Ocean Glass isn’t your typical college band. With an alternative indie vibe that incorporates beach tones, each song performed by the band offers a different feeling and envokes multiple emotions similarly to the way waves wash over ocean glass, the bands namesake itself. Nishat Ahmed, a student at U of I and lead vocalist of Ocean Glass, is ready to bring listeners a new taste of music.
Smile Politely: How did you first get interested in the world of music?
Nishat Ahmed: Everyone that knows me is going to say of course, but I fell in love with Fall Out Boy really early on, like first album, first EP around 2002 or 2003. I just knew that it was catchy and that I loved it and then going into junior high and being pressured by my parents to do like science and math that I didn’t want to do, I found solace in music a lot. The lyrics just really covered the whole, “teen angst” thing and that really spoke to me. I could just really relate. Music was just a way of life and a way to get by. I guess it was kind of a saving grace kind of thing.
SP: What exactly was it about Fall Out Boy that drew you in at a young age?
Ahmed: The lyrics were superb, but I think the coolest thing about the band is that Patrick Stump’s voice is just so pristine. Just hearing someone who’s trained in a way like Michael Jackson and Prince sing—that crooning thing—compared to the rough, heavy parts just made them really unique to me. Their story is pretty cool too. They were this tiny, shitty band that no one cared about, but then Pete was like I’m going to make this work and I’m going to go with it and that kind of inspired me too. It doesn’t matter where you start or where you come from, if you give a shit about it, then other people will give a shit about it. The fact that they became this international powerhouse in music [is also inspiring].
SP: How did your writing process begin and evolve?
Ahmed: I was writing lyrics to stupid love songs and crushes, those types of things when I was in junior high. I’d like to say I’m a pretty empathetic person. I’m into the cheesy romance novels. “The Notebook” is my favorite book and movie if that says anything about me. I did some poetry work too, but it wasn’t anything serious. When I got into high school I needed to write to express myself and be okay with my situation in the world. That’s when it became a therapeutic experience.
When it comes to writing, you either write about loving or hating someone or something. Even though a lot of Ocean Glass’s songs right now are about hate, when I first started love was, like, this beautiful emotion to me that everyone could share. I think love is the greatest thing you can share with people. I think writing about that topic is pretty cool. Also, songs about love are something everyone can relate to in some shape or form. Writing music is a really personal thing, to put your story out there in front of others.
SP: At what age did you start expressing yourself with music?
Ahmed: I started singing when I was in choir all through elementary school, junior high and high school. Sophomore year is when I met Jonathan who started the band with me. That’s when I got into trying to sing my own stuff. I thought that it was kind of catchy and a lot of fun, so I wanted to roll with it.
SP: You met all of your bandmates while you were in high school then?
Ahmed: No, Ocean Glass started with the remnants of the old band I was in with my brother called Beneath the Skyline which was an awful pop-punk band. It was me, my brother, his friend Stanley and my friend Jonathan. We started this band and we had a couple of member changes and then it didn’t stick, so us four together started Ocean Glass in 2011. Senior year after graduation, Jonathan went to Bradley University and I came here to U of I, and Jonathan met the rest of our band mates Travis, Eric and David at Bradley and brought them over to U of I to jam with us. That’s when Ocean Glass as a unit got created. Then Pablo was added over the summer when Jonathan left. Jonathan is no longer in the band anymore, but we still jam with him.
SP: So, your first band was Beneath the Skyline. How would you say your music has changed from that to what Ocean Glass is now?
Ahmed: My influence was Fall Out Boy and the heavier, fast-paced sounds of pop punk music. We tried to do that [with Beneath the Skyline], but I was not the best singer then and I’m still not the best singer still, but if people heard the old demos compared to what we have now, I think they would notice how my voice has changed drastically so that I kind of know what I’m doing. The way Ocean Glass got created was because of the fact that we added this one girl for a while and she would only sing while I wrote the lyrics and she told me, basically, that I shouldn’t sing for the band anymore but I should keep doing stuff for the band. I was like, hell no, this is my band. She got mad and changed all the passwords for like our Facebook and stuff on YouTube. So, we were like shoot, guess we have to make a new page.
