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Quarter-Century Man
Words by Jay Elliott
Music by Stereo Deluxe
Produced by Ryan Koch and Stereo Deluxe
Mixed by Ryan Koch

Official Site: http://www.stereodeluxemusic.com/

[All photos by Kimberly Duncan. Illustration above by Yuri Duncan.]

When people talk about Southside Indianapolis, it’s rare that you hear chatter come up in a conversation regarding the music scene and the Southside. That is because there has never been a noticeable and distinct scene south of the city’s skyline and north of Highway 144.

There have been a smattering of fringe shops peppered throughout the chain-and-mall culture of the Southside. Shops that have played host to bands from the Greenwood Community Center on Smith Valley — who at one time brought in a variety of local metal, punk and death metal bands — to N’Orbit skate shop on County Line where we got to meet and greet skate legends like Lance Mountain and a place that influenced the local skate punk culture. The Keystone Art Cinema played house to an experiment that combined film and live music. Collectible Toy and CD shops have come and gone, including the famous Karma store where people like Steve Sloppy from Sloppy Seconds would help stock the best punk, metal and rock albums you could not find anywhere else in town.

All of these now defunct treasures have certainly influenced some band or paved the way for something else to happen, even if that something else was getting out of the Southside to make something bigger happen.

Sure, there were bands but one in particular has made this area of the city and beyond a proud part of their existence. They are Stereo Deluxe.

“When we started out, there were shows at rehearsal studios in a big building near the Keystone exit of I-65,” said Jay Elliott, lead vocals and guitarist. “They had a P.A. and a live room. Other than that, we played at places like the Southport Retirement Clubhouse on Derbyshire Road.

“We knew there was not a real scene on the Southside from early on, but we have always tried to get something to happen there. We had some good shows, mostly ones we threw ourselves at the neighborhood clubhouses and in people’s houses.”

With this grass roots philosophy, the band is not bringing the Southside to Indianapolis and beyond, but the Southside has brought Stereo Deluxe to us. From hours upon hours of practice in a basement to their debut album and winning Battle of the Bands at The Vogue in 2006 — taking home an impressive $10,000 prize — to having one of Indianapolis’ most anticipated follow up albums, When The Party’s Over — leading them to be named Nuvo’s “Band of the Year” two years in a row — they may call the Southside their home but they have captured the eyes of the entire city, and this band is ready and eager to go well beyond that.

“We love this city with the people here and how they gave back with us being in Nuvo as the Band of the Year for two years in a row,” said Elliott. “We have to make that happen everywhere else.”

Since the release of When The Party’s Over, these four guys have been trying to make a national presence with one jaunt across the country after another. That was until Elliott’s mother passed away last summer, slowing the band’s momentum and allowing time for Elliott to recover from a tragic loss.

“When my mom passed away in August, it was really a horrible thing to experience,” said Elliott. “These guys really helped me get my shit together and understood what I was going through.”

And then amicable, but time-consuming entanglements with their label slowed things down even more.

But by Autumn, the band discovered an unseen opportunity. By slowing down and maintaining a consistent focus on their songwriting, they were able to look at their music in a new perspective. So what did they do? They holed up in the parent’s basement of drummer Matt Hogan, grabbed a bunch of cables and rigged it to where they all could hear each other and just like the early days, they got back to basics. This allowed the members to focus on themselves and search for that next step.

“We are trying to do everything a little better by trying something new from the things that we did with When The Party’s Over,” said guitarist and vocalist Ben Tatum.

Their recent focus is a conscious effort not to get caught up in the trappings of making the same songs over and over. Earlier in the year, the band caught themselves carrying out the same protocol as before. Not wanting to sound sterile, they talked it over and began re-evaluating what it was they were doing.

“It’s important to have that mentality and level of professionalism and not be stagnant,” said Hogan. “It’s been good for us to do this and got us into a mind frame of working harder, as well as learning more about us as a band and as brothers.”

“It’s a new grind,” Jay continued. “Instead of fitting my songs into the band, it’s now about working together with the band to make the song better. For the past year I have been recording ideas on to a laptop. I would send the band little snippets and then we would talk about it. Past couple songs have derived from spontaneous situations and an attempt for me to be more natural. We are all pretty fascinated about this process. Luke, Ben, and Matt all have brought other demos and are contributing in this fashion. On a personal level, it’s about understanding things in a different way.”

What else has changed? The band has been keen to try new elements like inviting Kate Lamont to sing on a track while putting Schneider more in the limelight and adding new depth to the band’s backing vocals.

“It’s a different element to what I am used to,” he said. “Playing the bass, you want to step back. With singing, you hear different parts of the melody than what you are used to.”

It comes out on their new creation “Quarter-Century Man,” a sound that clearly shows their migration to a more raw and organic rock sound while keeping their pop foundations alive. Apparent is a vocal call and response with the melody and counter-melody that helps rev up the song and drive it forward. You also hear evidence of experimentation by moving an atypical Stereo Deluxe guitar solo toward the end of the song and building more space between Logan and Schneider.

“We have been focusing on less is more and playing with the dynamics,” said Hogan. “For me, I am more conscious to play at the rim while playing louder at the more louder parts.”

Schneider: “Using the space you don’t play is as important as the space you do play in,”

Elliott: “Everyday we try to get together and work on something. If we are not playing shows we are practicing. Different songs require different things of you, and you have to switch it up to get to the end of the song. In a way, we are trying to become less slaves of habit. Things happen organically, and we go through that problem-solving methodology. We are more aware of stepping away from the past while not forgetting what we have learned in the past.”

Tatum: “We come from an older school. That is who we learned from.”

Hogan: “It goes back to the very basics and tracking the rhythm live instead of click tracking by myself. We are trying to make the song as tight as can be while allowing the song to breathe. I was talking with a friend and he told us, ‘Don’t give me perfection, give me greatness.’”

And that is what what Stereo Deluxe is working toward. From the raw mixes of demos that are building into finished new songs, to not being fearful of adding new instruments into the fold (such as synthesizers and a slide guitar), to keeping the sound exploratory, the band is maintaining that progressive frame of mind while not taking away from the band’s recognizable sonic identity.

In a dominant digital world, expect more immediacy from the band with several singles in the future instead of a full-length. And, of course, a lot more touring. If greater national success is to be had, the band wants it now more then they ever did before.

“We don’t have any rules now,” said Elliott. “Let’s throw it all up at the wall and see what sticks. We want to get out there and find out all there is.”