New York, NY (Top40 Charts) The vacation is over for Canadian rock band SEAWAY, who have been hard at work on their 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 16th via Pure Noise Records. Today, Seaway is excited to share the first single and title track. Pre-order the record now at smarturl.it/SeawayBand.
"We can't wait to introduce the new era of Seaway. Big Vibe is the record we have been working towards our entire careers," the band shares. "For this record we threw away usual conventions of the scene and genre and just made the record we always wanted to make. As usual for Seaway, it is a dynamic collection of sound and inspiration that bleeds through from track to track. Big Vibe is a feeling that doesn't let up throughout the entire record, and we hope you feel it in your entire body."
They continue: "As the title track of our new record, we believe 'Big Vibe' is the most encompassing track on the album, as well as most representative of where Seaway is at this point in our career. Inspired by 80's Power Pop, lyrically this song continues what Seaway has been known for, while musically pushing us to new dimensions. It's got a windows down, volume up feel that is omnipresent throughout the whole record."
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."
Seaway will release their new album Big Vibe on October 16th via Pure Noise Records. Pre-orders are available now at: smarturl.it/SeawayBand.
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.
