I’m Sinking...I’m Sinking...So Much to Sink About

K-UTE Radio will be presenting Gone Fishin’ at Kilby Court on August 30. Today we sat down with Sinking About, who will be playing the event, about the background and what’s up and coming for this bodacious crew. When you hear the story of how a band came together, you might expect tales of garage jam sessions or high school talent shows. But for Sinking About, it all began with a shared love of music—and karate classes. Let's get into it!

From Karate Kids to Kilby Court:

Lexi: Could you guys both start with just stating your names and then everything else will be on the record from here.

Eric: I'm Eric Love

Kaden: And then I'm Kaden Aldous. Bass player.

Eric: That's a part of his name.

Lexi: Bass player, Kaden

So, I'm going to ask like, five to six questions, just related mostly to the show at Kilby and your music and how you came about and all that stuff. Tell me the story of how your band got together, and what's the story behind the name of the band?

Kaden: Well, Eric, you start.

Eric: So actually, I think me and Kaden are the main two that started it. But aren't really the songwriters. We grew up together. We met in karate when we were like, what, like eight, I don't know it was, like, third grade. Yeah, so we met in karate for kids, and we also had a shared love of music, but we both weren't very talented, and I don't think we're very talented still, but we have fun, but we somehow, you know, tricked a few others into playing with us. And our first show was, do you want to explain that, Kaden? That's kind of how the band came together.

Kaden: Yeah. Just going off what Eric said. For our first show, I was trying to plan this anniversary celebration for my ex-girlfriend, which is now our band anniversary. So there's some positive light to shine on that experience. I recruited my friend Maddie from middle school. She posted on Twitter, saying it would be so much fun to play in a band. And so I thought I took that as a sign. I DM’d her, asked her to join me and Eric, and at that point we also had Kyle, who's on keys, and met him in college, and then Mark is Mark, my wife's cousin.

Lexi: that's pretty crazy how all those connections kind of led to you guys coming together. I feel like you always hear some crazy interesting story when talking to bands and stuff like that.

Eric: Oh yeah, yeah. All seems to be kind of the same story. Yeah. It kind of reminds [us of] weird connections all over the place.

Kaden: It reminds us of Joy Division. The two starting members kind of sucked, and then they brought in some people in, and then they grew as a band. It's kind of where we're at.

Lexi: Yeah, that's going to be you guys in a couple years.

Eric: Oh, yeah. Hopefully we're going to be Joy... we're the next Joy Division. Everybody's been saying it. As for the name, I think we went through a few. The first one we did was Park House. Is that the first name? It was like German for garage or something. A lot of these have to do with Marc being Austrian. Oh, there he is. Marc.

Marc Korbuly enters

Kaden: Marc. Hello. We're talking crap, my friend.

Eric: We're talking about naming the band Marc. Oh, you're still in the car driving home.

And then we felt that name was too serious, and so we moved on to a less serious name. We had a crush on Kyle for a few minutes, because we were all, like, infatuated with Kyle, our keyboard player.

Lexi: I love that.

Kaden: Yeah, yeah. He's a very talented dude, and we wanted to let him know, but then he started to get annoying, so we changed the name.

Eric: Yeah, it was like, the honeymoon phase ended, and we're like, okay, we need to move on.

Lexi: So then, how did it get to Sinking About?

Eric: We got wine drunk down the street from where we practice, and we have a bracket of names that we all like, kind of chose collectively and Sinking About comes from…I don't know if you've ever seen that commercial, I don't actually know what the commercial’s for, but it's the German Coast Guard. And there's like, a may-day signal that comes in, and they

are like, we're sinking. We're sinking. And the German Coast Guard, is like, what are you sinking about? That's stupid. So dumb. But that's, yeah, that's our name now, and I think we're stuck with it.

Lexi: I mean, it's pretty cool. It's unique, even though it has kind of a silly background. I feel like it's definitely a name that can also be kind of taken seriously at the same time, but also has a little bit of uniqueness to it as well. I want to start a blog in the future, and right now, I just can't figure out what I'm going to call it, because, I don't know, it's so hard to find a name that you feel encapsulates all the energy that you have into whatever you're putting it into.

Eric: Yeah, it's a commitment.

Kaden: At least you don't have to argue with anybody.

Lexi: Yeah, but you're also all able to brainstorm together and [put] your minds together and find some really creative stuff.

Kaden: Yes, very healthy environment.

Marc: It's a very, very intense, like voting, process that we went through. Multiple rounds.

Lexi: It's like sorority rush.

Eric: Yeah, it was. And I think you know, there may still be some grudges for sure.

Lexi: I don't think there's any issue with it.

