Unsigned Spotlight: Same Gods
Same Gods is a love letter to 90’s alternative rock and post hardcore written with an evolved sensibility. As commanding and urgent as the music is, it exudes the quiet confidence of seasoned musicians
Please list all of your band members and their roles in the band:
Jon Davis - Vocals
Brendon Flynn - Guitar
Steve Sopchak - Drums
Shane Conzone - Bass
For starters, what bands were you guys a part of prior to Same Gods? How long has the band been around?
Jon: Another Breath, Difficult, The Apparition Orchestra, Talk Wrong, Night Owls.
Brendon: A Murder of Crows, War of Attrition, Freya and I am currently in Diagonal Path as well.
Shane: Of Fortune & Fame, Goodnight Forever, Thoughts In Reverse.
Steve: I’ve mostly done studio work for the last decade, producing and co-writing for a ton of bands, most recently with Ice Nine Kills and Motionless In White. As for how long Same Gods has been around, Brendon and I started working on these songs together in early 2018 and Jon and Shane both joined shortly after.
What’s the origin of the band name?
Jon: The band name comes from the John Prine song “Pretty Good”. I go to John Prine while I drive - it’s better than any podcast and I still get my stories. He sings, “I heard Allah and Buddha were singing at the Savior’s feast, And up in the sky an Arabian rabbi fed Quaker oats to a priest. Pretty good, not bad, they can’t complain. Cause actually all them gods are just about the same”. RIP JP
Who writes your songs? What are the main themes or topics for most of your songs and do you think these topics will change over time?
Brendon: So far, I have come up with the initial guitar parts and song structures, but they change with the addition of the other members’ input. The songs get fleshed out by just playing them together, recording full band demos, analyzing them and re-recording them. It goes like that until we all are all equally excited. No song is safe from the chopping block.
Jon: I’ve played in bands and toured all over the world “unsuccessfully" for over 20 years at this point. There aren’t many people I can look in the eye and share that kind of experience with. I often look back at what I’ve done and what I’m doing and I don’t even know how to make sense of it, let alone explain it to friends and family. It’s a weird sort of existence.
Most of the themes are about my life and my disappointment with people who just live the status quo, are afraid of everything, think everyone is out to get them and never get outside their little comfortable worlds.
What bands are currently inspiring the music that you’re making?
Brendon: The music definitely came from a very nostalgic place. The big riffs and melancholic, spacey harmonies of 90's post-hardcore, grunge and alternative were a big influence. Failure, Helmet, Handsome, Quicksand, Deftones, Soundgarden and Hum to name a few.
Shane: One factor that I really love about this band is the diversity in influences. We all found a natural crossover point that is this band, however, much of my inspiration comes from more extreme styles of music. Currently speaking, I keep bouncing between Children of Bodom, Serpent of Gnosis, and Lamb of God on my Spotify. A few bands that influenced my sound and style choices for this band are Rage Against The Machine, Soundgarden, and Foo Fighters.
Was there a particular band/artist or concert that inspired you to start a band?
Brendon: I remember going to punk and hardcore shows at our local community center with my older brother when I was 13. The energy from those floor shows were very exciting to me. The first "big" show that really stands out as an influence was seeing IN FLAMES playing a smaller Syracuse venue in 2000.
Steve: It was similar for me. It wasn’t necessarily one specific band but more the collection of experiences from the earliest shows I went to. Something about that energy definitely drew me in and I knew I wanted to be a part of it.
Shane: I've always had the bug to create. I think the tipping point for me was seeing my first local show. If I remember correctly the band The Atrium was on the bill as well as a number of other locals from the Upstate NY area. I think you always hear the story of someone seeing a really big band and then being inspired to do that, but I sort of had the opposite experience.
It really hit me when I saw people I knew, my peers, surrounded by friends and fans alike, playing original music. It made the dream that much more tangible for me. I remember taking demos from that show and going home and fumbling around to try and learn their songs.
Tell us about your upcoming album Worried Eyes.
Steve: We started production for the album in April of 2019, after months of in-person writing and rehearsal sessions. The goal was always for the sound to be heavy, dark and melodic, and a bit nostalgic---perhaps less reliant on modern production magic and more reliant on the intensity of the arrangements themselves. One of the things we really wanted to make sure we did was to land on a production aesthetic that was super unique, in the way that we perceived many of the bands we loved from decades ago to have had so much of a fingerprint to their sound.
We spent months recording, experimenting with esoteric equipment and odd techniques in an effort to figure out what was going to help us to achieve that goal. We tracked and mixed the record through a 24-channel analog console with tons of outboard gear, so it was a real nerd-fest, and we’re super stoked on the way it came out.
You have mentioned that this is a studio-only project, and you don't intend to tour - why's that?
Shane: I don't necessarily think touring is never an option. Currently, we are carrying the badge of being a studio project, but I think if the right opportunity comes down the line, we'd be very open to taking it beyond the studio.
Steve: Yeah, the main reason initially was that our members exist on opposite coasts (Syracuse, NY and LA). Also, we all just had so many other projects going on around the time Same Gods formed that we sort of had to pick a focus---and making the record became that focus. It just didn’t seem realistic to move into a full-time traveling format. That said, now that the record is done and we’re starting to see a response, I think we are all kind of excited at the prospect of getting out there with these songs someday.
If you did tour and could with any bands, past or present, who would they be and why?
Brendon: A tour with Failure, Helmet and Kings X would be all I would need. Riff sandwich.
Shane: This would be a total dream come true but if I could choose any bands to have Same Gods share the stage with, my mind immediately goes to Thrice, Manchester Orchestra, and Superheaven. I just feel those particular artists have a lot of the same qualities we have in terms of their music and message.
Is there anything else you would like to add?
Steve: Thanks so much to Kill The Music for having us, keep an eye out for “Worried Eyes” on July 10th, and if you dig it, please follow us on our social media and Spotify!
New single, Remission: Bandcamp, Spotify, and Apple Music.