Adrian Yllatopa and Christopher Lepore sat down and interviewed the San Jose rock band Stickup Kid.
LLP: It’s almost been a year since Future Fire was released. Have there been new songs in the works for any future releases, and if so, can you see a difference from these songs to the ones released in Future Fire?
SK: There are definitely new songs in the works. The main difference I see is that we definitely have stopped caring about what genre the music fits into and that we’re taking more time to develop the songs.
LLP: I remember seeing once on Twitter that Future Fire shouldn’t be considered a pop punk album by one of the members, how different is Future Fire from the pop punk genre?
SK: Stickup Kid started as a punk rock band and that fast beat, angsty, punk element will always exist in SK’s music. It’s our bread and butter. I think there will certainly be people out there that will label SK as a pop punk band forever. That’s totally kosher with us, but we see our music as music, we never try to tailor it to fit a genre. This is a philosophical construct I have sort of developed since living in California so I’ll give you the short version: people invent labels because without labels, they go fucking crazy. Bi, gay, straight, for example are just labels. Really, what is being gay? Loving someone. What is being bi? Loving someone. What is being straight? Loving someone. Society can’t bear the weight of understanding things that are “different” so they put a label on it to justify it to themselves. Really what is pop punk? Music. What is rap? Music. I hesitate to label anything like that because we don’t want to put a stigma on it. We don’t need the stigma. We’re fine writing what we feel and if it comes out different than before then I hope people see that we’re just being honest to ourselves. There’s no point in playing music if you’re not honest to yourself.
LLP: How has the band grown musically since the band’s inception?
SK: I think we’ve all grown into our instruments more; with these new songs I feel we’ve finally developed our own sound, style, and tones. I personally feel a lot more confident in my voice since Future Fire, I was turned onto some cool warm-ups by Dan from Real Friends and they really helped me expand my range and motivated me to go get some vocal coaching and take care of my voice better altogether.
LLP: The band’s current Twitter bio is “A band for the underdogs”. How is Stickup Kid a band for the underdogs?
SK: We represent and look to bring light to the lonely, the weak, and those who can’t stickup for themselves. We try to be a beacon of hope and inspiration to any and all that want to be in our lives. We love our fans and we don’t want them to perceive us as some form of pseudo-American musical idol (like what you see on TV), but rather friends they can look up to and talk to whenever they need something.
LLP: A lot of Stickup Kid’s song feature lyrics about the ocean. What is the reasoning behind it?
SK: I guess I never really noticed haha. The ocean intrigues me though. It’s another thing in the world that ebbs and flows, and it’s 75% of our Earth. It’s so vast and one of the last things that man cannot completely control or understand. If you lose something at the bottom it’s likely lost forever. Something about being near it makes me feel small, and sometimes it’s good to be humbled by mother nature.
LLP: What comes first, lyrics or music?
SK: It happens both ways. Sometimes I’ll write a complete song and be like bam, here you go, Bo, add some cool shit to this. Sometimes Bo will hit me with a riff and say, bam, TG, here’s a riff should we expand on this? Every song is built differently.
LLP: When you are on tour, what are you listening to?
SK: Depending on whose driving, we listen to a lot of Dangers when Jon drives, a lot of Katy Perry when Cam drives, a lot of 90’s alt rock like Third Eye Blind and Matchbox 20, sprinkled in with Modest Mouse when Tony or Bo drives. When Curtis drives we listen to reggae.
LLP: Does Stickup Kid still practice and play songs off of “Everything” (Album onStickupkid.bandcamp.com).
SK: We don’t generally play those songs, no. Only rare occasions like good friend’s birthdays.
LLP: Tony Geravesh posted on Facebook about starting a band called “Sweetwater Clifton”, is this a real project you’re working or just a joke?
SK: I’m legit trying to start that band but my friend Ethan told me it’s dumb and he wants to start a band called Audio Eagle. So I’ll probably start Sweetwater Clifton at some point in my life, or include it in a screenplay I’m writing, but it’ll be a band. These bands are just for fun as projects to expand my music.
SK: Thanks Adrian and Chris, terrific questions.
Loose Lips Press would like to thank Stickup Kid for doing a terrific interview with us. You can check out their music below!
Loose Lips Press 