Skywave was formed in the mid to late 90’s in Fredericksburg, Virginia by members Paul Baker (guitar, vocals), John Fedowitz (drums), and Oliver Ackermann (bass).
Skywave was most active around 1999-2001, playing with many east coast American Shoegazers, and was a progenitor to the resurgence of shoegaze in America after its demise in the UK in 1996. Many of Skywave’s albums were released during this period - took the sun (1998) and echodrone (1999), along with a variety of ep records (i.e. Got That Feeling, Suicide, and Without You eps). Critics have cited Skywave’s sound as borrowing heavily from Noise-pop bands like Loop and The Jesus and Mary Chain.
The new millennium was somewhat quiet for Skywave. In 2001, Skywave released the Walk My Way ep, and a Split album with the Peepholes on Valentines day. The next two years the band toured with Alcian Blue, Highspire, and The Emerald Down around the east coast of the US and Canada. In 2003, they released their last ep called Don’t Say Slow on Cherry Coated Records. This ep was a rough demo of Skywave’s most seminal record yet, Synthstatic. Released on Blisscent Records in the beginning of 2004, Synthstatic was the sharpest of Skywave’s records, spanning 18 tracks, with amazing sound quality (compared to their previous Lo-fi efforts). However Synthstatic was short lived, as the band soon broke up when Oliver Ackerman left the band to move to New York city.
Shortly after Skywave’s demise, Paul Baker and John Fedowitz reformed Skywave (minus Oliver) under the name Ceremony. Oliver went on to form A Place To Bury Strangers in Brooklyn NY. Both bands have a similar sound and tone to their former. So in a sense, Skywave will always live on. | |
