On the surface, Sky is a clean, polished, R&B-driven pop band, but underneath, the Montreal-based duo of Antoine and James are disparate personalities whose edgy and introspective sides are evident in the songs on their EMI Music Canada debut Piece of Paradise.
James and Antoine are about as odd a couple as Oscar and Felix. Housemates for five years, in the very same space in which they write and demo on their home studio, the pair rarely agree on anything besides music. "There's even a bit of tension when we're working," admits James.
Strangely, it's not the frontman, James, who is out-going and sociable, but Antoine, James is shy and prefers to stay home and read a sci-fi novel, or if he must venture out, chooses a movie theater over an Animal House party. Even more out of character, though, James has sky-dived five times. One would think, then, that James, the quiet type, would be the clean freak, Not so. That honor goes to the tattoo-adorned Antoine.
Musically, their personalities can't help but seep into Sky's songs, "What I bring to it is more the energetic groove," explains Antoine. "The whole sound, the drums and bass track, the 'going out' vibe in a song is me. James brings the deeper side to the song."
Where the guys' minds meet is in their determination, their creative instinct and their headstrong vision of what Sky is and can be. Both songwriters, producers and multi-instrumentalists, who met in 1992 at a music engineering school in their native Montreal, James and Antoine have honed and nurtured Sky's sound independently. They self-produced and played all the instruments on a five-song EP in 1997, and released it on the band's own Phat Royale label. It was serviced to radio in Quebec and landed on 43 stations, A video for "America" was also put into rotation at MusiquePlus and the band started playing locally. They signed to EMI Music Canada in February of 1998.
Bringing in internationally renowned producers Peter Mokran (Maxwell, R Kelly, Michael Jackson) and Euro-Syndicate Productions, whose members include The Berman Brothers (She Moves, Hanson, Real McCoy), Jeff Coplan and Joe West, for two separate sessions, Sky wasn't intimidated by the producers' experience and know-how and made no apologies for their own, "We have very defined ideas," says James "We have the gear at home to build our songs up and our goal is to become good producers."
Working first with Euro-Syndicate at Gallery Studios in New York City, Sky says the production team translated the ideas behind the songs beautifully, especially for "Love Song". "When you write a song, the idea and the feelings you have in your head are easier to express lyrically," says James. "That song is my life in a nutshell with all the disturbances and happy moments, and The Euro-Syndicate was able to put a track behind it that makes you feel the same way."
For the next half of the album, Sky laid down the more urban material -- no rapping, but phat, chunky bass and beats -- with Peter Mokran at Metalworks, just outside of Toronto. Antoine often hovered over the producer in the studio, speaking his mind and offering suggestions. "He didn't make us feel at all like he's the big producer and we should sit back and listen," says Antoine. "Most musicians don't have knowledge in the studio, so some producers are happy when they know about sequencing and sampling and working in a recording environment.
"I had the record built in my head," says Antoine. "I really wanted to get drum and bass from hip hop -- the sound, the texture, the phatness. But then all the piano and guitars are real, real players, organic." To that end, the album features guest appearances by Wah Wah Watson, a Motown vet who played on "Papa Was A Rolling Stone" and the Tower Of Power horn section.
For Sky, whose whole album is a combination of urban beats with pop melodies, its worldwide appeal is undeniable, Employing top-name producers is only part of the global strategy. The main thing is that James and Antoine are recognized as songwriters and musicians in their own right, something that cannot be said about most contemporary pop groups.
KAREN BLISS - 1998
Source: http://www.geocities.com/SunsetStrip/Street/8087/frames.html
