Days Between Stations is a partnership between guitarist Sepand Samzadeh and keyboardist Oscar Fuentes Bills. They named the band after the 1985novel by Steve Erickson. Samzadeh describes the band's sound as "art-rock", while Fuentes describes it as "post-prog".
Biography
The duo came together in Los Angeles in November 2003 after Samzadeh placed an ad in the Music Connection magazine. Release of their first album was pushed back several times as the band members faced various difficulties, including the death of a family member. In 2004, Fuentes and Samzadeh sent Bruce Soord, leader of the British band The Pineapple Thief, a CD with nearly an hour's worth of mostly improvised material. Soord used some of this material as the basis for the song "Saturday" on The Pineapple Thief's 12 Stories Down. To help flesh out their sound in the studio, the band contacted former Young Dubliners drummer Jon Mattox in 2005. Mattox joined in as drummer and co-producer. The band further enlisted guitarist Jeremy Castillo, Argentinian-born bassist Vivi Rama, sax player Jason Hemmens, singer Hollie Shepard, trumpeter Sean Erick and trombonist Kevin Williams. Samzadeh's uncle Jeffrey Samzadeh, who sings traditional Iranian classical music, also sang on the track "Requiem for the Living". Their eponymous debut CD was released in October 2007 on Bright Orange Records. It was engineered by Evren Goknar of the Capitol Mastering team who is best known for his work with Queensrÿche, Red Hot Chili Peppers and Yes. The album received positive reviews and radio airplay. Former Yes guitarist Peter Banks said of the album: "Days Between Stations offer an inventive, eclectic mix of electronics: sometimes relaxed sound-washes interspersed with a rhythm-driven force... the subtle textures are played with a refreshing honesty and openness underpinned with an authentic transparency of sound that avoids most of the pitfalls and potholes of scary 'prog'." Fuentes and Samzadeh's second album, In Extremis, was released in May 2013. It was produced by former Yes member Billy Sherwood and features contributions from veteran prog musicians Peter Banks, Rick Wakeman and Tony Levin. In June 2014, the band released their first music video for the track "The Man Who Died Two Times" from the albumIn Extremis, featuring Colin Moulding of XTC on lead vocals. The band's third Album, Giants, is scheduled for general release21 September 21 2020.
