A Thousand Years at Sea began as a creative outlet for Colin Cotter and Ethan Lewis to explore their contemporary American songwriting in relation to their backgrounds in Celtic music. Colin met Neil Pearlman in New York City, and a few jam sessions later, the band was born – ATYAS takes Colin and Ethan's songs and layers them with fiddle, guitar, piano, mandolin, and percussion, integrating Celtic, rock, Americana, and instrumental improvisation into an original and cohesive new sound. The Sacramento News Review enjoyed their album, Silver Shores Await, saying, "They blend Celtic rock, jazz, and folk into something sweet and subtle," and the Holbrooke Hotel raved about the band, calling them "A MUST SEE."

Ethan grew up playing classical violin, but along the way fell in love with Celtic music and other fiddle styles. His virtuosic playing is both lyrical and rhythmic, bringing an infectious energy to audiences. Known for his inventive and intricate tune writing, he has always enjoyed composing, and over time this passion grew to include songwriting as well. Colin is a multi-instrumentalist who began fiddling at an early age as part of his family tradition in Finnish fiddle music, and eventually dove into Scottish fiddling. He is a self-taught guitarist, mixing influences from around the world, and his emotive songwriting bridges the gaps between American and Celtic folk, and rock. Neil's unique piano style is based in Cape Breton traditional music, but draws heavily from many other genres, including jazz, funk, and Latin music, creating an exciting new sound that remains true to its traditional roots. ATYAS often currently performs with percussionist, Isaac James, whose strong background in African drumming traditions as well as funk, jazz, and rock bring a lot of drive and energy to the mix.