Since
the outset of the Digital Age in the early ‘90s and its exponential growth
during the 21st century, the music industry has experienced a
parallel transition into a prominently digital existence. Numerous methods for recording,
releasing, and promoting music have grown out of this increased comprehension
of digital media. While a substantial number of artists still choose to record
to analog and press to vinyl, it is now an aesthetic and sonic choice rather
than a necessity. The Digital Age has at once caused a simultaneous advantage
and disadvantage for musicians everywhere; surely it is easier to record and
release music, but that means more and more bands are competing for listeners
on a much larger scale than ever before.
For bands that have
existed for a number of years, this is not really an issue, since their fan
base has been established through extensive touring, regular releases, and
cultivated media presence. However, bands just starting out in their local
scene have the odds highly stacked against them. New musicians are a dime a
dozen, and so a fresh band must do everything they can to distinguish
themselves from the myriad of groups that came before. It can be tough, but
true effort to put a band on the map can yield fantastic results.
My
life in the music industry has, up to this point, been spent largely on the
periphery. While I’ve been playing music for nearly a decade and have played
with close friends in garages and basements, sadly the prospect of joining a
legitimate band has evaded me, so far. Despite this, several friends of mine
have started bands and gone on to tour with groups that inspired their own
playing, and I’ve had the absolute pleasure of seeing them flourish. While some
have since disbanded or gone on obscure hiatuses, more appear in their place
like heads of a Hydra. Two bands in particular are the focus of this light
exposé.
The
first in this pair is Stratosphere Giant, a band hailing from Fair Haven, MA
playing a brand of metal known widely as “stoner metal”. Their name is derived
from a tree in Humboldt Redwoods State Park bearing the same title, at one
point believed to be the tallest tree in the world. Owing largely to
progenitors of metal like Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin and the like, stoner
metal is equal parts psychedelic and heavy, hence the genre’s moniker. In the
interview that follows, conducted on September 25th, 2015, deep in
the woods on the outskirts of BSU campus, I spoke with Colin Pilkington and
Matt Tapper, the guitarist and bassist of Stratosphere Giant:
***Note: The interview’s transcription
holds inaccuracies due to it being recorded via voice memos through an iPhone.
I have endeavored to transcribe as closely to recording as possible without
unnecessary revisions.
Jared:
What’s up everybody, I’m here with Colin Pilkington, the guitarist for
Stratosphere Giant, and his pal Matt Tapper, the bassist for Stratosphere
Giant. They’re pretty cool kids. I guess the first question would be: what made you want to play music in the
first place and what bands have had the most influence on your playing since
then, over the years?
Colin:
Do you want me to go first?
Matt:
Yeah go ahead. Ladies first, my friend. (All three laugh)
Colin:
For me, hanging out with my grandpa. I used to hang out with my grandpa a lot
when I was a kid and he showed me, like, Chuck Berry, and Buddy Holly, and the
Beatles, classic rock, stuff like that. So like that, when I was 14, made me
want to pick up the guitar. Bands that have since influenced me… Queens of the
Stone Age is a huge one.
Jared:
Absolutely.
Colin:
Jack White, his solo career but like, anything he’s involved in really. The
Melvins of late have been a really big influence on my playing.
Jared:
I feel like I need to get into the Melvins. Like I’ve seen pictures of… I don’t
know if he’s the main dude in the Melvins but he just has ridiculous hair.
Colin:
King Buzzo.
Matt:
Yeah.
Colin:
Dude, he plays like, steel guitars. That’s what gives him the crazy sound.
Jared:
That’s awesome.
Colin:
Black Sabbath too is a huge influence, Black Sabbath and Black Flag. Those are
sort of the two.
Matt:
Of course.
Colin:
But yeah, that’s sort of my playing.
Matt:
I’m more of a Brown Sabbath kind of guy. (All laugh)
Jared: I still have to check them out too, I’ve
heard of them. They’re nuts.
Matt:
I always listened to music with my dad when I was younger. He introduced me to
like, Pink Floyd, Jimi Hendrix, Black Sabbath, like all sorts of old, fuckin’
awesome music. Nowadays I mostly listen to stoner metal or other crazy shit,
like Electric Wizard, Sleep. I’ve always just been drawn to that bass sound.
Jared:
That’s why I’m trying to get into more of that stuff, and also why Pallbearer
blows my mind.
Matt:
Oh man, they’re fucking awesome. I listen to them at least twice every week,
just ‘cause we play it at work.
Jared:
Alright, question number two: How did
the band come together, in the first place?
