About nine years ago, when I was just a freshman in high school, I was introduced to something new. A type of music I’d never heard before, my brain couldn’t really comprehend it, but I knew I enjoyed it. I immediately jumped up and asked the person playing the music who this band was. “Stage Kids!” he said. I ran home that day, beelining it for my computer to look up this new and exciting band, Stage Kids.
Nine years later, I am just as much of, if not a bigger, fan of theirs. Stage Kids is compiled of seven members, Jarryd Arcelao, Jason De Jesus, Jonathan De Jesus, Ace Lagda, Sean Lagda, Lance Dela Llana, and Eric Walters. They all met each other between kindergarten and high school, playing music together. Hailing from Mira Mesa, CA, Stage Kids wear their hometown proudly on their sleeves, playing “Space Jazz,” as they’ve been known to refer to their sound as. |
For as long as I’ve been listening to Stage Kids, you all have seemed to play very tight instrumentally, even with the jazz elements of varying time signatures and tunings. What kind of musical backgrounds did you guys come from to allow all of you to play off each other like that? All of us grew up as musicians - from childhood Piano lessons to grade school Orchestra and Drumline, but beyond that, we each bond with each other very uniquely in that it feels as though we’re reading each other’s minds when we’re jamming. It always has kind of just come naturally. |
Being a seven piece band, there has to be a crazy amount of different ideas and approaches that are introduced during your creative process, how do you collectively incorporate those ideas into a tangible/digestible piece of music?
‘Crazy’ is definitely an understatement of our process. Most times we’ll jam out to any given riff and let it feel out. In between, we then trade ideas/recommendations on how to play out the idea which then leads to anything from tempo changes, dynamic changes, solos, syncopation, key changes, etc. After a smoke break and some beers, we repeat the process all over again only to realize at the next session a week later that the song will never actually be complete, but in a great SK-kind-of way. Who are some of your main influences as a group? We all have contrasting taste in a lot of contrastingly different ways but definitely all share a general love for similar-ish music. Below are some examples I know we all love:
Are there any creative avenues (different genres, instruments, etc.) you haven’t yet explored that you’d like to in upcoming projects? We’ve always been very open to experimenting with any new ideas. We never tend to be too specific, but the experimentation has always evolved and I think the latest release we have coming is an example of how our sound has quite changed throughout the years. Definitely the electronic aspect of writing will continue to play a more prominent role in this evolution. If you could give any piece of advice to an aspiring musician out there, what would it be? Do whatever the f*ck you want and have fun doing it. |
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