Oceana is an American indie rock/post-hardcore band originating from St. Petersburg, Florida, that is signed to Rise Records.^[1] They released their debut album titled The Tide on March 4, 2008 and released their second album Birth.Eater on May 19, 2009. Although the members are Christian and Christian themes can be found in their lyrics, they do not consider themselves a Christian band.

[edit] History

The original members of Oceana had previously been in other bands in the Tampa - St.Petersburg area such as Noreen, and Aissur Ahtom. In 2008, Oceana released their debut album "The Tide" through Rise Records. Shortly after the album release the vocalist, Keith Jones, left the band due to personal reasons. The band then picked up Brennan Taulbee who contributed both screaming and clean vocals. In a recent interview, Brennan said that he was supposed to play keyboards and third guitar for the band's upcoming release but due to the departure of Jones, Brennan filled in the role as Oceana's frontman.

Soon after the vocalist change the band released the first demo, which was Brennan's debut entitled "Creations" via MySpace. Their sophomore album, entitled Birth.Eater was released on May 26 through Rise Records. The band was set to tour alongside Silverstein, Poison The Well, and The Sleeping. On April 3, at midnight, they released two new tracks from their upcoming release "Birth.Eater" entitled "Mother Love", and "The Family Disease". Birth.Eater reached #48 on the Billboard Heatseekers chart.^[2] In the mid 2009 the band filmed their first ever music video for the song "The Family Disease" of Birth.Eater album. However it took them more than half a year to release it due the sudden breakup few weeks later.

[edit] Disbanding

Oceana was embarking a US tour with Fear Before, Of Machines, Memphis May Fire, and This Time Next Year from July 9 to August 7 before breaking up. According to the band's MySpace^[3], Oceana has disbanded as of 6/19/09 stating the following:

Dear fans, We know a lot of rumors have been circulating around about us. We're sorry we left you hanging so long on this blog. But unfortunately the rumors are true. Oceana has broken up. We apologize to all of our fans. You are amazing and are the only ones who made this worth while. We love you. Thanks to everyone who picked up our new cd. We all put our heart and soul into birtheater and are very proud of the album. This breakup has nothing to do with any one member. We're all best friends and we all sat down and talked this through. It's not that we are not happy with the response from the new album. We knew the change would be a bit rocky and our kind of music isn't exactly whats popular right now. A lot of kids would rather listen to songs riddled with breakdowns and over auto-tuned vocals. That is exactly why we appreciate our fans so much, you guys aren't just going with the trend. We all decided that our hearts were in different places at this time in our lives. We're all young and we guarantee this won't be the last you hear of us. Maybe you'll get five new bands out of the deal. Again we apologize for letting anyone down and we hope you will all support us in our future endeavors. We love you all and thanks for making this amazing. love, Brennan, Alex, Denny, Jack, and Rob

In autumn 2009 Brennan and Denny Agosto have unveiled a new project titled "TROME" (The Rest Of Mother Earth) which was to feature softer, indie-rock music and have released a new demo without a permanent title. www.myspace.com/tromesound

[edit] Back to life

As of October 4, 2009, the 'R.I.P' that stood before their myspace name was gone, starting rumors that the band has gotten back together. Also, Brennan and Denny both added the Oceana banner back onto their myspace pages, continuing the rumors of a possible reformation. On November 3, 2009 Oceana reformed as a band. Rob and Alex were reported to have left the band and a new bass player, Kolby Crider was brought in. Since then they have been performing as a 4-piece band.

The band posted this bulletin stating the reformation:

Thats Right were Back!! After a few months of thought and ton of discussions, we (Denny, Jack, Brennan) have decided to bring our true love back to life, our love for music. Rob and Alex have decided to take a different route on the road of life and we support them in their decisions and are still best friends with no hard feelings. With these losses, we would love to welcome our newest member of the OCEANA family - our new bassist (Kolby Crider.) So for all of you who are fans new or old, thank you for your continued support during our broken up period of time. We Love you all and hope to see you soon.

Shorty after the reformation the band finally released the music video for 'The Family Disease' which can be watched on their official myspace page. In January 2010 Alex Schultz was reported playing a show with the band, with some sources saying that he has joined back. On January 25 the band went on to record their new EP. The EP was released May 11, 2010 exclusively through Hot Topic, and it's entitled "Clean Head"^[4].

Recently a short clip of a new song has been heard on the end of a sampler on Distort Entertainment's page for Oceana.

Jack Burns recently left Oceana. Brennan Taulbee is featured on Nidus/Expire's new song "Mr.Gray" from thier upcoming "Many Hands EP"

On August 14, 2010 Oceana posted a update on their Myspace stating they were in the process of writing another album expected in Spring 2011. The update also stated a U.S. tour was in the works for October/November.

[edit] Discography

[edit] Studio albums

[edit] EP's

[edit] Videography

[edit] Music videos

• 2009 "The Family Disease"

[edit] Members

[edit] Current

• Brennan Taulbee - Lead Vocals, Guitars, Keys (2008–present)
• Alex Schultz - Guitars, Vocals (2007–2009, 2010-present)
• Denny Agosto - Drums (2008–present)
• Kolby Crider - Bass (2009–present)

[edit] Former

• Keith Jones - Lead Vocals (2007–2008) (now in DECODER)
• James O'Brien - Drums, Clean Vocals (2007–2008)
• Robbie Davis - Bass (2007–2009)
• Jack Burns - Guitar, (2007–2010) (now in DECODER)
• Jon Ferris - Lead Vocals (2008) Live only

[edit] Album appearances

Member	Album			Instrument
	The Tide	Birth.Eater	Clean Head EP
Brennan Taulbee	N	Y	Y	Lead vocals
Alex Schultz	Y	Y	Y	Guitar, vocals
Denny Agosto	N	Y	Y	Drums
Kolby Crider	N	N	Y	Bass
Keith Jones	Y	N	N	Lead vocals
James O'Brien	Y	N	N	Drums, vocals
Robbie Davis	Y	Y	N	Bass
Jack Burns	Y	Y	Y	Guitar

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Oceana at MySpace