Future Islands 2007-2008: Wave Like Home what is Wave like home? debut album What is a single? Upset The Rhythm. who was the producer? Chester Endersby Gwazda, did they ever tour? during their first U.S. tour. did anyone ever leave the band? Herring and Welmers were freshmen, left the band to prepare for her graduation project
who were some of the other band mates?
In addition to Chester Endersby Gwaza,who were some of the other Future Islands band mates?
Sam Herring and Gerrit Welmers grew up in Morehead City, North Carolina two streets away from each other, and attended the same middle school in Newport, North Carolina. They became friends around 1998, when they were in 8th grade. Herring had started making hip-hop music when he was 13 or 14, while Gerrit was a skater with interests in metal and punk music who bought his first guitar at age 14. Having different musical backgrounds, they did not consider making music together during high-school. William Cashion started playing guitar when he was around 13, having had a couple of bands as a teenager in Raleigh, where he commuted to High School from Wendell, North Carolina. In 2012 he enrolled in the painting and drawing program at ECU and had drawing classes with Sam Herring. The idea to form a band came while Cashion was helping Herring study for an art history exam. They invited local record shop personality Adam Beeby to play rhythmic keyboards and fellow art student Kymia Nawabi for percussion and backing vocals. After a tumultuous debut on Valentine's Day February 14, 2003 at Soccer Moms' House, Herring also invited Welmers to join the band. Only Cashion and Welmers already played a musical instrument--the guitar--but Cashion took the bass and Welmers the keyboards, for a Kraftwerk-inspired sound. Sam Herring played Locke Ernst-Frost an arrogant narcissistic artist from Germany, Ohio, dressed in a 70's-inspired white suit with slicked-back hair, and a heavy German accent. The character's name originally was meant to be Oarlock Ernest Frost but it got shortened as a reference to John Locke the religious poet, Max Ernst, the artist and Robert Frost, the American poet. The band quickly gained a local reputation and started touring the underground venues in the Southwest, playing shows with North Carolina acts like Valient Thorr and Baltimore artists such as Height, Videohippos, OCDJ, Nuclear Power Pants, Santa Dads, Ecstatic Sunshine, Blood Baby, Ponytail and electronic musician Dan Deacon whom they met during a show on May 26, 2004. Nawabi who was already a senior when Cashion, Herring and Welmers were freshmen, left the band to prepare for her graduation project in June-July 2003. When Adam Beeby had to leave Greenville in September 2005, the remaining members dissolved the band. When Art Lord & the Self Portraits disbanded in late 2005, its members forgot they had discussed with alt-country band The Texas Governor the possibility of touring together. Future Islands was formed in early 2006 to keep that commitment, with an original line-up consisting of Cashion, Herring, Welmers and Erick Murillo--bassist for The Kickass --who played an electronic drum kit. Already as Art Lord & the Self-Portraits, the band wanted to change their image and took this opportunity to do so. William Cashion stated: "Me and Gerrit had been talking for a while about how we wanted to get rid of the gimmick. We wanted to be taken seriously. Our songs had outgrown the gimmick that the band was made on. The songs were starting to deal with bigger, personal, universal themes. We wanted to be taken seriously." The band played their first show on February 12, 2006 at an anti-Valentine's Day party in a venue called the Turducken house, opening for about a dozen bands. After writing 6-7 songs in only one week, they had to come up with a new name quickly, narrowing it down to two choices--Future Shoes and Already Islands--and combining them into one. Future Islands self-released the EP Little Advances on April 28, 2006 which they recorded in March 2006. A couple of months later, Herring dropped out college and left Greenville to deal with a substance abuse problem he had acquired: In June, I left town and didn't come back. It was just drug problems, man. I got sucked into the darkness of partying and shit college kids do. I came clean to my parents and said, 'Look, I have a problem and need your help.' I stayed at my parent's for about a month and then moved across the state to Asheville, North Carolina. It took about a year for me to get my act together. The band still continued and on January 6, 2007 they self-released a split CD with Welmers' solo project Moss of Aura, recorded in December 2006. In July 2007, Future Islands recorded their debut album Wave Like Home with Chester Endersby Gwazda at Backdoor Skateshop in Greenville. As Cashion describes: "When we did Wave Like Home, we were working with a really tight schedule. Sam lived in Asheville and could only be in Greenville to record for a week or so, and we had to work very fast. We recorded the whole album in 3 days, and we spent about a month mixing it." After a Halloween party in 2007, Erick Murillo quit the band. Having finished his degree, Cashion moved back to Raleigh: "We were scattered across North Carolina. I was living in Raleigh on friends' couches, Gerrit was in Greenville and Sam was in Asheville, which was five hours away." Between November 2007 and June 2008, Future Islands--encouraged by Dan Deacon and Benny Boeldt from Baltimore band Adventure--relocated to Baltimore. Cashion moved in November, Herring in January and finally Welmers. There, they could have access to cheap rent, be part of a supportive community and be closer to cities like New York and Washington, which allowed them to tour more extensively. During the first half of 2008, the band added another drummer, Sam Ortiz from the Baltimore band Thrust Lab, who left weeks before the start of their first national tour in late July. On August 5, 2008, the band released the track "Follow You (Pangea Version)" as part of a split 7" with Dan Deacon, through the Durham label 307 Knox Records. Future Islands' track on the EP "Follow You (Pangea version)" was recorded in April 2006 at the Bonque house in Greenville, NC during the Pangea sessions: the band's first proper session with Chester Endersby Gwazda. London-based label Upset The Rhythm released Wave Like Home on August 25, 2008 which made sales difficult in the US due to the import costs. The cover art was designed by Kymia Nawabi, a former member of Art Lord & the Self-Portraits. She also designed the cover art of the Feathers and Hallways 7" which was recorded in Oakland, California, on July 21, 2008 during their first U.S. tour. Produced by Chester Endersby Gwazda, it was released on April 15, 2009 by Upset The Rhythm. This single was their first release as a focused three-piece: We have definitely talked about adding a drummer at some point, when the time is right, but right now it just makes sense to be a three piece if, for nothing else, the fact that it is really easy to tour as a three piece. We really have very little gear. We really just have PA speakers for the keyboard and a bass amp. CANNOTANSWER
the band added another drummer, Sam Ortiz
Future Islands is an American synth-pop band based in Baltimore, Maryland, comprising Gerrit Welmers (keyboards and programming), William Cashion (bass, acoustic and electric guitars), Samuel T. Herring (lyrics and vocals), and Michael Lowry (percussion). The band was formed in January 2006 by Welmers, Cashion and Herring—the remaining members of the performance art college band Art Lord & the Self-Portraits—and drummer Erick Murillo.

