Days Between Stations
In fall 2003, guitarist Sepand Samzadeh placed an ad in Los Angeles’ Music Connection, and keyboardist Oscar Fuentes responded. The duo found an instant musical chemistry, and by 2004, they began composing music. Oscar suggested a fitting name for the band, Days Between Stations – the name of a novel he read by Steve Erickson.
In 2004, Oscar and Sepand sent Bruce Soord, leader of the British band The Pineapple Thief, a CD with nearly an hour’s worth of mostly improvised material. Bruce used some of this material as the basis for the song “Saturday” on The Pineapple Thief’s “12 Stories Down” (Cyclops 2004). Encouraged, the duo continued work on what would become their first album.
When it came time to turn their home recordings into a proper album, the band contacted former Young Dubliners drummer Jon Mattox to help flesh out the sound. Jon joined as drummer and co-producer. The band further enlisted guitarist Jeremy Castillo, Argentinian-born bassist Vivi Rama, sax player Jason Hemmens, singer Hollie Shepard, trumpeter Sean Erick, trombonist Kevin Williams and Sepand’s uncle Jeffrey Samzadeh: a singer of traditional Iranian classical music. Jeffrey sang on the track “Requiem for the Living.” Their eponymous debut CD was released in August 2007 on Bright Orange Records to much worldwide acclaim.
That same year, the band’s “Radio Song” (from the debut album) was licensed in the independent film “Young, Single & Angry.”
In 2008, Oscar and Sepand began working on their sophomore album. By 2012, while looking for a vocalist for the project, the two were introduced to MVP producer/bassist/songwriter/vocalist Billy Sherwood (most known for his work in Yes). Billy co-produced the album, “In Extremis” with Oscar and Sepand and co-wrote the lyrics to the songs. Peter Banks, the original guitarist for Yes, was the second to be brought into the project. Banks had praised the band’s debut album and became an instrumental force on two songs, “Eggshell Man” and “In Extremis.” Bringing some Persian tradition into the project, Ali Nori played the “tar” (Persian Lute) solo on “Eggshell Man.” Originally called in to play bass on the song “Visionary,” Tony Levin played bass on the entire album (including a virtuoso solo on Stick on the song “Blackfoot”). Another famed Yes alumni, Keyboardist Rick Wakeman, contributed mellotron flute and a virtuoso Moog solo to “Eggshell Man” and XTC bassist Colin Moulding added vocals on “Man Who Died Two Times.”
With the album in full swing, and the concept falling into place, Oscar and Sepand focused on the album’s overture, “No Cause For Alarm.” This track was left for last as it needed to contain all the major themes and epic melodies of the album. Having written the overture in just five sessions, Days Between Stations contracted Chris Tedesco and the Angel City Orchestra to record the score. The orchestra also recorded “Waltz in E Minor,” which was dedicated to Yes/Empire/Flash’s Peter Banks after he passed away on March 7th 2013. Peter plays Guitar on “Eggshell Man,” and the album’s title track, “In Extremis.” The cover of the album was painted by Paul Whitehead, most notable for covers of classic albums by Genesis, Van der Graaf Generator and Brand X to name a few.
Days Between Stations sophomore album “In Extremis” was released on May 15th 2013.
In 2017, Days Between Stations scored original music to a short Mexican movie “Y Recibir Tu Aliento,” their first foray into film scoring. The movie was directed and edited by Verónica López Escalona.
Their third album, “Giants,” was released September 21, 2020. It was co-produced by the band and Billy Sherwood, who also plays bass, drums, and handles lead vocals on most of the songs. Colin Moulding sings “Goes By Gravity” (a track he also contributed to lyrically). Pink Floyd backup singer Durga McBroom sang lead on “Witness the End of the World,” which was voted as Prog Magazine’s Track of the Week in September 2023.
In 2023, Days Between Stations licensed “Radio Song” for the movie “Paul & Trisha: The Art of Fluidity,” now featured on Apple Movies.
The band had varying influences in their music from the start. “Our first album ‘Days Between Stations’ features Persian Sonati singing, a Kraftwerk-ish pop song (‘Radio Song’), and a prog-psych epic (‘Laudanum’),” Sepand says. “We wrote this album in our youthful naïveté: taking risks without worrying about consequences.”
“’In Extremis’ was epic in scope and ambition,” Sepand continues. “We had a string quartet, a barbershop quartet and a Chamber Orchestra, a Tar solo to name a few… I think this album had the perfect balance of what both Oscar and I bring to the mix when we’re pushing our own envelope.”
The original concept for “Giants” came from Oscar, who had written the song “Giants” about his parents. Originally Oscar had tied in what was a deeply personal observation to the Greek myth of the rebellion of the half-divine giants against the Gods. In many meetings over Indian food at a downtown LA eatery, the band and Paul Whitehead developed the concepts and images that ended up adorning the highly distinctive cover. These talks would then influence the trio of Oscar, Sepand, and Billy Sherwood as the three worked on the music and lyrics.
Their newest release, “Perpetual Motion Machines” due November 29th, 2024, features music that was originally intended for a documentary film. This album was produced by Navon Weisberg, who brought a whole different approach and philosophy to recording. Navon explained “My approach to working with Days Between Stations is not just from a production standpoint but as a fan. We approached the recording removing the technical hurdles that they may have from a technical recording standpoint and allowed Sepand and Oscar to focus their energy on the musical content for a viable listening medium. This way we were able to capture all good ideas without flipping from left to right brain and allow the emotions to be captured. I’m proud to say that the work in ‘Perpetual Motion Machines’ presents itself in a very cinematic way.”
In the mid-2010s, Oscar and Sepand began working on music for a documentary film about artist Jean-Paul Bourdier with friend Alexandre Dorriz (who had shot the original footage). As the film reached completion Days Between Stations was given the opportunity to release their music as a “proper” album. Sepand says, “Jean Paul’s artwork evokes moods within me, some harmonious, some in juxtaposition, yet always in I am in awe. His work on this album was our muse, and we scored the music to pictures and to existing films. Themes of rebirth, the extreme death of the desert and our harmony with nature all poured out. Art is often the only power we have over the reality of life. Jean Paul takes us to our pure primal bodies and our bare earth, and united us to it…. All within the harshest and most unforgiving terrain, as if we were part of the natural landscape.
One song, “Being,” felt unfinished at the time. Oscar says, “I had written a melody that really lent itself to vocals, and we all took a stab at writing the lyrics, sort of basing them around the general concept of existence and trying to inject Jean Paul’s poetic philosophy.” Ultimately, the lyrics came from a more personal place, “this is what Jean-Paul’s art inspired us to do, and we let the music speak for itself, just as Bourdier’s amazing art, which we used for the album, very much speaks for itself.”
As some of the music of “Perpetual Motion Machines” originated from an early version of the film shot by Alex Dorriz soundtrack in the mid-2010s, our good friend “Big” Bill Kaylor engineered those early sessions. He was involved with “In Extremis.” The band members were devastated to lose him in 2023. “Perpetual Motion Machines” is dedicated to Bill’s memory.