Too often, musicians struggle to gain reputable exposure, suffocated in a never-ending cycle of less-than-exceptional entertainment options.
Sean Deniston, a senior studying business, is committed to breaking that cycle through multiple projects. Deniston proves that top-shelf musicians can survive in less-than-optimal circumstances with songwriting chops that hold their own next to performers like Mumford & Sons or The National Parks.
Read the interview I had with him below and stay tuned for the next episode of Sounds of Spori, set to release Nov 6.
Q: Where are you from? Are you from California?
A: Yeah, I’m from California. When people think California they think like Hollywood glamour, I’m definitely not from that part of California. I’m from a small city called Lake Elsinore, it’s in between LA and San Diego. It’s super hot, it’s the desert, but I love it, it’s a great place.
Q: How long have you been here in Rexburg and playing in bands?
A: I’ve been here since 2014 — mid–2014 is when I showed up — I really wanted to get playing music when I got here. I’ve been in a few different projects, and now I’m starting this new one.
Q: I know you used to be in Tabernacles.
A: Yeah, that was my project back in the day. When I started Tabernacles it was a great project, I loved the members we had in the band — I think there was, at one point, seven of us — we had every instrument you could possible think of. But it was a lot of fun, we played a lot of big shows and had a lot of help from other musicians in the area, a lot of Utah bands let us hop on their shows and play with them, which helped out a lot. We had a pretty good following here in Rexburg, but people get married, people graduate, and things like that, and because of that, it kind of dissolved.
Q: That was a cool band, you guys played some sold out shows in Rexburg, which is a pretty serious accomplishment. Is this new project similar to Tabernacles? And what do you have planned as far as unveiling your new music?
A: After Tabernacles, I took a step back from music. I knew I wanted to keep doing it, but I knew I wanted to approach it a different way. What I had always done in the past was we would get a band together, we would write music, we would write songs and we would play shows — which obviously is great, a lot of bands do it and it’s really fun — but we never really recorded. We never really had a solid single or a solid record or an album out, and I wanted to have those things. So I decided with this new project to approach things from that angle — write the music first, release it so people can have something to listen to, and then get a band together and start playing shows. So that’s what I’ve been doing under wraps – not too many people have known about it over the past year — I’ve been working on these songs. I went to Utah to [June Audio] to cut the album. I worked with Scott Wiley, he’s helped The National Parks with their stuff, he’s helped Neon Trees with their stuff, a lot of big Utah bands like The Moth and The Flame. He’s helped many people across the board, so I was really happy to work with him, and he made the songs sound incredible.
Q: Very exciting. Tell me about your new single, Younger.
A: Younger is available for streaming and download on all digital music platforms. It’s the first single from the record, which is really big, the production is big — there are a lot of pianos, a lot of stringed instruments, and drums — so it sounds a little different than it will in this video series, but I hope you guys will like it and go listen to it.
Written and photographed by Jordan Henrie.
Originally published by The Scroll.