I was lucky enough last week to catch a mid-travel interview with rock band The Stews on their way down to Orlando before bouncing back to Jacksonville to play Underbelly on March 7th. Due to an unfortunate glitch with Zoom, I had to hand-take the notes from the conversation, meaning there are some crossovers between members of the band when speaking, and some conversations might not be word for word, but they’re pretty accurate for someone having to type as fast as he could.
What inspires you to make your art?
We all just have a really, we’ve all loved rock music since a young age, and we were all blessed to have parents that showed us good music, y’know we all played instruments for a long time, i think it was during the very beginning of covid when everything got shut down, we were all in college at different places, we ended up coming together in atlanta for a jam session, started writing songs and because the whole world was shut down at that point, it was really the only thing to do, so we just went elbows deep and loved the process and started playing shows immediately after that.
What kind of auditory background are you guys coming from?
Differs for everybody in the band, we all like classic rock, Bennet was a huge beatles band, I was really big on allman brothers, blake was like rolling stones and grateful dead, and wyatt was all like old stuff, we all kinda come together with classic rock, kinda discovered writing music and the feeling that gives you to create your own stuff.
Did the isolation of Covid have any other impacts on your work?
Maybe not the sound specifically, cause like, we weren’t really writing the isolation, to be fair we didn’t feel the isolation like anybody else did, cause not only were we in the south which neglected covid, but we had like each other, we went to atlanta, everyone had their friends that were back in town, I wouldn’t say it affected the sound, but it gave us time all day every day to refine our music.
Did you ever have a really difficult or rough show?
We had a show, we went to the west coast for the first time over the summer, it was a lot of new markets for us, and we started playing in the southeast and the east coast and we historically do better there, we had some shows on the west coast with definitely smaller crowds, what comes to mind is a show where we played to like, ten people, but it’s like still fun, yknow its like paid practice, and for the people that were there it’s like an intimate experience, not necessarily a bad thing,
Some of the smaller shows are very fun, we’ve definitely had some of those, we can all agree though our worst show of all time was at a grad party in auburn, it was just rough man, we had all dranken a little too much, especially wyatt, whose yknow, all the time has a great time of keeping time, as the drummer never loses time or the beat, but at that specific show, we had kinda crossed the threshold… hahah… it was rough, it was rough, at least it was a high school grad party and it wasn’t a ticketed show…
And it was like a very early show in our career, so we got that out of the way.
On a more positive note, do you have a show you all remember fondly?
I feel like everybody has their own shows that really resonate, i think back to 9/30 club in DC, that’s all our favorite venue that we like to play at, always an electric crowd at, I mean like DC’s a lot of fun.
Sometimes, I feel like we all enjoy playing ticketed shows, we’ve got to go to some amazing venues, but also there’s been a few frat parties or private events, and there’s this moments where you realize it doesn’t matter where you’re playing for, it’s the magic of the music…
Our first ever show was for a high school grad, and we played for a grad party, such a unique experience, did more than one John Mellowcamp song
I think a lot of times, especially with us, we’ll have these like 2-3 shows that are exciting, but nothing out of the ordinary, and maybe we’ll have a show at a venue or a big city that we really get amped about, and oftentimes the more pressure you put on yourself to make it a big show because it’s a big venue, oftentimes you just get in your own head, and sometimes we’ll have a really hot show at a 500-600 person venue, and we’ll get all excited but the small show is more fun.
Odd question, but how were your shows in Louisiana?
We like louisiana, we played a couple places in Baton rouge and New Orleans, we played tippatinas in New Orleans, which is a really nice spot, me personally, not speaking for the rest of the band, I’m not as crazy for new orleans as it seems like a lot of people are, but as far as shows and stuff they’ve been really enjoyable.
You guys seen any crazy things on the road?
I don’t know where to start. One time we were at the gas station, we were at a bathroom and the first person to go in, and he went out and said, yall gotta go in- heathers was like this dude having a demonic possession in the stall, it was such like a low decibel, he was summoning something man. He was possessed.
We got robbed twice in 24hrs.
We always see a trailer of cattle and go crazy. We’ve got this video of Blake’s dog freaking out at a cow haha.
Any advice for fledgling bands out there?
Write music, have confidence, take confidence and originality, you can make excuses for yourself, people would like us if we were like this band or that band, no ones gonna complain if you sound original.
Favorite city you’ve toured?
I like Chicago a lot. I loved Chicago, one of my favorite cities, I think in our history, New York City, it’s always super stressful while were there, but looking back it’s always some adventure trying to get in and out of the city.
We brought a trailer, and we got into a fender bender and two of us are getting a hot dog and two of us are looking at the car.
Future plans?
We are currently working on a new album, we spent all of february in the studio, writing and recording, and really excited about that, we’ve been on this “Chickenfight tour” playing the same songs for a year and a half, almost two years, we loved the songs and the album and the catalogue we’ve got, but I think any artist would agree, that once you shift to the new stuff that’s where the focus goes to.