Sindy: Did you always know you wanted to be a performer?
Louie Stephens: I knew right towards the end of elementary school that I wanted to make music - but the performing... not so much. I like recording and have always been most interested in that side of things. I went to a kind of progressive school, and I had an older sibling that went there, so I went to a winter concert that really just inspired me to want to learn how to play an instrument.
Sindy: What sort of music did you listen to growing up?
Louie Stephens: I had a Sgt. Pepper cassette that I listened to when my dad drove me to soccer, which I really liked and listened to again and again. My parents had a big record collection - The Stones, Led Zeplin - that sort of thing. And some random stuff like the soundtrack to Cats. All sorts of stuff got burned into my brain. Then I had this Swedish babysitter who listened to a lot of R&B. Boyz II Men were pretty huge back then.
Sindy: What are you listening to these days?
Louie Stephens: I listen to a lot of older music mainly. I also really like the new Scissor Sisters album. I like the Electric Light Orchestra - ELO - a lot. Um, and bands like The Zombies and - obviously - The Beach Boys and The Beatles. I guess, as a band, we have a lot of shared musical tastes, but we all have a lot of things we're into individually. I even like bands like ABBA and super pop-y stuff like that but also like film scores...I could just keep on going.
Sindy: You have a real Brit Pop sound but you're from LA. Would you consider yourselves anglophiles?
Louie Stephens: I don't know about anglophiles, no. We definitely have a lot of wide-ranging influences. The old album may have had more of that sound but I would say the new one is a lot more just pop-pop rather than a Brit-Pop sound.
Sindy: What advice would you give to young people aspiring to make it in the music industry?
Louie Stephens: Just be prepared to spend a lot of time aspiring... ha, no that's terrible. I don't want to be discouraging. It's just that we got lucky, so I don't know if I'm the right person to ask. How about this: it's a real gamble, so be sure that you like gambling.
Sindy: Thanks very much for chatting with us. Good luck with the new album!
Louie Stephens: Thank you!
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