An Interview With Phoenix Electro-Pop Band, Super Stereo!

Electro Pop act hailing from Phoenix, Arizona, Super Stereo exploded onto the national scene with their hit MTV video, “Life Passed Me By”. The band quickly lit up dance floors, Pride Festivals, and TV screens across the country.

Well now, Super Stereo is back with their much anticipated sophomore release, Sound It Out. The band’s quirky Pop masterpiece delivers on every front with plenty of synth ear candy, delicious vocals, hypnotic grooves and infectious melodies.

Join PM Nightly, Lo, T, Statz and B3K as they answer a few questions for All Access about this new album and where they have been since their debut release!

Please list all the band members and what they do in the group?

PM – Guitar, Vox, Production

Lo – Keys, Vox

T – Keys, Vox

Statz – Bass and Bass+

B3K – Drums, Guitar, Production

So how did you all meet and decide to start a band?

Fed up from playing as several struggling local bands, our group was a supergroup formed from 3 prior bands with a single motivation: Play shows that are fun and entertaining, period. It’s pretty basic. We all enjoy fun and each other.

Where did Super Stereo the name come from exactly?
Statz proposed this after “Mono Stereo” was rejected for it’s punny-ness.

I have a really hard time defining your music. Perhaps that’s why it’s so great and fun. What do you guys consider it?

Vocal Layer Cake with Dance Pop Cherry toppings.

Why have you guys taken this break? Did you all miss performing?

PM is practicing Rocket Science outside the U.S. We do miss performing, but mostly we miss our fans. This album is a good way to reignite the flame.

What is the best and worst part about touring?

Travel. We hope PM will construct a teleportation device in the near future. We love to visit different cities!

Tell me about the McDonalds National TV ad campaign. How did that all happen?

The single from the last record, “Life Passed Me By” started to pick up momentum when it was featured on MTV.com. Just after that the video started charting in several top 10 MTV categories. From there the video was picked up for syndication by retailers throughout the U.S. The McDonalds Campaign was a natural fit, and the song can be heard in select markets running the commercial.

How have you all grown as a band since you started? What have you guys learned?

We have grown up together in a lot of ways. Our sound has grown and our friendships have grown stronger. We have learned that we love Reno.

Your music has been in a ton of TV shows. What’s been the most rewarding and exciting one?

Yes, we’ve been very lucky with our placement. Notwithstanding the historical impact of being played copiously on the Kardashian Brand shows, there are three toppers that are most awesome. 1) Parks and Recreation, 2) The Mindy Project, and the 3) Bones Comicon Promo.

Congrats on the upcoming release of your second studio album! How is this album, Sound It Out different then your debut, This Is Future Pop? How is it similar?

Sound It Out is, on the whole, a more organic project than This Future Pop, which is a more quirky and glitzy album. Sound It Out is a bit more raw, featuring more live instrumentations, while maintaining the endearing qualities of the first album; rich vocals, catchy hooks, and danceability.

What is everyone’s favorite song to perform and why?

PM: “Hot Banana”, which is only played at live shows, is our most fun song and features a trendy Banana Dance that gets the crowd bumping, “And the Peels Go Clap”

Lo: “Jaguar” is still my favorite because I know that every time we play it, someone in the audience is either a jaguar themselves or knows a jaguar. It’s a really eye-opening moment.

What music are you all listening to now? Any new artists out there that you are loving currently?

PM: Big Data, Grouplove, Drake
Lo: Janelle Monae, Jenny Lewis

Where do you get the inspiration for your music?

Everywhere, but mostly in the stars.

You guys are based in Phoenix, Arizona, how has that audience been? When you first started playing gigs there, were crowds immediately receptive to your music?

The Phoenix audience has been extremely supportive. It feels really great to pack the house at Crescent Ballroom. When we first started performing live, dance pop was just catching on. The audience didn’t know what to expect, but before they knew it, they were dancing.

On a related note, how are you all handling those intense AZ summers?

PM: Going to Canada.

Lo: Going to New York.

What’s been a favorite venue to perform at? What about the best crowd?

Favorite venue: Crescent Ballroom. Best Crowd: Phoenix Pride.

Living or dead, who is a musician that you would all love to work with and why?

PM: Legendary American composer Cole Porter was a pop mastermind in his time. It would be fun to hear a collaboration of Super Stereo’s Indie Dance Pop mixed with the crooning songs from the early days of the commercial music industry.

Thus far, what’s a favorite memory or something quirky that’s taken place with the band (in-studio, onstage, or elsewhere)?

Lo: While in Sedona performing for their Pride Festival, we staged a pretty epic race in the hotel swimming pool. I won…no matter what PM says.

Any pre-performance rituals?

Statz: Read a Proust poem, do some push ups.

When you guys aren’t performing or writing new material, what do you all like to do for fun?

Rocket Science, no really.

Is there anything in particular that you’d like people to take away from listening to your music?

Simply do what you gotta do and be who you are. You are who you are. And that, my friends. is awesome.