Saticöy is a Los Angeles-based band of three Ohio University alums and one bandmate they recruited from another band. It consists of Derek Long at vocals, songwriting and guitar, Jaron Takach at drums and production, Jon Averbook at bass guitar and Tim Greer at keys and saxophone. Long, Takach and Averbook were in a band together at OU, and after all moving to L.A., they formed Saticöy with the recruitment of Philadelphia native Greer, whom they met in L.A.
Saticöy has an EP dropping in November, so they are dropping singles and music videos frequently in the coming weeks. The group is managed by OU alum, Macy Gilbert, who is currently living in L.A. and working in the sync and licensing facet of the music industry. The Post sat down with Saticöy to discuss how the band originated and where they are now.
The Post: How did your time in Athens shape you into what you are today?
Long: Not all of us went to OU, but Jaron, Jon and I did. Tim was somebody that we sniped out here from another band. We went to the media school for audio production, and it kind of set the stage for us being able to move out to L.A. and get a job in media. Also, we were in a band in Ohio, which I think makes the real connection happen.
Takach: We were in a jam band called ‘Waivada.’ I came out here and we formed Saticöy in I think 2018. Jon, Derek and I started that and kind of started taking it a little bit more seriously and making it a little more bit more polished than kind of just winging it.
TP: Some say your music is genre-bending. Has it always been this way? How do you think you have grown musically?
Takach: I think we've experimented with a lot of sounds and I think you'll see moving forward that the sound has become more concise. I'd say it's definitely just a lot more like alt-pop leaning or just more so alternative with influences of R&B and the new stuff almost has some grunge in it.
Averbook: Genre-bending, I think that's a good point too, because I feel like, even with our new route and what we're doing, it’s still somewhat hard to classify us in one specific thing.
Long: It's not so much about genre anymore, so much as moods. You see playlists that a lot of people make and it's based around the moods more so than it is around genres. Like you can have a punk song that has hip-hop drums and you'd still call it punk. It's more about how the music makes you feel these days.
TP: You recently got a publishing deal with Universal Production Music. How are you feeling about this?
Long: It's the first deal that they've ever actually done with a band like this, which is really interesting. So we're kind of trailblazing for this kind of deal, but essentially they're just going to be representing us for pitching sync and licensing, so all the songs that we release, they will have the right to be able to pitch for film, T.V., commercials, etc.
Takach: They’re also helping us with marketing. We have two music videos coming out, and they’re going to be helping with that and they're going to be submitting us and pitching us to their connections through playlists.
TP: Your new single, ‘Icy Boy,‘ is already receiving attention on streaming services. Do you think this song is the start of a new sound for you guys? What can we expect for the music video?
Takach: It’s definitely the start of a new sound, for sure. That song, I think in particular, is the embodiment of everything we’re trying to throw together.
Long: [toward music video question] Seventies. We’ve got our ‘Icy Boy’ right here, Tim, playing the role of your kind of stereotypical L.A. douchey, what do you call them? Influencer.
Greer: So it’s sort of a critique on somebody in L.A. who pretends like they’re all that, but really, they have insecurities just like anyone else, who’s trying to make it in a big city. It follows the delusions and reality of one person, the icy boy, and that’s who I play. It’s going to be a lot of fun.
Takach: Shoutout to the director, Nikki Rodriguez, and Alex Sotak — who’s doing the art direction — and our buddy Justin Ogden, who shot it. Nikki Rodriguez and Justin Ogden are both OU alumni as well.
Gilbert: There were a lot of OU extras, a lot of OU crew.
TP: You guys have an EP releasing in November. What have been the main inspirations for the songs on it? Do they sound anything like your old music or do they have a new sound?
Long: It's a lot of new sound, but there's like a lot of flavors from our old stuff. Like the next single we’re releasing has some similar flavors to our single with Tangina Stone, ‘Clean It Up.’ It's a little more of the R&B kind of flare. We still have that kind of pop foundation that we've kind of laid up until this point, but we've been trying to just inject more edge into it pretty much, you know, we want to add more distorted guitars.
Averbook: Stuff that will really translate over to live — a lot of keeping that in mind while we do it. We’re just trying to see what can get the crowd going and stuff. I don’t know about you, Tim, but I know Derek, Jaron and I all had a pretty big punk phase back in the day. When we were in ‘Waivada 2.0’, I remember hearing Derek doing some punk s--- and I’m like, ‘That’s sick.’ I'm really glad we're kind of bringing that into the sound now, too, because I feel like it has a really great feeling with it when you're performing it.
TP: ‘Faded From Color’ has quite a bit of streams. This track has listeners feel as if they’re driving by the beach, transcending reality. Do you guys think this song deserves to be one of your biggest hits?
Long: I think we all have different favorite songs, but I think that it’s pretty indisputable that ‘Faded From Color’ is just a universally enjoyable song. I think it’s got a deep pocket, it’s got very relatable songwriting. Any kind of creative person who’s trying to work a nine to five and do their creative hobby will relate to that, and it’s just catchy, you know, like that chorus is just really catchy.
Takach: So it's funny that you mentioned that you feel like you're driving down the coast, because that’s exactly what we were trying to do with our initial branding, with like a palm tree and that song, literally, we were trying to make it just feel like you were driving down the PCH.
TP: Macy, how long have you been working with them and what exactly you do to help them out as their manager?
Gilbert: I just kind of started doing a lot of their marketing stuff recently. Since they've been working on the whole EP type stuff, right now we're just working on social media calendars, ways to get their marketing stuff out. We're currently working on email lists to send out to radios, blogs, promotion stuff and partnerships — everything we can to just try to get the word of ‘Icy Boy’ out. We're also going to be doing that when the next single comes out and when the EP comes out. I'm also currently in music licensing, so just trying to talk to music supervisors and trying to get them to get syncs.
TP: What is your advice to young students who want to work in the music industry but feel so separated from it?
Takach: I think it definitely differs from creative to the business side. There are different approaches to both of those, but if you want to talk about the creative side, I think it starts with just making stuff, and I think that's the core. To quote Roger Cooper, ‘Content is King.’ And you've heard that phrase many times, but there is so much truth, because when you create stuff over time, if you do it consistently, you're going to get better, and eventually someone's going to start valuing your time that you put into that, and then they're going to start paying for it.
Long: I would also say, even outside of creative, get creative. Like look into what you might be missing from the music industry. Like I said, we didn't even know that this sync world existed before we came out here. So like you talking to us or talking to other alumni who come out here and work in different facets of the music industry is a great network for you or anybody else.
Averbook: I was going to say networking too, outside of creative, and just doing what you're doing right now. Like even talking to us, it might spark some ideas or just get you information that you weren't aware of or who knows, even better connections.
Takach: If you go way back to how we first got this publishing deal, it came from me meeting this one guy named Lucas Spry at a bar one night, and he was a drummer and I was a drummer, and then we started just playing what was called drum sheds. Then, a couple of months later, he got a job at Universal, which led to him inviting me to get lunch with this other girl named Christina May. She’s the one who set up this pub deal and is kind of our liaison over there.
Gilbert: I mean the same for business stuff too, it's really about networking. Every single job that I've ever gotten out here was based around somebody that I know … In L.A., there's such a big OU network out here — OU people are always willing to help. OU people will always go to bat for you no matter what, whether they know you or not, just because you're a Bobcat.
