A POP OF COLOR IN AN ENDLESS SKY OF MUSIC
Electronic Rockers Speak on New Tour + Return to Atlanta
Over the last few years, hundreds of new artists and musicians have flooded the scene. While there’s nothing bad about a rising sea of music to swim through, at times it feels like schools of the same fish passing through over and over. Once in a while, though, you’ll catch a glimmer of something different in the distance. Something that grabs ahold of your curiosity and captivates your soul like a fish with rainbow scales. Or, in this case, a tie-dyed sky.
That’s how I felt the first time I heard Skydyed - a three-piece electronic rock band from Colorado featuring Andrew Slattery on bass synths and bass guitar, Max Doucette on guitar and synths, and Shane Eagen on drums. Their brilliant blend of unique electronic sounds combined with layers of drums and rhythm has the power to make you instantly soar into an endless funky groove.
Hailing from Fort Collins, Colorado, Skydyed emerged in 2014 after the three bandmates discovered an undeniable vibe between them. Together, they fuse a spectrum of sound into music that brings on the feeling of looking into an endless, colorful sky.
When I heard the group was coming to Atlanta to play with Papadosio at Variety Playhouse next month, I knew the show would be a can’t-miss event. They were added to the Friday [Feb. 17] lineup of the Pattern Integrities tour with Jaw Gems, a funkadelic foursome, which makes for an explosive start to this two-night show. Grab your tickets now - you won’t want to sleep on this one! [http://ticketf.ly/2hdJwp2]
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Skydyed released a new single last November called “Flicker Switch” featuring Sam Brouse of Papadosio that intermixes a truly beautiful piano piece. Hearing it only adds to the mounting anticipation for the band’s return to Atlanta, and this track is sure to make its live debut. Check it out on Spotify.
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{INTERVIEW}
I reached out to learn more about their influences and inspiration and to see what moves were on the horizon for Skydyed as they come up on their biggest year yet. Here’s what they had to say:
RJ: Tell me a little bit about the philosophy behind your sound, y’all are coming up on three years since your first release and I’m curious how y’all came up with the name Skydyed and what brought all of your sounds together.
SD: [Shane] Where to start… Well Skydyed just means tie-dyed sky, Max’s former bandmate came up with it and we stuck with that. We all met in Fort Collins through mutual friends, started playing together, liked each others sound, and from there we’ve tried to take our own path musically, using different ways of making cool, heavy music. [Max] We all like a really diverse assortment of music, we all have roots in a bunch of different styles from anywhere from metal, funk/disco type stuff to jazz. [Andrew] We’re just kinda making music we like to listen to I guess, that’s what makes it fun you know?
RJ: What bands are some of your influences?
SD: [Shane] I think my favorite band growing up was definitely Tool with the rock influence, and we’re all kind of across the spectrum of different styles. Andrew and I both were really into a lot of styles of music you’d find at Warped Tour. [Andrew] [Max and I] were both in different hardcore bands in high school. So I guess we were into more post-rock styles, bands like Circa Survive really inspire a lot of our instrumentals, Thrice, heavy rock and more melodical type stuff. [Max] I like Queens of the Stoneage, and Tool like [Shane] said, I definitely like a lot of the classics too. I always liked The Beatles growing up, Pink Floyd, they kinda started the whole live-electronic thing in a way. [Andrew] For me personally 2012/2013, when Pretty Lights was starting to do the live band, that was a cool thing to see because it kinda set the framework, like okay, we can take the whole unlimited, expressive craziness of electronic music but still be a band and vibe with each other, play stuff on the spot, so it’s a really fun balance in between those two, and I think for me at least, Pretty Lights would be part of that sort of figuring it out.
RJ: What is your focus for this year going to be?
SD: [Max] A medium amount of everything, I think we’ll be doing some steady releasing throughout the year, and have a good amount of touring going on as well. [Shane] We’re experimenting with new sounds, probably trying to release a little more content, and focus on touring of course. [Andrew] We have a lot of songs that are in the works, and that we’re holding on to to release, some remixes, covers, we’ll probably put out a few live shows and things like that. Just doing some new things with it, trying to probably put some actual music videos together and bring the visual aspect of it a little bit more in with the music.
RJ: Do you plan to play any festivals coming up?
SD: [Andrew] We can’t really announce or spoil anything, but we definitely have a lot of stuff in the works, and a handful of things already confirmed.*
RJ: Have y’all played in Atlanta before?
SD: Yep! Last September with Lucidea, at Aisle5.
RJ: Okay, so Variety will be a new venue for y’all. What do you think is your favorite thing about playing in the city? Does it stand out to others?
