A Dirty Dozen with STOKE SIGNALS – AUGUST 2024

Photo credit: Adam Stanzak

According to a recent press release: “LA’s Stoke Signals played their first show in January 2024, and blew everyone’s f*cking minds. From the still smoldering ashes of Promise Me This and Holy Fangs, Stoke Signals is here to comfort and hold you, but very loudly. Get stoked for September 20, 2024, when Stoke Signals brings you their debut LP, Make Dying Fun, featuring 12 melodic punk bangers and a slew of shows around some of Southern California’s most well-known punk venues, all out of the kindness of their shriveled, dead little hearts.” We get the band to discuss new music, influences, and more.

1. Tell us a little about your latest release. What might a fan or listener not grab the first or second time they listen through? Are there any hidden nuggets you put in the material or that only diehard fans might find?

Giuliano: The biggest immediate difference about this release is we’re hitting the ground running with a full LP as a first release instead of a demo or EP. We’ve all done EPs before in older bands, but when we got this going we were like, fuck it, if we want to release an album, let’s release an album. What (I hope) people won’t realize is we didn’t step foot inside a real studio for any of it. Other than that I really don’t think we tried to hide anything in there. It’s been a journey of, how do we make this sound legit by maximizing the quality of each individual part, as opposed to the album being loaded with things that wouldn’t exist live. There aren’t really any drastic effects added, I wanted it to stay human.

2. What got you into music, and can you tell us about the moment you realized you wanted to be a musician?

Chris: As a kid I spent a lot of time with my Grandma. She always had music on in the house, in the car, outside working in the garden. She always had either classical or oldies playing. The moment I realized I wanted to be a musician was when my friend Joe Layer made me a tape of songs that he learned to play. “Carousel” by blink-182 was on there mixed in with some incubus songs. That showed me that you didn’t have to be some mystical creature to play music. Normal people can do it too, well somewhat normal haha.

3. Building on that, is there a specific song, album, performer, or live show that guided your musical taste?

Chris: I remember hearing The Beach Boys for the first time, specifically the intro riff to “Fun, Fun, Fun” that made me want to learn guitar. Another core music memory was the first time I heard a pick slide right before the chorus of “More Than A Feeling” by Boston. I love pick slides. And of course Marty McFly.

4. If you could call in any one collaborator to do a song with, who would it be, and why?

Jordan: Will Yip. I think he’s one of the best in the game right now. I love that he basically becomes an extra member of whatever band he’s working with. As an aspiring engineer myself I really look up to him. I devour any interview I see him do and just try to learn as much as I can from how he operates. He’s worked on some of my favorite records and just everything he touches is amazing. I feel like we’d make an amazing record and would all come out much better artists after.

5. What is your favorite activity when out of the studio and/or not on tour? What do you like to do to unwind?

Giuliano: I probably skateboard too much for a grown adult, and may or may not occasionally sneak out of work to, depending on if they’re reading this.

6. How would you describe your music to someone who’d never listened to you before? What is the one comparison a reviewer or fan has made that made you cringe or you disagreed with?

Chris: Someone told us we sound like Strike Anywhere if they drank more PBR, I fully endorse this. A coworker of mine said we sounded like Weezer, I love the weez but cringe at the comparison lol.

7. When your band is hanging out together, who cooks, who gets the drinks in, and who is first to crack out the acoustic guitars for a singalong?

Mike: Well, last time G cooked, Chris and Jordan brought the drinks. I ate and then the party ended when I started to sing. You’ll never see me with a mic!! Lol

8. When was the last time you were starstruck and who was it?

Jordan: I have this really rich friend and his family had an annual Christmas party. Drake showed up via helicopter one year and introduced himself to me and I acted super awkward. He was literally only there for like an hour or two if I’m remembering correctly. It was wild. Definitely the most famous person I’d ever met and a very trippy moment. This was long before the whole Kendrick thing so his starpower was at an all-time high. I ended up accidentally photobombing a photo he was taking with my friend so that’s a fun memory I’ll always have.

9. What is the best part of being a musician? If you could no longer be a musician for whatever reason, what would be your dream job?

Mike: Being a musician is a never ending journey. There is no final destination. That feeling I get when I am part of creating something new that feels like it was always meant to be is addicting. Doing that together with people and all winding up on the same page is, I can’t even describe it. If I couldn’t play in a band anymore, I would love to be part of a music collective that provides free lessons to kids and rehearsal rooms for them to rock out in with their own bands. My local rehearsal studio growing up was my church. Would love to bring more of them back into the community.

10. What is one question you have always wanted an interviewer to ask – and what is the answer? Conversely, what question are you tired of answering?

Mike: I have always wanted an interviewer to ask me what kind of dog I would be, if I had to be a dog. I would be a golden retriever, according to my bandmates. The question I was tired of answering would be, when are you going to have music out? Finally, I can say we dropped our first single and have our debut full length releasing September 20th.

11. Looking back over your career, is there a single moment or situation you feel was a misstep or you would like to have a “do over,” even if it didn’t change your current situation?

Giuliano: Not necessarily specific but, for a lot of the growing pains of learning how to write music and collaborate you look back and think why the hell didn’t I realize this sooner? A lot of my missteps were staying too long with a band or bandmate when you know in your gut it won’t last because of some incompatibility. I won’t call anybody out but there are sometimes people that just have a weird ability to make music not fun, and you can’t let that “I wanna be in a band” feeling make you stick around, because it’ll ultimately stunt your progress as a musician.

12. If you could magically go back in time and be a part of the recording sessions for any one record in history, which would you choose – and what does that record mean to you?

Jordan: Blink’s Enema of the State. In retrospect that is regarded as an extremely successful and popular record and Blink already had a lot of buzz after Dude Ranch already, but I don’t think anyone involved at the time had any idea of how high they’d truly go. I just feel like being with a band who is on the cusp of making a major breakthrough album with one of the best producers in the genre in Jerry Finn would be a magical experience to be a part of. I’m sure they knew they had something with that record and just seeing that sparkle in their eyes as they made something they knew would be great would be fun to witness. Plus just being able to see Jerry Finn operate would be amazing. That dude is a legend who I think anyone who cares about recording in any punk adjacent genre looks up to. A lot of people in passing just know him for blink but he’s done so much great punk stuff. Jawbreaker, Rancid, The Vandals, Green Day, The Offspring, Pennywise,  Mxpx, Alkaline Trio, Bad Religion and so on. Ahh. Build a time machine now please!

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Category: Interviews