Oceana

At least two artists use the name Oceana: 1. a post-hardcore/metalcore band from St. Petersburg, Florida, USA. alternative rock in their newest release. (official site) 2. a female soul/rnb artist from Germany (official site) 1. Oceana is (as of November 3rd, 2009) a 4-piece post-hardcore band from St. Petersburg, Tampa, Florida that released 2 full length albums and an EP, entitled The Tide, BIRTH.EATER and Clean Head respectively. They announced they were disbanding 6/19/09, however as of November 3rd they are back together with a changed line-up. They are currently signed to Rise Records. The original members of Oceana had previously been in other local bands in the Tampa - St. Petersburg area, before finally gathering and forming Oceana in 2007. The Tide, the debut album, was released through Rise Records March 4th, 2008. Keith Jones, Oceana's vocalist and frontman at that time, and James O'Brien, who was doing the clean vocals and played the drums, left the band shortly after the release due to some personal issues. Shortly after Keith's and James' departure Brennan Taulbee joined the band to replace Keith's role as vocalist. Brennan contributed clean and screaming vocals during the tours and the new album BIRTH.EATER. Denny Agosto, the new drummer, was picked up by Oceana a bit later aswell. The Tide became the signature album of Oceana, featuring atmospheric and ambient instrumental delivery with a mix of metalcore typical breakdowns and subtle use of electronics and dramatic song-writing. It was produced and mixed by James Paul Wisner (Dashboard Confessional, New Found Glory and Paramore) and Cameron Mizell. The band later released a demo to feature Brennan's vocals for the first time on a recorded song called Creations followed by two new songs off the new album called The Family Disease and Mother Love. Their latest full-lenght album, BIRTH.EATER, was released on May 26. All of the songs on this album shared the same themes of abandonment and abortion, making it technically a concept album. The album's reception varied from really positive to negative, with people commenting about it being either the best progression for a band possible or a great let-down compared to The Tide. Nevertheless, BIRTH.EATER caught attention with its lyrical themes and creepy and dramatic atmosphere of the album in its entity. Oceana has toured with bands like Silverstein, Poison the Well, The Sleeping, Fear Before, Of Machines and Memphis May Fire. They also played on Warped Tour 2008. Oceana officially disbanded June 16th, 2009, yet "after a few months of thought and ton of discussions" an announcement about the band being back together has been posted their official MySpace profile on November 3rd, 2009. The reformation brought some line-up changes to the band. With bassist Robbie and lead-guitarist Alex leaving the band, Oceana picked up a new bassist, Kolby Cridder. Shortly after reunion, the band released their first music video of The Family Disease. As of January 25th, 2010 Oceana is back in the Studio, recording a B-Side EP of BIRTH.EATER. The EP will be produced by Matt Goldman, who also has produced efforts from bands like Underoath, The Chariot and Drop Dead, Gorgeous. The EP is entitled CLEANHEAD and is to be released on May 4th 2010. The current OCEANA lineup is: Brennan Taulbee - Clean / Screaming Vocals, (apparently) Guitar Alex Schultz - Guitar Kolby Cridder - Bass Denny Agosto - Drums Former members: Keith Jones - Screaming Vocals James O'Brien - Clean Vocals, Drums Robbie Davis - Bass Jack Burns - Guitar Official site: http://www.myspace.com/oceanafl 2. From an early age it was clear which direction Oceana would take. Her whirlwind path could not be stopped. Her mother started taking her to concerts as a young child. She saw big name artists including Ziggy Marley, Burning Spear, James Brown and she felt drawn to the stage, where she wanted to sing and dance. She took ballet lessons, danced through studios and at the age of five she was given a part in a film directed by Hamburg’s Lars Becker. As a teenager she won a music scholarship and had her first singing lesson with the Italian vocalist Etta Scollo. Significant musical influence was given by the family’s record collection of artists like Billie Holiday and Etta James. Her initial and enduring experiences with jazz, funk and blues where taken with a family friend - legendary musician Maceo Parker. It was him who often asked Oceana up on stage at his concerts and who got the ball of her musical career rolling with the sentence “You’re ready now; do your own thing!” Official site: (http://www.oceana-online.de)