Future Islands came to prominence in 2014 with their fourth album Singles released by 4AD. Its lead single "Seasons (Waiting on You)" was considered the best song of 2014 by Pitchfork, and NME and its performance at the Late Show with David Letterman in March 2014, became the most-viewed video on the show's YouTube page.

History

2003–2005: Origins – Art Lord & the Self-Portraits

Sam Herring and Gerrit Welmers grew up in Morehead City, North Carolina, two streets away from each other, and attended the same middle school in Newport, North Carolina. They became friends around 1998, when they were in 8th grade. Herring had started making hip-hop music when he was 13 or 14, while Gerrit was a skater with interests in metal and punk music who bought his first guitar at age 14. Having different musical backgrounds, they did not consider making music together during high school.
William Cashion started playing guitar when he was around 13, having had a couple of bands as a teenager in Raleigh, where he commuted to high school from Wendell, North Carolina. In 2002 he enrolled in the painting and drawing program at ECU and had drawing classes with Sam Herring.

The idea to form a band came while Cashion was helping Herring study for an art history exam. They invited local record shop personality Adam Beeby to play rhythmic keyboards and fellow art student Kymia Nawabi for percussion and backing vocals. After a tumultuous debut on Valentine's Day February 14, 2003, at Soccer Moms' House, Herring also invited Welmers to join the band. Only Cashion and Welmers already played a musical instrument—the guitar—but Cashion took the bass and Welmers the keyboards, for a Kraftwerk-inspired sound.

Sam Herring played Locke Ernst-Frost, an arrogant narcissistic artist from Germany, Ohio, dressed in a 70s-inspired white suit with slicked-back hair, and a heavy German accent. The character's name originally was meant to be Oarlock Ernest Frost but it got shortened as a reference to John Locke, the religious poet; Max Ernst, the artist; and Robert Frost, the American poet.

The band quickly gained a local reputation and started touring the underground venues in the Southeast, playing shows with North Carolina acts like Valient Thorr and Baltimore artists such as Height, Videohippos, OCDJ, Nuclear Power Pants, Santa Dads, Ecstatic Sunshine, Blood Baby, Ponytail and electronic musician Dan Deacon whom they met during a show on May 26, 2004.

Nawabi who was already a senior when Cashion, Herring and Welmers were freshmen, left the band to prepare for her graduation project in June–July 2003. When Adam Beeby had to leave Greenville in September 2005, the remaining members dissolved the band.

2006–2007: Formation – Little Advances

When Art Lord & the Self Portraits disbanded in late 2005, its members forgot they had discussed with alt-country band The Texas Governor the possibility of touring together. Future Islands was formed in early 2006 to keep that commitment, with an original line-up consisting of Cashion, Herring, Welmers and Erick Murillo—bassist for The Kickass —who played an electronic drum kit.

Already as Art Lord & the Self-Portraits, the band wanted to change their image and took this opportunity to do so. William Cashion stated: "Me and Gerrit had been talking for a while about how we wanted to get rid of the gimmick. We wanted to be taken seriously. Our songs had outgrown the gimmick that the band was made on. The songs were starting to deal with bigger, personal, universal themes. We wanted to be taken seriously."

The band played their first show on February 12, 2006, at an anti-Valentine's Day party in a venue called the Turducken house, opening for about a dozen bands. After writing 6-7 songs in only one week, they had to come up with a new name quickly, narrowing it down to two choices—Future Shoes and Already Islands—and combining them into one. Future Islands self-released the EP Little Advances on April 28, 2006, which they recorded in March 2006.

A couple of months later, Herring dropped out of college and left Greenville to deal with a substance abuse problem he had acquired: "In June, I left town and didn't come back. It was just drug problems, man. I got sucked into the darkness of partying and shit college kids do. I came clean to my parents and said, 'Look, I have a problem and need your help.' I stayed at my parent's for about a month and then moved across the state to Asheville, North Carolina. It took about a year for me to get my act together."

The band still continued and on January 6, 2007, they self-released a split CD with Welmers' solo project Moss of Aura, recorded in December 2006.

2007–2008: Wave Like Home

In July 2007, Future Islands recorded their debut album Wave Like Home with Chester Endersby Gwazda at Backdoor Skateshop in Greenville. As Cashion describes: "When we did Wave Like Home, we were working with a really tight schedule. Sam lived in Asheville and could only be in Greenville to record for a week or so, and we had to work very fast. We recorded the whole album in 3 days, and we spent about a month mixing it."

After a Halloween party in 2007, Erick Murillo quit the band. Having finished his degree, Cashion moved back to Raleigh: "We were scattered across North Carolina. I was living in Raleigh on friends' couches, Gerrit was in Greenville and Sam was in Asheville, which was five hours away." Between November 2007 and June 2008, Future Islands—encouraged by Dan Deacon and Benny Boeldt from Baltimore band Adventure—relocated to Baltimore. Cashion moved in November, Herring in January and finally Welmers. There, they could have access to cheap rent, be part of a supportive community and be closer to cities like New York and Washington, which allowed them to tour more extensively.

