We meet alt-pop trio STITCH! these newbies on the scene are multi-instrumentalists and write, perform and self-produce their music. They chat to us about their EP ‘Welcome To The Dream’ and Imagine Dragons.
Hello STITCH, how are you guys doing?
Hey! We’re having a great time; thanks for having us!
Congratulations on the EP – how long did it take you to work on it?
Thank you so much, it’s the best feeling in the world to have ‘Welcome To The Dream’ finished and online! Oh, thats actually a harder question than you might imagine! We’ve actually completed ‘Welcome To The Dream’ twice now – the first time however ended in disaster, as the hard drive it was saved on was damaged beyond repair! So, we had to go back and re-record, play, produce and mix…EVERYTHING. Turns out though that we’re much happier with our second effort, and we actually replaced two tracks with Goodbye Highline and Fool. All in all to do both versions, and to really discover ‘our sound’, it took about a year and a half to complete.
Was it all recorded in your living room?
Yup! We painstakingly recorded, produced and mixed hundreds and hundreds of vocals, violins, guitars, synths and everything else, in our little living room. We didn’t see any of summer 2017, that’s for sure! The first impulse when wanting to create an EP, is to book some time in a recording studio, however we sat down, evaluated the situation and had the realisation that if we set our minds on it we could create it ourselves. We all live with each other as well so was great being able to have recording days in Pjs! *laughs*. We took the plunge and are really happy with the results – creating everything ourselves from scratch gave us the power to really hone and sculpt our sound.
Out of all the songs on the EP, which one are you most proud of?
Hard question! That’s like trying to choosing between chocolate and sex! *laughs*. I think we all had individual favourites, but Champagne is the one we’re most proud off – in fact, Champagne’s chorus was the FIRST thing we ever wrote for the ‘Welcome To The Dream’ EP and started the entire process; we were all sat around in beanbags in our living room just jamming and then suddenly the Champagne hook just appeared out of nowhere! We were so excited by it, we went to celebrate with a drink in Wetherspoons!
Did you guys set yourselves any expectations for this EP?
Our main goal was we really wanted to establish our sound and identity. With so many various influences between the three of us to meld together (hence our name, STITCH), it’s very easy to create a confused sound – one song could sound like Tove Lo, the next one like Toto! In hindsight, the process of creating ‘Welcome To The Dream’ from the ground up, helped us discover our sound in an organic way.
Now that ‘Welcome To The Dream’ has been released and is performance ready, our goal is to find management, as we really, really, REALLY want to take STITCH to the ‘next level’. We do everything ourselves at the moment – everything creative, along with all the admin, socials, web design etc., so we would love another pair of hands to help out!
The music video for “Champagne” is interesting and quite dark, what message were you guys trying to convey?
We really wanted to visually express the lyrical meaning of Champagne; that is, we all know someone who has committed an act which they then go on to regret, and blame their actions on some substance, be it alcohol, drugs, or living in the moment without proper thought. ‘Champagne’ is really just a metaphor for all of the above. For the video, we thought having this all play out in a house party would be fun and somewhat realistic.
Do you plan on releasing another music video? If so, for which song?
We’ve got some great ideas for a couple of music video’s actually, and some locations in mind. However, these are for songs which are to follow ‘Welcome To The Dream’, so for now…our lips are sealed! *laughs*
I like ”Goodbye Highline”, how about that one too? *laughs* Love that song! (*if band chooses a different song)
Thank you so much! You know, thats not a bad idea at all! We did actually consider making a video for Goodbye Highline a few months back. Maybe a stripped back acoustic version in some atmospheric hall would be ideal. Damn, you’ve re-planted the seed!
Your music combines so many genres well, how would you describe your sound to a complete stranger in your own words?
This is the hardest question in the world! We’d say that our sound is glued together via vocal harmonies Fleetwood Mac style, mixed in with the raw instrumental power of Imagine Dragons, Lana Del Rey, David Bowie, Coldplay and Muse. We want to make you sing, dance and cry! Simply put though we’d describe ourselves as an Alt-pop band.
What inspired you guys to go with this sound?
From day one, we’ve been adamant that we never want to be pigeon holed into a specific trend or genre – our collective nightmare is to be a one hit wonder’ group, and then be outdated. With all our individual influences and instruments that we play (between the three of us we play 9 instruments on Welcome To The Dream!), it was probably easier to meld all these influences together into something new, then it was to form it into a single genre. We get excited everyday by new music and we want to adapt our sound for years to come!
I’ve had a look at your socials and your website, everything looks well polished.
How important is branding to you guys?
Thanks! Second to music, it’s by far the most important thing. Within an instant of clicking on your page or site, a person will have subconsciously decided to a certain degree whether or not they like what they’re seeing, and being put off by a bad looking photo could potentially put them off listening to your music.
I was at the EP launch party too, thoroughly enjoyed it and the energy in the room was so positive. So I was wondering when are you guys performing again?
Thanks for coming down – it was the best night of our lives! It was such a great feeling to be performing Welcome To The Dream, alongside some unreleased songs! Our next major performance is at at The Old Queens Head in Angel on the 18th of April followed by Hogsozzle festival on the 25th-27th May. We can’t wait!
Right so the EP is out (*music video + future shows etc). What’s next for STITCH? Do you we get to hear EP number two soon?
We’ve actually got enough songs ready to create a second E.P, but we think we’re going to hold off for a bit. We’ve spent such a long time curled up in our living room creating music, it’s now time to get out and perform and see some sunlight *laughs*. We’re excited to perform as much as possible!
It’s time to plug yourselves, where can the readers find you? Let them know your socials
Welcome To The Dream can be found on Spotify / Apple Music / iTunes!
Here’s a link to our spotify page:
STITCH on Spotify
Our main socials are:
STITCH (@stitchband) • Instagram
Facebook: www.facebook.com/stitch.info
Website: www.stitchband.com
Thank you so much for talking to us. Hopefully catch you at another gig soon!
Editor/Author of Music Content: Sharna Bains. Instagram: sweetsavage @sharna_bains