Kaden: Appreciate it. Yeah, we usually get positive feedback, and if we ever use any of the other names, we might throw them on an album.

Lexi: That's true. I think that's a cool way to incorporate everyone's favorites. So how has your experience growing your name and your brand in Salt Lake City been for you guys?

Eric: Marc, do you want to take this?

Marc: It feels like we're resonating pretty well with people and with fans. I don't know, when we play It feels like people like our stuff and, yeah, when we have gigs it works really well. We just sometimes have gaps where we just don't have time or are not able to organize gigs for some reason. it's a wave pattern, I guess.

Lexi: I think what I grasped from what you're saying is that you’re easily able to connect with the community and stuff, especially in Salt Lake City, where I feel like there's a lot of new music that's going around all the time. Do you feel like those connections are helping you make your brand and get out there and to connect with local artists and all that stuff as well?

Marc: I’d say so. I don't know how you guys feel but I feel like when we do connect with other bands, we generally have a really good experience and are able to generate new gigs from those.

Eric: No, it was, I was just going to add through our connections that we've made there’s been people that we've recorded with and helped us. So, I think even outside of getting gigs, that's been helpful, but I think we need to put more effort into branding ourselves a little bit.

Kaden: Find. Yeah, we need to find some. Find time. We got our lives outside of band.

but you know, we love this thing. It's our little baby, so we try to feed it as much as we can.

Lexi: Yeah, well, it takes time to get everything situated, especially if you’re still working full time, all of that stuff too. I get it, it's a lot. I mean, I couldn't do it. That's for one I'm trying to start a blog, and I've been doing it for like six months, and it's nowhere.

Eric: Yeah, we got a lot of songs that we haven't spit out yet, too.

Lexi: That's pretty cool, though. That means you’ve got a lot coming. Are you thinking about an album anytime soon?

Eric: Yeah, I think so. I think that's one of our goals for next year, if not releasing one recording, then all of this backlog of songs that we have. I think that's our next big goal as a band, for sure. I don't know, Kaden and Mark have something more to say about that.

Kaden: Yeah. I mean, making an album is something that I've been dreaming about since I was little. I've always had a passion for albums. And I'd even call them projects. That's how you know how important they are to me. We, more so Eric, collect vinyls. So, maybe creating a full-length LP and copying it into a vinyl might be something that I can check off my bucket list.

Lexi: That'd be super cool. I also collect vinyl, so I’d definitely purchase if you guys did, let me know, put me on the wait list or something, I'll pre-order it.

Kaden: Oh yeah, because the wait list would be very long.

Lexi: Oh yeah, I'm sure. Do you think that being in Salt Lake, or like the scene in Salt Lake, influences your music in any way, like the sound and the culture?

Kaden: Oh Yeah, most definitely. We grew up listening to bands like The Used and currently The Backseat Lovers, Neon Trees, I know, is from Utah and one of the major themes in their music is growing up Mormon and that kind of culture. Me, Eric and Maddie, we're from Utah; born and raised in Utah. So, we try to encapsulate some of that culture. We try to be, you know, positive mostly, and not derogatory towards anyone's beliefs. But we just like to share our personal experiences.

Eric: Yes, I would say, like the music scene. Now, when we do gigs, which can be rare, sometimes, seeing the bands in the local scene, the other bands where we're at, if not influencing us musically. I think it's really good inspiration just to see that there's a lot of new music out there, and we're all just kind of struggling and trying to get our names out. I think that's fun. It's really fun meeting people that have shared interests, too. So, I think it's just more inspiration than anything else.

Lexi: I think that's super fun. Definitely with The Backseat Lovers and a lot of other bands that are local to Utah, I understand that that's kind of a central part of their music, and their music provides a sense of belonging for people who have grown up, or experienced the same situation. Maybe even in a different context like you said about just being surrounded by all these different artists.I just recently started writing for K-UTE but it's made me realize how awesome Salt Lake City's music scene really is and how many talented artists there are working hard to get their name out there. But, I feel like Salt Lake City has a really nice culture and its audience is also really supportive. I think local venues and local bands do have a good amount of opportunities in Salt Lake City, just because I feel like that culture is so inviting. So, I see how it'd be cool to see all these bands doing their thing, doing what you want to do, basically, and inspiring you to kind of step it up. And change your music around or grab unique twists and stuff like that.

Eric: Yeah, for sure.

Lexi: So, what message do you hope that people take away from your music when listening to it? If any?

Kaden: Ooh, big question.

Eric: A great question. See, I think that’s a difficult question for us. I think we kind of have a really inefficient way of writing songs, where we kind of all write the songs in some way or another. And so, if you ask us what a song means, I could imagine that there's five different answers. Maybe that goes along with that independence thing with us.

