Just off their tour with Icon For Hire, October Sky recently took the time to speak with us about their tour, influences, weird talents, and more. Check out our interview with October Sky below. Additionally, read our exclusive tour diary with the band ici:
[Samantha Warren/AltWire]: October Sky is currently a duo. For our readers that haven’t heard of you can you start us off by telling us your names and where you’re from?
Karl Raymond/October Sky: My name is Karl Raymond. I’m the singer and guitarist of the band. Alex Racine is the drummer.
[AW]: How did you both meet and decide you want to pursue a career in music?
Karl Raymond/October Sky: We met in high school in 1998. We started playing music together in 2000 with friends. We started touring around Montreal in 2005. We did our 1st national tour in 2008 then we never stopped playing, recording, and touring ever since.
[AW]: Your sound is an awesome mix of alternative and electronic music. How did you decide that was the direction you wanted to go in? If you could dabble in another genre of music, what would it be?
Karl Raymond/October Sky: I think that even if we grew up listening to bands like Thrice, Thursday, Sigur Ros in high school, I think we always had a passion for synths and unique sounds. I think with today’s technology, the sounds that you can create are limitless. If we only had guitars and drums in our songs, after a while you would always hear the same song. The fact that we can mix rock and electronic gives us infinite possibilities with the direction of our music.
[AW]: Who are your main influences? Who are some artists that you’d like to tour with in the future?
Karl Raymond/October Sky: There are so many but here are a few: Sigur Ros, Audioslave, The Glitch Mob, Daft Punk, Linkin Park, Incubus, Muse, Coldplay, U2, Radiohead, Muse, 30 Seconds To Mars. Touring with any of those bands would be awesome for sure.
[AW]: You guys are from Montreal, Canada. Which of your upcoming cities are you most excited to visit?
Karl Raymond/October Sky: I was looking forward to playing Chicago which we did, but we didn’t have time to visit at all. The schedule of this tour was so tight that it feels like we are really here to “work” and not visit.
[AW]: Of all of your work, which are you the proudest of? What about it could you have done better?
Karl Raymond/October Sky: I’m really proud of our two latest releases, “The Aphotic Season” and “RISE”. I think our 1st album “Hell Isn’t My Home” could have been mixed and produced better but we were 22 years old back then, we were just getting started. So when I think of it, I’m still proud of what we’ve accomplished as an indie band.
[AW]: Do either of you have any side project in the works right now? What can we expect in the future, during the tour or after the tour?
Karl Raymond/October Sky: We just came back from a full US tour with Icon For Hire and Assuming We Survive. Both bands are awesome, great people. We also just released a brand new video called “Live Again”. Alex and I shot it ourselves during the 1st leg of the “You Can’t Kill Us Tour”. We’re pretty proud of it. It feels like it’s something different from the other videos that we produced in the past.
We are currently in the studio working on new material. We are thinking of releasing a brand new EP in early 2018.
[AW]: What’s the weirdest thing that’s ever happened to you while working on a song?
Karl Raymond/October Sky: Hmmm… that’s a good one. When I think about it, I think the weirdest thing is when we were working on a song called “Distance”. I was working on the demo with one of my close friends Christopher Nicola (the guy behind RISE artwork). And I had this guitar riff recorded. I was like 2 minutes into the song and I was stuck there. Chris came up to me with this idea: “Why don’t you just copy and paste it in reverse?”. So, we tried it and with a few adjustments, that became “Distance”. It just felt right. Most people won’t even notice it. haha
[AW]: What hidden talents do you have?
Karl Raymond/October Sky: I had so many jokes for that question haha. Hidden talents, maybe I can say that we produce all our music and shoot, edit, our own music videos. What you see is really 100% us made.
[AW]: If you had a soundtrack to your life, what would have to be on it? What embarrassing songs might I find on one of your playlists?
Karl Raymond/October Sky: There are so many songs… oh my god. Just a few of them:
Sigur Ros – Saeglopur
Matthew Good – While We Were Hunting Rabbits
The Glitch Mob – We Can Make The World Stop
Hans Zimmer – The Dark Knight OST
Muse – Map Of The Problematique
Rage Against The Machine – Testify
Audioslave – Like A Stone
Coldplay – The Scientist / Clocks
Linkin Park – Crawling
[AW]: How did you guys get to where you are now? What advice would you give to musicians trying to get discovered?
Karl Raymond/October Sky: We never stop working hard. There is no secret recipe. Learn as much as you can, stay positive and never give up.
[AW]: If you could change one thing about the music industry what would it be and why?
Karl Raymond/October Sky: It has become really hard, almost impossible to make music a living for up-and-coming artists. If the revenue from the streams would be bigger, that would help all the music industry. Corporations like Spotify, Apple Music, etc are making so much right now but for us in order to make 1USD, we need 4,000 streams. Can you imagine? I don’t wanna get too deep in the subject, but long story short, support your favorite artists by purchasing their merch. This is where they make their money. Otherwise, it’s just an endless circle and we are killing the next generation of bands, musicians.
[AW]: Do you have a favorite quote or a saying that you guys go by?
Karl Raymond/October Sky: “Do it, come on, do it”. – Ben Stiller in Starsky And Hutch
[AW]: Any last words?
Karl Raymond/October Sky: Thanks for having us here 🙂
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