Taken By Tides: Pure Sonic Intensity from the Lone Star State

Photo Credit: Brian Damon

Taken By Tides: Pure Sonic Intensity from the Lone Star State

Taken By Tides is a Texas-based powerhouse that fuses Metal, Rock, and Pop into a relentless, electrifying force. Composed of vocalist Omar Martinez, guitarist Guillermo Rodriguez, bassist Jack Strunk, and drummer Jayden Castillon, the band delivers a sound that’s as emotionally raw as it is sonically explosive.  Their latest single is entitled Ghost Vibration – co-written by Zachary Williamson of Picturesque, and it’s an absolutely exhilarating piece of artistry well worth seeking out.  With a recent EP entitled It Ends With You and a lot more music on the way, Taken By Tides is sure to capture the attention of music fans above and beyond the Lone Star state.  Highwire Daze recently interviewed three out of four Taken By Tides members to find out more about this dynamic new band on the rise…

Introduce yourselves and tell me what you do in Taken By Tides.
Omar: Hey, what’s up? I’m Omar. I’m the singer for the band.

Jay: What’s going on? I’m Jay. I play drums.

Jack: Hey, how’s it going? I’m Jack and I play bass.

Where are you guys based out of and what is your local music scene like there?
Omar: So, we’re based out of San Antonio, but two of us live in Laredo, Texas, but we do all our business and stuff in San Antonio. The local scene is really cool here. There’s a couple of bands that are doing some really cool stuff like Shout Out Life Cycles. Those guys are doing some dope shit.

Let’s go ahead and talk about the new song. Is there any story or concept behind the title in the song Ghost Vibrations?
Omar: So, Ghost Vibrations, it’s essentially like, it’s another term for phantom vibration. Which is actually like, you ever have like your phone in your pocket, and you think it vibrates, but it actually didn’t?

Actually, yes.
Omar: So, it’s like this weird thing that our brains have been wired like that. Now it’s like we’re half cyborgs now. So essentially Ghost Vibrations is like when you think your phone goes off. The song was kind of based around this feeling of loneliness and just like waiting for like something to happen. But instead of just waiting for something to happen, we just decided to get up and go get it. So that’s kind of the basis of the song.

What was it like working with Zachary of Picturesque on the song?
Omar: Zach was dope. Our manager, Drew, he’s been good friends with Zach from Picturesque, and he wanted to get us together. First time coming to the studio, he laid it out on us and just told us the realities of music.  It was very eye-opening experience. He saw a lot in us. He saw a lot of me as a vocalist, and he thought that he could bring more out of that. So, Ghost Vibrations was a song we already had about maybe 70-80% done by the time we went to the studio with him. Then he just kind of helped us flesh out the final parts. It came out really awesome. It was great working with him. He’s a really good friend of ours now.

The It Ends With You EP. Is there any story behind that title and that song?
Omar: It’s a family story. It’s just like, if you ever had someone in your family who’s dealing with some sort of addiction or anything. Just dealing with the pains of that. That’s kind of what the song talks about. As for the EP, it was just an amalgamation of the last couple singles we released. We never really intended to release it as an EP, but it ended up being that way, because Spotify will label it as an EP. But that’s pretty much the story about It Ends With You.

You have another song on there, which I believe is also a single Death of the Old Me. Tell me about that one.
Omar: Death of the Old Me is awesome. It’s kind of got two stories on that one. One of them is like, just us being bright eyed and not wanting to be jaded about music and just being fired up and trying to do the thing. It’s a very energetic song, I’d say.

Then let’s go to The Darkest Places. Tell me about that.
Omar: The Darkest Places, that’s a song I dedicate to my girlfriend all the time. That one’s a really fun one. It’s just about reassuring someone that you’re growing up well, and you’ll be sure to follow them even through the darkest places just to get to the light at the end of the tunnel.  There’s that kind of cheese message, but it’s kind of that in a nutshell.

You have this new song, Ghost Vibrations. How close are you to doing another EP or maybe even an album?
Omar: We’ve been writing a lot for the last year and a half now. We’ve just been collecting a good amount of songs. We’re not exactly ready to announce what it’s going to be, but there’s definitely more new music coming out this entire year. So, we’re excited about that.

What could one expect from a live Taken By Tides show?
Jack: A lot of energy and I’d like to think that we give a good performance and try to involve the crowd as much as possible – and also give them the same product that they receive when they listen to it on their own time. Hopefully they can take away something that leaves an impact on them, and just share our energy as best we can and give them as much as we can. What you can expect is a good show.

Tell me about the Devil’s Cut tour and what were some of the highlights for you?
Jay: I think definitely the hometown show was really good. It was just nice to get out there and just know that we could do it. We sold a lot of merch. We actually made money on the tour, which was unexpected, especially for our first tour. Overall, it went really well. Just being able to play in front of a lot of people all around the states and then getting that warm welcome, coming back home at the end of the tour.

Have you guys ever played out here in Los Angeles or Orange County, Southern California, or maybe plan to do so in the future?
Jay: I’ve been out there, like, playing drums for other people. But with Taken, no, but there’s definitely plans for us to get out there soon.

IIf you guys could open for any band, either now or from the past, who would it be and why?
Omar: My Chemical Romance, for sure.  They’re just my favorite band growing up since I was a child. They inspired me so much vocally. So probably My Chemical Romance is the top spot for me.

Jack: Personally, I’d love to open for Architects. I think that they’re a great band. I’d love to reach out into that audience, especially across the ocean. Just in general, I love their music. I think it’d be a fun pairing.

Jay: I think probably Bad Omens. I think we would have a lot of crossover between the two fans. Like, I mean, obviously, we’re not anywhere near what they have for sure. But I think a lot of their fans will be able to take away good things from us. I feel like it would just be a good tour for us to do.

Are you guys involved with any other bands or projects outside of Taken By Tides?
Omar: No, not currently. We’re all just dedicated 100% to Taken. We’re all just in this band currently.

What’s up next for you guys?
Omar: More music, for sure. We’d like to see where this song goes. We’d like to see where the next couple singles take us to. Then if we want to do some Texas shows, as soon as possible. Then get some good bands to tour with to do a full US tour, that’d be awesome. But it’s still early into the year. So, we’d like to plan out something for the summer. But we’ll see for sure. Just new music.

(Interview by Ken Morton)

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