Tony Cummings reports on SEABIRD from Cincinnati, Ohio and their push towards the CCM bigtime

Seabird

Many critics have already agreed that the record label debut 'Til We See The Shore' by Cincinnati band Seabird is one of the strongest of the year. With its heaving guitar hooks, socking rhythms and a solid guitar/piano base more than one journo has suggested it has a Britpop sound while the first single from the project, "Rescue", has the same passion and power of CCM hitmakers Needtobreathe. In fact, "Rescue" was co-written by Needtobreathe's Bo Rinehart along with Seabird's frontman Aaron Morgan. Speaking about the theme of the song Aaron Morgan told backseatwriter website, "I felt like everything good I was trying to do was ending up in failure and only God could turn it into something beautiful and life-giving. The chorus is calling out to God as rescuer. I know many times in my life I've felt like I've had no way out." The power of a song like "Rescue" isn't solely for Christian audiences. Aaron continued, "I have friends that aren't Christians and it's their favourite song. I think there's something really ironic about that. Whether they hear the Christian message or not, they know what it's like to feel defeated and the need to be rescued."

Morgan told CCM magazine how he came to compose songs with Needtobreathe's Bo Rinehart. "We've been fans of Needtobreathe for a while and got the chance to play with them last year. We were explaining to them the situation we were in of having a record completed but not having a release date for it or any momentum for touring or with radio. They immediately said, 'Why don't you come down to our studio and we can write a song together - one that we feel is true to your style but something that would also appeal to Christian radio.' So I flew down there a month or so after that time. I had a couple verses written, and they had a couple choruses, and we wound up choosing the best stuff. Bear and Bo Rinehart, the brothers in Needtobreathe, had written it to go along with my verses and we literally spent a weekend between writing and laying it down in their studio. Their bassist did all the recording. By the time we were done, we were really excited about what we had come up with. We were confident the EMI radio team would feel good about it. Sure enough, when we brought back the demo of it, they heard it and almost immediately said, 'This is something we can service to Christian radio.' So that was really, really good news to have something they felt great about as a single, which was the momentum they were looking for."

The band's origins go back to 2004 when the Morgan brothers, Aaron (vocals, keys) and Ryan (guitar), joined up with bassist Chris Kubik and drummer Aaron Hunt (who recently left the band). It all started when Hunt, the band's co-founder, heard Aaron playing on his father-in-law's concert grand. "He approached me and asked if I wanted to start practising some songs in his basement," explained Aaron. "He was playing guitar and I was playing piano; it sounded horrible, so he switched to drums." Adding in the band's original bassist Micah Landers and a guitarist, Seabird practised a little before entering a Fall Brawl Battle Of The Bands. Remembered Morgan, "We heard that we had to have three songs recorded to get into the battle of the bands. So we literally went in Aaron's bedroom, and he had a Pro Tools rig, and we recorded three songs. Just he and I. So, anyways, we recorded these three songs in one day and literally drove it up there that night. The deadline was midnight. We got it up there at about 11. Dropped it off with our 30 dollars or whatever, and entered the Battle Of The Bands. We came in second place out of 23 bands. We were told we were beat by 1/100th of a point. The winners had the audience vote, and we had the judge vote. So that was the beginning of Seabird. We started as a four piece. We had another backup keyboardist/accordionist. Micah went away to school. We told him education never pays."

In 2005 Seabird recorded an independent EP, 'Spread Your Broken Wings And Try'. Shortly after that the band got signed to EMI CMG. Aaron Hunt explained how the deal came about. "We played a really small show in Erlanger on the back of a flat bed truck at a church. The guy that was putting it on was actually a cousin of Aaron and Ryan. After the show, he really dug it. Nobody else at the show did. They were either five and under, or 40 and over. The moms and their little kids all hyped up on Mt Dew and cotton candy and running all over the place. Then [the cousin] emailed Jeff Jackson, who had worked with Gotee Records for like six years. So Jeff was really into it, didn't really expect anything. Just enjoyed the music and wanted to help us out. Then, a couple months down the road, he decided he was going to start managing bands and asked us if we'd be interested and we said definitely. So we started working with him. Through all his connections at Gotee, he got us showcases with EMI and Essential. Then, Chris York, an EMI A&R rep, came out and saw us the first time. Then, Nate Yetton, he's our A&R rep now, he came up and saw us at The Underground and it kinda went from there. We started working the deal and eventually signed with them." Aaron Morgan added, "We did a private showcase for EMI. It was one of the most awkward things we've ever done. 30 EMI employees only, in a padded room. They basically said, 'Do not entertain us. Just play your music.'" Said Aaron Hunt, "It was crazy. It was this small room, and a huge stage. Where they sit was about as big as the stage. So, we're having like this big concert and there's only 30 people watching us. We were like, 'Umm, this is cool.'"

Signing the deal with EMI didn't immediately land the band a release. Various producers were tried out and then rejected as the band tried to find a sound that EMI were confident would sell. In 2007 an EP, 'Let Me Go On', was recorded and released through EMI CMG's new artist nurture label Credential. It acted as a teaser to the 'Til We See The Shore' album which was released in the US in June. The release of the album has made a huge difference to the band. Explained Aaron, "Moving away from our typical day jobs, and going on tour to promote the record. For me, being a husband and a father, knowing very clearly that this isn't going to be something that I'm going to drag my family through for ten years if it doesn't take off. there's just too much involved. Too much risk to really take that journey without that financial stability. I would say that we are all incredibly excited to finally release a full length. It's been two and half years of playing, and we've had most of this material since the beginning. We've always been wanting to do a full length and to finally be able to do that, to actually be able to play that for a broader audience than just Cincinnati and northern Kentucky, that's pretty exciting for us."

The title track to 'Til We See The Shore' is a powerful song. Said Aaron, "I get this imagery of a ship full of sailors that get caught in a terrible storm. They're nearly at the point of defeat and they decide that they're going to fight for their lives against this storm." That is, until they see the shore, a place of safety.