Q&A with Portland’s Stab in the Dark
I caught up with Josh and Gary from Stab in the Dark before their show tonight at Dante’s with 40oz To Freedom and GFL for a quick Q&A! They just dropped their new album Derailer last month, give it a listen here
What's your guys main influences for this record?
Gary: For this record I would say life in general for the last few years. There are songs on here ranging from break ups, to the current political climate, to dealing with isolation during the covid lockdowns. So I would say yeah, just life. I think most of the lyrics paint a picture or represent emotions someone is going through, but usually I try to keep them somewhat open for interpretation. I don't like to be too blunt. Musically, I think we have a lot of influences mainly in punk or punk influenced rock bands ranging from the 70's to the 2000's. I think most people feel we have somewhat of a 90's influenced sound and that makes sense cause that's what we grew up with.
Josh McCanna: - A lot of old school punk rock. However I think the music from the 90's has a way of bleeding into the mix. How do I explain it without sounding old? Yes. I'm a 90's kid. I like things that are fast and dangerous.
What is the best part of recording an album and what is the most difficult part of recording an album?
Gary: Well for this album it actually was pretty easy. Working with Zomie! Media was an awesome experience. No pressure or time constraints. So that was cool. But when we originally started recording I believe we had about 3 songs written. So we kind of recorded this record piece by piece over time as we wrote it. I think our last album we recorded in 4 days. But yeah it was cool to have that freedom and we are stoked on the way it turned out. I definitely feel like the vocals is the hardest part. You definitely want to make sure you have a good vocal mix and sound.
What are your favorite songs on this record?
Gary: Hard to say, I think there are a lot of good songs on this record. For me probably, Take it Slow, Do What You Want, Self Righteous and My Station come to mind. We already released Enough Of It as a single. Probably Self Righteous and Do What You Want will be our next two.
What bands should we be checking out?
Josh McCanna- I think there are several bands in the Portland scene that are kind of like a small family. Everybody knows everybody and tries to support everybody else's band. There's Old Cross, GFL, and The MFA. Then there's Secnd Best which is right up there at the top, Rendered Useless, Ninjas With Syringes, Triple Lutz and The Latter Day Skanks, There's 48 Thrills. You can get old school with Rum Rebellion and MDC. Honestly, Portland's music scene is alive and well!
Gary Dean- Yeah for sure! a lot of good bands. I would recommend checking out Los Mal Hablados. I recently just caught them at Volume Bomb Fest and they were amazing! I guess they identify as Latin Skacore or Spanish hardcore with a brass section. Anyway check em out! They are pretty sick, and they are from the Portland area.
See ya’ll tonight! Info on tonight’s show in the link below! Make sure to follow Zomie Media on Instagram to stay up to date.