By Vanessa Herrera
Hey guys, Vanessa here! I had the greatest opportunity of interviewing the band Ocean Glass, five guys whose true passion is music and who are ready to take on the world. Their music consists of different genres such as indie, alternative, pop punk, indie punk and acoustic, all of which intertwine into a badass sound. So join me as we get to know the band as well its individual members at a deeper level.
Introduce yourselves and your role in the band.
I’m Wes and I play lead guitar and backup vocals.
I’m Nish, lead vocals and write lyrics as well.
Hi, I’m Kyle and I play rhythm guitar and some vocals. Oh and I write some lyrics.
There were two members who were unable to attend the interview: Justin, who plays the bass, and Luke, who plays the drums.
What is the story behind the band’s name?
Nishat: So as a senior in high school, I was trying to be hipster and cool. So I thought, what if we name our band Ocean Glass because it’s playing it like sea glass where you throw trash into the sea, it’s pounded over time and then you get a very beautiful outcome. When we started Ocean Glass, we built from pop grunge, punk rock to an indie rock style when we first started, so it was way prettier, it fit my voice better. So we’re just going to call it Ocean Glass because it’s this new, not trash anymore. But now, Ocean Glass is like the idea where you start with this one product and over time and effort, you get a new product. That’s what Ocean Glass has been, it’s been three or four years of new members, new shows, new obstacles, writing new material always, and still finding the pristine at the end of the day.
How do you balance school and other obligations with the band?
Wes: I don’t go to class, I just don’t do school stuff (laughs). Well I’m a super senior, I’m literally here taking extra credit hours. I’ve been trying to get a music project going since last December but it took a lot of effort so when Nishat contacted me at the end of the school year, I was like ‘Yeah, I wanna do that!’
Kyle: See I’m the opposite. Our band has an English major, psychology/creative writing major, political science major, a computer science major, and then I’m a civil environmental engineer. It’s intense, if you’re not working on homework for four hours minimum a day then you’re not on top of your sh*t. It’s a bit sacrificing, some nights you stay up later than others so you can study or practice.
Nishat: We all have different schedules where I have days I’m free for sure but Kyle has class till six, but then there are days where Kyle has nothing to do but we all have things going on. Kyle has two days he doesn’t have class, I have two days where I have one class and even still we can’t make those days. But there’s a balance; sometimes we have to give up practices or show opportunities because we have midterms and that kind of stuff, but when we could play we’ll play.
Who is the ‘dad’ of the band?
Everyone: KYLE!
Kyle: I lay down the hammer.
Nishat: Kyle keeps us in line for sure. A lot of times practice isn’t practice, it’s goof around time which is fine because many times that’s when you write your best stuff too. But at the end of the day if you want to play shows, want to be good, and want to have a good sound, you have to practice the songs you already have otherwise it’s going to be garbage. Kyle has that good ear to say ‘Hey, this was good but we had one moment where we didn’t do it, let’s do it again.’ Kyle will be that driving force, where we want to get it perfect. Which is great because it only makes us be a better band, be a better performance that everyone else is watching because we like to give the best show we can and Kyle ensures that definitely.
Kyle: I care. (awww)
Nishat: (laughing) That says a lot you know, to care about your own music and to care about the songs you give out because it’s one thing to play the best you can. I think there’s a difference between bands who do that. I do appreciate Kyle being ‘dad’ lets us do that.
Who is ultimate bae of the band? To the audience? To the band?
Nishat: I would say Kyle definitely draws a lot because of his voice; so sweet with ooh’s and ahh’s in the beginning. But Wes’s got these huge ass biceps, we watch his solo and we hear people’s panties drop to the ground. Unfortunately they’re both taken so (laughing) hello.
Everyone: We all love each other. We’re all baes! We’re bro-baes.
Who messes up the most during practice?
Wes: Definitely Nish (laughing)
Nishat: Yeah, I will forget lyrics every practice.
Wes: When it comes to practice a lot of times it’s the mood; really the whole groove. A couple of Sundays ago we had a practice where we were all just tired. We say it as a bad practice but it was really relaxing and a lot of fun, we weren’t under stress. But in that environment just because of, again, the mood we brought in that day was just like a very screwed up filled practice. And that happens. We don’t like that to be the norm so last week we got back together, we laid it down. We immediately had one or two entire foul-ups and it wasn’t everyone which wasn’t a major concern, it was sporadic here and there because, I mean, we’re not perfect. As a whole, it’s more of a mood thing and in general we strive be as high quality as we can in practice because that’s going to translate to a high quality show down the road.
