What happens when you give some kids from Northwest Indiana instruments and degrees in jazz? You get stop.drop.rewind, the self-proclaimed prog-punk power trio that is setting out on a Pacific Northwest tour with a stop at Bend’s Silver Moon Brewing. We had a chance to touch base with the trio from the road to hear more about what shaped their sound.
the Source: How did you all meet?
Kris Lohn: DJ Crenson and I met in sixth grade when they were either too ugly or too weird (you can decide) for other kids to want to hang out with them. Eventually DJ, who owned a drum set, met someone with a guitar and started a band; Kris was quickly recruited to play bass (once he figured out what a bass was). They jumped into the music world headlong — they have now been writing and playing music together continuously since 2000, in almost any formal and informal situation you can think of: punk bands, orchestras, church band, ska club, singer/songwriter groups, school band, and of course, their prog-punk band stop.drop.rewind. SDR started in 2008, and after a variety of lineup changes, Andy Sutton joined on drums and finalized the lineup in 2015.
tS: What inspired you to start playing together?
KL: No one else in middle school would hang out with DJ and I.
tS: What has changed the most over the last 10 years?
KL: Since 2016, we’ve released three albums, three EPs – including our first ever live EP this May – and a bunch of singles. One of the benefits of having the same lineup for a decade is we can see changes on the writing and process side: we aren’t constantly integrating new members or “changing direction” as people come and go. This has allowed us to attack our sound from every possible angle, try new things in the studio, really explore what it means to be our band specifically. Of course, we’ve played almost 1,000 shows in that time, too, so hopefully we are a little bit better than we were then!
tS: Your songs are full of complex layers, what does the song writing process look like?
KL: We try to be open to any ideas and inspiration for songs. For example, Kris will write on bass, guitar, keys or just walking around outside brainstorming and humming to himself; none of these ideas will end up sounding like the initial demo. But there is always a clear path back to the beginning. In general, we try to present an idea when it has a complementary section or idea (most often Kris & DJ generate an initial idea, but Andy can be a sleeper Idea Man). So, it’s not just “here’s a riff.” Each idea is presented with a direction — a place or suggestion for the energy to go – and a similar or contrasting color/angle/vibe. We find this is the best way to write on “what the song wants/is asking for” and keeps us from cramming as many ideas as we can in to one song (this would be ego-based writing I guess).
tS: What is the music scene like in Indiana?
KL: We have a ton of friends who we love to play shows with or run into at jam nights in NW Indiana! Unfortunately, with our road schedule, we only end up playing “at home” once or twice a year.
tS: What is one of your most memorable stories from the road?
KL: We got flashed by a grandma at a biker bar in Tulsa, Oklahoma. U.S. Border Patrol individually searched our snacks (picked through grapes, bags of pretzels, etc.) looking for god knows what. Spoiler alert: they found grapes and pretzels. A bar owner in central Illinois paid us $70 to stop playing and leave because people were threatening the bouncer about us. In retrospect, the promoter should not have put us in a bar that only has rappers. We did our first tour in a minivan with a roof rack and could only afford the soft vinyl one. We packed everything in the top super tight and in plastic bags to guard against water; we never once had a leak, but the interior of the van did get filled with newly hatched mayflies in St Louis.
tS: You are playing Silver Moon Brewing in Bend May 29, is this your first time in Bend? What would you like folks to know about stop.drop.rewind ahead of time?
KL: This is our first time in Bend and we are stoked! Come out for an extremely fun time, to hear some top-quality musicianship (see “we’ve been playing together since 2000”), and to find out what happens when emo kids grow up and get jazz degrees.
Silver Moon Brewing
May 29 7pm
24 NW Greenwood Ave, Bend
$14.38
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