Canadian rock band SEAWAY, have today premiered another single ‘Wild Things’ taken from the forthcoming new album Big Vibe, a guitar-driven collection of songs with big hooks and a bigger attitude, Big Vibe is set to be released on October 16thvia Pure Noise Records. pre-order the record now.
“Going into writing Wild Things we knew that this song would lean more heavily on the indie pop influences.” says Ryan Locke. “It came together a bit later in the process, I think with a song like this it had to breathe a bit so we could figure out where it was going to go.”
‘Wild Things’ was played out on Alex Baker’s Fresh Blood show on Kerrang! Radio & you can read more about the track now on Rock Sound online.
Since forming in 2011, the Canadian band has released three full-length studio albums – 2013’s Hoser, 2015’s Colour Blind and 2017’s Vacation – and firmly established itself within the pop-punk genre. Until now. Because with the release of fourth album, Big Vibe (produced by Anton DeLost), the Toronto band are shaking things up significantly. And while the band isn’t closing the door to its past, this is a very deliberate step away from it.
“This record is a big stepping stone for us,” admits vocalist Ryan Locke. “I think we’ve slowly carved our place in the scene and now we’re just trying to take the next big step, to wherever that may be.”
“It’s probably a cliché to say this,” adds guitarist Andrew Eichinger, “but I think this is the record we’ve always wanted to make. Because before, we always had in the back of our minds a thought about what people wanted to hear. This time, we just thought we’d write a bunch of songs and see how they came out. Honestly, we just did whatever the hell we wanted.”
The result is a bold fourth album that redefines who and what the band – completed by bassist Adam Shoji and drummer Ken Taylor – really is. Yet as much as it’s a departure from the sounds and scene they’ve been a part of and made their own in that time, it’s also more of a next step than a complete reinvention.
As such, Big Vibe is an album that very much lives up to its name. While it’s as much of a summer record as Seaway has ever made, it unashamedly wears its older, more diverse influences on its sleeves. Those things have always been there, but they are definitely more salient than ever before, whether that’s the hyperactive, uplifting bombast of opener “Brain In A Jar” or the 80s-tinged feel-good sing-along chorus of the title track that follows it. That’s not to say all of these songs teem with positivity – despite its upbeat tune, “Still Blue” teems with a pessimistic resignation, “Pathetic” the musical incarnation of self-recrimination and self-loathing, and final track “Sick Puppy” is quite possibly the most depressing and miserable song the band has ever written.
All of them are accomplished, earnest, heartfelt rock songs driven by sincere emotion and passion, but for both Locke and Eichinger, it’s “Mrs. David” – and it’s noticeable Tom Petty influence – in particular that not only sums up Big Vibe but also the band’s overall shift in musical direction and the future of the band. While much of that was down to this being one of the most relaxed recording processes the band has experienced, that song in particular really only came about because of the coronavirus pandemic.
“We were pretty much done in the studio,” says Eichinger, “and then COVID-19 hit, so we kept writing and did a couple more songs, one of which was Mrs. David. And it’s one of the best songs we’ve ever written. We just did it and it felt perfect. And without that song I think the record would be completely different. It brings the whole thing together.”
That cohesion was the ultimate aim for the band with Big Vibe. In the modern day and age of short attention spans, where the focus tends to be on individual tracks, Seaway wanted to make an actual album in the way that used to be standard but which has become something of a lost art in recent years. “We wanted to put out a record that – like the ones we loved listening to growing up – had the feel of an entire body of work,” explains Eichinger. “We wanted to make something that you’d want to sit down and listen to as a whole.”
“That was the only pressure we felt on this record,” adds Locke. “Just for us to make something special while also opening up our sound. We’re trying to break that mold, and I think the record really reflects that. I just hope that we keep moving forward as artists, keep growing and are able to take it to the next level.”
Big Vibe Tracklisting:
1. Brain In a Jar
2. Big Vibe
3. Mrs. David
4. Still Blue
5. Wild Things
6. Pathetic
7. Sweet Sugar
8. Peach
9. If You Let Me
10. Wicked
11. Sick Puppy
Seaway will release their new album Big Vibe on October 16th via Pure Noise Records.
Pre-orders are available now