks, an Ohio tradition that the local bands on the bill should also be proud to share. (Ezra Waller) - CityBeat Magazine
Discography
We have released 2 self-recorded, self-produced, self-everythinged EPs under the band name Fatum:
1.) Fatum EP
2.) Divingboard On The Event Horizon
(Honestly, though, they're really bad...)
And we've also released a self-everythinged LP (under the name Fatum as well) called,
"When It Comes We Will Be Waiting," a ridiculously over-the-top concept album about the end of the world that's pretty good in its own right (minus the production). On myspace.com, we have 4 streaming songs from our forthcoming EP (under The Sailing, finally) titled, "Echoes And Wardrums EP."
Photos
Feeling a bit camera shy
Bio
The Sailing are a four-piece group from Dayton, Ohio whose sole purpose is to be the best band on Earth. And maybe in outer space as well. Tech, James, Michael, and two other friends were in a band called Fatum during high school. But, in early 2002, the three found themselves pushing in a different direction than the rest of Fatum and, soon after, the "two other friends" left the band. This left the three remaining members needing a drummer. They found Gus, a classmate who interestingly enough, was probably Fatum's biggest fan. Gus' drum-style meshed perfectly with the spaced-out, chord-progression-focused music Tech, James, and Michael were writing. They practiced regularly, writing songs (good and bad) and honing their skills until they were finally able to write and perform the music they had been hearing in their heads. And now that day has come.
We are The Sailing.
We are the universe.
We are YOUR universe.
We craft epic, yet catchy guitar- and piano-based space pop/rock songs that, by the end of their tenure, will have swelled so huge and soared so high that far away galaxies and the heavens alike will have grown envious. Our influences are mainly British artists (since they seem to be the only people who know how to write a decent chord-progression), epic movies, video games, and books, and anything else that makes us want to grab the air in front of us with clenched fists. What sets us apart from other bands, you ask? Well, we know how to write a good chord-progression, lyrics that don't give us away but aren't too cryptic for their own good, and song-structures that aren't always predictable and/or obscenely boring. Basically, we're not like any American band you could think of... Our live show is a force to be reckoned with, as we do our best to blow our audience away with a wall of sound even Phil Spector would admire. And yes, it sounds as if we boast, but it isn't bragging if it's a fact. We want to be the greatest rock band in the world and will stop at nothing to do it. In conclusion, if the Star Wars trilogies were a band, we'd be it.
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