Kaden: Maybe that's the point. Maybe we just want to make music where anybody can have their own interpretation. And you know, our interpretation of our own music is just as valid as anyone else's interpretation of our music. Unless they think it sucks, then their opinion is not valid.

Lexi: I think that makes your music a lot more relatable and feasible to a larger audience. It’s honestly a skill that you kind of inherit, making it so that everyone is able to grab their own translation to that song. Being able to interpret that in their own ways and apply it to their personal experiences is honestly better in a song and in lyrics and stuff like that. Because obviously, there's songs that you like, but they don't apply to you in any way, shape or form. So I mean, I feel like I've experienced that listening to your music too. I think that's a good way to write songs, and it also showcases all of your individual experiences and merges them together.

Marc: I was just gonna tap into what you said, Lexi. Which is kind of for me more musically, and that's probably because I'm not a native English speaker. So, sometimes I actually have a hard time understanding exactly what they sing. So, then I'm mostly focused on the new music side of things. Anyway, I don't know. I think part of what I think is cool is that, yes, our processes flow. But what comes out at the end is: I think everyone's personality is in the song. And so I think in terms of what listeners can take away from it is that multi-personality. Instead of one person driving it, you know that I appreciate that about our band, everyone brings in an equal amount into the songs and verses, [instead of] one person kind of dictating it. And not to say that there's anything wrong with that, and that can create a concise, music style and band as well. But I guess for us, I appreciate that we're different in that regard. And I think that has a different effect than on the listener, maybe. So, our songs are all over the place, musically and stylistically.

Lexi: I think that's an interesting way to format a band, though, because even though, like behind the scenes, if there's only one person who's doing the songwriting, one person who's producing, or however the format is, everyone is always contributing equally behind the scenes. But when you're contributing all together for the songwriting, and able to compromise and merge all of your ideas together, It really showcases how much each member is contributing and what the song means to them and their experiences. Not only what it's related to, but writing it, producing it, releasing it, all that stuff as well. So I think, I think you guys have a good little formula for your band. The potion is perfect, right?

Eric: It's just slow. I wish we could make it a little faster. I think it would get old just having like one person bring in something and have a strong vision for it. Even once one of us brings in a song, it just ends up being completely different at the end of the day. Just fun.

Lexi: I mean, at least whenever artists I know release demos after they've already released the [full, recorded version] and it sounds completely different compared to the [studio] version. So I feel like that's just polishing out all the scratches and bluffs that are in there. And just really being able to make it the best possible piece of work it can. And since there's so many minds coming together to do it, it leaves room for less mistakes.

Kaden: We call each other out. We're not afraid to do that.

Lexi: Yeah, that's good. I mean, you gotta speak up sometimes, especially if you're really passionate about a certain part of the song, or a certain lyric. You gotta turn the favor everyone else.

Eric: Oh, yeah, it comes to blows often. We fight it out.

Kaden: We'll do what do they do in Game of Thrones, where it's like a dual.

Lexi: So, we have one more question before we end. Do you enjoy recording in the studio or performing at concerts more?

Eric: Performing at concerts.

Kaden: Performing at concerts. What about you Marc?

Marc: I definitely enjoy performing at concerts more. But we've, I don't know if you guys have talked about this before I joined, but we started working with a guy on a new song recently, and so far, the experience with him has been way more fun than before. It is fun to work on a song as long as it's a casual kind of environment. But I'd say, yeah, definitely performing live; it's more fun.

Lexi: I mean, if I was talented enough to make music and be in a band, that'd probably be my favorite part, too. Being on stage like a rock star.

Kaden: That's the best part is, when we record music, our audience hasn't heard it yet. But when we're playing live, we have that direct connection with the audience, and it's just an experience that’s not like any other.

Eric: Also, recording kind of sucks. I don't like it. It's so easy to mess up. I feel like there's so much pressure.

Kaden: Yeah. They know I had this lick that I thought I had down. But when you're recording it can be very intimidating, but live, when you're playing it live... Well, I mean, I'm a bass player, so no one really notices when I mess up.

Lexi: I love it. I think you guys are definitely gonna go somewhere. I'm excited to hear new stuff coming out next year, and obviously I think your show at Kilby Court will be amazing.

Marc: we should also mention that we do have a song coming out this year. We don't know exactly when it's going to be released, but we have a new single that's going to come out probably sometime in the next month, [maybe two], I'd say, if I wanted to guess perfect.

Lexi: I can’t wait to hear it. Thank you so much, guys!

There you have it! Grab your life jacket because Sinking About will be playing live at Kilby Court on August 30 for Gone Fishin’ presented by K-UTE Radio. Get your tickets here now!!