Smashing Satellites was a Canadian

alternative rock Alternative rock (also known as alternative music, alt-rock or simply alternative) is a category of rock music that evolved from the independent music underground of the 1970s. Alternative rock acts achieved mainstream success in the 1990s w ...

band formed in 2014 by Sal Costa, former

lead guitarist Lead guitar (also known as solo guitar) is a musical part for a guitar in which the guitarist plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs and chords within a song structure. The lead is the featured ...

of the band "

My Darkest Days My Darkest Days was a Canadian rock band based in Peterborough, Ontario, consisting of lead vocalist Matt Walst, bassist Brendan McMillan, drummer Doug Oliver, guitarist Sal Costa, and keyboardist Reid Henry. They were discovered by Chad Kroege ...

" that rose to fame in the late 2000s and early 2010s. The band is best known for its 2016 song "Gamblin' Man" and released one full-length

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-track or Cassette tape, cassette), or digital distribution, dig ...

in 2015 and two

EPs An extended play (EP) is a Sound recording and reproduction, musical recording that contains more tracks than a Single (music), single but fewer than an album. Contemporary EPs generally contain up to eight tracks and have a playing time of 1 ...

in 2014 and 2017.

History

After releasing two successful albums and selling out arenas with

, Sal Costa decided it was time to go full force and start his own band. On January 4, 2013, My Darkest Days announced Costa's departure and quickly Costa stated he would continue his musical career by forming his own band.

Formation

Throughout the rest of 2013 and the first half of 2014, Costa advertised the group by posting updates on his personal

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page. In the summer 2014 Costa changed the page name from his name "Sal Coz Costa" to "Smashing Satellites". Costa traveled to

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

with song ideas in his head, and went to work with producer and songwriter

Bob Marlette Robert Roy Marlette (born December 7, 1955) is an American record producer, recording engineer, mixer, and songwriter. His production, writing and mixing credits include Black Sabbath, Marilyn Manson, Rob Zombie, Shinedown, Seether, Saliva, Lyn ...

, after spending a few months writing and recording music and experimenting with various different instruments such as live trumpet players, 40 different guitars and vintage keyboards and amplifiers Costa returned to

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

where he recruited band members for a live band. Costa recruited members Mick Valentyne as lead guitarist, Devon Lougheed as rhythm guitarist, and Mykey Thomas as the band's drummer.

SonicAluzion EP & Album 2014-2016

After Costa successfully recruited band members to record and perform with him, the group traveled to

Oklahoma Oklahoma ( ; Choctaw language, Choctaw: , ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Texas to the south and west, Kansas to the north, Missouri to the northea ...

Hinder Hinder is an American Rock music, rock band from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, formed in 2001 by former lead singer Austin John Winkler, guitarist Joe "Blower" Garvey, drummer Cody Hanson, with bass player Cole Parker being recruited in 2002 during ...

drummer,

Cody Hanson Cody Hanson (born May 24, 1982) is an American musician and record producer. He is the drummer and one of the founding members in the Oklahoma based rock band Hinder and co-owns the production company Back Lounge Productions with bandmate Marsha ...

's production studio "Back-Lounge Productions" to record and produce their debut EP and their debut album. Costa befriended Hanson while Costa's former band

toured with Hanson's group Hinder various times before Costa left the band. On August 18, 2014 the band announced that their debut EP titled "SonicAluzion (A-Side)" will be released September 30, 2014 and that they will be releasing the debut single "Hounds" tomorrow August 19, 2014. The group toured extensively throughout the

area in support of the EP. The band also released another single from "A-Side" titled "Waterfall" on February 12, 2015. The single debuted at No. 48 48 on the

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

's Top 50 Alternative. On April 14, 2015 Smashing Satellites announced the release of the first single from their debut album titled ''What It's All About'' and that their debut album ''SonicAluzion'' will be released June 16, 2015. The album will consist of the five songs from their debut EP "SonicAluzion (A-Side) 8 other new tracks. Smashing Satellites released their debut album '' SonicAluzion'' on June 16, 2015, as planned. The album spawned the singles "Hounds", "Waterfall", "What It's All About", "Love Is Forever" and "Living Loud".

Gamblin' Man, White Elephant EP and retirement 2016-2017

On January 8, 2016, Smashing Satellites released the single "Gamblin' Man". It debuted at number 38 on the ''

'' Mainstream Rock chart in January 2016. On May 26, 2017, the band released "Benny", the lead single for their next EP titled

White Elephant A white elephant is a possession that its owner cannot dispose of without extreme difficulty, and whose cost, particularly that of maintenance, is out of proportion to its usefulness. In modern usage, it is a metaphor used to describe an object, ...

. On October 22, 2017, Costa announced his retirement from the music industry and the end of Smashing Satellites as the result; however, Costa stated that he will still release the upcoming ''White Elephant'' EP as a gift for fans.

Band members

* Salvatore "Sal" Costa – lead vocals, guitarist, piano, songwriter, producer * Mick Valentyne – lead guitar, keyboards, songwriter * Mykey Thomas – drummer, songwriter * Devon Lougheed – rhythm guitar, keyboardist, songwriter

Discography

EPs *''SonicAluzion (A-Side)'' (2014) *''White Elephant (2017)'' Studio albums *'' SonicAluzion'' (2015) Non-album singles *''Gamblin' Man'' (2016) #39

Mainstream Rock Tracks Mainstream Rock is a music chart published by '' Billboard'' magazine that ranks the most-played songs on mainstream rock radio stations in the United States. It is an administrative category that combines the " active rock" and " heritage rock" ...

References

{{Authority control Musical groups from Toronto Musical groups established in 2014 Musical groups disestablished in 2017 2014 establishments in Ontario Canadian hard rock musical groups Canadian post-grunge groups Canadian alternative rock groups Canadian pop music groups