Sail By The Stars

Sail By The Stars consists of just Josh Koterba-truly a one man band. He sings, writes, plays guitar and drums-everything and anything on his new album “A Sunshine State of Mind.” Even though the album only contains 5 songs, Sail By The Stars displays a tremendous amount of talent.
The album starts off with quick singing accompanied by acoustic guitar. Soon enough, a full backing band jumps into to join on the intro track, “Icebergs Are For Penguins.” Koterba’s vocals along with the overall melody of the song make the chorus of this song especially catchy. I can’t forget to mention the cool little guitar riff during the second verse. Overall, this is my favorite song on this album and it is a great track to introduce Sail By The Stars.
The next song, “April Flowers Bring May Flowers” shows off a poppier side to Sail By The Stars. The guitar and drums throughout the song are especially catchy while Koterba sings, I’ll be home for Arbor Day/One more month is all it takes/To set the May flowers in bloom/To let you know that I need you. Koterba has a very good unique voice which really stood out to me in this song. He doesn’t sound like every other mainstream band, but at the same time he shows off a good range of vocals that I think most people would enjoy.
“I Wouldn’t Trade The Wind For X Marks The Spot” continues a lot of the musical elements heard in the previous two songs, but the constant “Oh’s” throughout the song become quite repetitive and gets old very quickly. I was a little disappointed with this song but luckily, there are two more terrific songs to round out this album.
The fourth song off of “A Sunshine State Of Mind” is personally another one of my favorites, “Sometimes I Forget To Breathe.” Koterba continues the catchy style and upbeat instrumentals in addition to very meaningful lyrics. I’m jumping head first for you/Giving up the things that I once knew/I’m scared/But I know it’s right to do. This song reminds me of songs from Dave Melillo’s “Talk Is Cheap” EP-which I am a huge fan of.
To end this EP, Koterba becomes very personal, singing about his girlfriend and his transition from Omaha to Florida. The song is a bit slower than the others on the EP, but Koterba’s musical ability shines throughout this song. If you are a musician and your significant other wants to hear a “love song about them,” this song pretty much sets the standards for what that song should sound like-take notes!
Overall, Sail By The Stars EP “A Sunshine State Of Mine” is a very well-rounded album. It has a mix of upbeat melodies, acoustic rhythms, meaningful lyrics, and above average vocals. The fact that Koterba is responsible for every insturment on this album displays how much talent and dedication he has toward his music. Sail By The Stars is definately headed for great things.
Similar Artists: Dave Melillo (Talk Is Cheap EP), Making April (Runaway World EP) - ForTheSound.com

Featured spot on the front page of Purevolume.com several times with full album stream the week of release.

Top 10 downloaded/streamed artist multiple times including times not featured on front page. - Purevolume.com

Featured Buzzseeker the week of November 9th, 2008.

Album Review: Score: 8/10 "Sail by the Stars could be the next big thing. His voice and the melodies are radio friendly, but still carry enough edge to please some scene killjoys." - Ryan McDonough

Featured Interview: http://www.thedailychorus.com/inter.php?subaction=showcomments&id=1225732904&archive=&start_from=&ucat=5&

- TheDailyChorus.com

Songs licensed to Viacom Inc. for use on MTV Networks. "Icebergs Are For Penguins" will be used as a vocal-up for a little over a minute on episode 7 of MTV's The Real World: Brooklyn, airing February 18th, 2009. - Viacom Inc.

Songs to be featured in the upcoming independent comedy film Stuck Like Chuck (http://www.areyoustucklikechuck.com) - Stuck Like Chuck

Frequent news posts on Absolutepunk.net - Absolutepunk.net

Band was featured in a live on-air interview on April 17th, 2009 on the front page of Idobi.com. - Idobi.com

June 2009:

NOW PLAYING: A Sunshine State Of Mind (myspace.com/sailbythestars)

THE STORY SO FAR: Frontman Josh Koterba originally envisioned Sail By The Stars as a solo project in the vein of the Rocket Summer. But after he enlisted a few friends for a tour last summer and ended up making them full-time members, the only thing Sail By The Stars retain in common with that Rocket band is a celestial name--well, that and the driving, happy-go-lucky pop. You don't really need to pretend to be angst-ridden when you've got lyrics like, "I'll be home for Arbor Day."

WHY YOU SHOULD KNOW 'EM: The very definition of an internet critical darling, Sail By The Stars reached No. 5 on the SmartPunk unsigned band chart, and they've been featured on the likes of PureVolume and the Daily Chorus. But if you took all that away, Koterba and the rest of Sail By The Stars seem like they'd be cool with it. "We're honest, honest-to-goodness, down-to-earth Midwestern guys and our passion is making music," says Koterba. "We're just five best friends in a band together."

YOU LIKE? YOU'LL LIKE: THE MAINE / SHERWOOD / THE SUMMER SET

http://www.altpress.com/apr/sailbythestars.htm - Tim Karan

"A Sunshine State of Mind" peaked at #5 on the Smartpunk.com Top Unsigned Charts and #10 on the Top 100 Overall Charts, And maintained high rankings for well over a month.

The album was the #14 overall unsigned best seller on the site in 2008. - Smartpunk.com

Real exposure for local band
Group to hear one of its songs on MTV show

MTV doesn't air a lot of music videos anymore, but it's still finding ways to feature new music by plugging songs into its TV shows.


And that's a wonderful thing for local musician Josh Koterba and his band Sail By the Stars. One of the band's songs will be featured on MTV's "The Real World."


"I never imagined in a million years that I'd ever be able to experience it," Koterba said. "It's going to be really, really weird. I won't be able to believe it."


The song "Icebergs Are for Penguins" will be played during the show airing at 9 p.m. Wednesday on the cable network.


Koterba, 22, hasn't seen the show yet and doesn't know how much of the song will be played or during which segment it will be featured. He plans to watch with his band mates, family and friends.


"The Real World" is a long-running reality series that follows a diverse group of 20-something strangers who live in an apartment together.


Koterba worked with a company that handles music placement for shows on MTV and the Oxygen Network. They have licensing rights to use his band's songs on shows such as "The Real World," "Road Rules" and "Keeping Up With the Kardashians." The band is paid royalties each time an episode airs that uses one of the songs.


Koterba, son of World-Herald editorial cartoonist Jeff Koterba, is more focused on the exposure that his band will get from being featured on the show.


"It's not about the money, it's about being able to do what we love," Koterba said.


Contact the writer

444-1557, kevin.coffey@owh.com - Kevin Coffey