Still Flyin'

Starting as more of a collective than an actual rock band, Still Flyin' is the brainchild of singer/songwriter and member of indie pop group <a href="spotify:artist:4KOBXLBHRHsjIGeDosIBFo">Masters of the Hemisphere</a> Sean Rawls, who formed it in late 2004 in San Francisco after relocating there from Athens, Georgia, in 2003. Rawls was inspired to put the group together by a song he had written while a member of <a href="spotify:artist:5KQBUtwzpz8UWkoMKIl1FU">Je Suis France</a>, "Never Gonna Touch the Ground." To jam on the song, he invited a wide range of friends to rehearse, resulting in an ever-shifting personnel of upwards of 15 musicians and singers at a time, performing locally. The Still Flyin' press biography lists Yoshi Nakamoto (of <a href="spotify:artist:3hhbHynBIT7ulyfJfrDKLt">the Aislers Set</a>), Drew Cramer, Zach Moran, Gabe Saucedo (of <a href="spotify:artist:0RteGBXkPKs5d75vJMpxvp">Red Pony Clock</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:6jK3EnGSFLfoMQVnxonnIy">Rafter</a>, and <a href="spotify:artist:7g0isAVkGTBBNgmNmxhpAU">Half-Handed Cloud</a>), Frank Jordan (of the Bright Lights), Mindy Schweitzer, Brian Girgus (of <a href="spotify:artist:6D9hscLtH25jU8ze16wnd7">Track Star</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:4UxCRFOm0uUCp6QWtQMmxw">Lowercase</a>), Becky Barron (of the Bright Lights and <a href="spotify:artist:0JvQwQXnPjMIsA90DRiMQ1">Poundsign</a>), Phil Horan (of <a href="spotify:artist:4qQyS8N0BHNkGQRi8xsha8">Maserati</a>), Lizeth Santos (of <a href="spotify:artist:0RteGBXkPKs5d75vJMpxvp">Red Pony Clock</a>), Alicia Vanden Heuvel (of <a href="spotify:artist:3hhbHynBIT7ulyfJfrDKLt">the Aisler Set</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:0JvQwQXnPjMIsA90DRiMQ1">Poundsign</a>), Marjan Esfandiari, Jaime Knight (of <a href="spotify:artist:1imEozQrzLhh9b8LOZESx5">Dear Nora</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:0JvQwQXnPjMIsA90DRiMQ1">Poundsign</a>), and Bren Mead (of <a href="spotify:artist:4KOBXLBHRHsjIGeDosIBFo">Masters of the Hemisphere</a>) as members of the group, which has been augmented live by Wyatt Cusick (of <a href="spotify:artist:3hhbHynBIT7ulyfJfrDKLt">the Aislers Set</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:6D9hscLtH25jU8ze16wnd7">Track Star</a>), Josephine Olausson (of <a href="spotify:artist:1ODIErIzewoTtsQlCFk0cV">Love Is All</a>), <a href="spotify:artist:7tzI4rSFTHafjF18ZrNZWx">Jens Lekman</a>, Tara Shackell (of <a href="spotify:artist:60eT7q88iLWKnuSXed1AGr">Architecture in Helsinki</a>), Isobel Knowles (of <a href="spotify:artist:60eT7q88iLWKnuSXed1AGr">Architecture in Helsinki</a>), Mark Monnone (of <a href="spotify:artist:2VS0tRcCbiMkelzGoZo9XP">the Lucksmiths</a>), Richard Baluyut (of <a href="spotify:artist:4z3gabDVIY1yYKNtOxvIeC">Versus</a>), and Terese Nordstrom (of the <a href="spotify:artist:7tzI4rSFTHafjF18ZrNZWx">Jens Lekman</a> band).

In April 2005, Still Flyin' organized the Mind Zap Festival at McLaren Park in San Francisco, after which the band embarked on a West Coast tour opening for <a href="spotify:artist:60eT7q88iLWKnuSXed1AGr">Architecture in Helsinki</a>. <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Antenna+Farm+Records%22">Antenna Farm Records</a> signed Still Flyin' and released the group's debut EP (or "EJ," as the label put it, for "extended jam"), Time Wrinkle, on June 13, 2006. A second EP, Za Cloud, followed on April 24, 2007. In 2008 the band released its first album, Never Gonna Touch the Ground, for the <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Ernest+Jenning%22">Ernest Jenning</a> label. It found them branching out into more traditional indie pop along with reggae and jam band influences. By the time of the 2010 EP A Party in Motion, the band pared down its lineup to a core group led by Rawls and ditched all the reggae and <a href="spotify:artist:4TMHGUX5WI7OOm53PqSDAT">Dead</a> in favor of a synthy, indie pop sound with strong elements of '80s pop and '70s German rock running through it. The 2012 album by Still Flyin', On a Bedroom Wall, retained this approach and refined it, making for their best album to date. ~ William Ruhlmann, Rovi