INTERVIEW
JASON CHOI & THE SEA
by Tim McGowan, April 2008
Posted on April 10th, 2008

Usually when you think of your local music scene you think of washed up bar bands and ska bands full of middle school band geeks that wouldn’t know Desmond Dekker from the Suburban Legends.  Jason Choi falls under neither category.  In fact, he is been out of the middle school for quite some time and is far from washed up.  Emerging out of a rather small indie scene in sunny Melbourne, Florida, Jason Choi and his backing band the Sea have been playing all around the Brevard County area for well over 7 years now, even venturing on the occasional national tour.  His latest and first full length release “Leave the Night Behind” was released in the summer of 2006 has been recently re-issued and has been garnering attention in the college and underground communities.

Personally, I’ve seen Jason perform either solo or with the different versions of the Sea.  Whether it was in my bath tub or on stage at the Social in Orlando, Jason never seems to disappoint.  So I decided to sit down with him and discuss math rock, splits about ghosts, and Christian rock.  That’s right, Christian rock.

So Jason, what do you do in the Sea?

Live, I sing and play guitar.

The live band seems to be a revolving door of musicians; do you know how many different versions of the Sea there have been in the past few years?

(Laughs) that's a good question.  There have been about three or four versions for the most part, although they've all sounded pretty similar up to this most recent one.

Do you think the song writing changes at all when different members join the band?

It has only recently.  The band I'm playing with now is better suited for a softer, more stripped down sound, so what little writing I've done has been fit to that.  Before, the songs were written for much more of a rock format.

I see, so are there any definite plans to record new material with this "Sea"?

Not at the moment.  I have recently recorded two songs for a split 7" with Gettysburg, which will hopefully be out before summer.  After that, I need to focus writing more songs before I record anything.  I'm actually planning on writing without the current Sea in mind, just to get out whatever I have to get out.  Then with whatever that is, the Sea will adapt to it or vice versa.

How is the split coming along and will it be on vinyl only?  Or will there be other formats for the fans that are record player deprived?

Our end of it is almost done.  Everything's been recorded and mixed for a while now.  I'm mastering it at home, but the computer I was working on lost all will to live the last time I was working on it.  I've just been struggling to find time for it since then.  There's no plan to press CDs, but if nothing else, we'll have some burned CDs to go with the records.  I'm not sure yet if the songs will be available online.

And that will be distributed through, John Ross' label Living With Ghosts, correct?

Actually at this point we're planning on releasing it through Team Grizzly.
 
Just as good.  Speaking of Team Grizzly, they released your first "official" full length, how has been the response to “Leave the Night Behind”?

It's been pretty good for the most part.  The problem has been with timing though.  There were so many setbacks with recording that an album that was meant to be released in 2004 came out in 2006.  At that point Team Grizzly was just Brian Bo (Clock Hands Strangle) and I, and since we are both so busy we didn't do a lot of promotion.  Now that Team Grizzly has changed a lot, they recently re-released the album.  That's great, except that most people are hearing the songs four years after the fact.  So of course it sounds dated.  Aside from that, it's been received warmly.  There have been some really nice reviews, and I think it's getting some college radio play.

College radio?  Awesome, I know I gave it a good review (laughs).

(Laughs) thanks I believe that was one of the firsts.

Yeah man, you tied with the Lawrence Arms, so that's top billing.

(Laughs) I'm honored.

Speaking of the Lawrence Arms, I know you are/were a Broadways fan, what other bands influence you in one way or another?

It's hard to say.  I like so many different kinds of bands; I don't really know which ones find their way into my songs.  When I was a kid, R.E.M. was my favorite band, and I think that really shaped the way I sing.  I get the impression that most people my age or younger have no idea how awesome they were.  Folkier stuff like Simon & Garfunkel or some Damien Jurado probably had some influence on me too. That 2nd Death Cab album was pretty important too, but almost everything else they did sounds like garbage to me now.

(Laughs) even the Postal Service?

Oh yeah, I never liked that stuff.

It's funny because I like the Postal Service, but not Death Cab.

We did cover “Such Great Heights” at my best friend's wedding, but that was only because I was looking for poppy songs that everyone knows.  Have you ever really listened to “We Have the Facts...” ?  Seriously, great pop songs all the way through.

I'll check it out. How about math rock?  I hear a lot of people compare, at least your full band stuff to American Football and what not.  What do you think about that?
Yeah, I guess I forget about those bands since we don't sound anything like that now.  I did listen to American Football and Braid a lot when I was writing some of the songs on “Leave the Night Behind”, but that's the closest stuff to math rock I would say.  Some of those riffs wouldn't have been written if it weren't for them.