During the first half of 2008, the band added another drummer, Sam Ortiz from the Baltimore band Thrust Lab, who left weeks before the start of their first national tour in late July. On August 5, 2008, the band released the track "Follow You (Pangea Version)" as part of a split 7-inch with Deacon, through the label 307 Knox Records. Future Islands' track on the EP "Follow You (Pangea version)" was recorded in April 2006 at the Bonque house in Greenville, North Carolina during the Pangea sessions: the band's first proper session with Chester Endersby Gwazda.

London-based label Upset The Rhythm released Wave Like Home on August 25, 2008, which made sales difficult in the US due to the import costs. The cover art was designed by Kymia Nawabi, a former member of Art Lord & the Self-Portraits. She also designed the cover art of the Feathers and Hallways 7-inch which was recorded in Oakland, California, on July 21, 2008, during their first U.S. tour. Produced by Chester Endersby Gwazda, it was released on April 15, 2009, by Upset The Rhythm. This single was their first release as a focused three-piece: "We have definitely talked about adding a drummer at some point, when the time is right, but right now it just makes sense to be a three piece if, for nothing else, the fact that it is really easy to tour as a three piece.  We really have very little gear.  We really just have PA speakers for the keyboard and a bass amp."

2008–2010: In Evening Air

The strain of the band's first two consecutive national tours led to the end of Herring's long-term relationship in late 2008.  This became the theme of Future Islands' second album In Evening Air whose first songs were written right after the breakup. In early 2009, the band toured Europe for the first time. The song "Tin Man" took the band through Dan Deacon's Bromst US and European tour.

Later that year, the band signed to independent record company Thrill Jockey. It was Double Dagger's bassist Bruce Willen who was responsible for giving the label a demo that contained early mixes of "Tin Man", "Walking Through That Door", "Long Flight" and "As I Fall". Future Islands began writing the rest of the album after Whartscape 2009 and recorded it in the band's living room in the historic Marble Hill neighborhood in Baltimore, with Chester Enderby Gwazda in July 2009. Released May 4, 2010, the cover art was again designed by Kymia Nawabi.

In February 2010, Future Islands released through the NYC art collective Free Danger the EP The Post Office Chapel Wave with remixes by Pictureplane, Javelin, Jones and Moss Of Aura, and collaborations with No Age and Victoria Legrand from Beach House. Future Islands debut with Thrill Jockey was the EP In the Fall released in April 2010 and produced by Chester Enderby Gwazda. Its title track featured vocals by Katrina Ford from Celebration. The EP also included an extended version of "Tin Man", a 2007 track "Virgo Distracts" and "Awake and Dreaming" which had been written for In Evening Air but did not fit the mood of the album. The cover art was shot by Bruce Willen from Post Typography.

Interested in expanding their sound, on July 7, 2010, the band recorded Undressed, an acoustic EP at Mobtown Studios, Baltimore for a radio broadcast. Produced by Mat Leffler-Schulman, the art cover was again designed by Kymia Nawabi. Played live at an art opening and at Whartscape 2010, the EP was released in September of that year: "We had been talking about arranging and performing an acoustic show for a while, and in the summer of 2010, Elena Johnston and Natasha Tylea invited us to do an acoustic performance at the opening of the "Wild Nothing" photography show that they curated. We got some friends together and figured out the acoustic versions."

On November 4, 2010, Future Islands released a split 7-inch with the Raleigh band Lonnie Walker featuring the track "The Ink Well". The cover art was by Elena Johnston and the single lead to the creation of the Baltimore independent label Friends Records.

2011–2012: On the Water

Following a year of solid touring, Future Islands recorded their third album On the Water in Elizabeth City, North Carolina, between late May and early June 2011 with producer Chester Endersby Gwazda. William Cashion commented "Being secluded and free from distractions was the most important aspect of our going to North Carolina. Our friend Abe [Sanders] pretty much let us take over his house for ten days, and that gave us a lot of freedom to focus on writing and recording."

Not wanting to be pigeonholed, the band went against the expectation generated by In Evening Air, and the upbeat tone of the previous album was followed by a slow-burning record. Welmers' dance-floor-ready synthesizer and Cashion's uptempo bass  were stripped down. The tone of the lyrics changed, according to Herring: "Because I didn't have that same anger, so I don't write about it."

Friction between the band and Thrill Jockey started to appear during the recording sessions, as Herring commented: "We had some issues. There was someone from the label hanging around talking about deadlines. Can we not talk about business while writing a song? Do you want it to be a good album, or do you want it to come out on time?"

Pressured by their label, the band rushed the mix and promotion of the album.  The lead single "Before the Bridge/Find Love" was released on July 19, 2011, and the album on October 11, 2011. It featured a duet with Jenn Wasner from Wye Oak on the track "The Great Fire" and the art cover was designed by Baltimore artist Elena Johnston. After one year of touring On the Water, the band broke ties with their label.

On July 17, 2012, Future Islands released a charity split single with Baltimore band Ed Schrader's Music Beat through Famous Class records, featuring the song "Cotton Flower" and on September 3, 2012, they released the single "Tomorrow/The Fountain" through their previous label—Upset the Rhythm.

2013–2015: Singles

Having toured for five consecutive years, in 2013 Future Islands was finally able to afford taking a break from the road, to write their fourth album:  "We sank everything we had into [Singles]. It's definitely our most polished record. We were able to take time off the road because of the money we had saved from years of touring, so were able to write while not under the pressure of being in between tours."

They started writing in February 2013 in a rented hunting cabin in rural North Carolina, while rehearsing for the ten-year anniversary of Art Lord & the Self-Portraits' first show. About the writing process, Herring described: "We ended up demoing about 24 or 25 songs, then went into the studio and decided to do 13 of those, and by the end of it we decided it would be a ten-track record. The writing process started in February – there were two or three songs that we had from the year before that we'd demoed – we stopped writing in the last week of July, and went into the studio in the first week of August. So there was a good five and a half, six months of writing, and getting together two or three times a week over that period to just jam and see what came up."

The band financed the album and recorded it at the Dreamland studios in Hurley, New York, in August 2013 with producer Chris Coady. In early 2014, the Future Islands announced they had signed a three-album deal to 4AD, who released Singles on March 24, 2014. The cover art was by mixed media artist Beth Hoeckel.

