Interview: Spaceship Days
Spaceship Days are Matt Mocharnuk (vocals), Chuck Cox (bass) and Greg Torsone (guitars/keyboards/Producer), an alternative/pop trio from North Carolina. They create music for every music lover, and released “The Halo Effect” earlier this year. – Get to know ‘em!
How and when did Spaceship Days form?
(Chuck) The three of us had originally been the core of a band we started together back in college. That particular musical adventure lasted for the better part of a decade. Lots of other members came and went, and we accomplished some very cool and unexpected things before we sort of grew out of it. Spaceship Days is what we grew into.
(Matt) Spaceship Days happened in summer of 2009 when we got together for night of drinking and dreaming. With guitars in hand and beer in gut we brilliantly committed to a path of self inflicted scrutiny and heartache, just the way we like it.
What’s your musical background?
(Greg) Obsession with listening to music turned into an obsession with writing and producing music
(Chuck) A few months of guitar lessons notwithstanding, we all pretty much learned our craft on the job. It made things a little bit more difficult in the beginning, but it also gave us the huge advantage of learning to do things together. Everything from the complex act of actually writing and arranging a song down to the way we play our chords, we each developed a style that serves no other purpose than to compliment each other.
What can you tell us about your latest release “The Halo Effect”?
(Matt) An album full of some our most favorite Soviet lullabies and Antarctic hymns. “The Halo Effect” is a collection of songs that we wrote and recorded over the period of about 6 weeks. It was our goal to write big huge melodies with infectious compositions. We feel we did that.
(Greg) It’s a musical/emotional/lyrical journey from college to middle age.
What makes your music special?
(Matt) Our music comes from a place of purity. We know exactly who we are and we have no intention of wasting time with knock-off second tier hack songs. From the lyrics, to arrangement, to production, to chord structure and nuance, we are exactly what we want to be. We write songs that are instantly accessible and recognizable as Spaceship Days but upon further inspection you find a more “not so subtle” energy scratching just below the surface.
(Greg) Agreed. We allow our music to be only what it is, and don’t bother trying to dress it up or disguise it. We write music for our own inner fan mostly, so when other people appreciate it we feel extremely lucky.
What is your favourite song you’ve written and recorded so far and why?
(Matt) My favourite song recorded is “Pain in Pretty Things”. Greg’s production is phenomenal on this track. He does a great job of capturing the tension that I was trying to convey with the lyrics. He took the song in a completely different direction and it works beautifully. My favorite song that we’ve written has yet to be released and is called “Last Kiss on Earth”. Any song that combines romance with the apocalypse is right up my alley.
(Greg) “Stick on Stars” – it was Re-written & recorded 3 times, each version is completely different than the others. The final version is exactly what it was always meant to be, I can’t think of any way I would ever want it to change.
(Chuck) This week my favorite is a song from our upcoming release called “Hanging From the Satellites”. Content wise its about our very first live performance as a band, which was a bittersweet but totally unforgettable experience. Sonically it was something of a creative breakthrough, and that’s always a good thing.
Could you briefly describe your music-making process?
(Matt) Most of our songs start with me banging out a few chords and laying a vocal line with lyrics, the basic roots of the song. The songs really don’t take shape though until the three of us get into a room together and work over every detail. The final and often most important touches of a song happen in Greg’s laboratory, also known as Afterglow Studios. It’s makes my job very easy knowing that I have a brilliant and mad scientist in the band.
How do you promote your music?
(Chuck) Social media has been by far the most effective promotional tool for Spaceship Days. We’ve used the internet to accomplish in just under a year what it took us five times as long to get in our previous band. People are quite matter-of-fact about it now, but it really is an incredible thing for us and any other Do It Yourself artist. A few clicks of a mouse and our music was international. All of the sudden Spaceship Days music was reaching the ears of people like us: obsessive fans looking for something a little bit different to listen to. Social media has given our music to many of those people; more than we ever could have hoped for. The last few months have been quite exciting honestly.
What are your career highlights so far?
(Greg) Playing in Austin TX during SXSW
(Chuck) We’ve been lucky enough to play a lot of great shows at some fantastic venues, and have accumulated our fair share of road stories. All good clean fun, but personally my career highlight would have to be the writing and recording of “The Halo Effect” Reuniting as a band was a dream come true, and was made doubly satisfying by the sense that we are finally ,finally getting it ‘right’ musically. These days, its cool to sit back and watch as we creatively grow into everything we aspired to be when we were young and full of beans.
What are your future plans?
(Chuck) To finish up and release our follow up to “The Halo Effect”, and then go forth to give Spaceship Days to the world.
(Greg) Share our music with many, many more people.
