Artist Feature | Praise & Warships
Tell us a bit about how Praise & Warships began.
Chris: We’d been in bands together off and on as teenagers and kept in musical contact ever since. Brenton and I have been occasionally collaborating here in there on single songs over the years but never honed in on a specific sound. We felt like it was time to commit to a new fun project and call it a real band.
Brenton: To me, it was a way for all of the frustrations of music ventures we’ve been in—that never made it—to be funneled into something we both believe in. A free-form of expression and pent-up creative energy.
Where does the name come from?
Chris: I was deep into a book called The Three-Body Problem. Viewing the human concept/story of God from a different perspective, it can look a lot like a relationship between humans and an alien- which it quite frankly is. In the book (spoiler alert) there is a war between these 2 parties (aliens and man) and it involves a faction of humans who worship the aliens like an actual god. I thought this story was philosophically romantic... and I’ve also tried to apply the mysterious vibe of alien beings to the sometimes exotic feelings and emotions of our own experiences of love and desertion.
Brenton: I didn’t know that...I have been just telling people it was a little pun since we both grew up playing worship music together and both love to turn heads. Haha.
Chris: That too yes haha
Can you give us a window into your writing process?
Brenton: Chris and I both have spent much time learning how to play well together and almost knowing each other’s next move. Since we live in different cities, almost 500 miles apart, we do our best to emulate that in a digital setting while using as much analog gear as possible in our approaches to what we create. Most of our songs start as a mouth beat from me or maybe an older jam or chorus Chris wrote but I’m able to add something to that we would have never thought of on our own. We’re digital penpal-bandmates that know exactly what makes each other happy (and drives each other crazy, ha) yet we find ways to make it work and have fun and make something magical together.
What inspires you to create?
Brenton: Well, we started out in 2018-2019 with a goal of one single per month, just for fun— and have stuck to around one new track every other month now, but we are always creating something regardless. In most cases, we’re already a few songs into the writing process and thinking of the next song around the time we’re almost done with one.
What or who has had the biggest influence on your writing?
Well maybe it seems obvious to us but all the neo-psychedelic stuff, but really any old analog recordings from the disco and funk era. We can blame Chris’ dad for the insatiable roots grounded in Jellyfish which is a reinterpretation of anything Beatles or Queen. Some others like Bowie, Wonder, Genesis, and even some Prince sprinkled in.
Tell us about what you are working on right now, and where we can go to learn more about your work?
Chris: We’ve got a couple of buns in the oven don’t we Brent? We have yet to make it into the same studio together and are planning on a reunion trip next year. I haven’t actually seen Brent in 10 years ha. As far as content, everything is up on our band camp page, Spotify, and iTunes if you’d like to discover it.
Brenton: Wow, that is crazy we haven’t recorded in real life together in almost 2 decades, how is this possible? Something we’re always working on is getting out there and getting some more songs in commercials and licensed for the market. We just want to make music that makes us happy, and people enjoy and want to listen to it.