The Stepkids - Boogie Wonderland

The CMJ Festival kicks off this weekend and the latest issue of The Deli is dedicated to it. I talked to a whole bunch of the electronic acts performing on The Deli’s own stage, and wrote the cover story on The Stepkids. That article is below and the whole issue is on PDF here.

The Stepkids

Boogie Wonderland

The Stepkids capture all the glitter and gold of classic seventies funk, R&B and soul music with such expertise that their recently released self-titled debut albu m could convince as a rediscovered lost recording from that era. With their own personalities stamped all over their work, the band channels the spirit of Earth Wind & Fire, Sly Stone, Todd Rundgren and dozens of others. The Connecticut-based three piece could very well be considered a 21st century successor to those great artists.

The Stepkids is comprised of guitarist Jeff Gitelman, bass player Dan Edinberg and drummer Tim Walsh. Jeff and Dan go way back, having connected some fifteen years ago over a mutual love of jazz music. “The first song [Dan and I] played together was ‘Oleo’ by Sonny Rollins,” explains Jeff enthusiastically. Talking from Texas via telephone as the band are currently touring, Jeff and Dan explained how these shared passions evolved into the formation of The Stepkids. 

“We were really into soul and R&B stuff,” says Jeff. “We always had this parallel interest in soul and jazz so it was only natural that it developed into something like this.” 

Before forming this group, Jeff had cut his teeth in a number of funk and R&B outfits, also performing in backing bands for the likes of Lauryn Hill, Jaheim, 50 Cent and Alicia Keys. Dan, meanwhile, was a member of underground reggae outfit Zox. The duo reconnected creatively in early 2009 and, after Jeff introduced Dan to drummer Tim, the lineup that would become The Stepkids was complete.

This funky triumvirate quickly put together a set of songs with each member having equal say in the creative process. “Every step of the way was completely collaborative,” explains Dan. “We worked completely together. We wrote all the music together, we wrote vocal melodies together. We even wrote the lyrics together. We can’t think of any other group with three lyricists who write in the same room on the same band.”

Working in this way, the band wrote the set that forms their debut album quickly. As Jeff notes, “For us, we were on a real high musically when we were working on it. Once we recorded ‘Brain Ninja’ we thought that we had a totally new sound and that made us write a new album right away because we were so ridiculously inspired. We were sharing a lot of personal songs. We would all help each other write, and when we all got in the same room to write it actually felt like the next natural step. It wasn’t a big hurdle to get over.”

With each member contributing their own prose, individual tracks often have multiple authors. So it’s not surprising that the record contains no real cohesive lyrical themes. Instead, the band pulled inspiration from all over the map. “We do specifically decide to make every song unique like maybe a Beatles album or something where every song has its own place,” says Jeff. “We write lyrics with the purpose of them being able to be interpreted by both sides,” adds Dan. “Hopefully they’ll have multiple meanings to different people.”

As well as sharing song-writing duties, the band also share vocal responsibilities with each member taking the lead and different times or all three contributing equally to the pretty harmonies. “We were very inspired by singers like David Bowie who have many different characters that they do,” says Dan. “For every single vocal part we weren’t thinking like ‘yes, we kind of want it to sound like this or a little more like this.’ We wanted to be able to sound like different types of singers.”

These harmonies are key to the album’s unique sound. The sweet vocals and contagious melodies play against the raw, home-recorded production methods, which involved the band recording directly onto old-fashioned tape. ‘Santos & Ken’, for example, sports some vocal cord-straining singing reminiscent of Saturday Night Fever-era Bee Gees, but seemingly delivered at a distance of about halfway up the street from the recording booth. Elsewhere, ‘La La’ is a psychedelic spaceship ride, boasting one of the record’s most memorable and complex hooks. The simple lyrics on the chorus—made up of just a cluster of la-la-las—ironically contrasting the intricate tune. “The melody is all over the place,” laughs Jeff when speaking about ‘La La’. “It kicks our butt all the time.”

The Stepkids has been released by independent Los Angeles-based label Stones Throw Records. Specialising in funk, soul and hip-hop, their roster boasts releases by Madlib, J Dilla, Georgia Anne Muldrow, MF Doom and Mayer Hawthorne, among others. Hooking up with Stones Throw has been a major boost to the band, introducing them to a ready-made fan base.

Jess explains how the band hooked up with Stones Throw: “There was this DJ, Scotty Coates in Los Angeles, who heard our music and fell in love with it. Unconditionally [he] just helped us out. He gave it to [Stones Throw’s label head] Peanut Butter Wolf who heard it and loved it and wanted to sign us right away. It’s been great. Our aesthetics are very similar. It’s really inspiring because there are not too many record labels out there that are like rock stars in terms that they have fans, not of each artist, but specifically the record label. That says a lot that the label itself has fans, even more than the artists.”

Garnering much attention and acclaim since their first songs appeared online, and now with a full-length under their belt, the band are not ready to slow down. After their current scheduled of US shows, which includes a performance at The Deli’s CMJ showcase, their off to tour internationally. “We’re going to Japan in the first week of November then we’re going to do Europe the latter half of November,” beams Jeff. “Then January we’re going to go to Australia. We’re really going to push on and in addition to all that we’re pretty well into a second album at this point, so we hope to have that done very soon. When we’re not touring we’re just going to be going full on recording.”

With a distinctive sound, bags of talent and work ethic to boot, The Stepkids’ journey has surely just begun.