The band made their network television début on March 3, 2014, on The Late Show with David Letterman, performing the lead single "Seasons (Waiting on You)". Their performance on the show, particularly Herring's onstage antics, became an internet success, and garnered millions of views on YouTube. "Seasons (Waiting on You)" was eventually named the best song of 2014 by Pitchfork Media, the Pazz & Jop critics' poll, and Consequence of Sound. The success of the album lead the Singles tour to extend itself until November 2015.

In February 2015, Future Islands wrote the single "The Chase"/"Haunted by You" and recorded it in March with producer Jim Eno at Public Hi-Fi, Austin, Texas. The single was released on April 29, 2015, with a cover art by Lesser Gonzalez Alvarez.

2016–2019: The Far Field

In 2016, Future Islands took a break from touring and started writing their fifth album in January, in the small beach town of Avon, in the Outer Banks, North Carolina. William Cashion stated: "We got a beach house on the outer banks of North Carolina in the dead of winter. There was nobody there but us. You could look out of any window of this four-storey house and you'd be able to see the ocean. We set up in the living room, we'd get up every day and start jamming after our morning coffee and just go all day. We wrote about eight songs there, and about three of them made it onto the record. From that point on, we'd get together in chunks – we'd go to our rehearsal space in Baltimore, or over to Gerrit's place or to my home studio. We tried to just write the way that we always have."

The band tested their songs live in August playing under different names: The Hidden Haven, named after the beach house where they started writing the album; This Old House, after the TV show Herring watched when growing up; and Chirping Bush, inspired by a disturbing dream Welmers had about a bunch of birds who could not get out of a bush. "We wanted to do little shows, but we didn't want any attention for the shows; we wanted to kind of do it under the radar."

Future Islands recorded The Far Field in November 2016 at the Sunset Sound Recorders studio in Los Angeles, California, with producer John Congleton. The album was released on April 7, 2017, and its lead single "Ran" came out on January 31, 2017, followed by the single "Cave" on March 24. The album featured a duet with Blondie's Debbie Harry. As in the album In Evening Air, the title comes from Theodore Roethke's poetry work and the cover art — a piece titled Chrysanthemum Trance — is again by Kymia Nawabi.

On September 1, 2019, the band previewed seven new songs during a show at the Pearl Street Nightclub in Northampton, Massachusetts. According to Stereogum, the unreleased tracks were "The Painter", "Hit The Coast", "Born In A War", "Days" (which would later be titled "Thrill"), "Birmingham" (which would later be titled "Waking"), "Plastic Beach" and "Moonlight".

2020–present: As Long as You Are 
On July 8, 2020, the band released the new track "For Sure" with an accompanying video. On August 12, 2020, the band announced their album As Long as You Are would be released on October 8, 2020, and simultaneously released the single "Thrill". On September 15, 2020, they released the track "Moonlight" which is also on the album. The track "For Sure" was featured on the soundtrack of MLB The Show 21. It was also included on the soundtrack of eFootball 2022.

The band premiered a remix of the single "For Sure" by Dan Deacon on January 19, 2021.

Future Islands appeared on the Late Show with Stephen Colbert on 15 February, 2022, performing 'King of Sweden'.

Artistry

Musical style and influences

Future Islands' music style has been tagged as synth-pop, but the band has routinely rejected that classification, considering themselves as "post-wave", by combining the romanticism of new wave with the power and drive of post-punk.

The band's members came from very different musical backgrounds and sensibilities: Sam Herring grew up performing hip-hop, Gerrit Welmers was into punk rock and heavy metal and William Cashion was into indie rock, grunge, krautrock and new wave, so a lot of the band's synth-pop influences come from him. Cashion was also a big fan of The Cure and The Smashing Pumpkins, and was influenced by bassists Peter Hook from Joy Division and New Order, and Kim Deal from The Pixies and The Breeders.

While Welmers and Herring found common ground through Danzig and Kool Keith, it was through Kraftwerk's "Trans-Europe Express" which was sampled by Afrika Bambaataa that Cashion and Herring found some common ground when forming the Art Lord & the Self-Portraits. They explained:

"Our early influences were Kraftwerk and Joy Division and New Order, so it all kind of came from those sounds ... We were just using what we had at our disposal to create, and that were old Casio and Yamaha keyboards and a borrowed bass guitar, borrowed amps. We scraped together what we could to make music with, weird shakers and sound makers and stuff, and that just kind of lead us down a road. These kinds of things defined us early on and we kept with that sound, kept painting with that palette."

Herring named Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (OMD) as "one of the biggest influences on Future Islands". He said of their 1983 album, Dazzle Ships, "We all just fell in love with it. We couldn't stop listening to it, and it really just became a huge inspiration and influence in creating our second album In Evening Air." Cashion affirmed that the entire band has drawn inspiration from OMD's "immense heart and soul".

Songwriting and vocals

In Future Islands writing process, Gerrit Welmers and William Cashion develop the music which Sam Herring responds to with the lyrics. Herring's sad lyrics often contrast with the upbeat mood of the music. He explains: "Where the songs have always been kind of upbeat and happy, the message is often melancholy. I like it that way, people's natural instinct is to let their guards down and dance, and then they actually let the words seep in. Instead of turning away from the darkness, they embrace the light and find the darkness. I think the opposite is true too."

Literary influences on Herring's writing include poet Theodore Roethke—whose anthology The Far Field names Future Islands' 2017 album and includes the "In Evening Air" poem that names their 2010 album—and poet Jack Gilbert: whose poem and anthology "The Great Fires" names one of the band's songs. Herring also admitted being influenced by Italo Calvino's prose during the time he wrote the single "The Fountain".

In the spring of 2014, Sam Herring was diagnosed with Reinke's edema. According to him "There's four causes. Acid reflux, smoking, talking too much or overuse of the vocal cords, and then chronic misuse of the vocal cords ... which is how I sing. So, basically, I was four for four." Herring started compensating for the fact that he can no longer hit certain notes by growling, which in turn became distinctive on his vocals.

