This is the first installment of IndieU’s column in State in the Real. IndieU, similar to State in the Real, is a company that is dedicated to connecting college students to their local music scene. With its online music magazine steaming website (www.IndieU.com) and mobile app [download on iTunes & Google Play], IndieU offers a unique and valuable music-sharing platform that connects independent artists to college students. Keep an eye out for more IndieU column posts in the future!
If you want to learn everything there is to know about Penn State’s music scene, download the IndieU app TODAY.
This article originally appeared on IndieU’s website on October 7th:
http://www.indieu.com/article/entry/q-a-the-absolute-sky-discusses-their-sentimental-sound
By: Lauren Duncan and Kelly Xiang
Though founded in 2014, The Absolute Sky is a group years in the making. The friends-turned-bandmates formed from the ashes of a collection of high school projects, learning to make music together amidst weekend sleepovers and adolescent antics. Their brand of indie rock is reflective of their youthful spirit: vibrant, wild, and larger-than-life. The five-piece put out their debut album, Rurala, last March, and released their first single since the project, “August In Orange,” earlier this week. We recently caught up with their Penn State-based branch, drummer Joffrey Hoy and guitarist Jamie Lyons, discussing their mishmashed sound, the meaning behind their name, and what’s in store for the future.
How was the band first formed?
Jamie Lyons: We’ve been together since the summer of 2014, but have been kind of on and off being in bands with each other.
How would you describe your sound? Are there any artists in particular you would cite as an influence?
Lyons: Everyone asks us what our sound is all the time, but I never know the answer. I’ve been told we sound like Cage the Elephant, The Who and The Cavemen. Kind of like a ’90s sound. We try and make big, nostalgic music. We’re inspired by Radiohead, Sufjan Stevens and Kurt Vile kind of sounds.
Joffrey Hoy: In the simplest form, it’s rock music. We all like different music, so we try and combine those sounds.
What’s the significance behind your band name?
Lyons: Basically, the whole concept is that our singer [name] wanted to created a collective group where all of his friends could work together. He saw a picture of this guy with Absolut Vodka, and the word Absolut kind of stuck, and then the sky is obviously a huge kind of collective thing so it worked. He’d be able to explain it better, but that’s the main idea. Our original idea was Headshots for Happiness.
Hoy: We’ve had so many band names in the past, The Stowaways turned into Basement Culture and then we’ve had a few other collaborative things like Jesus on Rollerblades.
What were you listening to while making your past release?
Lyons: I was definitely listening to Radiohead at the time we made our new single. We were listening to nostalgic music. Atmospheric, intimate, melancholy music.
Hoy: We recorded this at Temple University’s recording studio, and in my garage I have a little loft area where we can record a lot of this stuff. We have a friend in another band called Reflexes, and he also helps record and produce a lot of our work.
You’re both seniors. Is there anything that you would want your freshman selves to know?
Hoy: I would tell myself to take a year off, save some money and think about a few things before rushing into college and switching my major around. I felt a lot of pressure trying to continue in a straight line.
Lyons: Think about what you want to do more, and try not to worry so much.
What can we expect from you in the future?
Lyons: For our next release, our writing process has been kind of scattered just because of school. We want to add more sound and make it bigger. We’re thinking of maybe brass or strings. We want it to be full.
Hoy: Our lead singer, Branden, has a few notebooks just full of future songs and ideas and lyrics. We’re working on a lot right now.
Lyons: As far as inspiration, our lead singer wrote some of the new stuff while he was going through some intense personal things, so the tone may be a little different than in the past. A lot of the music we’re making for it has been written over the last few years, so it varies.
Hoy: We’re planning on having another album coming out within the next year.
Anything else?
Lyons: Don’t be afraid to chase your dreams and do what you love. Support indie music.
Like IndieU on Facebook.