AWOLNATION

Formation and Back from Earth (2009–2010)

Aaron Bruno was approached by Red Bull Records in 2009, asking if he wanted free use of the Red Bull recording studio in Los Angeles. He recorded a few songs in the studio and ultimately signed with the label, calling it more of a "partnership", and was allowed to make the recordings that he wanted. Bruno was with numerous bands before he created Awolnation, including Home Town Hero with Drew Stewart and Under the Influence of Giants with Dave Amezcua. Bruno writes all of his songs himself, but confides in close friends and family or respected artists for guidance. The band released their first EP Back from Earth on May 18, 2010.

Musical style

Awolnation's music has been described as alternative rock, electronic rock, indie rock, electropop, pop rock, dance-rock, power pop, and hard rock. The band's first two albums, Megalithic Symphony and Run were more electronica heavy while their third album, Here Come the Runts, onwards went for a more "'organic' indie rock sound". Louder Sound described their sound as "hard-edged electro indie rock". The Phantom Five returns to a more electronic-based sound.

I Am

"I Am" is a song by American alternative rock band Awolnation. It was released as the third single from their second studio album Run (2015).

Background

The band's frontman Aaron Bruno describes the song as a "self-empowering anthem" that was inspired by a guitar given to him by his dad. "I wrote (the song) real late at night," Bruno continued. "At least the intro, the first verse. Didn't think much about it, and then months later we listened to my phone recording, my voice memo, and heard that initial idea and thought, OK, this seems cool, let's work on this. It kind of wrote itself and was a pretty easy song to write. That's usually a good sign for me."

Sail

"Sail" is a song by the American rock band Awolnation. It was released as a single on November 8, 2010, first featured on the band's debut extended play, Back from Earth (2010), and later on their debut album, Megalithic Symphony (2011).

The song was written and produced in Venice, Los Angeles, California by group member Aaron Bruno, with Kenny Carkeet as audio engineer.

Background

"Sail" is an electronic rock and alternative rock song featuring "industrial-tinged electropop". While band frontman Aaron Bruno, has never spoken directly about the meaning of "Sail", he hinted at it in a 2016 interview, contemplating that people might want a darker twist to the songs on the radio at the time, remembering "playing the song for a producer friend . . . , and he told me everything was great, but I needed a chorus." Bruno attempted to write the chorus, failing to achieve what he thought the song needed. The song's synth-bass section was created on the ATC-1 Tone Chameleon, an external rackmount synthesizer used to recreate classic synth sounds like the Minimoog.

Music video and controversy

"Sail" opens with lead singer Aaron Bruno running to a house and shutting the blinds, relieved to have escaped from the threat outside. Bruno finds a tape recorder, which he starts singing into. He enters a bathroom and looks into a mirror, still singing. A green strip of light enters the house and scans across it, revealing a spacesuit helmet and a military flight-suit. As the light climbs up the stairs towards him, Bruno hides inside a full bathtub, but the beam scans him anyway.