Q&A: Ships Have Sailed Dig Deep with "Walking Into Walls," Explores Relationships Beyond the Romantic
LOS ANGELES-BASED INDI ROCK DUO Ships Have Sailed dives into the complexities of human connection with their latest single, "Walking Into Walls," out today.
Known for their "sincere indie rock with an unabashed pop structure," Ships Have Sailed, comprised of vocalist and guitarist Will Carpenter and drummer Art Andranikyan, delves deeper than the typical romantic relationship narrative with "Walking Into Walls."
In this interview with Luna, Carpenter sheds light on the song's inspiration and the band's unique creative process. He reveals how the track explores the profound impact of various "relationships" in our lives, from romantic partners and environments to vices and routines.
The interview also delves into the band's evolution, their resilience during the pandemic, and their approach to crafting singles versus full-length albums. Additionally, Carpenter offers valuable advice to aspiring musicians, emphasizing the importance of staying true to oneself and finding a purpose in their art.
Ships Have Sailed may have a catchy name inspired by overcoming missed opportunities, but their music dives deep, exploring the multifaceted nature of human connections and the transformative power of letting go.
LUNA: "Walking Into Walls" explores the impact of relationships beyond the romantic. Can you elaborate on this concept?
SHIPS HAVE SAILED: Yes, it's a really abstract concept actually, so thank you for digging a layer or two deeper - I've been experiencing and exploring the idea of change over time, and as we change, so do our relationships with the things in our lives, whether those are human beings, our actual environments, nature, our home, our location, the way we treat food, alcohol (or any vices), sex, love (romantic and platonic) - literally anything we bring into our lives coexists with us and becomes a relationship. Relationships are complex - they can be healthy and they can also be unhealthy, sometimes to the point of toxicity, so how do we draw the line when a relationship becomes toxic and successfully extricate ourselves from that relationship especially when it has become ingrained in our existence? That's the question that I personally feel churning through this song ... how do we break that bond in a way that helps us not stray backwards.
LUNA: The song delves into letting go. How did you capture this complexity in the music and lyrics?
SHIPS HAVE SAILED: My co-writer, Bill O'Hanlon, who I really love working with, came up with the initial fragment "Walking Into Walls" and it resonated with both of us in a way that made us want to explore it, but neither of us really knew what it meant, so we just started talking. Our conversation was meandering and a little all over the place, but it led us to the ideas around relationships that I explained in my answer to your first question - then, we tried to make the music and melodies reflect the meandering nature of our conversation itself, which I thought was a really cool twist.
LUNA: What inspired the direction you took with "Walking Into Walls" sonically?
SHIPS HAVE SAILED: I really wanted to flex a little outside of my comfort zone for this song, so I tried to not use any sounds that I've used in any production in the past. I wanted it to be twangy and lonesome, so you'll hear some delayed guitars with a really slow warble in them and also some de-tuned single note tremolo guitars buried in there - I just think those things lend an eerie vibe to almost anything...and there's a lot of bending in the lead guitar as well. The piano is dark, as are the drum sounds and the bass is a combination of upright and a vintage 60s electric. There's a lot of reverb, and some interesting effects chaining that you wouldn't normally use on some elements (like delay on the snare and things like that) and the whole thing got kind of 'gooey' ... which was cool, but I definitely wanted to tame that a bit in the mix without losing it entirely. The lead vocal I wanted to be present and clear, but with a little less presence in the highs than what I normally might keep on my own voice, and the backing vocals were a really fun gliding, swirling adventure - I wanted to feel like they were just kind of soaring around like ghosts but obviously without getting in the way of anything. This was quite a journey and an utter joy to feel it come to life.
LUNA: You've described your sound as "sincere indie rock with an unabashed pop structure." How has your sound evolved over time?
SHIPS HAVE SAILED: I'd say that, over time, I've learned to listen to the song itself more and I try to almost ignore the 'current trends' in music production - it's a hard balance, because you want to be relevant, but also you can find yourself trying to go down a road that isn't really working with the song itself. So I've found that writing from a very authentic place and then letting the song itself push the production in a way that gives the music everything it needs seems to resonate.