Live performances

More than a studio band, Future Islands define themselves as a live band and have toured extensively. Frontman Sam Herring is known by his stage performances. According to William Cashion "A lot of the energy of the show comes from the audience. If the audience is putting off energy, we're able to bounce it back. It's like a feedback loop. If the audience is there with us and they're giving us their energy, then it'll be easy for us to find it."

The style and presentation of the Art Lord & the Self-Portraits was determined by the art school backgrounds of its members: the band was meant to be a performance art piece. Herring has cited Ian Curtis, James Brown and Elvis Presley. as influences but his background in performance art and conceptual art also became reflected in his stage presence, even for Future Islands.

"I fell in love with performance art when I was 17 and that was the thing that I found: I just would sit and draw for 20 hours straight and make this thing photorealistic and then put it on a board and then people see it and that's it, or you can stand on the street and perform for 30 minutes with some weird thing you came up with off the top of your head, act out a play to no one but people are going to walk by and you're going to get a reaction. They may not get what you're doing or care about what you're doing, but there's something, you sparked something in their heads. And that's an exciting thing, to look into people's eyes. There's no expectation—you can create a memory for people, like I said, good or bad. It can grab people and that's a cool thing."

Herring's dedication to stage performance has not been without physical consequenses. When touring Europe as part of the Dan Deacon Ensemble supporting the album Bromst, Herring was tackled by a drunken spectator in Paris. Six months later he realized he had torn his anterior cruciate ligament and underwent surgery in February 2010, continuing to perform shows in the following months wearing a knee brace, which can be seen on the June 24, 2010 Amoeba show footage. In 2014 Herring passed out at the airport on his way to Primavera festival due to exhaustion. Being revived by medics, he still made his plane and played the show that night. In 2015, he tore a meniscus while doing a knee drop when opening for Morrissey at Red Rocks on July 16, but the band completed the remaining four months of the Singles tour.

Cover artwork
Coming from an art background Future Islands attribute importance to their albums' cover artwork. William Cashion stated: "I think having good artwork is a big deal for any record. I think if a record has bad artwork I will just dismiss it, I just won't even give it a chance. I think a lot of people share that opinion, that artwork is very important." Future Islands' cover artwork has been delegated to different artists, as Sam Herring explains: "As projects pop up, we decide what artistic styles best speak to the music and the medium, then decide on artists. We primarily choose friends' work, though, people who we've become intimate with as friends. I think that pulls something deeper out of the whole, working with loved ones. You give birth to something bigger than yourself when you involve other people's ideas and minds. That's always a good thing."

Kymia Nawabi made the cover art for Wave Like Home, Feathers & Hallways (single), In Evening Air, Undressed (EP), The Far Field. She is the most recurrent artist  and is based in Brooklyn. She was a band member of the proto-Future Islands band Art Lord & the Self-Portraits and directed the video of "Walking Through that Door" in stop-motion animation. William Cashion commented "Our friend Kymia ... as I said, we write and record in our own world and she kind of makes ... her artwork is definitely in her own world, in a way. The images she uses are all her own. We went to college with her and we've always admired her work and we love working with her. She also did the cover for the new EP and the Feathers & Hallways EP.  We definitely put a lot of weight on the art, and we want to make the albums look as good as they sound."

Elena Johnston created the cover art for On the Water, Future Islands / Lonnie Walker split 7-inch, Dream of You and Me single. She co-directed with William Cashion the video of "Dream of You and Me" and is the creator of the large canvas seen in the background of the interior scenes of the video "Ran".
About the On the Water art cover William Cashion stated: "We decided that we wanted the album art to be loose and abstract for this album ... We wanted washes of color. The cover is actually an excerpt of a painting that Elena had already created." In another interview he added "It was great working with her. The piece wasn't made specifically for the album. We chose it from a series of paintings and drawings. She handled most of the typography on the album as well."

Band members

Current members
 William Cashion – bass, guitars (2006–present)
 Samuel T. Herring – lead vocals (2006–present)
 Gerrit Welmers – keyboards, programming (2006–present)
 Michael Lowry – drums (2020–present; touring musician 2014–2019)

Former members
 Erick Murillo – drums (2006–2007)
 Samuel N. Ortiz-Payero – drums (2008)
 Denny Bowen – drums (2009–2013 in studio; 2013–2014 touring)

Timeline

Touring

Future Islands has performed over 1,000 shows in their first 10 years. Since 2013, the band has included a drummer in its tours. In late 2013 and early 2014 it was Double Dagger's former drummer Denny Bowen who had already played drums and percussion on Future Islands albums In Evening Air, On the Water and Singles among some EPs and singles. In the spring of 2014, due to tour schedule conflicts between Future Islands and his own band Roomrunner, Bowen was replaced by Mike Lowry from Baltimore bands Lake Trout and Mt. Royal. Lowry was also part of The Far Field studio sessions.

"Our shows are all about creating a really energetic vibe, a physical thing, and we want more people to move – that's the big thing. We either want them to move, or be moved by the music. It was never weird to us that we didn't have a drummer, but to some people it was – they'd be like: "Where the hell are the drums coming from?"

Future Islands have opened for Morrissey, Grace Jones, Phantogram, Titus Andronicus and Okkervil River. They have performed at festivals such as Latitude, Great Escape, Primavera Sound, Glastonbury, Coachella, Øyafestivalen, Sziget, Bonnaroo, Sasquatch!, and SXSW, among others.