Colin:
Well, Matt and I have always been jamming together since we were like 14 or 15
when we first picked up our guitars, but the band that was Tyler and Justin,
our lead singer and drummer, have been playing together for the past two years.
They had a lineup change; they dropped their previous lead singer and their
bassist. They were looking for a rhythm guitarist and a bassist, so that’s where
Matt and I came in.
Jared:
Nice, so you fit the bill almost immediately.
Colin:
Yeah, pretty much.
Matt:
And it’s been downhill since then. (Laughs)
Colin:
Exactly. (Laughs also)
Jared:
Really?
Colin
& Matt: No! (All laugh)
Jared:
Question number three: how was playing
your first show at No Problemo (Mexican restaurant in New Bedford) opening for High
‘N Heavy?
Matt: It was fuckin’ awesome.
Colin: Yeah. (Both laugh).
Matt: People loved us, more people showed up for us
than High ‘N Heavy.
Jared: Really?
Colin: Yeah, well Matt works at No Prob, so.
Matt: Everyone knew about it, so they came to show
support.
Jared:
So you promo’d the crap out of it obviously. You were like “yeah guys I have a
band, come see it or I won’t serve you burritos.”
Colin: Exactly. It was really cool; we played like
five or six songs.
Matt: Yeah I think it was six. Everyone seemed to be
pretty into it.
Colin:
No huge mistakes were made musically; we all were pretty on point, other than
Matt being near the bathroom, standing next to the shitter. (Laughs)
Matt:
People just walking by and I’m like, “Alright cool, not playing bass or
anything. Don’t mind me.” But I liked it.
Colin:
Other than that it was pretty cool.
Jared:
How many people would you say were in that place watching you play?
Matt:
I’d say maybe, thirty or forty?
Colin:
Yeah, between thirty or forty.
Jared:
That’s not bad for a band’s first legit show. I’ve been to smaller shows.
Colin:
We invited more people than the ones that came, unfortunately.
Matt:
That’s alright, it’s only one show.
Jared:
Question number four, do you have any
releases planned for the near future and beyond?
Colin:
As it stands right now, we recorded two songs recently.
Matt:
Our “supa hot mixtape” is comin’ out soon. (Laughs)
Colin: Mid- to end of October it’ll be out. It’s our
songs “Sex Magician” and “Big Blue”.
Jared: Wasn’t Sex Magician the name of the band
before?
Colin: Prior to Stratosphere Giant it was.
Matt: I feel like it should’ve stayed that way, but.
(Laughs)
Colin:
We had several other names floating around that I wish we used, but
Stratosphere Giant we all kind of settled on. We liked the name anyways.
Jared:
I dig it too, I think it fits.
Matt:
It’s because we’re just so big. (All
laugh)
Colin:
(To Matt) What were the other names floating around? Solar Witch?
Matt:
Something with a rocket ship or something, I forget what it was.
Colin:
Yup, there was a rocket one. Sin Lizard, which I really liked. That one was my
personal favorite.
Jared: You should have a song at least called “Sin
Lizard”, that’d be awesome.
Colin: Absolutely, hopefully at the Halloween show
we’ll have free CDs for everybody.
Jared: Nice, I’m onto that. ***
The
regret I harbor for missing their show with High ‘N Heavy is deep. Apparently
that band’s front man dresses as a wizard and wields a microphone stand made to
look like a magical staff. That combined with the psychedelic nature of the
music probably made for a visually stunning performance. Listening to
Stratosphere Giant gives great credence to Colin and Matt’s words. The
influence of Black Sabbath is apparent in “Big Blue”, with a clean guitar intro
leading the listener into a wall of sound once all the members kick in. At just
over six minutes in length, it crosses the spectrum of heavy to light with
heavy and fast, dark and stomping riffs and ethereal clean interludes; all the
ingredients to make a stellar stoner metal band.
Switching
gears to a much lighter sound, the band Self Titled is one I’m also close to.
Comprised of multi-instrumentalists Glynnis Brennan, Jess Gromada, and Ali
Ajemian, they come from Walpole, MA and play a brand of angst-filled
alternative that is catchy yet deep. I sat down with Glynnis and Jess, and
their cat Binks, in their living room to discuss influences and the status of
the band:
Jared: How
long have you guys been a band?
Glynnis: Officially? That’s a really good question.
Jess: We started the band three years ago.
Jared: Wow, I did not expect that!
Glynnis:
Yeah, as Patella Talk, that was our initial name. We had another member, she’s
gone now. Her name was Kayla; we wanted to name the band “Kicking Out Kayla”
(Whispers “Off the Record).
