We have all heard the classic tale of bands and musicians splitting time between Nashville and L.A. in order to catch a break on the sunny coast. This theory bodes well for bands and musicians from time to time. However Satellite, a four-man band formed in Los Angeles, is beginning to call Nashville home– at least part time. Front man and Nashville native Steven McMorran and guitarist Josh Dunahoo spoke with me before the band’s December 3rd Nashville show. Steven explained that Satellite formed in L.A. as a group of fellow songwriters and studio musicians who eventually gravitated toward each other. Steven, a songwriter who had a publisher, was not entirely sold on a “songwriting career.” “If I am going to work this hard at this, I want to at least write songs I want to show people. So I really decided to define what that would be, and Mitch and Josh really gravitated towards that, and eventually that turned into a band." Josh adds that prior to Satellite, he worked for 10 years as a studio musician, playing in other peoples bands, learning other peoples songs, and there was nothing more tiring. “I was wanting to play something that mattered to me." "Ultimately, I was trying to write for other people, and Josh was trying to play for other people and now we are both doing the same thing,” continued Steven.
Flash Forward two years and Satellite is on the cusp of their very first full length album release, Calling Birds, set to be released on March 5th, 2013. The album will have six tracks that made up the original EP, Ring the Bells, that have been re-mixed, re-mastered, and re-visited, along with several new tracks. The collective taste of the band is reflected within these tracks, with influences from Springsteen and Dylan to The National and Arcade Fire setting the tone for this record. The tracks all flow together and fit but in their own specific way. “’Brooklyn’ is different from the rest of the album; we had trouble making that fit, but it’s ok,” Steven says, explaining that it’s even better that way. “An album should take you to different places.” There are high hopes for this album from fans of the band as well as within the band itself. “More than anything I want this to be an album that people really listen to, that one album in your car you never take out,” Steven says.
“Calling birds are supposed to be the one thing in the night that reminds you that the sun is coming up, like the last and darkest part of the night. And then you start hearing birds and that is a beautiful and sometimes sobering moment; that is what I hope these songs do. I hope that they remind people that stuff gets tough and life gets real but it’s also beautiful, and the things to endure are the things that are on the other side,” says Steven. –Bailey Rush