Very rarely does an artist evoke emotion and thought from the first time you hear their name to the last second of their record. Smashing Satellites is one of those unique bands. From the vibrant thoughts provoked by their name, to the vivid images of their videos and artwork, to the epic sound that smacks you right in the face, Smashing Satellites represents a unique musical niche in the 21st century. I had the privilege of talking to the band just a few days ago. Read on to learn about their inspirations, aspirations, and thoughts on the state of modern music.
What was the first instrument that you picked up?
It was actually the piano. I played that for a few years. I had an elder sister who was eleven years older than me, and she was classically trained on the piano. I was kinda just enthralled by how fantastic she was at piano. I just wanted to be like her. I also had another sister who was nine years older than me and was just a product of the grunge era. I was five years old and she was basically a goth. She had all these amazing records. Her bedroom was so dark purple. There was one light in the room. I started discovering all of these really cool rock records. I then became enthralled with playing guitar, and she bought me my first guitar.
Was it more of your sisters that inspired you or was it those first grunge records?
It was more so my family. My mom was a poet. The combination of my classical pianist as a sister, my mother as a poet, and my other sister sorta forced me into it. They were my MTV, my university of music. I’d go to my mom, and she’d teach me what words meant and how to write lyrics. I’d go to my other sister who was just technically proficient, and I just wanted to be able to play like her. Then my other sister was cutting edge and against the grain. When my friends were listening to Hanson and the Spice Girls, I was brining Nirvana to school. I was just in a completely different light.
I also remember the first time I heard the Eagles on television. They are way before my era, but I saw a video of them and became so obsessed with them. Then I started falling in love with Prince and Queen and the Beegees. I guess I’m young, but I’m an old soul.
Being that your influences are very diverse, if you could be transported back to one musical era to experience it first hand, which would it be?
Definitely the 70s. The 60s through the 70s is still the best music that’s been created. I was a kid in the 90s but I still thought that was a great era as well, but there is just something about watching a band like the Eagles. Anybody in that band could have fronted the band. They could all sing. They could all play. It was the same with the Beegees. I think that’s a rarity nowadays. I feel like there was a lot more focus on the art back then. People could really play. They didn’t have as many distractions as we do. I feel like people were just better at their craft.
Is there any show or artist you would have wanted to see in that era?
Two years ago I played Madison Square Garden on a support tour, and I have this video of Led Zeppelin playing there in 1973. When I was there before my set, I just kept thinking that I wish I could have been at that concert. The video footage gives me goose bumps. I could only imagine seeing that in person.
Let’s talk about your music. I wanna start off with the songwriting process. When you write songs is it a long and arduous process or does it just come to you from some sort of muse?
For me, I’m a storyteller. I don’t sit down and write a song. I let the song write itself. I let it come to me. If you really try to stay in the moment everyday, you will be able to find all of these little stories. For example, there is a song on the record called Like a Feather. I was living in Hollywood at the time, and if you’ve ever been to Hollywood you’ll know that you could be on one side of the street and it can be completely gross but the other side of the street could be paradise with mansions and palm trees. So one day, I was sitting on the really grungy side of the street and there was this feather in front of me. It stood out in all of the grime. I car then drove by and blew the feather to the beautiful part of the road. That was a song. That was a story. I wrote a song based on that. Sometimes a person is stuck in a dark place and all it takes is a little nudge to get them to a much better place. In essence, I just try to stay in tune to what is going around me because there are so many stories.
Additionally, I like to write about my personal experiences and my downfalls and the highest points in my life. I have to be inspired though. I can’t just sit down and write a song. I worked on this record for a year and half, and I could have worked on it for another year. Some songs took two months to record.
Do you ever find yourself inspired by other people or external stories, or is it just personal experiences?
I mostly observe my surroundings and myself. I am a very selfish writer. I write about what matters to me. The second you start to write for other people, your songs become contrived. If you write about someone else, you have to imagine how they are feeling and you will never completely understand that. For me, we are all just humans. We all go through the same things. If I write selfishly, I write for everybody because we are all just human. If something rings true to me, it will ring true to somebody else.
This record is a very big sound. It embodies that Phil Spector wall of sound idea. It just sort of hits you write in the face. Is that something you always intend or do you ever consider minimalism in your production?
The production is solely constructed to go with the emotion of the song. If songs feel epic, they should sound epic. For some songs I actually called in a string or horn section. I got all of these classical players on my tracks because I wanted a certain emotion. Some other songs on the second half of the record – which hasn’t come out yet – are not as big. Those are funkier and groovier because the mood is lighter. It really depends on the song. I never think, “I want to make a wall of sound.” I just think how I could tell a story sonically.
You keep harping on this idea of storytelling. Now, the visuals are very evocative on this record. Whether it be the Hounds music video or the album art, the visuals are very strong. How important are those visuals to your storytelling?
If you look at the album cover, that is the state of the world right now. If anybody in the world were to look at it, they would be able to find their place in that picture. I wanted to depict how I see the universe right now. Everything has a focus to it. The artwork took almost as long as the record because I needed the right artist. We collaborated for a while, and I just wanted it to provoke what this band is.
It really is an incredible image, and I think that it plays off well with the sound. Many artists don’t stress the visuals of their work, so I was very struck by how apparently important they were to you.
That goes back to what I was saying before. Artists like Pink Floyd and Yes would make full pieces of art. You would get excited to just look at a record. Sometime a record’s meaning is hidden in the visuals. Now, music is just about a song. You have one song and then are never heard from again. I want to write something timeless that can be discovered and rediscovered. I want people to find their place in my record. Lack of visuals represents lack of depth.
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