Year Of October - Sounds In The Signals Interview
For anyone who hasn't heard of your band can you tell me how your band got started and what got you interested in playing music?
Josh Sullivan: We started playing music while we were still in school at the University of Kentucky. Phlecia and I had been dating for a while when we started to play together. Both of us had played music since we were very young and played in multiple groups before formed the band.
Phlecia had always been interested in old blues and jazz singers and grew up trying to emulate them. I grew up playing in various rock bands with friends. Growing up on bands like the Beatles and Led Zeppelin is what inspired me to play music.
Year Of October started off as an acoustic singer songwriter project and has since turned into a full band. What made you guys decide to make that transition?
We always intended on playing with a full band. While writing the music we would think about what we wanted the rest of the band to be doing even though it was the two of us. I am actually a bass player so I would write the guitar parts with the bass in mind knowing that we would end up playing them with a full band. We do still play a lot of acoustic shows and really enjoy the intimacy of playing with just the two of us. I like the idea that a song is never fully finished so having the flexibility to play full band or acoustic really helps us approach the same song in different ways.
Your newest album Stories is available through a series of outlets. Can you tell me a little about the song writing process and recording process of the album?
Our writing process is basically us spit balling our different ideas at each other and when we like one we will stop and focus on it. Phlecia is good at coming up with melodies and she will write some lyrics on her own and sing them to me and then I will work a guitar part to go with it. Sometimes I’ll come up with a guitar part first and propose the idea to her and have her write lyrics around it. It really just depends on the song because each one is different. We also like our songs to tell a story, hence the name of our first album “Stories, so sometimes we will go into a song with a story in mind and build the song around it.
As for the recording process of “Stories” we did it entirely on our own in the spare bedroom of our house in Nashville. We got some recording equipment and spent two months recording 12 songs that we whittled down to 10 for the record. We didn’t actually have a set band at the time so it was kind of a mix of people who helped out. We had my friend Daniel play drums on four tracks and another friend Dwayne played keys for us. I played drums, guitars, and bass on most of the songs and our guitar player at the time Seth played the lead parts. Phlecia spent a lot of time recording her vocals in the bathroom. It was a really great experience and we learned a ton from doing it ourselves.
You have Stories available on Bandcamp as a pay-what-you-want. Why did you decide to do that with the album and do you think offering it that way has helped spread your music to more people?
We wanted to get our music to as many people as possible and we felt giving people the option to pay what they want was the way to go. It really has worked out well for us. We still have hard copies that we sell for set price at shows, but having it up online has helped get it out to a lot of people who might not have given us a chance if it would have been a set price. We’ve had people in England, and Australia who’ve downloaded our record and even reached out to us on our social networks. Without bandcamp and noise trade we wouldn’t have been able to get out to those people.
To anyone who hasn't heard your band what do you think is the one song you would recommend them check out and why?
That’s a tough question, but if I had to recommend one song I would say “Buried.” It’s usually our closer at shows, and I think it encompasses a lot of what we do as a band. It has the big riffs that really hook you in and it tells a great story. Phlecia wrote the lyrics about a short story that I wrote. It involves a cheating husband, murder, and a cover up. The song is really dark and I love that. If someone wants a happier song they should go with “Another Indian Summer.”
Well I guess that about wraps it up. Thanks for taking the time answer the questions. Do you have anything else you'd like to add?
Our album is still free to download at yearofoctober.bandcamp.com and noisetrade.com/yearofoctober. You can also find it on iTunes and Amazon, or if you just want to stream it look us up on Spotify.
We are currently recording our second record; we hope to have it out in the spring of 2014. Check out www.yearofoctober.com for all the latest news.
You can also find us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/yearofoctober, Twitter @yearofoctober, Instagram @yearofoctober, & YouTube www.youtube.com/yearofoctober16.
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