An interview with Stereo Off

An interview with Stereo Off

What inspired the name of the band? What are your influences?

When we started, we took a list of band name submissions from all the members and voted on them. Our influences are Post-Punk, Darkwave, oldschool UK D&B, Indie and dance genres, and we like to mash all of those together as we see fit.

How do you approach songwriting? Are there any themes that you are keen to explore when you start off?

Many times we start with a demo from Sebastian or Niall that’s pretty fleshed-out, and then we retrack some things live and iterate the from there. It’s very rare that we write lyrics before melody and so often the mood of the music is driving the theme. The music itself and the overall production creates the general feeling, and lyrics paint the details in and complete the world we’re living in that moment. Often these become themes of love and soul-searching, against the backdrop of urban technocracy.

How do you approach songwriting? Are there any themes that you are keen to explore when you start off?

Many times we start with a demo from Sebastian or Niall that’s pretty fleshed-out, and then we retrack some things live and iterate the from there. It’s very rare that we write lyrics before melody and so often the mood of the music is driving the theme. The music itself and the overall production creates the general feeling, and lyrics paint the details in and complete the world we’re living in that moment. Often these become themes of love and soul-searching, against the backdrop of urban technocracy.

Why do you write the sort of music that you do?

Sometimes it is pure obsession, but mostly we just want to make interesting music that is a shared experience and connection with others. Overall, this is driven by the desire to express ourselves and create a cinematic world to exist in and share with other kindred spirits. Plus, making people dance just feels really good as well. It is fulfilling to create experiences people can enjoy.

How do you decide what songs to perform live and how do you transpose them into that live setting?

We try to play all of our songs live but we’ll only focus on songs that fit the overall vibe or journey through the set that we want to take you on during that show. When we work through a live version we’ll choose the most impactful lead parts for each of us; the core of the song, and then we’ll shift supporting parts to the backing track, while other parts may get removed altogether for the live version. A club or concert venue is a totally different sound than other devices and environments, so changes are made to create a similar vibe in a completely different audio space.

How do you decide what songs to perform live and how do you transpose them into that live setting?

We try to play all of our songs live but we’ll only focus on songs that fit the overall vibe or journey through the set that we want to take you on during that show. When we work through a live version we’ll choose the most impactful lead parts for each of us; the core of the song, and then we’ll shift supporting parts to the backing track, while other parts may get removed altogether for the live version. A club or concert venue is a totally different sound than other devices and environments, so changes are made to create a similar vibe in a completely different audio space.

What plans do you have for the future?

We’ve just releases the first single “Runnin” from this new LP, and the second single “Fireblood” is set to drop in December.
We’ll keep releasing tracks from the album as we begin work on new music videos, and hopefully a live streaming concert in the next few months. We also like to write for film scoring and are almost done with the title song for a new web series revenge-thriller debuting soon, from our friends at Deviant Children Productions (who directed our “Sunsetting” video from our previous EP which you can see at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDB415jl6AA). A couple of us are also avid gamers and so we’d love to finally get into scoring and sound design in the videogame space as well. Right now it’s all about these two singles and the new releases to follow, as we blaze our way through this pandemic.