So, we started jamming under no name and we changed from this Pop-Punk to this more beach indie sound and that’s where we got Ocean Glass, based off of the word Sea glass. Sea glass is when you throw trash into the ocean and the ocean beats it and it becomes this pretty, shiny object. So, we claim that we are the shiny object. This new sound better fitted my voice and definitely was something that we were all interested in. So, we just changed it from sea glass to Ocean Glass because that sounded better to senior, hipster me. That’s how Ocean Glass became something out of Beneath the Skyline.
SP: Is your music now strictly beach indie, or does it have some pop-punk elements to it?
Ahmed: The first EP was beach indie, but now with the new line up of guys, it’s a more refined indie sound instead of just beach indie. Not to say that we are close to any of these bands, but we have some songs that sound like Young the Giant and some that sound like Say Anything or The Strokes. The way that I write and sing is more of the pop-punk style. The cool thing is that it’s a blend now. None of our songs sound the same. Each one has its own personality, identity and rhythm because each of the guys has their own influences and we each write our own parts. We bring it together and do our thing.
SP: How does the band collectively create music since you’re here and the rest of your bandmates are at Bradley University?
Ahmed: During the school year it’s almost impossible to put things together. We don’t have time to practice, like, our practices are our shows. We never write music separately. We’ve tried writing music on our own and it doesn’t work. We need to be a cohesive unit to bounce off of the vibes that we all feel. A lot of the ways the songs are written is we’ll just be jamming, mostly goofing around, and usually when we’re rehearsing for a show is when we’ll write a new song. It’s a very on the spot kind of thing. We can’t force it.
We write new songs when we’re inspired to write new songs. We believe in what we do. Jonathan and I started playing music in our basements and this past summer we played a song at the House of Blues. I think it’s the fact that we know we have these years in college, so we love what we do and we just feel for the music. It’s our escape to be away from college because everyone is working towards this career. It’s a blast every time I get to see these guys. They’re my best friends. We’re friends first and then we’re bandmates. I think that’s what keeps us together.
SP: What does it feel like to go from playing in basements to the House of Blues in Chicago?
Ahmed: It was a cool experience and the top three moments in my life. Leading up to it and the day of, I was just experiencing this high. I don’t think any of us expected to be on that stage ever because I know that my parents have always stressed that making music is only a hobby. It’s just tough when your parents aren’t encouraging you to do what you love. But it’s surreal. I think it can sometimes get to people’s heads when they do that. I’ve met a couple of people who refuse to do smaller venues or house shows because they’ve played at bigger venues and, while I respect wanting to get your music known and other there, I think it’s important to stay humble. Just because you play one big show doesn’t mean you’ve made it.
We still have a long way to go. The things that we’ve done have been very unconventional. We did House of Blues without any studio music recorded, just demos, but we still got the experience. No show is ever perfect, even if you’ve already performed at large venues. Just because you’re high up doesn’t mean you can’t perform down below. Whether there’s one person, a hundred, or a thousand, you’re still going to get the same show from me. It’s not about the quantity of people that listen to your music, it’s the quality. The moment we stop being honest to our music is when we lose credibility as a band.
SP: Your first EP is out and ready for listeners. How was that put together?
Ahmed: Our first studio EP, “Track by Track” is as organic as possible. It’s as raw as we try to make it. What you hear online is the same thing you’ll hear on stage or in person. Our mindset when we went into making this was that we’d played all these shows, but we had nothing to show. In the summer, with Jonathan leaving us, we had Pablo fill in for guitar. We recorded it on different days. We had four songs that we really wanted to record that gave off different vibes, but were important to us lyrically. We wanted to give listeners as taste of Ocean Glass, that’s why it’s called “Track by Track.” Even though there may be this recurring theme of lost or longing, each track is different. The songs are about the moments we face in a day, and each song is a different moment.
SP: What’s next for Ocean Glass?
Ahmed: We want to make maybe three or five more songs and either make another EP or remaster some of our old songs with those and make a complete album. We all have the desire to record more.
SP: Are there some songs you’re excited to play at your show at Mike N Molly’s?
Ahmed: The entire EP is my favorite to perform because each song does all different things for the audience. The fun part about us is that you can dance to us or you can mosh to us. No matter what you like, you can find solace in our music.
Ocean Glass will be performing at Mike N Molly’s on Friday.