Jared:
Sadly that is technically on the record. (Laughs)
Jess:
We just did covers then, though. This is the first year we actually wrote our
own songs, so this is the real deal.
Glynnis:
We were then Hip City, and now we’re Self Titled.
Jared:
I love the band title, I think it’s awesome. What made you originally want to play music, and what bands have had
the most influence on your playing?
Glynnis:
Well, I was just a baby when I wanted to; I’ve always wanted to do music. Green
Day probably was the first band that I really loved, still love them. In my
bones I feel them. Panic! At the Disco is my favorite band, Paramore, Pvris too
has made me even more. ‘Cause she’s (Lyndsey Gunnulfsen, lead singer of Pvris)
a little baby and she’s from Boston. (Laughs) Anyway, go on.
Jess:
Well, when I first heard Paramore when I was eleven, and then they were my
favorite band ever since. So yeah, that’s what made start to like music.
Jared:
I feel eleven is where…
Glynnis:
It all starts.
Jared:
That’s when I got into metal and everything.
Jess:
Basically what I did was, I watched Josh Farro (former guitarist for Paramore)
play the guitar in a bunch of live videos jus over and over and then I started
copying him. And that’s what made me like it.
Jared:
‘Cause he is just a master of melody and song-building.
Glynnis:
(To Jess) I think you’re leaving out a really important influence on your
musical style.
Jess:
What, N’Sync?
Glynnis:
No, The Jonas Brothers!
Jess:
Oh! I was a HUGE Jonas Brothers fan. (Laughs)
Jared:
How did you guys meet Ali, and how did Self Titled happen?
Jess:
So, I met Ali, she was my tennis team when I was a senior in high school. She
brought a ukulele to practice one day, and then I brought mine, and we realized
we could both play instruments. And then I basically befriended her and then…
Glynnis:
Well she was friends with our friends, and then we became actual friends with
Ali and then we would all just bring our instruments to our hangouts. We would
be those kids that would just play
music while everybody else is doing other shit.
Jess:
Everyone would leave.
Glynnis:
In the beginning people loved it, but then it got too much and everyone would
leave. But we would just be sitting by the fire playing songs.
Jess:
Our big song that we used to play every night was “Cough Syrup” by Young the
Giant.
Glynnis:
We KILLED that.
Jess:
I think that was what brought us together as a band. But then we played an open
mic at the high school, and that was the first time we actually played in front
of people, in front of a crowd.
Glynnis:
I’m glad that I went though, ‘cause imagine where we would be now. I was at
work, I had to pretend I was sick to get out of work to go to that.
Jared:
Is Self Titled gonna remain a
three-piece, or are you looking for other members to enter the fold?
Glynnis:
That is a really good question, because Ali is very dead set on it just being us. And we’re just like…I don’t
know.
Jess:
I’m very open to more members, because Ali and I play the guitar for acoustic
videos. But when we play live, she’s probably the drums so we don’t really know
how we’re going to fill in those other pieces.
Jared:
And that gets into I you’re even going to play live. Are there plans to do live shows in the future? I feel like you
mostly have a pretty strong internet presence for a fairly young band. There’s
a bunch of covers and original songs on the internet.
Glynnis:
Definitely more online stuff, obviously. Because, you know, that’s a thing.
Jared:
Yeah that’s kind of how it is, now.
Jess:
It’s hard because Ali is in a different place than us, so online is how we
release stuff because it’s the only way we can when we aren’t together.
Glynnis:
Ideally, that’s what I want to do (I.e., playing shows).
Jess:
We’ve been talking about it, we might some connections in New York. We’ve been
talking about reaching out to different people that are musicians in the area
and just seeing what happens. The only thing is, I don’t have the equipment
right now.
Jared:
That’s my struggle, too. Live equipment is so expensive, and it’s hard to find
the appropriate equipment that’s going to fit how you play.
Glynnis:
And you have to learn how to do it.
Jared:
Exactly, you have to be a gearhead to actually get into it.
Glynnis:
Ideally, that’s what we want to do.
Glynnis
and Jess’ words reflect the concerns of every young band trying to establish
itself. Instruments, amplifiers, effects pedals, and anything else needed for
live playing can be extremely expensive as well as difficult to manage. It all
depends on the determination of the band to see their dreams to fruition. I’m
especially lucky to be able to see these two bands as starlings, so that I can
follow their journeys as a loyal fan and be inspired by the hard work and
genuine love for music. Stratosphere Giant and Self Titled, though very
different, show that it does not matter what you sound like; the desire to be
heard is felt in every musician.
