Stereo Decade are straight-out-of-the-traps, fresh-faced and up for the challenge of putting some youthful zeal back into music. From Upminster, Essex, they are Jonny Romain (vocals/guitar), Joe Harvey-Whyte (guitar, vocals), Joe Porter (piano, vocals) and Ben Bashi (appropriately named, since he plays the drums, vocals).
All 18 years old, they’re straight out of sixth-form, with university plans gleefully on hold as they take their sunshine-drenched, indie rock out to the world, starting with new single ‘Slow Down’.
Their sound has been likened by many to The Who, with a dash of The Kooks 60s flavoured shimmy, and a sprinkling of that Kings of Leon magic, whilst retaining the vitality of your smarter-than-the-average band in their teens, like early McFly – who they have already opened for in front of 6,000 people.
The foursome met at school, in the same A Level Music Class. What began as a casual afternoon jam would turn out to be the most important moments of their lives. They never planned for it to turn into a band this quickly – their early repertoire featured a song from every genre – a reggae song, a power ballad and so on. They rehearsed the songs in a 25p an hour studio (yes, it does really happen at Forest Gate Youth Centre), recorded them at MusicTek, Dagenham and stuck them on MySpace. Then, for the laugh as much as anything else, they decided to play at a charity concert in the school assembly hall, and were more than a little shocked to find 250 of their classmates screaming along. “We were like, ‘what did we do?”
It was then that the four friends decided they should take the band a little more seriously and, united by a joint admiration for artists like Kings Of Leon, Blink 182 and Daft Punk, decided to try and gather those influences into something of their own. “We all listen to absolutely everything,” says Jonny, “but we’re united by recognising when a tune is a tune.”
They took their name while clearing out Jonny’s basement to make their rehearsal space, and came across a battered old ghetto blaster that was falling apart –a stereo, decayed. They also thought there might be some deeper significance about the 90s being the decade they grew up in, until it was pointed out to them that ghetto blasters came along in the 80s. They went with it anyway because it sounded cool.
Fate continued with an audition for a Raw Talent competition at a local youth centre. “We managed to reach the final of two Battles Of The Bands on the same day” remembers Joe. They got through the first one in the afternoon and then that night they won another one, winning an amp and £200 of record vouchers. A proper career was finally in their reach, playing every gig that came their way until they were taken on by their management on the day of their first ever show in London, at the Dry Bar, to a crowd of friends and family. Yes, it can still happen like that! “It’s got to the point now where people say ‘what do you do for work?” and I can say I’m a musician. It’s pretty major.”
Stereo Decade come armed with a collection of songs that ideally sum up what it’s like to be 18 years old in modern Britain, something that Joe Harvey-Whyte reasons is “not a bad life, when you think about it.” With major lyric writer Jonny going through a particularly unpleasant relationship in the band’s formative days, their early songs were “mainly just about slating her…ha ! but now I write about more everyday stuff, about just having turned 18.”
‘Train Ride’ is simply and brilliantly “about sitting on a train, taking ages and you just want to get to the place you want to get to,” not immediately the most startling subject matter for a song, until you hear its dashing observations picking off disparate elements of modern Britain – trouble at the station, bickering couples and, ultimately the longing for the girl he’s going to visit.
Their debut single, out on Mon October 26th through Medical Records (Universal), is the charmingly epic ‘Slow Down’. “It’s about a girl, you really like her but she’s just being a bit full on ‘back off’. You might have a girlfriend at the time, and you might really like her, but it’s like, I’m loving the attention, but whoahhh ... please back off.”
Having such an enviable love life might have something to do with the pleasures that come with being in a hotly-tipped young rock band, but Stereo Decade, although they all have it in them to be bad boys, are keen to point out that your average teenager is just trying to get by in a country that’s given up on them. Says Ben: “We want to show people, both young and old, that we’ve something to contribute”
And as Joe Porter points out, “and we want teenagers to be a part of what we’re doing. We’ve already drafted in 19yr old, Producer, Oliver Som to record alongside Matt Hyde (Slipknot, Gallows, Fightstar, Bullet FMV) and we’re getting others to help out with Street Teams, designs and gigs”.
So with the world at their feet, a single ready to go, a headline tour for October (in association with the Teenage Cancer Trust and Gibson Guitars) and a growing army of followers, the stage is set for Stereo Decade to have a very busy 2010. Thankfully they’re well up for it – not to them protestations of ‘making the music we like and if anyone else likes it that’s a bonus’. They’re refreshingly honest when asked how they want all this to pan out.
Collectively, as a band, they want success, but in their own way and on their own terms.In their words “We want to create something that lasts”.
Dan Martin
Trashed Management:
Ian Rendall - ian@trashedmanagement.com
Sophia Lyons - sophia@trashedmanagement.com
National Plugging:
Neil Ashby - battashby@mac.com
Regional PR:
Momentum PR:
Mandy Crompton - mandy@momentumpr.co.uk
Nola Kinna - nola@momentumpr.co.uk
Regional Plugging TV & Radio:
Hart Media:
Jo Hart - jo@hartmedia.co.uk
Toby Opperman - toby@hartmedia.co.uk
Medical Records:
Adam Perry - adam.medical@mac.com
www.medicalmusic.uk.com
Legal:
Harbottle & Lewis
Anne Crompton - anne.crompton@harbottle.com
Band chat:
MSN / Band Email: stereodecade@hotmail.co.uk
Street Team:
Email: sdstreetteam@hotmail.co.uk
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