Josh Sason, in the foreground, and Chris Antonelli performing with Vibes at Temple Beth Am in Merrick on May 26, 2007.

By Chelsie Friedman

Growing up in the Long Island music scene isn’t the easiest thing to do. Just ask Josh Sason of the Merrick-based band Vibes. After eight years of performing, and the recent loss of two members, Sason recollects how he got involved in music. His story isn’t all that unique, starting with the scene of the eccentric ten-year-old playing air guitar with friend and co-founder Chris Antonelli. He laughs as he recounts his youth, perhaps aware of the cliché that great men start on a path when they are young, tracing their greatness back to the time before they had any idea they knew what lay ahead. “It all sprung from there,” he says.

The band got off to its start playing Blink 182 covers, and soon began playing originals. Influenced by The Beatles, Oasis, and Coldplay, Vibes doesn’t necessarily sound like the rest of the Long Island bands out there. “I remember it being a cool scene,” Sason says of Long Island’s yesteryear. However, opinions change. His certainly has. He now finds it hard to connect to audiences and isn’t even sure if people are coming to the shows for the right reasons anymore. There is little that causes the island to stand out anymore, he says. If there is a bright spot on the island, it’s that Envy on the Coast is doing some amazing things, he adds, even if Vibes has never gravitated towards Envy’s musical style.

Recently, Vibes has gone through some major changes in terms of lineup. The band lost its drummer Adam Friedberg as well as bass player Mike Morgan. Sason says that the only time they worked well as a group was while they were playing live shows. “We’d come out of rehearsal with a ton of tension,” he recalls. Sason says he knew from the start that Friedberg wasn’t right for the band, and Morgan had always been more into doing his own thing. That leaves just Sason and Antonelli keeping Vibes alive. Surprisingly, they aren’t actively seeking replacements for the members that the band has lost. Sason wonders if Vibes might even end up just being him alone on stage one day. He makes two things clear to me: he is always going to be creating and writing music, and “Vibes will always be around.”

What does the future hold for Vibes? Sason speaks with confidence. He is proud to say that, musically, Vibes is “vastly different” than before. Instead of writing songs in order to play shows, Sason writes because he believes it’s the most natural thing for him to do. “I don’t even care if these songs get released,” he adds earnestly. Sason continues to explain that he just finished tracking a song about his father - one of the most lyrically personal songs he’s ever written. As the tone of his voice becomes more serious, it makes me even more interested to hear it. “In a couple of weeks,” he goes on, “we’ll be posting some new songs on Myspace.”

For eight years, Vibes has been a part of the Long Island music scene. “People come and go, and people change,” Sason defends. One wonders how long art can be sustained by passion and vision alone, without the dynamic of collaboration.

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