Continuum

Continuum, a new band on the Beachcomber scene, includes Anthony O’Shae on vocals, Jessica Heit on violin and vocals, Hope Given on acoustic guitar and vocals, and Caleb Schossow on “cajon.” O’Shae talked to us about how the band came to be and where they hope to go.

“I like how our band is unique,” says O’Shae. “Caleb plays the cajon, which is a box instrument that makes the percussion for us. Jess has her violin, which is an electric violin, so it looks like half of a violin. The instruments that we use are a little different.”

That’s isn’t all that is different, O’Shae is quick to explain how the band’s varied personal musical tastes is an advantage for the group. “All of our styles are so different,” he says. “I’m more R&B, soulful—that’s the sound I love. Jessica loves more the bluegrass kind of sound. Hope loves indie and the unique vocals. We just all love different things about music, but we come together and make an awesome sound together.”

When it comes to cover songs, very little is off limits for Continuum. “We usually say we are an indie pop-top 40 band,” says O’Shae. “What we try to do for the most part is take songs that are more current and modern and try to twist those into our own kind of version. We try to include classics as well, and some of every genre.”

Continuum also has original tunes on the horizon. “We’ve really started to pick up on that now that we have all of our covers down,” he says. “We aren’t trying to rush too much. By next summer we’d like to be established more by having our originals and having an album.”

O’Shae is new to the area, moving here after graduating from Northern Arizona University less than two years ago. He entered the 2012 Emerald Coast Sing Off competition, taking home the first place prize and meeting one of his future bandmates.

“Hope and I actually met through that,” says O’Shae. “Then we did some karaoke together. A few months later I was singing at one of my friend’s weddings, and Jessica was playing violin there. They asked the two of us perform together. We loved each other’s sounds. I was like, ‘We should go to an open mic.’” They meshed so well, they decided to start a band.

Finding the right name took some trial and error on the band’s part. “The name was hell. We honestly came up with Elephant Coasters and thought it was an awesome idea until we played…

“Continuum just came about and had a ring to it. Then we looked it up and it pretty much stands for different elements of things that don’t belong together but for some reason fit together. It’s like opposite things that when you put them together make something perfect.”

The band plays across Beachcomberland and beyond, including a regular Sunday afternoon gig at Boshamps in Destin from 3 to 6. Discover more at www.reverbnation.com/continuumsound. - The Beachcomber

Continuum — making a serious splash on the Emerald Coast music scene

Have you ever wondered what your favorite rock and roll song would sound like on violin? Do you know what a cajon is? Members Anthony O’Shae, Jessica Heit, Caleb Schossow and Hope Given have arrived on the Emerald Coast to show you.

A cajon looks like a regular wooden box, but it is actually a single instrument that can replicate almost every sound that an entire drum set can make. Caleb Schossow plays the cajon in one of the Emerald Coast’s newest music groups. Formed in 2012 along with Anthony O’Shae (vocals), Jessica Heit (violin and vocals) and Hope Given (guitars and vocals), Continuum now plays almost seven nights out of the week somewhere along the Emerald Coast.

Originally playing covers of popular Top 40 artists, and even covering some Indie bands, Continuum just released their first original EP, “Cover Up.” Filled with “folky pop” songs, this album is perfect to listen to while cruising along the Emerald Coast.

After just a few gigs around the area, the name Continuum caught on and soon they could be caught doing weekly gigs at Boshamps Oyster House and playing Pensacola, 30A and everywhere in between.

Continuum can be heard at various local hotspots like Harry T’s Lighthouse in Destin, Peg Leg Pete’s in Pensacola Beach and McGuire’s Irish Pub in Destin. Check out continuumsound.com for a roster of all upcoming local dates. - Emerald Coast Magazine

Perhaps you’ve seen them perform during Gallery Night or maybe at a bar anywhere from Panama City to Mobile. In a little more than a year, Continuum has become a local favorite and plays regularly throughout the Panhandle. Recently, their fans made it official by voting them Best Local Band in the 2014 Best of the Coast awards.

Continuum’s members—Hope Given (guitar and vocals), Jessica Heit (violin), Anthony O’Shae (vocals) and Caleb Schossow (percussion)—offer something unique among most bands on the local bar circuit. Blending the impressive vocals of O’Shae and Given with elements of folk, pop, and classical music, Continuum has quickly cultivated a signature sound that they apply to a range of covers and increasingly more original music.

On top of that, it’s not every day you see musicians performing on violin and a cajón (a Peruvian percussion instrument that Schossow usually sits atop) along the Gulf shores, or in bars on Palafox Street for that matter.

“We’ve been a band for about a year and a half now,” O’Shae said ahead of one of the band’s rehearsals. “It really started with me and Hope Given. We started jamming together. We met each other doing karaoke and open mics. I met Jess, the violinist, during a wedding that she and I played together. We all three went to an open mic randomly and it just went so well. The crowd was so good that from that day we wanted to start a band. Caleb came on shortly thereafter.”

While they independently released the EP “Cover Up” in May 2014 and are currently working on the release of a full-length album in early 2015, Continuum got their start in late 2012 as every band does—just working as hard as they could and developing as a unit. Their hard work eventually landed them on the radar of Destin-based Worry Free Entertainment’s Jared Cramblet.

“The three of us, before we met Caleb, had a five-track demo and took it everywhere we could think of and apparently some people liked it,” Given remembered of the band’s initial efforts to get their foot in the door. “We started booking, and it eventually progressed to working with Worry Free. Eventually Jared kind of adopted us, so it’s been good.”

As they continue to gig full time, the group is keeping it local with recording as well, working with Ben Friedman at Destin’s Neptone Studios for both “Cover Up” and their forthcoming full-length.

“After we really got comfortable with each other, we wanted to make our own sound because that’s what people appreciated most about us anyway—that we make our own kind of music and an original sound,” O’Shae said. “We started writing our own music, came out with our EP, and now we’re excited to make more original music.”

Their music drew the members together from several places. Schossow and Given grew up in the area (Pensacola and near Fort Walton Beach, respectively), while Heit hails from Escanaba, Michigan and O’Shae from Tucson, Arizona. Both Heit and O’Shae came to stay with family for brief visits that became permanent.

“After college, I was here to figure out my next move, and pretty much met them almost right after I got here—probably five months after—and I have not left since,” O’Shae said. He, like the other members, is now focusing 100 percent of his time on Continuum.

“We all gave up our day jobs once we brought on our manager,” Schossow said. “That was the first thing, to become a business, so we can start moving on and start living the music life and start getting to do things as a band.”

Despite being relatively new as a group, because of their steady performance schedule over the past year, the group sounds like a band of old timers when asked about bar performance war stories, laughingly recalling fights they’ve witnessed, figuring out what to do when inebriated patrons silently join them on stage, and it sounds like they like their jobs regardless.

Like performing, their writing process has evolved smoothly, according to O’Shae. He said the band works democratically on ideas each member brings to the table. “We all have our own thoughts on writing, but we can always put it together,” he said.

“Once we get that new record ready to go, we’re going to try to do a full-time tour in support of it and start making our runs throughout the Southeast,” said Schossow of the not-too-distant future.

As the summer season winds down, Continuum plans to keep on writing, performing and probably collecting more stories as they add festivals—including Pensacola’s Greater Good Festival—to their performance schedule, now with an award and its accompanying “best band in the land” credentials in tow. - InWeekly