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.