Discography

As Future Islands

Studio albums
Wave Like Home (2008)
In Evening Air (2010)
On the Water (2011)
Singles (2014)
The Far Field (2017)
As Long as You Are (2020)

As Art Lord & the Self-Portraits
Studio albums
Searching for a Complement (self-released - August 2003; digital rerelease by Thrill Jockey)
In Your Boombox (self-released - October 2003; digital rerelease by Thrill Jockey)
Ideas for Housecrafts (self-released - February 2004; digital rerelease by Thrill Jockey)
Snail (self-released - 2005; digital rerelease by Thrill Jockey)

Live albums
Art Lord and the Self Portraits Live At Cat's Cradle 10/29/2004 (digital-only - 2004)

Compilation albums
The Essential Art Lord & The Self - Portraits (self-release 2005)
In Your Idea Box (digital-only "best-of" release 307 Knox Records - September 2008)
The Definitive Collection 2xLP (Friends Records - February 2013)

Compilation appearances
"Sad Apples, Dance!" featured on Compilation Vol. 2: Songs from North Carolina (Poxworld Empire)

Related projects

Moss of Aura
Keyboardist Gerrit Welmers has been writing solo as 'Moss of Aura' since 2006. After releasing five albums on cassette, Moss of Aura released the LP Wading in 2012 and We'll All Collide in 2016 through Friends Records.

The Snails
In 2008, Sam Herring and William Cashion started a parallel project called The Snails with members of other Baltimore bands. Their releases took place during Future Islands tour breaks: debut EP Worth the Wait came out in April 2013. In February 2016, they released their debut album Songs from The Shoebox.

Peals
In early 2012, William Cashion formed Peals with Double Dagger's former bassist Bruce Willen, releasing their debut album Walking Field in May 2013. In 2016 they released the album Honey through Friends Records.

Samuel T. Herring and Hemlock Ernst
Samuel T. Herring uses the stage name Hemlock Ernst when performing rap, the name Ernst coming from his Art Lord & the Self-Portraits character. He has appeared on collaborative hip-hop releases by Milo/Scallops Hotel, Busdriver, Open Mike Eagle among others.  He has teamed up with producer Madlib for a rap project named Trouble knows Me, releasing an EP in 2015.

As Samuel T. Herring, he has collaborated with Double Dagger, Microkingdom, Beth Jeans Houghton/Du Blonde, Gangrene, BadBadNotGood, Clams Casino and Celebration.

Awards and nominations

References

External links
Official website
 

American synth-pop groups
Indie pop groups from Maryland
Musical groups from Baltimore
Musical groups established in 2006
4AD artists
Thrill Jockey artists
Mates of State are an American indie pop duo, active since 1997.  The group is the husband-and-wife team of Kori Gardner (born June 16, 1974) (vocals, organ, synthesizer, piano, electric piano, and occasional guitar and drums) and Jason Hammel (born February 1, 1976) (vocals, drums, percussion, and occasional synthesizer).

As of 2015, the duo has  released four EPs and seven full-length, studio albums. Their most recent album, Mountaintops, was released on September 13, 2011.

History
Gardner and Hammel first met in Lawrence, Kansas, while both were involved in relationships with other people. Even though they exchanged e-mails regularly, they did not get together until three months later. They originally played together in a four-piece rock band called Vosotros, in which they both sang and played guitar. Shortly after the couple moved to California in 1998, Gardner began teaching, and Hammel applied to medical school. They both opted later to devote their time to making music and touring together instead and got married in 2001. Gardner and Hammel originally lived together in San Francisco, and in 2004 they moved to East Haven, Connecticut. In February 2007, they sold their house in East Haven and relocated to Stratford, Connecticut.

Gardner and Hammel have two daughters, Magnolia, born in 2004, and June Elizabeth, born in 2008. For the band, touring became a family affair, with both daughters going on the road with their parents. Gardner kept a 'blog, Band on the Diaper Run, that appeared on Babble.com. In its entries, she recounted their experiences of life on the road and the unique circumstance of touring with two young children in tow.

The main instruments Mates of State used in their early recordings were drums and the electric organ. Both had started out playing the guitar, but they ultimately found they were experimenting more with the organ and drums in their practice space than with any other musical instruments. On later recordings, the band moved away from the organ-dominated sound and incorporated additional instrumentation, beginning with the EP All Day and continuing on Bring It Back, their fourth studio album. The organ wasn't incorporated at all on their fifth album, "Re-Arrange Us."

Mates of State songs are notable for their male/female vocal harmony, shifting rhythms, and quirky song structure – most tracks comprised distinct, almost disjointed movements. Both members tend to sing with great intensity, often in the upper ranges of their voices, and they often simultaneously sing different, complementary melodies and lyrics.

The band recorded one album on Omnibus Records before moving to Polyvinyl for their second and third full-length albums. In December 2005, the band signed with Barsuk Records and released two full-length albums and an EP of remixes on the label.

On October 11, 2004, the band held a contest for fans to create their own video for "Goods (All In Your Head)," the first track on their All Day EP. The winning entry, directed by Jonathan Yi and Sam Goetz, became the official video for the song  and was aired on MTV on June 12, 2005. It became available for download in the Media section of the band's official site.

The band's fifth album, Re-Arrange Us, was released on May 20, 2008. For their tour in support of the album, Mates of State became a quartet by adding Lewis and Anton Patzner of Judgement Day as multi-instrumentalists to complement the duo's sound on select songs.

On June 15, 2010, Mates of State released their sixth studio album, Crushes (The Covers Mixtape), which consisted entirely of their cover versions of songs previously recorded by other musical artists, including "Long Way Home" by Tom Waits and "Son Et Lumiere" by The Mars Volta. Music videos were shot for two of the songs: Nick Cave's "Love Letter" and Daniel Johnston's "True Love Will Find You in the End." The former was directed by Daniel Garcia and the latter was produced in conjunction with ABC News for its indie rock program, "Amplified."

The band's most recent full-length album, Mountaintops, was released on September 13, 2011. It also came out on Barsuk, the same independent label that released two of the band's previous records, Bring It Back and Re-Arrange Us. It consisted entirely of new original material.

Tours and performances
Mates of State have performed all over the globe; in the United States, Canada, Europe, Japan, and Australia.

In the summer of 2001, they played shows with Superdrag and Beulah and, later in the year, opened for The Anniversary during the release tour for their album Your Majesty.

