Sead — 29 January 2019 on Rocket Shop Radio Hour

Alex, Colin, Chris, and John

Sead joined host Tom Proctor on ‘Rocket Shop‘, Big Heavy World’s weekly local Vermont music radio hour on 105.9FM The Radiator. Catch up with them at facebook.com/Seadvt/

Sead brought good spirits into the studio as they made themselves at home, kicking their shoes off and getting comfortable with the BHW crew. The group is comprised of four friends, ring-leader Chris Spodick on vocals and acoustic guitar, mellow rock star Colin O’Brien on lead guitar, soft-spoken Alex Bigelow on bass, and light-hearted, insanely “nasty” drummer, John Sweeney. Their overall eclectic air mirrors their unique music style. Sead is heavily inspired by classic rock groups like AC/DC, Led Zeppelin, and Pink Floyd, however, each member of the band has his own musical approach which collectively creates a one-of-a-kind sound that cannot be defined by just one genre of music.

Spodick joked that Sead was formed by “taking people with completely different music sensibilities and smashing it all together to create a very loose, random, collection of noises.” Essentially, Spodick creates the foundation of the music by finding the structure of the song and writing the lyrics, and then the rest of the band members layer in their own personal touches. For instance, Sweeney mentioned that he is deeply inspired by West African Drumming, and that he often goes off of West African bell cycles to keep time while playing with Sead. O’brien, on the other hand, prefers jam bands, so he takes what Spodick writes and “makes it spicy” by throwing in his improvised jams. Bigelow’s musical expertise is guitar-playing, so his main objective while playing bass with Sead is to get out of the guitar headspace he is accustomed to.

Since the start of Sead in 2015, the band has evolved greatly. Not only has Sead cycled through several different bassists and drummers, but the sound has changed significantly. Spodick laughed while mentioning, “Colin’s been pushing me to get more ‘jam-y,’ write different songs, and push the envelope of what I’m uncomfortable with...he makes me very uncomfortable.” With that being said, being “uncomfortable” was the best advice that the band could collectively give to any aspiring musician. Spodick stated that “you can’t be too set on a particular vision” and Bigelow added in that “you have to be willing to work with other people.” Clearly, this approach has been proven successful by Sead; the band has maintained a loyal fan base of mainly Saint Michael’s College students since the very start of its take-off in 2015, and it has been consistently growing in the Burlington area ever since. In the future, Sead hopes to get a professional recording, and even play some music festivals.

Text by Marisa Iannitto

You can see them live Sunday, February 3 2019 at Burger Bar in Colchester as part of a Super Bowl party..

Listen to some of their music on Soundcloud.

Photo by James Lockridge.