Oceanship sails the sound waves

Sometimes it pays to buy a postage stamp and send a piece of unsolicited mail. That’s what Brad Lyons and Carly Paradis — the Canadian duo known as Oceanship — affirmed when they sent a copy of their CD to Birmingham’s Scott Register. Register, best known as the host of "Reg’s Coffeehouse" on the “adult alternative” radio station Live 100.5 FM, took a liking to the disc and has helped set Oceanship on a fruitful path.



“Basically, we sent a CD to Scott through a radio tracker and Scott fell in love with it and vowed to ‘break’ us,” Lyons recalls, speaking by phone from his home in Waterdown, a town roughly 60 miles east of Toronto. “He then introduced us to John [Strohm], who became our entertainment lawyer and guitarist.”

Strohm, a local entertainment lawyer and family man, holds tremendous industry credibility given his days as a guitarist in The Lemonheads and Blake Babies, among numerous other projects.

“He’s such a great dude — it doesn’t get any better than John. When we come to town, we essentially just have a couple of rehearsals [before shows]. John and the local players rehearse on their own and then we all rehearse together and play the show,” Lyons says.

On Friday, Nov. 6, Oceanship will perform at Rogue Tavern along with local favorites Jesse Payne and Matthew Mayfield. Currently, Oceanship is touring in support of its self-titled release, available on iTunes and at all local Barnes & Noble locations.

When you ask artists about the current state of the music industry, you receive a variety of opinions. Given Oceanship is forging its career in the brave new world of iTunes, YouTube, satellite radio, customized ring tones and other modern outlets, I ask Lyons for his take on the subject and his response lasts for the remainder of our interview. To say that Lyons has definite, perhaps even controversial, opinions on the matter is a gross understatement. But it is important to note that he speaks as an emerging artist, not a greedy entertainer who owns four mansions and desires a fifth in his collection.

“We don’t really mince words about the fact that we think [the industry] is worse now than it was — people generally steal music, they don’t buy it. With each passing day they steal more, so it gets really hard to mount a tour because you don’t have any seed money to get out there. Unfortunately, it’s an illogical position — people group a file compression format with stealing, as if they’re synonymous,” Lyons offers.

Though his words appear cynical and sometimes downright bitter, Lyons’ actual tone is neither. Instead, he speaks as someone who just wants a legitimate chance to succeed in a profession rife with obstacles.

“The whole thing is about energy, it’s not about money. It’s only about money because it has to be about money. Basically, we live in a system unlike any system that has come before it. We gather our food, lock it up and make ourselves work to get it back. We have to go and make money to buy the bare necessities of life back from ourselves. So it has nothing to do with wanting a big boat or big car. I can’t eat, let alone buy an instrument or buy recording time, if I don’t have money,” he says.

Not only are today’s emerging artists charged with handling multiple duties — publicity, booking and merchandising to name a few — Lyons sees a disproportionate reward for the required time and effort.

“We wear so many hats in this band it’s unbelievable. When do you get time to write music? Moreover, when you get that time, you’re just so cooked. We both work full-time jobs and we’re trying to get this thing off the ground. Musicians are basically turning into seals barking for a fish. We’re supposed to make music and you can get this for 99 cents and it will last you forever. I can’t think of anything more undervalued than music,” he says.

Now that record labels no longer hold the cards in today’s do-it-yourself music industry, Lyons says there is a new higher power and his thoughts may surprise you.

“The fan has become The Man and the record company is a business arrangement. Traditionally, record companies have tried to screw the artists, but at least they were going to give you something — they gave you money to promote the record and access to touring, promotion and merchandise. But now fans steal your music and call themselves fans of your music — they’ll give you nothing,” Lyons says.

But Lyons also realizes that not all listeners are created equal and fans that support artists receive an intangible reward that money can’t buy.

“The fans that don’t steal — when they can with impunity — are reveling in much better energy, and this is infinitely more valuable than the money saved by stealing music.”



Oceanship performs at Rogue Tavern on Friday, Nov. 6, with Matthew Mayfield opening. Tickets cost $12.50 and are available online at www.roguetavern.com.