Meramec student lets creative music break genre stereotypes
By: Kavahn Mansouri
– Editor-in-Chief –
Three musicians sit in a makeshift bedroom practice space, band posters plaster the wall with several other rockstar-like decorations. STLCC-Meramec student and lead guitarist Scottie Menzel plays around with a chorus the band has been working on as lead singer Drew Lance relaxes on the bed with a gallon of Arnold Palmer (tea and lemonade) as they reminisce about the party they attended the night before.
Stockholme Smile formed in early 2011. The brainchild of Menzel, Lance, drummer Grant McConnell and bassist T.J. Burkett, the band has been putting out singles and playing shows with the label Moonspinner Records.
Menzel said there’s a difference between the past bands he has been in and Stockholme Smile.
“We changed our name and our sound a bit. We’re heavier and all around better song writing, there’s a big difference in the quality of songs,” Menzel said.
Lance added that the amount of practicing has increased with the work ethic.
“The difference comes with the work ethic, we used to never practice, when we started getting together commonly like things do, we started getting better,” Lance said.
Moonspinner Records, founded by Chad Prewett, has backed the band since their start. Providing them with promotion shows and even an acoustic tour that took the band to Des Moines, Iowa; Omaha, Neb.; and Columbia, Mo.
Menzel said a lot of their success is thanks to Moonspinner and Prewett.
“Chad showed it to a bunch of people, who showed it to a bunch of people and they liked it so we jumped on that bandwagon. He’s working more to show us how to do things in the music industry, try to keep us safe and get a good head on our shoulders,” Menzel said.
Matt Bonasch, a contributor to Stockholme, played guitar on the acoustic tour and also is a major part of the band’s writing process. Bonasch played in several band with Lance before.
“The whole entire tour was a blast, I don’t think I can recall any ten minute span when we weren’t all either laughing our asses off or making fun of the locals. But getting out there and playing music for people in different states was definitely a unique experience and certainly would not have been possible had it not been for Chad Prewett, Moonspinner records, and his unending support for this band,” Bonasch said.
When it comes to writing, Lance said the process is more of a team project than an individual process.
“Scottie will have an epiphany on guitar, I’ll go to his house because it’s close and I can write some lyrics usually cause it works,” Lance said.
Menzel said the writing process is sometimes a double-edged-sword.
“It’s sort of a double-edged-sword I guess; me and Drew do a lot of songs at my house acoustically, and we’ll fall in love with it, but then we bring it over here and they don’t feel it,” Menzel said.
Lance added that although he and Menzel have a great synergy, they still have creative differences.
“The song writing is hard; when we come together there’s a 50 percent chance Grant just doesn’t feel it, or T.J. just doesn’t feel it, there‘s a 50 percent chance they have something me and Scottie don‘t feel. When it works out it works out really well and we get things like ‘Comfortable,’” Lance said.
The band’s first single “Comfortable” was recorded at Moonspinner’s studio. According to Lance it was received well.
“‘Comfortable’ took a lot of time; it was a weekend but they were long hours. We stayed there overnight most of the time,” Lance said.
According to Menzel the band’s single has been downloaded hundreds of times in Australia.
“We’re a lot more popular in Australia, we’ve been downloaded over 100 times” Menzel joked.
Menzel said the band is looking for a unique sound.
“We’re trying to be all around the board, we’re trying to do different stuff. We don’t want everything to sound the same; we have some really soft songs and some really heavy songs,” Menzel said.
Lance added he wants his songs to take listeners to a different place.
“We can venture into different areas of a song to make a different mood, that’s where the Our Lady Peace type of influence comes in, if you ever listen to them they take you to a different place in every song. But we can also switch to alternative if we like, we have that freedom,” Lance said. “To connect with somebody in some way so that when they hear your lyrics they say ‘hey that’s kind of clever’ maybe it takes them to a place where they start thinking, solving a problem or even sitting around listening to it because it’s an enjoyable melody, any way to service the ear and the mind.”
Menzel’s goal is to bring together listeners of all genres. He aims to merge genres through his music.
“Bringing together different listeners of different genres trying to get them all into one, because our music, I think, spans a lot of different genres and is acceptable to a lot of different people, and that’s my ultimate goal,” Menzel said.
Lance said the band intends to go in any direction they please.
“It’s nice to have the ability to attack two different spectrums, we can use that in the future to go any direction we please, I think its building to the point where we have our own sound,” Lance said.
Bonasch said writing with Lance and playing with the band has been a great experience.
“From being in a band with Drew before, I have had a lot of opportunities to see what writing music with Drew is like. He’s very involved in every part of the song, even the parts that don’t even necessarily apply to him. Drew’s obviously got one goal, and that’s to write great music. As far as writing with Scottie goes, that guy is one hell of a guitar player and also one hell of a writer. He does a very good job making sure that the songs have that little bit of wow factor but they are still very sound pieces of music,” Bonasch said.
