In case you aren’t familiar, With Sails Ahead is a New Jersey post-hardcore band originally conceived by Sierra Binondo (lead vocals). The band also includes Josef Warner-Reyes (guitar), Santino Costa (guitar), Jaime Martinez (bass), and Ryan Venancio (drums).
They have built up a modest following across the U.S. by dropping great songs, engaging with fans online and playing shows. They have shared the stage with all of the big players in the post-hardcore scene, including Hail The Sun, Tilian Pearson (Dance Gavin Dance), and A Lot Like Birds.
It’s been two long years since we’ve heard from With Sails Ahead. I was beginning to think one of my favorite post-hardcore bands had called it quits!
Their new single, “In Fear and Loathing”, shows the band growing exponentially since their 2018 EP, Morning Sun.
The sound is fuller, each instrument is represented more equally, the vocals are clearer, overall this single truly showcases that the band has been hard at work for the last two years.
As I listened to this track over and over it dawned on me what I was hearing. There’s a huge confidence shift from Morning Sun to this new song. The EP, in my opinion, found the band holding back a little bit. “In Fear and Loathing” is like listening to a group shed their skin and become a bigger, better, brighter version of themselves.
The melody is absolutely infectious. If you aren’t at least tapping your feet, you better check your pulse. The pure energy this band harnesses is something we don’t hear often anymore.
I spoke with Sierra and Josef Warner-Reyes a bit about this new song and how it came to be:
NT: What led to the long gap between releases?
SB: “In Fear and Loathing” is a song we have been sitting on FOREVER. It was written in late 2017 or early 2018, and that was when the demo was completed. We seem to be a magnet for bad luck. Every time we try to release music we hit one or more very big hiccups. Either financially or logistically, and that is why everyone is finally hearing the track so many years later. The upside to this is that our previous EP Morning Sun had its chance to shine, and plenty of time for people to get to know it.”
NT: What was the writing process with “In Fear and Loathing”?
SB: “Joe is our main songwriter. He churns out the majority of our ideas; whether that’s writing guitars, or the instruments for a whole song. Then he sends us the Guitar Pro file and we write to it. The instrumentals came before the lyrics for this track.”
Joe (Warner-Reyes) had this to say about writing the music for “In Fear and Loathing”:
JWR: “In Fear and Loathing” began in 2017, simply enough, as a 30 second intro idea. The original clip can actually still be seen on my Instagram (if you scroll down far enough). At the time my music rotation consisted heavily of Chon, Dance Gavin Dance and Movements. The drive to write IF&L came naturally through wanting to improve my life, as I felt stuck. There was much I was not happy with at the time, but through writing this song I was able to break through the mental barriers that were holding me back and keeping me stagnant.”
TC: Can you elaborate a little on the lyrical content?
SB: “The lyrical meaning behind the song deals a lot with me basically confessing how poor I am at managing my anxiety. I don’t think I am great at being any sort of leader and I am really not confident in myself. I panic six steps ahead instead of thinking rationally and I go off the rails. When I am mentally in that place, it feels like nothing can bring me back; no positive affirmations can soothe me. Once my mind has won in terms of convincing me something insanely negative is going to happen it can lead me to do or say some pretty ugly things either to myself or to somebody else. So, you’ll find a lot of metaphors for that throughout the lyrics.”
“In Fear and Loathing” credits:
Recorded, edited by Kevin Antreassian at Backroom Studios
Additional edits, mixing and mastering by Dryw Owens
Album art by Stephanie Ryan
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