Ships Have Sailed: People likely to pay for Starbucks coffee but not for music

Los Angeles: Ships Have Sailed is an indie pop duo based out of L.A. The band consists of: Will Carpenter on guitars and vocals and Art Andranikyan on Drums. The band’s initial release was an EP titled Someday, and their full length album Moodswings was released in March 2015. they’ve been making waves in the festival scene, playing South by Southwest in Texas, Canadian Music Week in Toronto, an CMJ Music Marathon in New York City. They’ve picked up a lot of steam on social media recently and their fans can be found in L.A. to Australia and everywhere in between. In an interview for Front News International, Ships Have Sailed told about their music, influences, main themes of their songs, ultimate direction of the band and more. 

 

Front News: How did you form? How did you pick your band name?

 

Will Carpenter: Ships Have Sailed began as a small collection of songs that weren’t a fit for the project I was in at the time, but I felt a strong connection with them, and so I started just producing them on my own in my home studio.  Once they were somewhat presentable I called over a couple close friends to listen, and their response was: ‘What are you going to call it?’.

 

As all this was happening, it was generally just a very transformative time in my life. I was thinking a lot about how we get to where we wind up at any given point in time – there are so many factors to what drives us down a certain path – and I was reflecting on how something that seems like a ‘missed opportunity’ can actually send us to where we need to be.  The phrase ‘that ship has sailed’ popped into my mind, and I thought to myself that it’s kind of negative…it should be ‘Ships Have Sailed’…and then I realized that was a really great band name.  I did some research and found that no one had used it yet, and that was that!

 

FN: Who writes your songs? What are the main themes or topics for most of your songs? Do you think these topics will change over time?

 

WC: I write our songs, although I do work with co-writers from time to time.  The topics always vary, and I tend to write about what I’m feeling or seeing in the world at a particular time…whatever seems to inspire my creativity at the time.  With that said, I do try to make sure our songs tend towards the positive end of the spectrum…I believe it’s important to put good energy into the world, so even our darker songs tend to have a hopeful angle.  …and yes, I feel that songwriting always tends to evolve, so topics evolving over time is only natural.

 

FNI: Who are your major influences?

 

WC:  far too many to list, but I will say that both Art and myself are inspired by everything from Classical, to the classics to rock to pop and everything in between.  Some of my favorites in the past year on the pop end of the spectrum have been: The 1975, Walk The Moon, Andrew McMahon in the Wilderness, Halsey, and many more!

 

FNI: What has been your biggest challenge as a band? Have you been able to overcome that challenge? If so, how?

 

WC: I think the biggest ongoing challenge is keeping everything going in a sustainable fashion.  This is a very fluid challenge that continues to change as we grow, and I don’t think there’s really a way to ‘overcome’ it…you just have to take everything one day at a time, scale in the ways you need to scale, and understand that you’ll always have to be willing to be creative in keeping the project afloat.

 

FNI: How do you describe your music to people?

 

WC: Positive, conscious, Indie Alternative.

 

FNI: What do you think about online music sharing? Do you ever give your music away for free? Why?

 

WC: We don’t personally give our music away for free, no.  Apart from some merch giveaways for contests and whatnot.  Music is something that takes years of training and practice to even be able to make it by yourself in a room.  To record it and present it in such a way that it’s commercially viable is an extremely skilled and expensive process, so I believe it should be something that people value enough to pay for.  This is an interesting topic, because most people are more likely to pay $5 for a latte at Starbucks than $0.99 to download a song, but the music industry and especially the artists themselves are suffering because of this, and if the trend continues, I fear there will be no incentive for artists to continue to create.

 

FNI: How do you think what people do when listening to your songs?

 

WC: Well I think people listen in all sorts of situations.  We’ve heard from people who pick different songs to listen to depending on their mood or what they’re going through on a particular day. Some folks use some of our faster stuff to fuel their workouts…it really just depends on the listener!

 

FNI: Should music just sound good or it must have some meaning/aim?

 

WC:  I think that depends on the feelings of the artist.  I certainly like for our music to have a deeper meaning as opposed to just being ear candy, but that’s a personal preference, and not something I think should be imposed on everyone as a blanket statement.

 

FNI: Are you seeking fame?

 

WC: I’ve never really been seeking fame.  I think at the end of the day, if I can keep creating music in a sustainable fashion, I’ll be happy.

 

FNI: What advice do you have for people who want to form their own bands?

 

WC: Get ready to work hard, and really believe in yourself.  Everyone is a critic once you undertake a creative pursuit, so you have to stay really focused and self-assured, and be willing to work really hard to get your music out there.

 

FNI: Anything you would like share, from new merch to upcoming shows/tours or songs/albums?

 

WC: Absolutely! We just announced an acoustic tour for this September in the U.K. and Ireland, details and ticket links are up on our website:

 

http://www.shipshavesailed.com/tour-dates

 

And we also have tons of music out there, you can find us on

 

iTunes: http://found.ee/SHSOniTunes

 

Spotify: http://found.ee/SHSOnSpotify

 

And everywhere else music is sold or streamed (just pick your favorite platform and search for us by name)…and of course we have physical merch on our website as well:

 

http://www.shipshavesailed.com/store

 

 

Mariam Mikadze, Front News