As you’ve probably heard (if you didn’t, just look to your right), Stereos were in town over the weekend, and I thought I would shed some light on their performance.
Wow.
Let me preface this by saying that lead singer Pat was struggling with an extremely sore throat, to the point where he couldn’t even talk to his fans at the meet and greet. It must have helped, as Pat was able to pull off a great vocal performance while on stage. When I checked them out at Wakestock and even as Katy Perry’s openers, they were rocking dingy sports jerseys and stale kicks. I can safely give them an Armani-worthy passing grade with their all-black attire, ranging from fitted shirts to leather jackets; their new style is sleek, clean, and is no more obvious than their latest video, Turn It Up (iTunes link).
I got the opportunity to chat with Aaron of the super-pop group about their insanely rapid rise to success, what they’ve done so far, and how they could possibly make it any bigger for themselves. Oh, and this all happened in a tiny closet backstage while we stood about three feet from a toilet. You know, in case that matters.
Eggplante: Last time we chatted was Wakestock! That was a pretty long time ago! You guys were pre-album, pre-Throw Ya Hands Up, just barely post-disBand. I mean, what the hell happened?
Aaron: Yeah, Stereos fever! I don’t know man, it’s like H1N1 and SARS gave birth to Stereos!
E: But people like this infection! So I mean, what’s next?
A: Well, hopefully people stay infected. The next is the world. We just found out that Summer Girl is going to Australia. Which is funny enough because, for us, Winter is Summer for them. In January, they’re like Summer Girl is just in time for Summer in Australia, and we’re like ‘that’s six and a half months from now!’. So that’s pretty cool and hopefully we’ll get to go out there. We’re going to go Stateside in January which is gonna be a lot of fun- we haven’t announced anything in terms of dates and such but February and March hopefully we’ll be there, but then of course the Hedley tour picks up in March and we’re going to be there and that brings us to festival season again. Hopefully we’ll do the festivals again with a better spot; a couple more people know who we are, so then we’ll just go from there.
E: I want to make a prediction; are you guys heading out to the Indie Awards this year?
A: Yes.
E: Well, I don’t want to Jinx it, but my prediction is that you sweep the Indies. Like even for Best New Female Vocalist.
A: Well, we’ve got Pat, right? We’re a shoo-in for that, if anything, right?
E: What are you plans for that?
A: I don’t know; at this point, we haven’t solidified everything. We have so much up in the air for the next six to nine [months] so it’s really hard to make concrete plans with the exception of the Hedley. You know, the Hedley plans were the only ones we signed on for sure, because that was kind of a no-brainer. So with everything else, its a crap shoot, and it’s like ‘should we be working on something else a little bit more?’
E: What are the inspirations no for you? I mean, forgetting people like Frank Sinatra, but rather current bands. Like Owl City or Lights or other Underground Operations bands.
A: Ooooh, Owl City. Uhh, Postal Service? Owl City I wish had just stuck to listening to Postal Service instead of making Postal Service, but that’s neither here nor there.
E: Not a fan, eh?
A: Not really, to be honest. But right now, I’m listening to… [pulls out phone to look up his latest downloads] … I just got the new Snoop Dogg single, and it’s quite good. The new Ludacris single as well is awesome, always listening to Taylor Swift…
E: Congratulations on the new video by the way. You know, just to throw that in the middle of everything!
A: Yeah! Thanks, that was pretty col!
E: You know, that wasn’t a faked crowd; that was a pretty massive crowd!
A: Oh no, right at the very very end, they do the crane shot all the way to the back and it was at Circa and it was just packed. It was shocking; we were really, really, really excited. A lot of fun; nice to kind of dress a little bit nicer, everyone kind of had a thing.
E: So that brings me to something; I kinda figured out when you got your first paycheck, because I noticed you guys went from jerseys to leather jackets! Today, I saw you guys all lined up in leather jackets and professionally-distressed hoodies, as opposed to having them from 1997 or something.
A: I’m not gonna say that we haven’t bought a couple of clothes. We like duds. We like the finer things in life. So definitely bought a couple new pairs of shoes and a jacket or two. Like nine jackets, maybe. We like that kind of 50s greaser style.
E: It works for you guys; I could see you all as the T-Birds from Grease.
A: Dude. T-Birds, that’s perfect. You said the right thing there!
E: Who’s Zuko, though? I’d want to say Dan.
A: I’d want to say Dan, but I would actually say Robb. Robb would be Zuko. And Pat’s Rizzo. Or Sandy. See, Robb was a Pink Lady, but he dyed his hair black, so he jumped to the T-Birds.
E: So with this big jump into stardom, do you ever feel like, ‘okay, hold on, I just need to like, take a break, go to the bathroom, just relax a bit.’?
A: For about eight seconds of every day, you’re just like ‘it would be nice to have a shower’ or ‘someone give a brother a moist towelette’, but dude, we signed up for this. We’ve all worked forever and ever and ever to get here so you can’t complain. Ever. And if you ever catch yourself in those eight seconds of sombre mood, you really snap out of it fast because at the end of it, I’m not working at Steve’s music anymore which I couldn’t be happier about, so there you go.
E: Okay, so let’s go to the crazy questions that Eggplante always asks; what is the definitive answer on peanut butter or nutella?
A: Oh, nutella.
E: Oh wow, just like that. Not even peanut butter and then nutella on top of it?
A: You know, like chunky peanut butter, maybe, but then you got that whole chocolate-peanut butter conflict and Reese’s are the only ones that actually do that well and people butchered it a million times. It’s a battle of the nuts, really.
E: Why do we always end up talking about nuts?
A: You know, just inevitable. Inevitability.
E: Listen, thanks a lot man! It’s always great chatting with you guys.
A: Thanks!
The interview was a blast and there is actually a lot more (really funny) stuff in the audio that you haven’t read above! So check it out below and enjoy the photos from the show!
EggplanteInterviewsStereos1209.mp3 [8.7MB, MP3 Audio]
Also, make sure to follow the band on Twitter (@wearestereos), and of course follow Eggplante (@eggplante) for the latest updates. Up next: Interviews with The Artist Life and The Midway State. Stay tuned!
Did you expect there not to be a crowd? For Stereos?