SD: [Shane] It’s big! Lots of trees, it’s spread out. [Max] It feels like a good scene, people are pretty stoked on music down there. [Andrew] The last time we were in Atlanta, which was I guess our first time, somebody hit us up online back when we were selling our most recent grassroots hats that we have out right now, somebody messaged us and told us all about their younger brother who’s been in and out of the hospital pretty much his whole life, and apparently our music was a really big thing for him and helped him get by, and it was our first time in Atlanta, so it was like ‘wow, this is perfect,’ we might as well go say hi to him. So we went and hung out with him at the hospital, and it was really cool to sort of see the way music affects people like that, and that was kind of the first time we had done that. So, Atlanta has definitely got a special place in our hearts.
SD: [Shane] Where to start… Well Skydyed just means tie-dyed sky, Max’s former bandmate came up with it and we stuck with that. We all met in Fort Collins through mutual friends, started playing together, liked each others sound, and from there we’ve tried to take our own path musically, using different ways of making cool, heavy music. [Max] We all like a really diverse assortment of music, we all have roots in a bunch of different styles from anywhere from metal, funk/disco type stuff to jazz. [Andrew] We’re just kinda making music we like to listen to I guess, that’s what makes it fun you know?
RJ: What bands are some of your influences?
SD: [Shane] I think my favorite band growing up was definitely Tool with the rock influence, and we’re all kind of across the spectrum of different styles. Andrew and I both were really into a lot of styles of music you’d find at Warped Tour. [Andrew] [Max and I] were both in different hardcore bands in high school. So I guess we were into more post-rock styles, bands like Circa Survive really inspire a lot of our instrumentals, Thrice, heavy rock and more melodical type stuff. [Max] I like Queens of the Stoneage, and Tool like [Shane] said, I definitely like a lot of the classics too. I always liked The Beatles growing up, Pink Floyd, they kinda started the whole live-electronic thing in a way. [Andrew] For me personally 2012/2013, when Pretty Lights was starting to do the live band, that was a cool thing to see because it kinda set the framework, like okay, we can take the whole unlimited, expressive craziness of electronic music but still be a band and vibe with each other, play stuff on the spot, so it’s a really fun balance in between those two, and I think for me at least, Pretty Lights would be part of that sort of figuring it out.
RJ: What is your focus for this year going to be?
SD: [Max] A medium amount of everything, I think we’ll be doing some steady releasing throughout the year, and have a good amount of touring going on as well. [Shane] We’re experimenting with new sounds, probably trying to release a little more content, and focus on touring of course. [Andrew] We have a lot of songs that are in the works, and that we’re holding on to to release, some remixes, covers, we’ll probably put out a few live shows and things like that. Just doing some new things with it, trying to probably put some actual music videos together and bring the visual aspect of it a little bit more in with the music.
RJ: Do you plan to play any festivals coming up?
SD: [Andrew] We can’t really announce or spoil anything, but we definitely have a lot of stuff in the works, and a handful of things already confirmed.*
RJ: Have y’all played in Atlanta before?
SD: Yep! Last September with Lucidea, at Aisle5.
RJ: Okay, so Variety will be a new venue for y’all. What do you think is your favorite thing about playing in the city? Does it stand out to others?
SD: [Shane] It’s big! Lots of trees, it’s spread out. [Max] It feels like a good scene, people are pretty stoked on music down there. [Andrew] The last time we were in Atlanta, which was I guess our first time, somebody hit us up online back when we were selling our most recent grassroots hats that we have out right now, somebody messaged us and told us all about their younger brother who’s been in and out of the hospital pretty much his whole life, and apparently our music was a really big thing for him and helped him get by, and it was our first time in Atlanta, so it was like ‘wow, this is perfect,’ we might as well go say hi to him. So we went and hung out with him at the hospital, and it was really cool to sort of see the way music affects people like that, and that was kind of the first time we had done that. So, Atlanta has definitely got a special place in our hearts.
Right back at ya, Skydyed. It’s hard to put a finger on what makes this band so catchy. Maybe its the organic live drums, or the whimsical bass synths, or even the killer keyboard riffs that make your ears perk up. When the three minds behind the vision of Skydyed come together, the music hits your soul and leaves a lasting impression like that of a stunning sunset - and you won’t want to look away.
*Skydyed just announced they’re confirmed for Sonic Bloom Festival in Colorado this summer. Follow the band online for all the latest news.
FOLLOW SKYDYED:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Skydyed/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/skydyedmusic/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/SkydyedMusic
Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/skydyedmusic
Website: http://www.skydyedmusic.com/
*Skydyed just announced they’re confirmed for Sonic Bloom Festival in Colorado this summer. Follow the band online for all the latest news.
FOLLOW SKYDYED:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Skydyed/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/skydyedmusic/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/SkydyedMusic
Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/skydyedmusic
Website: http://www.skydyedmusic.com/
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