After a very brief hiatus, Hazy Sky returns to the music scene in Houston with unreleased music, fierce ambitions and a bond stronger than ever before.
If you don’t know the name Hazy Sky, you will. Hazy Sky is a trio that formed in Houston and consists of lead singer + guitarist Cole Wilbur, bassist Zab Rodriguez and drummer Miguel Soto. After performing with a multitude of local artists, the band established themselves as Houston’s psych-rock + indie band after releasing their eccentric debut EP Inglorious Cloudsongs in December of 2022. Soon after, they took a short pause after Cole moved to Wales for a Study Abroad program, but that didn’t mean the band wasn’t working. Cole put out unreleased tracks on SoundCloud to keep the band’s name in the air, and now, it’s time for their momentous return.
We spoke with members Cole and Zab from Hazy Sky for an impromptu interview about their short hiatus and what’s in store for the band.
ORB: Starting off simple – Zab has been here the whole time; Cole, what have you been doing?
Cole Wilbur (CW): I was living in Wales for school, and I learned how to drink real good!
Zab Rodriguez (ZR): Didn’t you take have an acoustic guitar?
CW: Yeah, I would take my acoustic guitar and I would bend over to record on the microphone I put on my desk in my dorm room and just record demos. I would fuzz it out in garage band – they sound terrible, but it’s from the heart.
ORB: Zab (since Miguel is not here), how did it feel not having Cole here?
ZR: I was fine, I had two other bands to worry about (everyone laughs). I had no excuse to play bass though, which is kind of sad.
CW: I’m sure Miguel was also super sad.
ORB: What are somethings you guys are going to be working on now that you are reunited?
CW: I’m just excited to play live, it’s the most exciting for me.
ZR: We’re all rusty, so we need to get back in the groove of live shows.
ORB: Do y’all have any secret projects cooking up in the back?
CW: They are secret, so we can’t tell you. (everyone laughs) I have been writing while I was in Wales.
ORB: Before we get more into it, would you mind telling our readers a little more about what Hazy Sky is?
CW: Mostly, it’s just me connecting my guitar into my pedal board and I make sounds. It typically reflects on how i’m feeling, for example, a lot of the songs I wrote in Wales sound sad because it was grey every day. You can’t write happy music while living in the UK – That’s why the Beatles wrote “Here Comes the Sun” because they lived in England, saw the sun, and then it went away.
ZR: The sun came when they came to America.
ORB: Hazy Sky released the EP Inglorious Cloudsongs in December of 2022, where each song had its own tone plus messaging. Would these new songs you wrote differ from what we already know?
CW: I would say the songs are completely different. I feel like that’s how music works, the songs change over time. The point of the first EP was a way to figure out who we are as a band.
ZR: I feel like there’s tension (that happens with all bands maybe) – Miguel is a metal head, Cole is a Mac DeMarco imitator and I’m more into Funk and sometimes Punk. There’s a big mix, which works for us.
ORB: How do you blend your music types and work to create one cohesive track + work?
CW: I come up with an idea, I bring it to the band and once they’ve added their bits or morph it into something else, we play it together and it turns into this final product.
ZR: We add a little flavor to the Cole Broth.
ORB: Can we expect some of these new songs any time soon?
CW: You might hear them at our upcoming shows. I never want to get in the rut of playing the same set over again. It’s boring for us, and it’s boring for the people that are coming to see us. No one wants to see the same thing over again!
ORB: Your live sets are a lot of fun, too. You played a show back in November at Super Happy Fun Land, and you invited everyone in the crowd to join you on stage for the final song. Will y’all keep these bits of interactions going?
CW: I think so, but it’s mostly just spur of the moment things.
ZR: As long as we have room on the stage, we’ll do it.
CW: Enough space and a little liquid courage, we can totally do it.
ORB: Y’all played that show with a bunch of Houston acts too – Vivaldi’s Green Jacket, Sad Allen and Juvenoia.
ZR: That was actually Juvenoia’s debut! They also just released their newest EP, too.
CW: The scene is really bustling right now. We also want to move outside of Houston too, hopefully getting on the road sometime soon. I feel like if we can play anywhere with a college campus, we would be solid.
ORB: We talked about all of your influences, what’s the next genre you guys are looking to experiment with?
ZR: I think it’s more poppier.
CW: Well, now I’m back home to my pedal board, so more stuff will definitely be coming.
Hazy Sky then stormed out right directly after the interview, with Zab peaking his head through the door and screaming at us to check out his other band, Embertone. (this is totally a joke, or is it just us covering up our embarrassment of getting walked out on?)
Stream the latest EP Inglorious Cloudsongs, which is available on Spotify, Apple Music, Bandcamp, YouTube Music and other music platforms.
Connect with Hazy Sky: Instagram | YouTube | Facebook | Bandcamp | TikTok | Twitter
(NOTE: ALL OF OFF RECORD BLOG INTERVIEWS ARE MINIMALLY EDITED FOR LENGTH)
Keylee is a full-time music journalist/photographer from Houston, Texas. She has received a B.S in Radio-Television-Film from the University of Texas at Austin, as well as an M.A in Mass Communications from the University of Houston. As an avid concert-goer and movie fanatic, she aspires to create her own path as a content creator by bonding with others over the power of local music and media. If she isn’t listening to her favorite band Paramore, you’ll catch her hanging out with her brothers or playing with her husky Luna.
