Where The Ocean Meets The Sky | Out To Prove Something
Written By: Jameson Ketchum

hat a rarity! A debut worth listening to! With labels seemingly signing anything that moves lately, we have once again began drowning in a sea of mediocre acts when all we want to is to desperately gasp for something better, something that actually holds our attention for more than a few moments. Where the Ocean Meets the Sky is here to throw you a life preserver. Signed to CI Records just two months ago, the six piece is here to wedge their way into the hardcore scene and follow in the footsteps of the likes of former CI Records giants August Burns Red, they have even been garnering many comparisons to said giants. Front man Blake Martin informs us here as to why his band deserves your (hopefully by now) perked up eardrums.

Give us a little background on Where The Ocean Meets The Sky:

Blake Martin: Where The Ocean Meets The Sky started in November 2007, but the current lineup didn’t come together until March of this year.  While those member changes may have crippled another band, we viewed it as a relationship. To us, it was equivalent of going on a number of dates before finding “the one.”  We found “the one” in this current 6 piece incarnation of WTOMTS.

You’ve recently signed with CI Records, a label that seems to be lesser known but has launched the careers of some pretty big names. Was CI a label you pursued or did they find you? What about the label enticed you?

BM: Well, basically we emailed them our new tracks just to see what would happen and what kind of response we’d get. Within a couple of days Jeremy (Weiss, owner of CI) had called me to set up a meeting.  From that meeting alone we knew immediately he was someone we wanted to work with.  The label has a proven track record and only signs bands it is passionate about, so we know we aren’t just going to get tossed aside in a few months for the next trend.  That personal approach to the business has led to an already amazing relationship between us and CI and we’ve only been signed since August!

Empires hits stores this month. What about this album makes you proud? What do you hope to say with this release?

BM: Everything about this album makes us proud.  With this release we feel we really hit our stride and have started to find our sound and carve out our own niche. Empires is a labor of love -  many hours of writing, demoing, and pushing ourselves culminated when we stepped into the studio, and we really feel our producer captured the essence of what we wanted to put out.  With this release we really hope to say, “Here we are, and like it or not we aren’t going anywhere.”  Because we’re not. We will never stop.  This is us showing who we are, and every show from here on out is how we will show that, and prove ourselves.  We want to be held in the same esteem as some of the genre giants and we are willing to work ourselves to the bone to get there.

You guys certainly have a unique sound and it’s stated on your page that you wish to offer something lasting. Can you expand on this idea and how you feel you’ve accomplished that task with this release?

BM: We try to not buy into the trends too much. Obviously we have our influences, but we don’t worry about what is currently “popular” – with everything we do we try to make our own.  We write passionate heartfelt music, and I feel that passion and heart is something that’s been missing a lot lately in rock music as a whole. That is how we strive to set ourselves apart.

Where can we catch you guys this fall? Any big tour plans?

BM: We’re currently on tour until late October with Texas In July and This or The Apocalypse. After that we have 2 CD release shows at the end of the month where we’ll be giving free copies of Empires to everyone in attendance! After that we’ll be back out in November on a soon to be announced tour and we’ll keep busy after that!

Lastly, anything else you’d like to add to our readers?

BM: We just want to say check us out!  We may or may not become your favorite band but regardless of what you like we promise to give you passionate songs that are from the heart.  We love what we do and we hope that people can hear that in every note and every word. Thanks!