An Interview With The Baltimore Based Pop Rock Trio, SKYWARD STORY!

Baltimore-based pop rock trio, Skyward Story recently revealed their brand new single, “Hey!.”

Formerly known as 3PM, the newly formed group is ready to jump into the music scene full force with their catchy, high energy songs. PopCrush raves; “with a new name, a new vocalist and a new sound, the sky’s the limit for Skyward Story.”

“Hey!” is the first single off their forthcoming album, which was recorded with multi-platinum producer, Matt Squire (One Direction, Panic! At The Disco, Ariana Grande). “It’s a positive song that pokes fun at ourselves for always writing “stupid little love songs” and reminds us not to take ourselves too seriously,” the group tells PopCrush.

As 3PM came to a close, Brandon Millman (drummer) and Scott Montgomery (guitarist) turned to Twitter to add a new vocalist, finding Aaron O’Connor (lead vocals), thus ushering in the new era of Skyward Story. Aaron was the final missing piece, and exactly what was needed to catapult Skyward Story into a brand new direction. The three bonded over an aesthetic and sound with influences ranging from All Time Low, 5 Seconds Of Summer, and Panic! at the Disco, inspiring them to discover their unique sound and true identity as Skyward Story.

With many looking to see what they would do next, the band spent countless hours working on taking their music to the next level and emerged with a style all their own. Skyward Story’s social following continues to grow day by day, adding to the upward trajectory that they already have under their belt. The group had previously developed a large, dedicated following through tireless grassroots efforts, selling over 25,000 copies of their last album Slow Me Down. During their time on the Warped Tour, Slow Me Down peaked on the Billboard charts at #27 Top Rock Albums, #2 Heatseekers, #18 Alternative and #19 Independent. Stay tuned for new music and show announcements leading up to the release of their album later this fall, as Skyward Story prepares to take the pop rock world by storm.

For More Information on Skyward Story:

Instagram // Spotify // Website // Facebook // Twitter // Youtube // Soundcloud

Learn more about Skyward Story in the following All Access interview:

Thanks for your time! Where does this interview find the band today?

Of Course!  Today, Skyward Story is recovering from a weekend full of house parties and festival gigs.  We hit the gym early and now we’re going to spend some time connecting with our fans on social media (our favorite pastime).

What are some words you would use to describe 2017 for this band and your music?

Transformation. Evolution. Dynamic. Growth. Fun. Fruition!

What were some of the highlights? What has been the most exciting part about this year?

By far changing our band name to Skyward Story.  It was the realization of so much hard work and personal/musical growth.  Also our first tour with Aaron earlier in the year, the OMG Tour, was so much fun!  We finally got to meet and perform for so many of our fans that we’ve met while on the road promoting.

Growing up, did you all always want to be musicians? Can you recall the moment you realized that you could really make music together and be a band? How did you all first meet each other?

Brandon (drummer) first met Scott (guitarist) six years ago when Brandon wanted to start a band.  He knew Scott’s older brother and that they shared musical interests, and after a quick jam session, were inseparable.  They then met Aaron (vocalist) over social media and were able to meet up in Georgia, where Aaron was living, while on the road.  Aaron had no hesitations in dropping everything and moving up to Baltimore to complete the trio.  We all just knew!  As far as realizing we could actually do this thing, it’s a slow build up.  Somewhere along the line, in all of our hard work and effort it changed from a dream into a tangible reality.  We see how far we’ve come, we can see the path forward, and we’re all in it for the long run.

I understand that you used to be called 3PM so I am curious to know about this name change and where it came from? How did you come up with your band name? How do you think the name change will influence your sound? How did you come up with Skyward Story for the band name?

A lot had changed for us in the past year.  From Aaron completing our band to recording with multi-platinum producer Matt Squire (One Direction, All Time Low, Panic! At the Disco), it just felt right.  The name change did not influence the new sound, rather the new sound influenced the name change.  We all knew that we had evolved into something beyond 3PM.  The name Skyward Story came to us while on the road.  We feel like it represents us as people and as a band in how we keep positive attitudes and in how our music is bright and fun.  We just want to make the world smile!

I’m always curious to know how bands are influenced by the cities that they are from and record in. How do you think Skyward Story is influenced by being from Baltimore? What is the music scene like there?

We must say that we are very lucky to be from Baltimore.  Having been around the country I can say that our music scene is one of the best!  We have talented bands here and promoters and venues that genuinely care about each other.  There’s a true sense of teamwork when we put on local shows and it’s evident with how amazing they are.  You won’t see a local show as great (or well attended) as one with the Baltimore locals.  You could say we’re proud =)

Let’s talk about your newest single, “Hey!.” What was the inspiration for this track? How did it come together?

“Hey!” was one of the later tracks we wrote while working on our new record.  One day in the studio we were making fun of ourselves, as we do, when we realized that every song we had written for the album up to that point was a love song.  We started laughing at our “stupid little love songs” and not long after it became a song itself!  We really liked the idea, it grew to be one of our favorites, and here we are introducing our new sound to the world with “Hey!”.

What was it like working with the producer Matt Squire who has worked with big names like One Direction and Panic! At The Disco? How did this relationship come to be?

Working with Matt was completely eye-opening.  Matt actually happens to be originally from around the Baltimore area as well, and he had caught wind of our music and what we were doing.  He saw the potential in us, which was an honor, and he wanted to work on a new record with us!  Working with Matt really opened us up musically and helped bring out our own unique musical style.  The songs we wrote all sound like Skyward Story.  We’re really proud of the results and can’t wait for what’s to come.

How do you think “Hey!” gives listeners a taste of more of your new music to come this fall?

We thought “Hey!” was the perfect first single, not only because it’s literally saying “Hey!” to Skyward Story, but also because it’s representative of the new music’s soul.  As a whole, our new writing is fun, it’s bright, and it’ll make you smile and sing along.

Who are some of your favorite artists? Who would you all to work with in the future?

One of our favorite artists, being from Baltimore ourselves, is All Time Low.  We’d love to get to work with those guys.  Other artists we’ve been jamming to lately are The 1975, Set it Off, and Bruno Mars.

What would be a dream collaboration for this band?

We think working on a song with Brendon Urie would be unreal!

What do you hope is the message of your music? What do you hope people continue to take away from your songs?

We hope people are positively influenced by our music.  At the end of the day, we want to make people happy, and we want to inspire people.  If we can make our dreams come true then so can you.

What advice would you give to a band just getting started? Or even to someone young that is thinking of becoming a musician one day?

Step one, Practice!  Become the best musician you can be.  Step two, find like-minded people that you can take with you on the greatest adventure this world has to offer.  Step three, figure it out together.  Grow and learn, make mistakes and take risks and you’ll find your way eventually if you don’t give up.

Is there anything else that you would like to share with our readers about yourself or your music?

Thank you everybody!  Thank you for supporting what we do. We’ve got a big year coming up and we hope you’re all as excited as we are 😉