Can you give us a little background information about yourselves?
First of all – thank you very much for your invitation for the interview! We are STEREOTIDE from Germany – a four-piece band with the members Stephan (vocals and guitar), Chris (guitar and background vocals), Gabriel (bass and background vocals) and Raffy (drums).
What was the process by which you got into playing music?
Music has been in our blood since childhood. Even then, no matter when and where music was to be heard, you had to sing along, play along or play the drums. Then one thing led to another: Music groups inside and outside of school, the first bands, the first gigs, the first recordings in the recording studio – and from time to time it was more fun.
How did Stereotide begin?
Oh yes, we can still remember the start of Stereotide very clearly. It was Stephan (singer and frontman), who – after we all knew each other for some time – got everything going: We were all still in different bands, also very great bands. Suddenly he called us all, and the first person he called was Chris. But he didn’t let him finish and shouted “YES!” into the phone. After that everything was clear – the others were of course also in, and so the journey of Stereotide started.
Find Someone was released in April. What has the reception been for that release?
We had the great honor to release our song together with the team of A&R Worldwide in the US. Sat, Monte, Joe, Tyler, William are really awesome, and Ryan Benyo in Los Angeles did a fantastic job in editing, mixing and mastering this song (and some others). Especially at a time like this the song was very well received – by existing and new fans alike. We saw on Spotify in particular that the song made it into some big playlists very quickly – we were very pleased and overwhelmed by that.
What does your recording set up look like (e.g. what do you use to record, what are your favorite tools)?
To be honest, we are quite frugal here. We have a couple of great vocal mics (the Neumann U87 vintage is awesome), then a clean, high-quality signal path equipped with a couple of analog Universal Audio devices, and then it goes straight into the digital workstation without much additional stuff. We love to experiment with sounds, so we have all sorts of libraries and editing tools here – it’s easy to get lost. And for guitar sounds, the Kemper Profiling Amp is a real treat 🙂
Tell us a little more about Someday. What’re the differences between the versions of the song that you have (or are) releasing?
Someday is a song about strength, a spirit of optimism, and hope. We had the feeling that this is what people need right now (it’s May 2020). Therefore, we decided together with A&R Worldwide to sonically rework the song, give it an even more modern touch and release it again. With this we want to do our part to give the people some strength and hope.
Which artists are the greatest influences for you and your music?
Phew, where to start here? Here are some of them, in no particular order: Coldplay, Muse, The Script, One Republic, Biffy Clyro, Bruno Mars, Adele, 30 Seconds to Mars, Queen, The Beatles, U2, … there are so many incredibly brilliant musicians and bands out there from whom you get inspired – especially when you least expect it, because mostly the sparks of inspiration are the small and important moments.
What should listeners expect from the band through the rest of 2020?
Definitely more 🙂 We will release a few more songs and give more insights into our (now digitized and virtualized) band life. We are very curious how the general situation in the world will develop – who knows, maybe we can all see each other again soon on stage?
How can interested NeuFutur readers locate samples of your music?
If you want to do that, the best way is to follow us on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/6VtRz6qW379y75WQn4I0pF – and for more news on our band life, follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/stereotideofficial/
Finally, do you have any additional thoughts about life and the universe for our readers?
If there is one thing, it is this: be good to each other. We are one world, one humanity – we are one. Of course, things are not always easy. And of course, there is suffering, pain, and conflicts everywhere. But our destiny as human beings is therefore to stand together and fight against all the suffering, all the pain, and all the conflicts. And when we look at the big picture, sometimes the little things that worry us are put into perspective. Let us rather work on the important issues – together, for us, for our future generations, and for the whole world. *micdrop* 🙂
Thank you so much for your time.