Interview: Stereos Turn Up the Pop, Turn On Their Fanbase

Leah Collins, Dose.ca
November 2, 2009

Would you get a Stereos tattoo? Yeah, right, and diamonds might fly out of my butt. Some dedicated fans from Edmonton surprised the band by showing them their Stereos-inspired diamond tattoos.

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Photo by: Universal Music

The day Stereos’ debut album reached stores, the band was back where it all began. And by “began,” we mean the era of kids ditching class to wave banners and shout the Auto-Tuned choruses to the group's two summer hits (“Summer Girl,” “Throw Ya Hands Up”) from the corner of Queen and John.

Stereos’ Dan Johnson (bass) and Robb Chalifoux (guitar) are hanging out in a MuchMusic green room prior to a TV appearance scheduled for later that day. It’s two hours before they’re set to go on, and the banner-toting faithful are already creating a modest ruckus on the sidewalk outside -- several hundred short of being a Jonas-sized riot, but just big enough to force savvy pedestrians to the opposite side of Queen Street. A few grocery-store bouquets and potted plants are stacked in a corner; prezzies from the fans, one of the band’s crew members explains.

“It’s a little like home,” says Johnson of Much HQ. “When we first moved here we were here like all the time.”

Johnson would be referring to the band’s move to Toronto from Edmonton earlier this year. And, well, MuchMusic had a little something to do with that, too. The band landed themselves a deal with Universal Music while in Toronto shooting an episode of DisBand, an original series on the station that gives young bands a chance to hone their skills, then show them off in front of a panel of industry judges -- and, moreover, the kids at home, who are hungry for new music to not do their trig homework by.

“We didn’t win anything on the show,” says Chalifoux.

“It just gave us the hugest hype,” says Johnson.

Their first single, “Summer Girl,” debuted at No. 2 on the Canadian hot 100 in June -- and if you think you’re too not-teenaged and/or hip to have heard it, you’re probably wrong. The robo pop-punk “doo-wop, doo-wop” chorus blanketed the airwaves this summer, reaching No. 1 on the Top Canadian Spins chart a month after its debut. A hit single begat some thorough Canadian touring, and the band got to share stages with everyone from Marianas Trench to Katy Perry and The Roots.

And now that their self-titled first album is out (debuting at No. 3 on the Canadian albums chart), they’re hitting the road again this November, bringing their R&B-inspired pop-punk, well, everywhere across the country. Consider yourselves forewarned Riverview, New Brunswick.

Fatigue and jadedness, however, would appear to remain elusive.

“After more than two days off I feel like I have to get back out there,” says an effusive Johnson. “Like, we’ve been home for two and a half weeks. And we’re bored.”

They miss the hard work – and, moreover, the screaming fans outside of Much.

“Yeah!” he agrees. “Yeah, we love our fans. They’re passionate.”

Passionate as in willing to have the band’s logo -- a “gangsta”-style diamond graphic -- tattooed on their teenaged hides; Johnson recalls some fangirls from Edmonton turning up at their Montreal V Fest date this summer to show off their fresh Stereos ink.

Or, to a less permanent degree, passionate enough to flood the web with swooning tributes to the band. Type lead singer Pat Kordyback’s name into Google, for instance, and the second video hit you’ll get is a YouTube slideshow of pictures of the skinny, Oilers-jersey-wearing singer and Joe “The one with the eyebrows” Jonas. The clip declares Kordyback a total “dream boy.”

“No way, that’s awesome!” says Johnson when he hears about the JoBros/Stereos fan-made montage. The fact their fanbase converges with Disney’s dreamiest commodity doesn’t bother the band. “We know who the main demographic of our fans is,” says Johnson. “At the same time, we don’t want to make music just to cater to them. Whether you’re four or 40, do you know what I’m saying?”

“But those fans, I’ve got to say, are the most amazing, because they’ll do anything. They’ll skip school to come to this, they bring us gifts.”

They’ve also occasionally turned up at their house (all five band members share a place in T.O.) after their address was made public online.

“Which is awesome, because we want to meet our fans,” says Johnson. “But at the same time, it’s weird. It’s our house.”

“Like one day, I’m out in sweats to throw the football around, and there’s 10 girls sitting on the steps,” says Chalifoux. “If I’m going to hang out with 10 girls, I’d like to not be in sweats and a football jersey,” he jokes.

Of course, there were more serious issues at stake besides making a good impression on the fanbase. “They know we’ve got gear and stuff, they could break in,” says Johnson.

“Yeah, and they’ve gone through our garbage,” adds Chalifoux.

“Ah well, you can’t get upset about it. Those are our fans,” says Johnson.

Jokes Chalifoux: “I mean, I probably would have done it for Mariah Carey.”

“If they love us that much,” says Johnson, “We can’t do anything but love them back.”

Stereos self-titled album is in stores now.

Stereos Canadian tour dates include:

Nov. 7, Windsor, ON

Nov. 8, Kitchener, ON

Nov. 12, London, ON

Nov. 13, St. Catherines, ON

Nov. 14, North Bay, ON

Nov. 15, Ottawa