LUNA: "Ships Have Sailed" has a positive connotation despite the idiom. Can you revisit the story behind the band's name and its meaning?
SHIPS HAVE SAILED: This is one of my favorite stories to revisit, so thank you for the question! Ships Have Sailed began as a small collection of songs in my brain that I couldn't let go and that also weren't a fit for the project I was a part of at the time, so I decided to start producing them on my own - I was not a great producer at the time, but that's it's own story. Long story short - the band I was in disintegrated as I was bringing the first Ships Have Sailed EP to life - I hadn't decided on the name yet, and it's honestly very hard to name a musical project. I was feeling sorry for myself and into some whiskey late one night thinking of what a 'missed opportunity' the dissolution of this other project was and the phrase 'that ship has sailed' popped into my head...I thought that maybe I should reframe and instead of looking at it as 'missed' perhaps the real opportunity was to move on and create something new - that turn of phrase, maybe, could be a bit less negative and more agnostic...like 'ships have sailed', and I realized that was going to be the name of my new project.
LUNA: What are your biggest takeaways from the experience of recording and releasing Ages during the pandemic?
SHIPS HAVE SAILED: Several songs on Ages was actually recorded prior to the pandemic - but we did put the finishing touches on the album during the first several months of COVID and of course it was released in 2022 as the world was starting to get a handle on things. I guess my takeaway is around resilience - we humans can find a way through almost anything if we stay flexible but focused in our mindset - and we have to continuously check ourselves and keep ourselves on course. We were supposed to tour the entire year of 2020 - kind of a 'studio break' to get our live game up a notch and lay the groundwork for the future before coming back to finish the album and make a plan to release it...we were out on the road when the pandemic hit and it was not only surreal and fairly terrifying, but we also felt our plans for 12+ months going up in smoke.
So we pivoted as best as we could, got ourselves back to LA safely while capturing some great content (including the music video for "Love In October") along the way, released a single immediately upon our return, and dug back into the creation process while shifting what we were planning for the immediate future. I'm not saying it was ideal, but we did get through it, and the album turned out beautiful - we have our resilience to thank for that.
LUNA: You've released a string of singles this past year. How do you approach crafting standalone singles versus a full album project?
SHIPS HAVE SAILED: Well, truthfully, many of the songs on Ages started as 'singles'. For me, songs and albums just kind of weave their way out of the ether - in completely different ways - songs beg to be born individually, and albums beg to tell a bigger story. Once the figment starts to form for an album, many times new songs will raise their hand to be born into existence and become a part of it, and others will just sparkle a little within our existing catalogue and let me know they should be included. It all sounds a little weird as I'm writing this, but yeah, that's kind of how it's been working - so who knows, one or more of these recent singles could find there way onto an album in the future!
LUNA: What's one piece of advice you'd give to aspiring musicians?
SHIPS HAVE SAILED: Know why you are creating, and keep that as your true north at all times. Listen to the feedback of others, but be willing to let it go if you truly disagree with it - ultimately, your craft is your journey, and we can't steer ourselves based on other people's opinions even though we might keep some of them in mind. I personally think being true to your own identity is the only way to be happy as an artist, and if you aren't happy, the journey won't be enjoyable - why do something so difficult if it's not truly for you?
LUNA: What intentions do you have for the upcoming season?
SHIPS HAVE SAILED: At the moment, life is very full - my wife and I welcomed a daughter into our lives last year and she's nine months old, I've been continuing to create my own music and have also been working with a multitude of other artists as a songwriter and producer, so touring isn't a huge priority this year although Art and I really do miss playing live and so some LA shows are not unlikely. Singles seem to be performing better than albums at the moment, so I've just been trying to hear which songs feel like they should make their way into the world and trickle them out one by one - that's the plan this year, but we all know that plans can easily change.
