Taken by Sanity is a local Chestermere band made up of Jonah Morris on vocals, Blair Stillman on keys and Blaine Stillman on drums.
Morris is from Bragg Creek and the Stillmans are from Chestermere
The band got started one day when Blaine and Blair Stillman were hoping to expand their instrumental band to incorporate more vocals and Morris had just happened to post a video of him covering We Don’t Believe What’s on TV by Twenty-one Pilots.
One of Blaine’s friends saw that and suggested they get him and from then on Taken By Sanity was born.
They ended up having a show the very next week, which led to the group needing to learn and rehearse a bunch of songs for their performance.
The rushed experience preparing for the show helped the brand new band bond over their shared music interest.
A key influence on the group has been Tweny-One Pilots, the band that originally brought the trio together.
“We practice once every two weeks if we can,” explains Morris.
They also work individually on songs to practice and then meet up to put it all together and make it work to give the best performances they can possibly give to people.
One of Blair Stillman’s favourite parts about performing is “seeing the smiles on people’s faces,” and just seeing them sing along and have a good time.
Morris on the other hand rather enjoys finding something he wants to say, having the chance to say whatever he wants, and have a community that cares about what he’s saying.
“It just means a lot when we perform that a lot of people resonate with lyrics or the sound or stuff like that, so it’s just a really fun experience in general,” Morris proclaims.
The band wants their music to really say something and have a greater overall message to the meaning of the songs.
“It’s not just the lyrics it’s also the music and the background where it’s just the feeling it gives you,” said Blain Stillman.
The band, however, is not just performances and music, but fun times with each other and making memories to look back on.
One of these memories to look back on as a band is playing Morris’s grad in Edmonton.
“It was being able to be there for Jonah’s grad, myself, even though we’re not really family, we’re family,” reminisced Blair.
Although, Blaine and Blair are actually family meaning that Blair knows he can rely on Blaine whenever he needs, and although they have their ups and downs they know that’s just brotherly love.
Morris thinks it was really nice of Blaine and Blair to drive out to Edmonton for his grad and to actually want to perform at his graduation.
“That was super cool of them,” he said.
Being in the band is where their passion lies.
This love of music helps them get through long days and back to back gigs in different cities. Even though it is hectic driving from place to place they find it rewarding to perform all those “super fun shows.”
Mostly the small town band performs in just that, small towns, such as Chestermere, Bragg Creek, Black Diamond.
They are now trying to spread out by going to Edmonton to perform this summer and maybe even British Columbia.
Taken By Sanity will be having shows in the 2018 East Coulee Springfest on May 5, and possibly in the Black Diamond Music Festival.
They also perform at pubs and other smaller places in the city.
Their first demo was released in February including six original songs on the album, some of which were written on a cruise ship in the middle of the ocean.
If one were to listen to Taken By Sanity perform live they could expect to hear these original songs and covers of other songs “more on the pop alternative spectrum” including Panic! At the Disco, Lumineers, and Khalid.
A major inspiration for the band is Twenty-one Pilots in the fact they resonate with them being a small town band that worked and grinding hard to become an international band.
“It gave us hope that small town bands can actually be successful,” explains Morris.
Other bands that inspire them include Panic! At The Disco and Fall Out Boy not just because of their music but also their stories.
The next step for the band is hiring a manager and getting to the next level for the band.