In 2003, Mates of State toured with Palomar.

In 2005, Mates of State toured with Jimmy Eat World and Taking Back Sunday, and performed at the Austin City Limits Music Festival in Austin, Texas.

In 2006, Mates of State toured with Spoon and Death Cab for Cutie. Mates of State also provided support (alongside Au Revoir Simone) for We Are Scientists on their tour of the UK in November 2006.

During February and March 2007, Mates of State toured as the house band for WBEZ Chicago's This American Life, hosted by Ira Glass. Tour locations included New York, Boston, Seattle, Chicago, and Minneapolis. Recordings of some of the band's performances during this tour were included in a 2008 episode titled "What I Learned from Television." On Earth Day in 2007, Mates of State headlined the Concert for a Green Earth in Westport, Connecticut.

In 2008, the team appeared again at the Austin City Limits Music Festival, in addition to performing at Lollapalooza in Chicago, the All Points West Music & Arts Festival in Jersey City, and the Pemberton Music Festival in Pemberton, BC. In 2009, they played at Diversafest in Tulsa, Oklahoma and the Voodoo Fest in New Orleans on Halloween weekend.

In 2010, they appeared on the children's television show Yo Gabba Gabba in Rochester, New York.

Beginning in 2010, the band toured with backing musicians Kenji Shinagawa on guitar and John Panos on trumpet, both graduates of the University of Miami.

On February 16, 2012, the band began a 9-day tour of the East Coast at Union Transfer in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

On June 11, 2013, they joined The Postal Service's "Give Up" ten-year reunion tour at the Air Canada Theater in Toronto. The tour had stops in Boston, at the sold out Barclay's Center in Brooklyn and shows in Minnesota and Kansas City. Mates of State opened The Postal Service's last show ever on August 4, 2013 at the Metro in Chicago. It was also the official Lollapalooza closing party.

They performed two songs in conjunction with BYUtv's Studio C: "Dealbreaker" in October 2013 and "Kill the Whales" in May 2014.

Films
 The Rumperbutts (2015). Lead actors, producers, and composers. Starring alongside Josh Brener, Arian Moayed, and Vanessa Ray.  Distributed by Mance Media.
 Two of Us (2004). Produced, directed, shot, and edited by Thadd Day. Released by Hooked on Sonics!

Discography

Albums

EPs
 European Tour 2003 EP (Fickle Fame, 2003)
 All Day EP (Polyvinyl, 2004)
 Re-Arranged: Remixes Volume 1 (Barsuk, 2009)
 You’re Going To Make It (Barsuk, 2015)

Singles
 Mates of State/Fighter D Split (Omnibus, 1999)
 "It's the Law/Invitation Inn" (Omnibus, 2000)
 "Lower" (Devil in the Woods, 2001) *Note: split single with The Shins & Sparklehorse
 "Beehive State/Über Legitimate" (Snow Globe, 2001)
 These Days  (Polyvinyl, 2002) *Note: split single with Dear Nora
 "Fraud in the '80s" (Moshi Moshi Records|Moshi Moshi, 2006)
 "Like U Crazy" (Moshi Moshi Records|Moshi Moshi, 2006)
 "Staring Contest" (Barsuk / Fierce Panda, 2015)

Other releases
 2002 – "Why You Little..." on the compilation CD Ten Years of Noise Pop (Amazing Grease)
 2005 – "Invitation Inn" on the compilation A House Full of Friends (Magic Marker)
 2006 – "California" (Phantom Planet cover) on the compilation Music from the OC: Mix 6 (WEA)
 2006 – "Popular Mistakes" on the compilation This is a Care Package (Exotic Fever)
 2007 – "Jellyman Kelly" (James Taylor cover) on the compilation For The Kids III (RCA)
 2008 – "Little Boxes" (Malvina Reynolds cover), was recorded as theme music for an episode of Weeds but never appeared on the program
 2010 – "I Will Dare" (Replacements cover) is featured on The Onion's A.V. Club Undercover, with comedian Todd Barry on drums
 2012 − "I am a Scientist" (Guided by Voices cover) on the compilation "Science Fair" (Spoil the Rock)

References

External links
 Mates of State interview at SuicideGirls
 Mates of State interview/performance at Minnesota Public Radio
 Mates of State in concert at NPR Music
 Interview with the Cornell Daily Sun

American indie pop groups
Indie rock musical groups from Kansas
Musical groups established in 1997
Musicians from Lawrence, Kansas
Rock music duos
Barsuk Records artists
Fierce Panda Records artists
Polyvinyl Record Co. artists
American musical duos
Male–female musical duos Master's mate is an obsolete rating which was used by the Royal Navy, United States Navy and merchant services in both countries for a senior petty officer who assisted the master. Master's mates evolved into the modern rank of Sub-Lieutenant in the Royal Navy, while in the merchant service they evolved into the numbered mates or officers.

Royal Navy
Originally, a master's mate was an experienced petty officer who assisted the master but was not in line for promotion to lieutenant. By the mid-eighteenth century, he was far more likely to be a superior midshipman, still waiting to pass his examination for lieutenant or to receive his commission, but taking rather more responsibility aboard ship. Six master's mates were allowed on a first rate, three on a third rate, and two on most frigates.

Duties

Master's mates were experienced seamen, and were usually selected from the ranks of the quartermasters, who they supervised, or from the ranks of midshipmen who wanted more responsibility aboard ship; they were less commonly selected from other mates of warrant officers and able seamen.  Master's mates were allowed to command vessels, walk the quarterdeck, and mess in the gunroom with the other warrant officers.  

Master's mates were responsible for fitting out the ship, and making sure they had all the sailing supplies necessary for the voyage. They hoisted and lowered the anchor, and docked and undocked the ship. They would examine the ship daily, notifying the master if there were problems with the sails, masts, ropes, or pulleys. They executed the orders of the master, and would command in his place if he was sick or absent.

