April 2021

16 17 I was creating something new, I was processing the loss of something that I had invested years of blood sweat and tears into...it was an intense juxtaposition of emotions. I was doing some late-night pondering about how we get to any specific point in life and the various forks in the road and twists and turns that get us there, and in that moment was feeling like perhaps I’d missed an opportunity. Then my brain did a pi- vot and I thought “well maybe THIS is the opportu- nity and the one I ‘missed’ steered me here”. The phrase “that ship has sailed” popped into my head and I noticed how negative it felt...I think I actually said out loud: “it really should be more agnostic, like ‘ships have sailed’” ...and I realized that’s what I should call this project! It took a few years of trying out different lineups and whatnot to get the live group dialed in, but we’ve now consistently been a duo for some time now, it’s myself (Will Carpenter) and my good friend and drummer Art Andranikyan! As for ‘Breathe’, it’s a special song to me, and I don’t think I knew how special it was when I cre- ated it! It was written with someone who has be- come a dear friend over the years: Kelsey Mira Duennes...you can also hear her vocal compli- menting mine in the song. It’s an exploration of what our inner demons can do to us and the pe- ople in our lives over time if we don’t face them, and the importance of our breath, which keeps us connected to all life and can really act as an an- chor when things get tumultuous. Well, that is amazing. I am sorry about the loss of that first project, but wow Ships is great itself. Now you spoke about production earlier, does that mean you do your own producing in house for the band or is there a third party involved? It varies based on what I think the song needs... for ‘Breathe’ I did the production, except for the string arrangement, which was done by Daniel J Hange, another dear friend who used to play bass for Ships! I also mixed the track...but I almost ne- ver master my own music - I find it’s better to get another set of ears and expertise at that stage. Other times I’ll partner with co-producers, I have a bunch of friends who are super talented and who I love collaborating with, so it just depends on the song itself and what it’s ‘telling me’ it needs! Nicely done. Now after listening to Breathe it had me curious, so I went and looked you up on Apple Music and I heard the tracks Rise and Low next. Both are exceptionally good as well. Tell us a bit about those songs. Thank you so much for digging a little deeper into our catalogue! Rise and Low were our two singles we released last year, and both are special to me in vastly different ways! “Rise” was also written with Kelsey, and it had been finished for a while, but it hadn’t really found a place in our world. Sonically it was an outlier for us, and it felt a little dark, but also uplifting which is a bit of a paradox...so I was waiting to feel the right moment for it to be heard. Then last March when we were out on tour and the COVID-19 pandemic started escalating everything went si- deways…venues started canceling and we reali- zed that everything was going to shift for the fore- seeable future. Last year was supposed to be a live year for us and we hadn’t planned to release much (if any) music. As we were making our way back to LA, “Rise” popped into my head almost as if I’d pressed play, and I realized that this was the moment it (weird I know) had been waiting for...I brought up the idea with Art and we were schedu- ling the release before we even got back to Cali- fornia! “Low” is just a great little ‘pick-me-up’ born out of a moment where I really needed one. This industry isn’t for the faint of heart and there are aspects of it that can really get you down if you let them. I’ve learned that, in those moments, the best medici- ne is friendship, teamwork and the music itself... and that’s what I tried to capture in the song and the video for “Low”. When we released it, it really felt like the world could use something sweet (but not sickly-sweet), bouncy and uplifting, so again, it just felt like the right time to put that one out there! Now I hear a few different influences in your mu - sic. I can’t really put you in one genre or another because you mix pop with alternative rock feels as