Do you guys have any band traditions?
Everyone: Puns (laughing)
Nishat: Yeah, we make terrible Ocean Glass puns. Like ‘I have homework, so I have to go to ocean class’. Terrible just terrible puns all the time.
Kyle: If we’re all throwing a party, it’s going to be an ocean bash.
Nishat: Or OCEAN TRASH. I kid you not we could do this for ten minutes, we just have too much.
Kyle: Too much for the deep end.
Nishat: Group hug [another group tradition] happens a lot for Ocean Glass. But we’re working on traditions, we’re still trying to feel out our presence as a whole unit is. But I think we’ll some have fun, we’re all goofy asses of guys so it’ll come for sure.
Fun Question: If you were in a scary movie, who would be likely to get killed first and why?
Nishat: Me for sure. Like immediately I would die.
Wes: (Laughing) I hate to say it but you’re the lover, not a fighter individual.
Nishat: I’d be like, ‘don’t hurt the demon, he’s a nice guy’
Kyle: Or he’d be writing a song about the demon
Nishat: Yeah, I would definitely die first. I’m not a survivor, I’m like a crawl-away-from-fighters kinda dude.
Does the band have any fan stories?
Wes: I have an interesting fan story. So we had a show a few weeks ago at a backyard where the people were having a lot of fun and it kinda got crazy towards the end. They wanted us to do an encore of the song we had already done which was a cover. At this point we were like, ‘If we do it again you absolutely have to lose your minds.’ Nish decided that he was going to start a mosh-pit. The problem with this is when you’re at a backyard, we’re not set away from the crowd at all, and they’re like right next to us on the same level. So Nish goes into the crowd, he’s mosh-pitting, they’re all going crazy. Kyle and I are upfront at this point because there’s space and I wanted to be closer to the people. So some dude with his red solo cup full of beer, got kicked out of the mosh-pit, physically kicked, falls back into me and spills his beer all over the front of the guitar and me. I’m sitting there, drenched in beer as we’re finishing the last minute and half of the song. Then they’re [the crowd] like, ‘Do another one!’, but I’m like ‘I can’t, I’m covered in beer and freezing’. It was about 40 something degrees outside, I was cold as ‘L’, covered in beer. So that’s the most interesting event that has happened so far at one of our shows.
Nishat: Mine was before these guys, back in the day. It was my favorite moment. We played at the House of Blues and we closed with one of our own songs. Our fans knew it but people in the crowd caught up very fast so it was 1000+ people screaming your own words back at you. I couldn’t hear the instruments at that point of time, that was the moment when I was like, ‘Man if I could do this every single day, I would love to.’ That sheer one connection with people is what music is for me, getting to know someone else who in a way you wouldn’t understand otherwise.
Kyle: I’m going to tag from that since he went before the band, I’m going to go way back to one of my first performances ever in high school. I played a classic high school heart break song at a school talent show. An auditorium of thousand people and I made them all cry. It was a huge high school and I knew a lot of people, and they came up to me saying, ‘Dude, you made me cry and it sounded so good’. I got a standing ovation, and that was like a similar feeling since it was my first performance, these people interconnected with me, felt that much because I sang.
Any advice for people thinking of starting a band?
Wes: Making sure the people you have on board are going to be as motivated to practice, work at shows, and are as motivated as you are. Make sure when you pick people they have the same mindset and drive as we do, otherwise you’re going to suffer.
Kyle: Dedication, commitment. You gotta enjoy and appreciate as much as everyone else you’re playing with.
Nishat: My advice is more for like, once you have your band ready to go and starting your first couple of shows and practices. No matter what happens, no matter what shows you play at or people you play for or how big you get, never forget to be humble. You as a band, you don’t get to play shows because you’re a band, you get to play shows because people want to come and watch you. Your fans have to come first for sure. The motto for me and I think the guys will agree as well, one person or hundred thousand, you give the same show every single single time. It doesn’t matter if you’re playing in an empty room to just your parents and your brother who come to pity you or a sold out show, it doesn’t matter who is there, you give them everything you got. You’re so lucky to be on that stage, doing what you love to do. You are the voice people can’t speak sometimes and you got to get that out there.
Everyone: Don’t miss opportunities!
Here’s a sneak peek into their world of music:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YbVOuTo327o
If you want to hear more from the band as well as showings, you can follow them down below:
Website: https://oceanglass.bandcamp.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/oceanglassband
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/oceanglassband/feed
Twitter: https://twitter.com/OceanGlassBand
Instagram: oceanglassband
The Spread 