Normally master's mates worked on a three-watch system, with the lieutenants, so that one served as the deputy to the lieutenant on each watch. Master's mates generally assisted the master in navigating the ship and directly supervised the quartermasters in steering the ship. The master's mate with the highest seniority was appointed the head of the midshipman's berth and was responsible for teaching mathematics, navigation, and sailing lore.  Master's mates had to keep detailed logs similar to midshipmen. They were also responsible for the division of the crew that included the petty officers.

Second master 

Second master was a rating introduced in 1753 that indicated a deputy master on 3rd rate ships of the line or larger. Master's mates also acted as Second Master of vessels too small to be allocated a warranted Master. They were paid significantly more than master's mates, £5 5s per month. A second master was generally a master's mate who had passed his examination for master and was deemed worthy of being master of a vessel. Second masters were given the first opportunity for master vacancies as they occurred.

Mate 

Passed midshipmen awaiting promotion often elected to become master's mates. Though formally the rating did not lead to promotion to lieutenant, master's mates were paid more than any other rating and were the only ratings allowed to command any sort of vessel. A midshipman who became master's mate earned an increase in pay from £1 13s 6p to £3 16s per month, but initially reduced his chances at a commission.  Over time, however, an appointment of master's mate became considered a normal part of the path to a commission; the situation caused some confusion during the last part of the 18th century, when two parallel roles - master's mates trying to become masters, and former midshipmen working toward a commission - held the same title and responsibilities aboard ship.

By the first years of the nineteenth century, the prefix "master's" was dropped for passed midshipman, to distinguish them from master's mates in the navigator's branch. In 1824 two further grades were also introduced, consisting of master's assistants and second-class volunteers. These corresponded to midshipmen and first-class volunteers respectively in the executive line. From this point, passed midshipmen had the rating master's mate, abbreviated as mate, and prospective masters had the rating master's assistant. These changes helped eliminate the confusion caused by the mingling of midshipmen in the navigator's branch.  In 1838 a Royal Commission, presided over by the Duke of Wellington, recommended the institution of the rank of mate as an official step between midshipman and lieutenant.  

By 1840 there were two completely separate "ladders" for promotion:

Renaming and later use 

In 1861 mate was abolished in favor of sub-lieutenant. This made no practical difference to the officers in question since they continued to receive the same pay as before. But the new title was more distinctive; it brought them into line with their opposite numbers in the Army and established them as commissioned officers. In 1867, master was renamed navigating-lieutenant, so at the same time second master was renamed navigating sub-lieutenant and the master's assistant was renamed navigating midshipman.

Mate was revived in 1913 for the accelerated promotion of promising ratings, and mates ranked with sub-lieutenants but messed separately. In 1931 the title was abandoned again, and mates were re-mustered as sub-lieutenants.

US Navy

As a warrant officer 

In the U.S. Navy, the rank of master's mate was established 1797 as a warrant officer rank, but it was disestablished in 1813. After 1843 no more warrants were issued but those who had been appointed continued to hold their office and received their pay. In 1865, it was replaced by the rating mate. 

By an act of the United States Congress in 1906, the mates on the U.S. Navy retired list were promoted to the next higher grade if they had creditable American Civil War service, which most of them had. They were given warrant rank and rated with the lowest grade of warrant officer.

As a seaman 

Master's mate was re-established in 1838 as a rating for experienced seamen, and was not considered a Warrant rank. At the same time sailing master was renamed master, master commandant was renamed commander, and some masters were commissioned as officers, formally "Master in line for Promotion" to distinguish them from the warrant masters who would not be promoted. 

In 1865, master's Mate was changed to "mate", and the United States Secretary of the Navy was authorized to increase their pay and to rate them from Seaman to Ordinary Seaman who had enlisted in the naval service for not less than two years. The act of 15 July 1870 gave formal recognition to mates as part of the naval forces and their pay was fixed at $900 when at sea, $700 on shore duty, and $500 on leave or awaiting orders. 

The quota of mates in the Navy was not fixed, but there was maximum of about 842 on 1 January 1865, during the Civil War.  The Navy stopped making appointments to the rank of mate in 1870 but allowed those in serving in the position to remain in service.  The U.S. Navy Register of Commissioned Officers of 1871 shows there were 130 mates on active duty as of January 1st.   The number gradually diminished until 1 July 1894 when there were only 27 remaining.  

The Navy resumed appointing mates in 1897 in limited quantities.  The 1899 Register shows a total of 34 mates on active duty with 12 being appointed in 1870 or earlier, 6 in 1897 and 16 in 1898.  The revival of the rank of mate was only temporary as most of the remaining mates were promoted to the warrant officer rank of Boatswain in 1899.  In the Navy Register of 1903 only 7 mates were listed as being on active duty.  The Navy started appointing mates that year and by January 1, 1907, there were 39 on active duty.  The revival was short lived as by January 1, 1908, there were no mates on active duty.

Retirement and pensions 

Before 1 August 1894 there had been no authority for retirement of these men, but on that date a law was passed increasing the pay of those in the Navy and providing that they should have the same benefits of retirement as warrant officers. One purpose of the act was to make the retired pay of mates large enough to induce them to retire. By an act of Congress in 1906, the mates on the U.S. Navy retired list were promoted to the next higher grade if they had creditable Civil War service, which most of them had. They were given warrant rank and rated with the lowest grade of warrant officer. They were still called mates, but whether they were officers or enlisted men apparently was not clear. A year after the passage of this act the Attorney General of the United States published the legal opinion that mates "occupy the status of both officers in the Navy and enlisted men".

Merchant service 

In the merchant service, master's mates were the officers immediately subordinate to the master and frequently divided by seniority into first, second, third (etc.) mate which evolved into the modern terms First Mate, Second Mate and Third Mate. Since the 1930s, there has been a tendency in the merchant service to replace mate with officer (e.g. First Officer).

See also
Master (naval)
Midshipman
Sub-lieutenant
Warrant Officer

References

Naval ranks
Military ranks of the Royal Navy
Military ranks of the United States Navy