Stolen Rhodes

            Imagine what would happen if Bruce Springsteen and Dave Matthews came together and had a baby. That child’s name would be Stolen Rhodes. This New Jersey/Delaware Valley based band puts on a unique performance every time they’re on stage.

            Stolen Rhodes started out playing small shows along the Jersey Shore. Since the release of their EP “The Dark Side of 88,” they have yet to look back and have no intentions on doing so.

DB: You guys released “The Dark Side of 88” in May of 2009. What was that experience like?

SR: Well the dark side of 88 is a reference to a Bruce Springsteen song “Spirit in the Night.” Bruce is a big Jersey shore guy and everybody kind of knows that he’s probably one of the most famous people to ever come out of New Jersey. We hang out in Lakewood (NJ) a lot on the “dark side of route 88.” So we’re kind of just paying tribute to that song and also where we grew up. We listen to a lot of Springsteen and it’s cool that we hung out in his old stomping grounds.

DB: Well speaking of Bruce, one of the places he used to play was The Stone Pony in Asbury. What was it like to headline there?

SR: That was probably one of the most awesome rock and roll experiences. It was overwhelming. You step out on that stage and there’s people there that are into it. It really feels good to play a venue like that. A lot of people talk about getting nervous before big shows, but we feed off the energy.

DB: Speaking of feeding, you guys must love Surf Taco because you play a lot of shows at those locations.

SR: Well when we first got together we played a few gigs. Then we heard there was live music at Surf Taco. We gave the owner one of our demos and he enjoyed it and asked us to come play. The first time we played there, it was actually our CD release party, so it was a real nice experience. They ask us back there all the time so it’s good stuff. The audience is right there and they get into it so it’s real nice.

DB: Plus all the free Surf Taco has to be nice.

SR: Oh absolutely, we drink and eat like kings when we go out there.

DB: You guys have done a lot of travel and played a lot of shows. Do you have a particular favorite?

SR: We like The Shrine Bar in New York. That’s a really cool spot. It’s the most eclectic group of people there and it’s a real good atmosphere where everyone just comes out and has a good time. It’ll be a Wednesday at 11 p.m. and people will be anxious to see us.

DB: You play a nice combination of covers and originals. What’s your favorite song to play?

SR: Well we love to play our originals. But we all have different songs we’re into because of certain parts we get to play.

DB: Well who does most of the writing of your originals?

SR: Lately we’ve been trying to get the whole band involved and it’s been really working out. It’s definitely starting to open up new doors to our sound. We want our music to be from Stolen Rhodes since we all contribute.

DB: Where does the influence from your songs come from?

SR: It’s now gotten to the point where we talk about work and where we want our lives to go. We’ll sit at work and just think “I’d rather be playing music right now. This is something I can do for the rest of my life.” That, to us, brings up a lot of songs. A lot of our songs kind of have that working vibe to it. We’re just telling a story and to us, its real song writing because it comes from our experiences.

DB: Do you guys see this as the rest of your life? Do you see Stolen Rhodes together in 20 years?

SR: Absolutely, you just hit it right on the head. That’s exactly what we want. Any one of us could get a job as a bass board musician or a hired gun but we all want to be in a band and to make a living with music we actually care about. It’ll be great to say we can sell out huge stadiums but as long as we can make a comfortable living, that would be a big success.