Sovereign Seas might just be one one the best bands that you've never heard of...yet.  The 5 piece Alternative/Ambient/Indie Rock band from Tempe, AZ just released their first full length album, Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea.  Kill the Music caught up with the band and this is what they had to say.

Members: Avidan Santana, Kennie Hernandez, Trever Covell, JB Kocis, Kyle Weldon

KTM: Give me a little background about the band.

AS:  It started off as a trilogy with Kennie, Trever and Cheney (former drummer).  Cheney came to me about coming out and doing vocals.  We just hit is off immediately.  We demoed some songs that are on the new album actually.  Then after about a year, our drummer left and  I brought on Kyle.  We've gone through a growing process.

KTM: Tell me a little bit about the origins of the band's name.

AS: It actually took us forever to settle on a name.  

KH: You came up with it.

AS:  I guess, I came up with it.  It was sort of reflective of the music itself.  The music was very ambient, free form, and independent.  It wasn't a tangible thing yet.  The names was reflective of that so we kind of settled on sovereignty.

KTM:  Describe your sound.

TC:  From what I get out of it, and I'm not saying that Emo is a bad thing, but it is emotional, ambient rock with a little bit of twang.  Its's Kennie's Fender amp that gives it that little bit of twang.

KW:  Every song on the record could be classified as a different genre.  There are parts, like vocals and they way we write lyrics, that stay consistent throughout but the sound kind of bounces around between indie and straight hard rock.  All of us came from heavy backgrounds and we didn't want to do that any more.  We wanted to make something different that we could be proud of.

KH: Yeah. We wanted something more mature, more refined, something that any person on the street could listen to.  There are times when the hard rock influences shine through a little bit but it is more melodic and calm.

KTM:  What's inspiring the music that you're currently making?

AS:  The album we just released took two years to write and make so it was constantly progressing as the band changed and different members came in. 

TC:  For me, I gotta say a lot of 1975.  When I heard them the sound just hit me and I fell in love with it instantly and showed all of these guys.  It was so different from our early influences like Toe.

AS: There is a clot of classic rock influence in it as well with modern alternative bands like AFI.  There are a lot of varied elements and I hope it all shows.  Also, Japanese pop, for me a lot of the vocal elements are all J-pop.

KTM:  What has been the biggest highlight of your career so far?

All:  Playing the Marquee was cool. Yeah, that was up there.

AS: I would say that actually making the record was a major accomplishment.

KH:  Staying together through the process was too. It was two years of a lot of ups and downs, a lot of progress and then backward steps.  We just picked up the physical copies of yesterday.  We had it online but now its in our hands.

AS:  That's definitely the biggest achievement for us. Now we have this thing that is tangible.  Its not just something in our heads or that we listen to in a room.  Everyone can hold now and listen to it anywhere.

KH: And it's not just an EP.  It's full length.  It has ten songs.  We stuck to our goal and didn't just put out an EP.  What's the one thing you want when you listen to an EP?  More music, right? So we stuck to the plan.

AS: There were times when we were thought, screw it we'll just make an EP.  We'll have enough music for two EPs.

KH: But then we went right back to no.  It felt good to make an plan, and through all the ups and downs, ride it out and finish it.  

KTM: If you could tour with any band past or present who would it be?

AS: That is a hard question. Kennie has The Doors. Kyle?

KW:  Someone is going to say 1975 so I am going to say So I am going to say something different.  That's a hard call but I'm going to say Taking Back Sunday.

JK: I'd say Tessaract. Heck yes!

TC: To be honest, AFI.  I love them.

AS:  They are taking all the good ones.  I really want to say Kyary Pamyu Pamyu but I am not going to.  I'm going to go with Closure in Moscow because they only play in Australian, Australia would be cool, and they seem like really cool guys. Kyary Pamyu Pamyu would be my other one though.

KTM: What are the band's goals for the rest of the year?

KH:  We're going to promote the new album, play as many shows as we can, and start working on stuff for the next album.  And eventually start touring.

Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea is well worth a listen.  Sovereign Seas is currently unsigned.