We had Rebecca head out to chat with lead singer Stee Owen from 7eventh Sea. He’s what he had to say:
Firstly, how are you?
I’m incredible thanks for asking
Your recently released single “Blue” was incredible. What was the inspiration behind that song?
Basically, Evan (Lead Guitar/Clean Vocals) did a university degree about the ocean. It pretty much brought to life how much we are ruining the planet and having a knock-on effect on our future. It opened everyone’s eyes to the reality of if the ocean dies then we die with it.
We have seen a change musically from the likes of your EP “As The Candlelight Dies” to your recent releases. Do you think that’s down to being more experienced in your genre now?
It’s been a multitude of things that have impacted us together. Obviously, when we started the band we were all fairly young (apart from me). It was our first experience of writing together as a band and that directly reflected what we were as a band at that time. As of now, we have had a lot more time with lockdown and together as people to work out our strengths and to be able to write better material that represents what we are now. I feel like we are more mature sounding as a band and we understand between us now how to write to a more optimal level and how 7eventh sea sounds more in our heads.
You don’t really do any singing on your latest singles. Did you want to focus more on the screaming side of the tracks?
I’m fairly diverse as a vocalist. I love singing, I’m not shy to be able to sing or do different types of vocal techniques in each song. I’ve developed a lot more as a vocalist now and I’m a lot more comfortable with different vocal techniques and styles of screaming. To be honest it’s difficult as a front man to maintain both (cleans/screaming) so it’s a lot easier if we have someone who can take some of that weight, so with the new writing styles and Evan picking it up more since lockdown and stuff it brings a lot more vocal ideas for vocal choruses.
*At this point we both went on a Will Romos (Lorna Shore) fan-girl tangent, to spare the details it was basically Will is sick and mad talented we love him!*
We are also seeing a bit more of the “clean vocals” being done by your guitarist Evan. Would we be hearing more of this going forward?
I think Evan has always had the potential to be a clean vocalist but when we first started he didn’t have the confidence just yet. Through years of writing and recording stuff together, I think the more he got interested in the process he started practicing more on his singing. It got to the point where he was recording demos singing and I thought that’s really fucking good, I like that a lot! So I think pretty much going forward Evan will be the clean vocals and I’ll be the frontman and screamer but we will both be utilizing our skill sets for more of an impact live and vocally.
*Another tangent for us to have an appreciation chat about Evan*
*Tangent about Wide Awake Club being excellent and catchy as hell*
*Tangent about Stee being a proud dad*
Can you tell us what’s on the horizon for the band?
We obviously released Blue back in November but as we were talking before this we haven’t got the biggest budget yet. We do want to keep relevant and true to what 7eventh sea is so the plan moving forward is to have staggered big releases throughout the year. Where we do a music video to really push it with PR and everything to push it as far as we physically can. As well as releasing other songs in between to show that we aren’t just sitting around doing nothing.
Where do you think your main source of musical inspiration comes from?
I think the good thing about 7eventh sea is that we all draw musical inspiration from everywhere cause we all listen to different music but together we make 7eventh sea. We have different elements from different genres. I would say the obvious one is Wage War we take some sort of inspiration from and While She Sleeps with their melodic aspects.
If you could headline one festival, which one would you choose and why?
It’s got to be Download hasn’t it?! It is the biggest festival in the UK! We would be happy to play any stage at Download. When you say headline slot if we are thinking miles ahead of ourselves then Slam Dunk would be more realistic to headline more than Download.
You guys are part of the incredible locally talented artists here in Nottingham. Are there any other local bands you find inspiring?
We enjoy playing with all the bands we have played with all over the UK but locally in Nottingham personally I would say Altered and Miscreant which have been doing bits and great bands to work with.
For the people that don’t know you guys yet could you describe your band in 3 words?
Energetic, Melodic, and Powerful
Lastly, can I get you to agree that Britney mics are better than normal ones?
(Through laughter) Yeah, no. I guess I would have one if I didn’t heavily invest in my one already
And can I sing backing vocals with a Britney mic next show?
You can sing backing vocals on whatever you want
Thank you for talking to us today.
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