Ships Have Sailed

Ships Have Sailed is the brainchild of vocalist/guitarist Will Carpenter. The band materialized after a hesitant decision to individually focus on new music. The process was initially daunting but the risk proved to be invigorating and refreshing. The music became uplifting and buoyant. The lyrics revealed a thoughtful and conscientious perspective. And the sound evolved into sincere indie rock with an unabashed pop structure. After sharing it with fellow musicians, Carpenter recruited a lineup that now permanently includes drummer Art Andranikyan.

The band soon recorded their debut EP, Someday, with Carpenter acting as main producer in his home studio. The diverse collection includes arena-ready singles, acoustic serenades, and explosive alt-rock bangers. The release led the band to play impressive industry showcases and win awards honoring their independence. The promising buzz propelled them to record their debut full-length: Moodswings. The album is a cohesive release with epic ambitions. Every track emotes an unrestrained cathartic desire to be heard and enjoyed. With crescendoing ballads and indie rock alacrity, there’s a uniform sense of sanguine sensibility.

The following year, the band recorded acoustic versions of select songs and released them on an EP, Whispers, along with two new originals. Praise of their next single, “Up,” encouraged the band to tour overseas in the U.K. and Ireland. And their following single, “Let’s Just Dance,” is a superb collaborative effort with songwriter Robert Gillies (X Ambassadors, Bebe Rexha) and producer Wally Gagel (Best Coast, Zella Day).

Carpenter describes the band's moniker not as a pessimistic reference to the renowned idiom "that ship has sailed," but instead a fresh, positive perspective on the unexpected outcomes of unforeseen circumstances. It's an adage that can be applied to his own life of growing up in poverty in rural Vermont and being kicked out of his home as a teenager. He made ends meet by working as a dishwasher and eventually put himself through college as a security guard on graveyard shifts. And it’s from this period of his life that Carpenter reflected on to draw introspective inspiration. Thus, the band’s next series of singles such as “Escape,” “Stay,” and “Skin,” lean into more emotive honesty and a deeper level of sentiment than ever expressed before. Follow-up singles such as “Rise” and “Breathe” conjure moody sonics and distinct mystique while “Take My Money,” is an instant dance hit that only an indie rock band obsessed with pop could make and their follow-up single, “Love In October,” (ironically released on the last day of September) is an introspective and poignant rock anthem that takes the duo back to their roots, embracing moody rock vibes that channel a timeless, yet modern flair.

Due to Ships Have Sailed’s ardent work ethic and creative progression, the band’s future is naturally filled with vast potential. Their latest single “Broken Hearts” is soulful, cinematic and uplifting, co-written and co-produced by Dan Sadin, and leaning into loss, the grieving process and the hope of better days to come.

“This song is very special to me,” says Carpenter. “we’ve all experienced loss over the past 18 months – this song specifically was conceived during a time when my wife and I were watching her mother slowly succumb to the final battle with cancer that wound up claiming her life. In a way, the creation of ‘Broken Hearts’ was simply me processing my grief over time. I remember at the very end, my wife had traveled back east during the pandemic sensing her mom was reaching the end of her journey. I was rattling around our empty house going a little crazy, and there was one night that I couldn’t sleep for the life of me…I’d been procrastinating recording some backing vocals for a song I’d been working on and I decided I’d dig in. I spent the next few hours singing about 80 tracks of backing vocals and just really letting myself feel, went to bed feeling exhausted, but with an odd sense of peace – the lyric: “We can remember the storm, even after it’s gone” popped into my head and that’s where this song started. I found out the next day that within those moments my mother-in-law had finally decided to let go.”

The song has already been featured pre-release on the show ‘BULL’ on CBS, and stands as a testament to how Ships Have Sailed will always adapt and evolve. They openly admit that their new creative outlook focuses on optimism as a therapeutic reflex due to recent harsh experiences –global and personal. Their new lyrical message questions the pathway of life and time and how our perception of it will always change. And the result has made their music more profound than anything they’ve ever done before.

Ships Have Sailed:

Will Carpenter - Vocals, Guitar, Production, Composition
Art Andranikyan - Drums