While The Eastern Sea is a young band about to take the stage in Columbus for the first time, its members are poised to make fans old and new feel welcome.
“Listening to our music, I’m not sure if the first thing you would think would be a high-energy show,” said frontman Matt Hines. “But we have a big sound live and we have a lot of fun. If you come to our shows you can expect to feel comfortable.”
The band, hailing from Austin, Texas, is scheduled to perform 7 p.m. Friday at The Basement.
Hines, who began as a solo artist in 2005, started creating the band two years later.
“Throughout college and post college, I developed it to kind of a rotating cast of characters. A number of people come in and come out. On this tour we’re going to have six members,” Hines said.
Since its beginning, The Eastern Sea has released two EPs and its first LP “Plague” was released in June.
Hines described the band’s sound as “melodic indie rock, or prose pop.”
“It’s pop music, but the focus is more on narrative story telling,” Hines said. “There’s lots of percussion, and melody based on old American folk music.”
The band, Hines said, has been compared to groups such as The Mountain Goats, Broken Social Scene and Death Cab For Cutie.
“I think we sound less like Death Cab than some people give us credit for, though,” Hines said, laughing.
John Petric, manager of Used Kids Records, located at 1980 N. High St., said although he’s never heard of The Eastern Sea, similar bands such as Death Cab For Cutie sell well in his store.
“Indie music sells well, but what we sell the most of is underground music,” Petric said.
Down the street, Johnny Go, owner of Johnny Go’s House O’Music at 1900 N. High St., said his store sees similar sales in indie music.
“Heck yeah indie music sells well, probably better than anything else,” Go said.
Hines said the band has excelled in its level of complexity and confidence throughout the years as well, which he credited to his song-writing process.
“When I write songs, I do it from the ground up,” Hines said. “I build on it for months at a time, work on a song for years. I always have a back log of material to come back to years later, and I can bring the band my ideas and we can create an arrangement.”
Moving forward, Hines said The Eastern Sea is working toward releasing a Christmas album in December, something he’s excited for.
Hines said he hopes to gain some new fans with each performance and is looking forward to touring through Columbus for the first time.
“We’ve driven through Ohio, but never performed there,” Hines said. “We can’t wait to be in Columbus.”
Tickets for the concert are available for $8 in advance from Ticketmaster and $10 the day of the show.
