Pushing the Sun is a five piece rock band heralding from the San Francisco Bay area. The band consists of guitarist Billy Connally, lead vocalist Andrew Saman, drummer A.J. Curtis, bassist Johaan Hill and keyboardist Neil Hagge. Their recent full length album debut House of Lights is a tasty recipe of great melodies, soulful vocals, infectious grooves, sick riffs and great hooks. The riffs are heavy and of face melting quality when needed, but at other times, they’re slowed down to prove that sometimes less is more. I recently sat down with guitarist Connally and Saman as they took a break from band practice to have a chat with us.
It’s not too many times that I talk with a band that actually shares its name with one of its own songs. As with the chicken and the egg, which came first, the song or the band name?
Billy Connally: It was almost simultaneous man; we had just decided that we were going to be a band. We had a few practices and we were working on the song “Pushing the Sun” and our original bass player Larry used to play these four keys and he was trying to find the right sound for the song. He hit this sound that was so low and deep that Andrew turned to him and said “Man, that sounds like you’re pushing the sun across the sky”. Then, we launched into the song and I’m thinking keep thinking about pushing the sun across the sky, pushing the sun across the sky and then suddenly I knew that it was the name of the song and the name of the band.
Andrew Saman: He just stopped playing right there, about half way through the song, and turned to me and said, “I think that’s the band name right there.” It’s really cool when it comes to you organically like that because trying to come up with a band name these days is more of a headache than I want to go through. The day of one word band names is just about over; you have to start adding digits to it or something.
Who helped to influence and mold the sound of this band?
Andrew: We’ve got a pretty good amount of influences. Billy over here, well I guess everybody does, you have to have some (Led) Zeppelin.
Billy: That’s my favorite band of all time.
Andrew: Growing up, I was really into the Beatles; they really hit me hard as a young kid. Then, I kind of got into Stevie Wonder and then Led Zeppelin, Aerosmith, Metallica and it all started coming around. Oh yeah, definitely Stone Temple Pilots and Alice in Chains also played a big influence on us as well. You pick up little aspects of bands that you listen to. Billy’s style sometimes reminds me of (Jimmy) Page, but also of that drowning, wailing kind of Alice in Chains style, almost like a modern day Robin Trower.
So, who comes up with the songs? Is there a method to your madness?
Andrew: About 90% of the time, Billy will kind of bring like the meat and potatoes. He has these great riffs and two to three great ideas for the song, music wise, and we just jam on it a couple of times to see what happens. At that point, we start giving it a little more structure, especially after I start to draw lyrics to it. I might need something to be drawn out a little bit longer or shorten something up. Then, some of the other guys might have a cool bridge idea that leads into something, so it’s pretty much a whole band thing. Billy brings the meat and potatoes, I write the lyrics and then we all mold and forge it into something that’s solid.
Billy: That was definitely true for the last album, but for the next one, there will be two songs on it that our new members wrote, our bassist Johaan (Hill) and our keyboardist Neil (Hagge). That will also be the first time that they’ve recorded with us as well because they’re not on this album. I don’t know if you know the story or not about our original bass player Larry (Smith)?
I read a little bit about that and I wasn’t sure how much of that you may want to touch on.
Billy: Larry was one of our founding members and he suffered some health problems and Johaan ended up taking his place in the band. Then, unfortunately, Larry passed away last September. We definitely wouldn’t want to forget Larry, he was like a little brother to me and I played with him for almost 20 years.
Andrew: That guy would play these intricate bass lines and still hit back-upon pitch. It actually took two people to try and fill his shoes, he was just that amazing.
That definitely had to be a huge hurdle to overcome, especially emotionally. Other than that, what would you say has been your toughest battle so far?
Billy: It would definitely have to be funds.
Andrew: You know, we were just talking about this and Billy, you can say more about it if you want. It’s just tough these days being a person trying to pay bills, so when you take on something that’s more than just an outlet for us, it costs money. To make progress in this industry, it takes money as well. We’re coming up against people who really want to help us out, but at the same time. They’re trying to make a living doing what they’re trying to do in the music business. Everything is just so costly now and to put together a decent album now you’re looking at anywhere from six to twenty grand. Now, try coming up with that when you’re struggling just to pay your bills as a musician. To keep the buzz that’s being created growing and to take it to that next levels takes money.
Billy: Yeah and to go out on tour costs money as well and we’re striving to make that happen as well. We want to do this the old fashioned way and go out on the road and deliver our music. Facebook and Twitter is good to get those virtual fans, but to get those hardcore fans is what we want. You know, you go to a club for the first time and there are a few people out there and then the next time you play, there are even more; that’s what we really want to do.
Andrew: It’s hard for me to get people I’ve known from high school to just press play on the computer, but then they come to a show and suddenly they get it. I think that when it comes down to it, we’re just a better band live. We have great energy and when people come out to see us, they seem to keep wanting to come back. To actually get people who haven’t heard you to just take a second and press play on-line, that seems to be a hard thing to do.
Billy: We’ll have people that we’ve been talking to forever on Facebook or Twitter who will tell us that they finally got around to listening to us and they think we’re awesome. You know, it is kind of funny, but you can’t let that get to you, it’s just life.
Pushing the Sun “Tragic Love” (OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEO)
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Then you put all of that hard work and money into creating this art and people won’t pay for it, but they will download for free. They’d rather spend that $5 on a latte from Starbucks than to support the artist.
Billy: There are a lot of people who aren’t even doing that anymore because they would rather just stream it. They can hit up Spotify of YouTube and just stream it and it doesn’t even have to take up hard drive space.
Andrew: You know, at the point that we’re at right now, I would care less if people stole our music. Now, I might get a dirty look from the other guys in the band for saying that, but steal it and get our name out there. Now, down the road I would like to make money, but it’s not easy right now just getting your name out there.
We saved the toughest question for last. How about throwing out two or three albums that influenced you as artists?
Billy: Black Sabbath’s Sabbath Bloody Sabbath, Led Zeppelin IV and Pink Floyd’s The Wall, with an honorable mention going to Back in Black from AC/DC.
Andrew: I like albums that I call complete albums and unfortunately, I don’t see them as often these days, but I’m not saying they’re not out there. You know, the kind that you put on and press start and listen to all the way through. I have a lot of Beatles that I would include such as Abbey Road and Rubber Soul, plus Pantera’s Vulgar Display of Power and Guns and Roses’ Appetite for Destruction. I’m drawn to bands that can hold my attention all the way through instead of just a song or two.
Well guys, this talk has been pretty entertaining. I really do hope you get to bring your show over to the East coast. Do you have any closing words for you fans and the readers?
Andrew: You know, I’m a little bit manic when I’m up on-stage, but life is hard and one that I do know is that there are no guarantees other than the air in your lungs right now. I want people to wake up to some type of renewed energy. If I can get you for one second to put down your problems and enjoy some music, then I am a happy man.
