stella - Sound In The Signals Interview
I recently had the opportunity to interview Joey of stella. We discussed an early interest in music, recording their new EP, ‘A Streetcar Named Desire’, lyrical inspiration, the importance of physical releases, and more. Check it out below.
First, thanks for the interview.
Thanks for having us!! We’re stoked.
Can you tell me how you started the band for those who may be unfamiliar with it? How did you initially become interested in music and pursuing it yourself?
So originally, about a year ago I started this project with Joe, just as a two piece, with no real direction except we liked to jam. As we progressed we shared music we liked with each other, I was very into Strictly Ballroom and Jejune at the time, and Joe was into Toru Okada and Pohgoh; it was kind of like two halves meeting a whole. And once we kind of settled into our sound, we realized we probably needed a bassist… hahah. And Logan is one of the most talented guitarists I know… so having him play bass for us is really a treat.
Personally, music has always been huge for me. My dad was huge on the punk rock scene… Minor Threat and Misfits and whatnot… so I was raised on a lot of that genre. My mom enjoyed softer music like Mazzy Star, Cranberries, stuff like that… so it felt like fate to be a part of this scene that feels like a mesh of the two. Music was always there in my life, sometimes people tell me they’re “not into music”… and I’m like, “What??”. It’s so strange to me… not treating music like a necessary part of life... it’s vital. Anyway, my dad bought me my first guitar when I was fourteen, I think, and I got hooked. It was a late start, but once I started I couldn’t stop making song after song, and everything else just fell into my lap.
You recently released your EP ‘A Streetcar Named Desire’. What was the recording process like for the EP?
It was pretty difficult to navigate. We all had conflicting schedules at the time so it took forever to get these songs together, and I’m not a very patient person. I don’t want songs that I make months ago to be a testimony to who I am now, you know? It sounds dramatic when I say it out loud, but I’m practically a different person every day, much less every month. But the songs became sentimental once I overcame my impatience, and putting a piece of myself into the lyrics really tightened the knot. Is that the saying? At any rate, we also had our engineer on the other side of the country, which wasn’t easy, but he was super cool and understanding about it, and we definitely were still able to translate our image of the song with him. Shout out to Josh for basically putting together the entire EP, I don’t think it would’ve sounded HALF as good without him on board. He really understood and loved what we were doing.
I really like “Secondhand”. Will you tell us more about writing that song specifically? What was your lyrical inspiration?
Hey, thanks! I think it was originally in drop C tuning, but I got lazy and only tuned the first three strings and left the rest in standard. But it worked out in my favor, the little harmonic notes sit way nicer. I was listening to a lot of Jejune and Cross My Heart. You can totally hear it.
Lyrically, I tend to write all my songs in a similar fashion, I really want my lyrics to read almost like a poem. This one in particular is about being in an avoidant relationship… it’s a little hard to explain right. It’s basically from the perspective of someone who knows they should be unhappy in their relationship, but they’re too lovestruck to be. You know this person doesn’t love you, but you stay because you want to believe they do… the dichotomy of an arrogant love. Anyway the song name really doesn’t have a lot to do with the song except for the first two lines, we wanted a name and Logan suggested something to do with a clock because of the beginning lyrics, and I thought second hand was a cool innuendo.
Do you have a favorite song from the EP? If so, why?
Damn, that’s honestly really hard for me to say. Streetcar is really fun to play live and I think it was our first song we wrote as a whole, so it’s really sentimental to me. On the other hand (or should I say second hand lol kms) I really like the opening riff for House Rules, it was my first time ever playing a “lead riff” like that (and also in a weird time signature!) and the synth is just awesome.
I saw that you plan to have a physical release for the EP in 2025. Do you have plans for cassettes, CDs, or vinyl? How important is having physical releases to your band?
Yeah!!! This is a fun question. Originally I had planned to release Stella strictly physical, at least for the first couple of months. I still love that idea. Physicals are amazing, anything you can hold in your hands without the support of internet is just awesome. All these big platforms will be archaic and defunct within the decade… physicals last forever (kinda). It’s just so much more intimate. Fuck compression!
We’re working with a few different labels to pump out different kinds… we should have everything except vinyl in January/Feb. I’m really looking forward to making vinyl with Home to Heart. Tate has been super supportive of us from the get-go, so it’s really cool that we’re able to work together on this. We’ve also got Milkcrate on cassettes which is awesome… this whole project just feels like a way to connect with all these awesome friends I’ve met over the years. It’s like a super love baby from all the homies.
Thanks for taking the time to answer the questions. Do you have anything else that you would like to add?
Shout out to Ron from Jean Scene and Jordan for supporting us throughout everything, we’ve had so much help whether it be planning shows or finding somewhere to crash or just fresh ears, I feel very lucky that I know these people. West coast tour coming soon…….. dot dot dot.
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