With a name lifted from a Mahatma Gandhi quote, Being As An Ocean came together in late 2010 with their first demos being posted to their Myspace page by early January of the following year. Initially, lead guitarist Tyler Ross was the sole creative force of the band, writing the entirety of their first record only a couple of months after the band was formed. The band spent the rest of 2011 performing anywhere that would have them and scored a record deal with InVogue records near the end of the year, with “Dear G-d” being released precisely 364 days after their first demos were put online, on the third of January 2012. The album received a huge amount of acclaim from both fans and critics, leading to their first world tour in the summer supporting a number of different hardcore bands.
Unfortunately, that touring schedule was too much for founding members Jacob Prest and Shad Hamawe, who left in 2013. But even by then this was a band with far too much momentum to be stopped that easily, and with two new members joining up the same year, the band are still going on to this day. With a second album released in the form of 2014’s “How We Both Wondrously Perish”, the band remain a tremendously exciting prospect both live and in the studio. For that, Being As An Ocean come highly recommended.
You can tell from the wild crowd at every one of Being As An Ocean’s shows that they’re doing something right. If seeing a room full of people lose their minds, stage diving and singing every single word isn’t an indicator of success then I don’t know what is. Some bands that reach this level look perplexed by the crowd’s reaction. They almost become scared of the pressure that’s on them from these loyal fans and shy away. No such problems with these guys though.
One of the most amazing feats is their ability to be vocally perfect amid the chaos. For a band that relies quite heavily on melody, they always deliver the sung parts confidently and tunefully although often the crowd are so loud singing along it wouldn’t have mattered anyway. Frontman Joel Quartuccio offers the mic round to hungry fans who jump at the chance to scream along to their favourite songs elevating the experience a whole notch further for them. The technicality and accessibility of their music shines in a live setting and makes Being As An Ocean an un-missabale live act.