Interview with Oceans On Fire

What got you into music, and if you had not gotten into music what would you be doing today?

• We have all been into music from a young age, we all started in our school years, some of us together, others apart. We honestly don't know what we would do if we weren't musicians, it is a massive part of our lives, for some of us, it is our job outside the band too!

What do you like to do when you are not playing music and how does that influence your creativity?

• We are all really big film fans, watching and talking about movies takes up a good portion of our time!
  We feel it really has positive effects on our creativity giving us ideas of things to write songs about or narratives that can help relay what we write about to make them more palatable and understandable.

How long has your band been around?

• We have been around as Oceans On Fire since 2016 out of the ashes of our old band which included our current vocalist and guitarists. That band was on the go from 2011-2016 so we have been on the go for 11 years now if you look at it that way!

Where are you based and how did that influence your music?

• We are based in central Scotland, we can't say that has influenced our music tremendously aside from being influenced and inspired by a bunch of great local bands over the years!

How did you come up with the name of your band and what does it mean to you?

• Our band name has its origins in the Architects song 'Colony Collapse', in the line “They say the oceans on fire, say it isn't true”. They were a massive influence for us, especially in our early years, and the song discusses the way humanity has immensely damaged our world, a topic we touch upon regularly too as it matters a great deal to us.

Tell me about your most memorable shows.

• It would have to be our EP launch last year for our latest release 'TRINITY', playing to a packed room of people moshing and singing along really meant the world to us! We still think about it and talk about it regularly.

What is your favorite venue to play at, and do you have any places you want to play that you have not already?

• Legends in Edinburgh has been a highlight so far, really great venue with fantastic lighting and sound! That being said we have enjoyed every venue so far! We would love to play the Garage main stage in Glasgow as it is a venue we have attended time and time again for countless amazing shows!

If you could play any show with any lineup, who would be on the ticket?

• Ooh, that is a tough one! We have a very wide range of bands who have influenced us but I would say playing alongside Killswitch Engage, Lamb of God and/or Architects would be a dream come true!

What is some advice that you would give to someone who is just getting into playing in a band and some advice that you would give to your younger self?

• Play as much as you can, every show, every chance to jam with other musicians, in your band or not and write as many songs as possible! The more you play, the better you will get!

If you could go back in time and give yourselves advice, what would it be?

• Visuals and promotion matter, as young musicians we would just write and record music and release it with a show, no marketing materials, no music videos or photo shoots. We have done all of these things as Oceans On Fire and the difference has been night and day!

Of your songs which one means the most to you and why?

• I think it would possibly be our debut single Abandoned as it did better than any of us thought it would, especially for a first single! It did really did a lot for us!

Which songs are your favorite to play and which get requested the most?

• Our favorite to play currently is also Abandoned as it is fast and energetic and we open the set with it so it gives us that initial jump! We are also really excited to play some new songs we have been writing as they are a lot of fun to play! We haven't had many requests but we have had our song Into The Void called out for a few times!

What is the creative process for the band, and what inspires you to write your music?

• For the most part the sings are written by our guitarists Dani and Jordan, they will write and demo a song in its entirety and show the rest of the band and we will start jamming it and making additions and contributions as a group. Just playing music is enough to inspire us, we play our instruments all the time, a song will usually start with a riff and we develop and write the song from there.

What kinds of messages do you like to get across in your music?

• It can be rather varied, we often deal with rather bleak and existential topics such as religious trauma, anxiety and depression, the state of the world but we try and balance it with a sense of hope that these things can be overcome.

Do you ever have disagreements in your band, and how do you get past them?

• We are generally very similarly minded as a band, when ever anyone brings forward an idea, 9 times out of 10, we go with it and in the odd time we don't, the member who brings forward the idea is always very understanding if the rest of the band don't feel the same way. In the end we are doing this for fun and for the love of music, we always keep that in mind as we want all 5 of us to be as happy as possible!

What are your plans for the future, and do you have anything that you want to spotlight that is coming up?

• We are in the midst of writing and recording our next EP which we are very excited about. We also have our first show of the year coming up on February 9th as part of the Metal 2 The Masses, which will allow us to compete for a chance to play Bloodstock Open Air Festival, so fingers crossed!