Global Arizona was one for the books as I had one of the best times of my life surrounded by some of my best friends, great music and a whole lot of happy vibes. I had the amazing opportunity to sit down with Mr. Feels Good himself, Trevor Christensen a.k.a Said the Sky, to get a feel for his music and journey through this crazy industry. Trevor was kind enough to share 30 minutes of his time after his set to allow me to share his story with all of you and talk about his musical influences and upcoming tour with Illenium.
Trevor is a resident of the lovely Denver, Colorado to which he started playing piano at a very young age and joined marching band in high school which he absolutely loved. He has always appreciated music but really got his inspiration to start making music from the happy energy you would get from the earlier music of Owl City, "The lyrics were really weird but it was good vibes, there was nothing sad or depressing or angry and that 'make people happy' feeling is what inspired me to start making music." His first real start in EDM was a lot of trance and the melodic stylings of Gemini, Seven Lions, Cohen Sound, and John Digweed. He attended the Berklee College of Music studying Music Theory in which his mom and dad "were very supportive and helped me pay for it, as we still are paying it off, but it was so cool that I was fortunate to have my family support what I do." He moved back home to Denver working at a restaurant supply company and through a series of destined events, he met a guy who at the time was helping Illenium develop his sound and style. "At that time a lot of our strengths and weaknesses were flipped- he was able to teach me a lot of things that I had never experienced." A month or two after working together they moved in together, set up a studio and worked together to develop their sound to where they are today.
Said the Sky has a very powerful and upbeat styling that creates a robust melodic feel rather than a heavy dubstep upbeat song. Trevor emphasized that "I don't want to make something that people just want to get fucked up to, I want to create powerful music that makes people feel something and say wow this is really impacting me." As we see the emergence of more melodic powerhouses like Odesza, Illenium, and San Holo, I wanted to know what drove him to create something melodic yet different. He explained to me that "it's all about the music, the composition, and melodic aspects are what really spoke to me." One of the things that I can appreciate is the fact that Trevor wants to just make music, music without labels or categories. In all the ways he described his style, "future bass or more melodic dubstep or melodic trap really I want to just make happy music as hippy as it sounds."
Aside from the "happy style" that he creates, Trevor gave reference to the two biggest pillars of his musical inclinations which happens to be: the actual musical composition and creating an emotionally driven melancholy feeling. He talked about the composer Eric Whitacre and how he "creates these pieces that are the most beautiful, heart-wrenching songs." Talking about the chord arrangements and musical stylings of someone completely outside of the realm of EDM made me realize how important it is for Trevor that he creates amazing music that makes people feel something powerful. "He creates this tension that as the chords progress it releases and it's not a conscious feeling but more of a way to move you with the music." I have seen Said the Sky twice now, at Phoenix Lights earlier this year and just recently at Global, and his shows create a powerful energy that never demands anything of you expect to feel something which comes from his admiration of ODESZA. "They write just perfect music and when you go to a show it is just perfect beautiful song after perfect beautiful song that creates a love of the show." Pray for Me was released a couple of months ago but it was a beautifully melodic track that featured some heavier turns and a powerful vocal from Origami.
In this crazy industry, life can be full of ups and downs and turns that would make most normal people go absolutely nuts. There are plenty of amazing moments that come with the career but for Trevor, "Meeting Nick, Illenium, knowing him for the past three years has been insane. I've been able to learn so much from him." From what I heard from Trevor, the staff at Global and Dabin, Illenium is one of the kindest guys you will ever meet and truly cares about the progress of musicians with new and powerful sounds. On the other hand, though, life comes with its down moments and periods of confusion that can only be described as a literal hot mess.
"There was this one show where we show up to this venue and there are families sitting around eating and the runner casually said, 'Oh yeah the promoter forgot about your show and booked this Hooters event but at 10:30 it'll switch over and your show will still happen' and he said it so casually, I'm freaking out calling my manager what do I do what do I do but the show went on and people showed up and we had a great time but it was an awkward situation to be in the middle of for sure."
Throughout the good and the bad Said the Sky has always managed to keep the good vibes going and perform a powerful show. Part of that powerful show is Trevor's close friend and tour manager, David, who often will come on stage and play a live snare. I got to talk with him briefly and it was amazing to hear the story of their friendship through music.
He started playing drums in third grade and in seventh grade he met Trevor and in high school, they were both in band. "We had been writing music ever since and always talked about how we're going to write music and play it, staying up until 2 A.M. talking about it." David moved to drum line while Trevor stayed in the front ensemble with marimba but David was able to convince him to move over to drum line during the last semester of high school. After high school, Trevor went on to pursue Berklee and David continued on to pursue acting. David is shy but has a love for stories and characters which caused him to pursue filmmaking instead of acting to which he had the realization, "This is dumb, I want to be the guy in front of the camera. I can be shy yet still portray a character." While he did some extra work in film, things didn't work at as planned and upon ariving home to Denver, he was given the opportunity to play with Trevor and here they are today.
Be sure to go check out Said the Sky on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Soundcloud and Spotify to stay updated on all the latest music and tour dates!
