"We try [to] expose the listener to a whole world of musical ex-
perience," says Saturn Effect lead singer/guitarist Josh Smith,
talking about the band's first full-length release, Oceans. The al-
bum is filled with the lush soundscapes and moody atmosphere that has come to define their New Hampshire-based band.
However, the songs were written long before the band ever came into existence. Looking back on his teenage life in a small town, Josh set down all the deeply personal and complex emotions he felt in song. After forming and disbanding several different groups, Josh finally founded Saturn Effect - and his songs finally found their rightful expression in a unique blend of emo and progressive metal.
Lead guitarist Chris Wilson, bassist J.D. Killoran, and drummer
Alan Maclean could easily identify with Josh’s emotion and added
their own experiences to create a deeply-affecting ten-song disc.
The time spent in the studio was not an easy one for the group.
“When we were recording it a lot of rough stuff was happening to
the band,” says Josh. “We had
[recently] lost half our members -one in a near-tragic way - and a lot of that seeped in.” For some time the band was not sure they would be able to complete their endeavor. But sixteen long months later Oceans had pro-
gressed beyond the singular efforts of a small town songwriter into a mature, cohesive group effort.
“[Josh’s] songs weren’t written with overreaching themes in mind,” relates Chris, the first of the group to ever listen to their songwriter’s work. But after serious re-tooling, the band
reached an unexpected level of creativity and continuity. Now the CD feels “more like a complete thought than a collection of songs,” says Chris. Viewed as a whole, it is an abstract
concept album that covers a variety of musical genres - from rock to folk to electronica.
But Oceans does not merely reflect Saturn Effect’s growth as a band - it also defines what the group has dubbed its own brand of “intelligent rock.” Their greatest goal is to make listeners think beyond the music. Much of what they write is story structured and focused on themes such as destiny, family, and insanity.
“I like to describe it as an attempt to make music that doesn’t in-
sult your intelligence,” says Josh. In an industry filled with dime-a-
dozen rock-pop clichés, Saturn Effect strives for a more meaning-
ful, lasting impact.
At the same time, the band recognizes that some music, such
as a lot of contemporary progressive rock, can be a “bit too cerebral” for most listeners. To that end, the band seeks out a “middle ground,” following in the footsteps of bands such as The Smashing Pumpkins, Radiohead, Pink Floyd, Rush, and Tool. Josh cites them as some of his greatest influences, saying, “they have a
great knack for being experimental, intelligent, and accessible at the same time, and write music that makes you think about higher-level things.” Oceans fits all these adjectives and more. It grabs the listener's attention with involved arrangements and engaging hooks, and invites one to listen closer to the deep thoughts
and emotions that lie at the heart of each individual piece.
Unsurprisingly enough, their “middle-ground” sound has a hard
time being definitively placed with a musical genre. Ask them and they’re bound to speak circles about the various styles and movements that have influenced them. They might tell you they’re some brand of alternative/progressive rock or that they’re a mix of late ’70s post-punk and contemporary rock-pop, but more often they’ll revert to generalizing their sound as “art-rock.” “[That definition] gives us the latitude to basically write whatever we want,” says Chris, though he generally avoids giving any sort of standard classification. Josh agrees, saying, “I love Jimmy Eat World, Death Cab For Cutie, Nine Inch Nails, The Cure, Pink Floyd, and Led Zeppelin... I love Beethoven! I don’t love thinking I have to choose [just] one to play.”
“The raw power the early punks brought to the table is what
makes a lot of modern rock worth listening to,” says Josh. He and
the rest of the band’s members grew up surrounded by punk mu-
sic, so were first inspired to pick up their instruments by bands
such as The Sex Pistols, The Clash, and The Ramones. However, the brash attitude of their musical forbearers doesn’t often find its way into Saturn Effect’s evolved sound. “Some
moments in our songs are definitely “punk”, like in “The Captain. But we don’t like to be obvious about it,” acknowledges Chris.
More often than not, what listeners will take away from their music is not the raw rage of punk, but the raw emotion of emo. The band is wary to associate themselves with such an
infamous musical style but admit that they have a few common ties. “For all it’s bad press, the emo phenom did remind us that a little bit of melodrama can elicit [an] emotional reaction, so I try to use that to my advantage,” says Josh. Chris agrees that
emotional intensity is key to the
band’s effect: “We don’t have any
“throw-away” songs... Each one tries to make an emotional statement.” Each of their songs is carefully crafted to create an enduring effect or teach a valuable lesson. They attempt to face the difficulties of life
head-on by writing about war, broken families, small-town life, and touching on the role of escapism and guilt in human existence. As a songwriter, Josh creates songs that “strike people as cautionary tales and amplify emotions they are already having [to help them] approach [those emotions] with different views.”
In the end, every song paints a separate “complex emotional
picture,” according to Chris. When taken in as a whole album, he
hopes that the listener feels “tired and emotionally drained” having just been through an experience they won’t soon forget. He wants to know that their music was able to “grab that [listener] and really have them feel all the different things [the band was] trying to say.” The result is an intricate mix of intellect and emotion. “Complex music is more reflective of real life,” says Chris. He and the rest of the band are hard at work now on their next recording, a concept album following the trials and tribulations of one central character, Lennon. His problems are ones that Chris, in particular,
can relate to and ones he hopes can connect to all of Saturn Ef-
fect’s listeners. “We try to write songs on different levels,” he says. “Each song can certainly stand on its own but we try to weave [them] all together so that they all have meaning in context with one another.” He encourages fans to attentively listen to the CD more than once. That way they may discover new themes, ideas,
and meanings that will enhance their understanding and insight.
Not only is it complexly conceived, but complexly structured as well. “Musical complexity is directly correlated with coolness,” says Chris, a great admirer of the intricate music writing of progressive bands. “It’s a thrill for me to listen to a song and go “what the hell just happened?” Josh agrees, saying, “I like to trip people up, so unorthodox time and song structures work well with me.” The band is constantly working to add progressive elements such
as odd time signature, key changes, and unusual band unison
into their songs.
To further enhance the Saturn Effect experience, the band
strives to turn themselves into a multimedia force. Right now they
are not only writing the music for their next album but planning the
artwork and possible video for it. “We hit as many senses as we
can and get right into your head,” says Josh. “[We want to create]
something that stimulates your eyes as well as your ears and get
people to approach us on kind of an allegorical level.” Through
music, art, and videos, the group hopes that every listener can
understand the stories their songs tell.
Though by no means an “easy” band to grasp in full, the mem-
bers of Saturn Effect maintain that their music is accessible to
anyone. At least, it is most definitely accessible to anyone looking for melodic rock with real meaning behind it. “For me, “intelligent rock” is music that escapes the rampant materialism, superficiality, and adolescent nature of modern popular culture,” says Chris.
That’s quite a mouthful, and quite a task to take on, but Josh,
Chris, J.D., and Alan are able to handle it with their unique phi-
losophy and sense of style. It is a constant struggle to maintain
their balance between popular hackneyed cop-outs and heady
introspection - to meet their fans halfway. But it is within that
struggle that the band finds their greatest joy as musicians and
their greatest success as artists of a new generation of intelligent
rock.
(taken from http://nomasonha.com/issues/NoMaSoNHa_DecJan0506.pdf)
Michelle Kellaway - Nomasonha (Dec 1, 2005)