After a Decade, Sovereign Sect Shelves the Beats

Fargo has had no shortage of musical talent come and go over the years. The musical scene in the area caters to any number of genres from folk to hip hop to metal. As far as electronic dance music (or EDM for the hip youth) is concerned, hardly a group has made more of a name for itself around here than Sovereign Sect. In fact, this marks their third or fourth appearance in this publication, not to mention being featured in Fargo Monthly. However, after about ten years of delivering EDM to the Fargo night life, the members of Sovereign Sect have decided to shelve the beats after one final show at the ever-popular Aquarium.

“This is the shortest, sweetest answer I can give you. It’s just time,” Seth Holden, the drum player for the group told me during our interview. “We all still love each other, there’s no hard feelings, it’s just time.” Seth is one of the four current members of the band, along with Chris Patano doing scratch work, Alex Schaleben on hand percussion and synth tones, and Lucas Petz as the main DJ.

The group had originally started as a full band with two drum kits. Its lineup included Dylan Marcus of the bands Gypsy Foot and Communist Daughter on bass, Aaron Peterson of NWBPN on guitar, Chris Shoemaker on keyboard, and Joe McCully of Gypsy Foot and Kind Country. In the summer of 2009, Dylan and Marcus moved to Minneapolis. Seth said at first the remaining members tried to find out how to play music with solely a laptop for beats and drums, but eventually settled on their current lineup in 2010.

Besides just playing in Fargo, North Dakota, Sovereign Sect has toured as far south as Kansas, as far east as Chicago, and as far west as Idaho. “We’ve mellowed out on touring the last couple of years,” Seth said. The group has also gotten their music released through Daily City Records in San Francisco, allowing them to get listeners on a national level. Their music has evolved a lot over time, like EDM in general, which Seth says is a genre with a very high turnaround.

Being to all those locations in the last several years has given Seth a number of great (and not so great) memories of playing with the band. He said that the high of their music career had to be a Halloween 2012 performance at Johnson’s Barn in Arthur. “The crowd was packed with people of all ages and we went til 5 in the morning.” He also fondly remembered when the group opened for Big Gigantic at the now-closed Venue. The low? Seth chuckled and said that it was a tour in Moscow, Idaho, which he called “laughable”. “They didn’t know what they were getting,” he said. In the whole time the band was in the town, they only sat in the hotel room, played at the venue, and got some bagels at a bagel shop.

Sovereign Sect plans to go out with a bang during their last performance, with artists from other groups, including projects Sect’s own band members are in, sitting in with the group during the performance. Among these groups are members of local band Human Element, the performer Chuck Wayne from Minneapolis, and the band Cold Sweat from Minot. Overall it’s shaping up to be a very eventful evening at the Aquarium (but aren’t they usually?).

When Sovereign Sect announced on their Facebook page last November that they were calling it quits, there were any number of fans leaving comments expressing their disappointment at the breakup and letting them know just how much they loved their music. During our interview, Seth told me that fans of Sovereign Sect could lay their fears to rest because the members of the band will still be pursuing their other musical projects. Seth said he would still be performing with Human Element as well as D Millz and the Thrillz, both very popular local acts. Alex and Chris will go on to perform in a project called Up n’Out. Alex will also be performing in his own solo project called Trebellion. Chris will also be performing his own solo project as well as pursuing a duo musical project with Eric Johanson aka “Kiddo,” called Tan & Popular. That handful of ongoing projects should be enough to keep any fan of Sovereign Sect from losing too much sleep.

So remember, if you’re in the mood to dance and want to help one of Fargo’s premier Dubstep acts put on a great final performance before they part their separate ways, make sure to clear your schedule for Sovereign Sect at the Aquarium.

IF YOU GO:

Sovereign Sect’s farewell show

Saturday, February 4, 8:30-howling

The Aquarium, 226 N Broadway, Fargo