Math rock is a funny genre.

Yeah, I don't even really know who I would place under that label.  It seems like just another term for people to misuse.
 


Anyway, besides musical influences, a lot of your songs seem to incorporate a lot of Christian imagery, though I'm not sure if you've ever claimed to be a "Christian" act, but does faith influence your song writing at all?  Or maybe I'm just looking too far into this.

I guess it depends on a person's view of what a Christian act is.  I am a follower of Jesus, as are the rest of the current Sea, and every song is about something I believe that he has been teaching me.  However, popular Christian music just seems so silly to me.  I haven't really paid attention lately, but when I was growing up, every Christian band was like a clone of a popular secular band, only not as good (or more often, really bad).  So it's hard for me to accept the label of a Christian musician and we do it sometimes, but I'm weary of playing in churches all the time, as opposed to just regular venues.  I want people to hear the songs before they pass some kind of judgment on them, whether good or bad.

What do you think about acts like Underoath who are becoming really popular?  Do you think being a self proclaimed "Christian" act heightens their popularity?  If so, do you think that's wrong in any way?

To a certain point it does heighten popularity.  It seems like if a band is at least decent, they can go really far in Christian music circles.  However, bands like Underoath totally crossed over to secular audiences as well, so that's another story.  Whether they could have done it without a Christian fan base is hard to say.  I mean, they play stuff that is popular.  I wouldn't say that it's wrong for Christian bands to get big if they're just being honest with themselves and their music, but I'm sure there are some that really push the Christian thing, knowing how that audience works, so that doesn't seem so fair.

I definitely get that vibe from a lot of bands.

I think that's kind of the problem with Christian music in general.  Since it's easier to get ahead, there's no motivation to get better.  You can make a lot of money for being mediocre.

Do you believe that in such a liberal, left leaning community like the punk rock/DIY scene, Christian bands conflict when it comes to their political views?  Or do you think it's more challenging that they are so open with their beliefs?

I can see both aspects, definitely.  But first I want to make it clear that not all Christians have the same political views.  The religious right may not be all bad, but in a lot of ways it's given the rest of us a really, really bad name.  While the bible is clear on something like homosexuality, for example, in comparison to everything else, it's hard to see why Christian leaders continually make it seem like the most important issue in the United States.  Would completely outlawing gay marriage stop homosexuality?  Of course not, it may send a message that God would not approve of, but it isn't any different than people having sex outside of marriage, and none of those leaders make such a big deal about that.  Sorry this is all so frustrating, back to your actual question.  There are definitely themes in punk rock that conflict with a Christian point of view.  The bible is also pretty clear about submitting to governing authorities, which of course would give any good punk rocker a heart attack, but at the same time, it's sometimes hard to see why Christians are looked upon with such disdain.  I mean is unity a concept that only applies to people with certain belief systems?  A true Christian is one who loves the people around him/her, while remembering all other teachings of Jesus, but I guess with so many examples of “false” Christians in the government and media, that's easy to forget.

It's funny, because I think of the Jewish faith as well, because in the Torah they are told the law of the land is the law.  Yet there are so many left leaning Jewish people.

I see what you're saying, but I think it's important to remember that the difference between the right and left does not equal the difference between obedient and disobedient.  And actually, the whole religious right is amazingly confusing, because when you look at what Jesus actually said, like how to treat the people around you, it's much closer to a liberal viewpoint than a conservative one.

I can't agree more, Jesus was punk rock.

While Jesus was telling people to take care of the poor, conservative America would rather have them die in the streets, whether they would admit that to themselves or not.  In a lot of ways he was pretty punk, the Jews were expecting like a warrior messiah, but instead he came as a mostly peaceful guy from the boondocks.  Everything he taught was pretty much the opposite of what everyone was doing, which seems pretty punk to me.

Indeed, I can see how one can quickly criticize the Christian faith by just looking at the institution and not the actual teachings.

Exactly, but I can't even blame someone for doing that, because the people who are giving Jesus a bad name are the ones who are supposed to be making it easy to see who Jesus really was.  What a mess!  The most visible people are some of the worst examples.  Thankfully there are a few exceptions to the rule.

I know, personally, because of the things I see going on I am turned away from going to church and what not, but I still like to have some faith.  I can't conceive being completely atheist

That's totally understandable.  I would just encourage everyone to see that not every church is the same, just like not every Christian is the same.  I really believe that when a person seeks the truth, they will find it.

Very wise words, well that's all the questions I have.
Ok, that's cool thanks for asking them.

I could go on and on, but then it becomes more of a conversation (laughs).

(Laughs) right.

Thank you Jason, it was enlightening.

You're very welcome, thank you!