ywave, why are doing all that noise (with gtrs and drms) ^_^ ? Oliver - The sounds we use are extreme, controlling supersonic mayhem and crafting it into songs. The sound is a hazy atmosphere of feedback and noise that allows the listeners to get lost. Paul - The emphasis is on the final sound and feeling of the music rather than technical, precise playing. Distortion and reverb sound distant and add a cold empty feeling which we like to focus on. John - We play music that we want to listen to. k: hey, i read it's six years for Skywave, can You do a brief balance of these years? How old are You? Oliver - 25. The first couple of years we played for our own amusement since we didn't know anybody else who was into the same music as we were. In 1998 when we self-released Took The Sun we started to become aware of it's impact on people. Paul - As time went by, we realized that although there were some great bands out there, most of them were more on the mellow, atmospheric side of things. We are huge fans of that stuff, but we wanted a rush. I like contrast and I think we try to do that, combining the simple, pretty tunes with the noise and the speed. k: is there a noise/shoegazer scene in fredericksburg?
Oliver - There's not really a scene of shoegazer bands. There is a lot of noise. k: any radio playing similar oriented kind of music? Paul - No, not in the immediate area. We focus on many other places because the fans of this music are spread so thin around the world. We travel a lot to reach our audience. k:
Anyway i see You're often on tour, and several bands (i.e. Lowsunday)/people, especially from mp3.com, talked me enthusiastically about You. Paul - There are a lot of cool groups on mp3. Lowsunday, as you mentioned, Alcian Blue, The Emerald Down, Matthias' Soundworld, The Bedroom Set. It's great having the chance to tour and play with such great bands. Very inspiring. Oliver - Heaven Piano Co., Astrobrite, Highspire, the recently split-up great band Aerial Love Feed and many others have made so much good music to listen to. k: Your music is a mix of reverberating fuzzed up guitar post-punk and psychedelic 60's recalls, a perfect mixture as regards me, involving Jesus And Mary Chain and early My Bloody Valentine influences (i just come to notice that on the amendment rec promo split 7" You cover Sunny Sundae Smile).. now You have also a girl singing (and how cool) -- Oliver -
We are big fans of those bands, and a lot of sonic possibilities were introduced. We are trying to build upon that and other influences. We try to take on two different things with our recordings and our live shows. The records utilize any sounds we can draw from, whether they're reproducible in a live setting or not. Paul - We've had some great female singers who have been nice enough to record songs with us and sometimes even play live. k: when and why did You decide to play music? Paul - I got a guitar when I was 15 and still don't know how to play. Oliver - It was an escape. k: can You live on Skywave, or You have a job? (please, do not hate me for this ingenuous question..) Oliver - Skywave is starting to support itself, but not entirely, so we do work some jobs to come up with money. k: any side project? Oliver - We all record other things, but they don't really go any further than just letting our friends hear them. k: what and if labels are You dealing with? Paul - We have been working with Amendment for a 7'', Arnold in Poland for an EP, Cherry Coated for our Don't Say Slow EP. Planting Seeds, Loomer and other labels should be releasing compilations soon that have us on them. We've also been talking to some European labels for our next release.