Strange Glue Showcase: The Stiletto Formal Interview

When an unsigned band get a Grammy award winning producer offering to work with them, you know they must have done something right.

This is the position The Stiletto Formal are finding themselves in, with their upcoming debut album having Darrell Thorp, who twiddled the knobs on Radiohead's 'Hail to the Thief' and Outkast's 'Speakerboxxx/The Love Below'.

Thorp has also worked with such renowned artists like Beck and Thom Yorke.

Coming from the town of Phoenix in Arizona, USA, the five member strong band consists of Kyle Howard - Vocals and Percussion, Pat McCarthy - Drums, Sunny Davis - Cello, Jimi Lamp - Guitar and Paul Neely on Bass. They have independently released two E.P's over the last few years and have a unique sound which has led to comparisons with bands as diverse as The Arcade Fire, Tilly and the Wall, The Mars Volta and The Blood Brothers.

We recently caught up with vocalist of the band Kyle Howard who talked to us about the experience of working with Darrell Thorp and why you should fear the music industry.

Strange Glue: Good evening, we'll start you off with an easy question. Why should our readers take the time to check you guys out?

The Stiletto Formal: "Hopefully people reading this are looking to find something new. I hope we can fulfill a part of that need."

SG: The lyrics for your songs often use a short-story format, is this because you suck at rhyming? and what inspires them?

TSF: "Haha, I was an english major in college with an emphasis on creative writing. I was very interested in writing short stories and still am. Lyrically I find that it allows me to sing about topics that I'm actually afraid to express. Putting my mental state into a metaphor is much easier for me than into a poem. I'm not gonna lie, I hide a little. Partially because it's so difficult to express something in a way that hasn't been played out and partially because I'm shy. About the rhyming... I've never really liked rhyming in songs unless its ridiculously well done or hip-hop. We just may eat some hay."

SG: In an ideal world, where does the band want to be in say, five years time?

TSF: "Anywhere people won't be fickle. I don't want to be a band that emerges for a year and then becomes a joke. With that said I'd like to also make an impact, so much music over here is stale. If we can't affect it, someone needs to."

SG: Looking towards to the outside world, what issues concern you the most?

TSF: "I can't speak for the whole band, but personally I notice the overall mentality in pop-culture. It's another subject i spent some time with in college, and it's amazing how everything can compound on itself. I don't really know how things are over there, but things here aren't right. I know that's vague but for some reason I can't explain it correctly. Every year it gets exponentially worse. With that said, there's really nothing that can be done about it, or should be done about it except try to create some form of art that offsets it. I know I should be more vocal on things like politics, but the more I learn the more I distrust my sources and anyone related to the topic."

SG: Working creatively with people of differing cultural and musical backgrounds, disagreements are bound to surface, how do you go about solving these?

TSF: "Our writing process takes quite a bit of time. We all have very different tastes, which is one of the main reasons that we sound like we do. It used to get very heated sometimes and we'd just end practice, but that was years ago. We learned to try everything but not get openly hurt if people don't like the idea. We re-work our songs so many times to keep everyone happy. That and you learn to ignore people being passive-aggressive. Ha, we're good at that."

SG: Kyle, you've suffered a few bouts of ill-heath which is common amongst singers who utilise screamed vocals, is it likely that this element of the music will be phased out to protect your voice?

TSF: "I took some voice lessons and learned how to keep my throat intact on long tours, or else i would have died this summer. With that said though we are phasing out screaming a little. I used to do it when i didn't know what else to do and I'm trying to diversify a little, not just go back to what I knew I could do."

SG: You've recently lost two members, Nole Kennedy (drums) and Shelly Barnes (piano). Can you expand somewhat upon what happened?

TSF: "Marriage. We saw it coming but kinda hoped we were just paranoid. Once they started seeing the people they wed it was obvious that they didn't have the commitment to music or the band as the rest of us. I couldn't really picture playing without Pat though, or without playing keyboards myself. When i used to write the key parts there was a lot of that passive-aggression goin' on, and now I have my workspace and it's very relieving."

SG: You're presently working on your debut full-length album, any ideas for a title yet, how would you describe it, and when can we expect it to be released?

TSF: "We're calling it "Renaissance". Since we're finally working on a full length we can make it more diverse. I hope it ends up dark but still upbeat. We have quite a few elements we hope to somehow make cohesive. Release date really depends on a lot of things. I'm gonna ballpark it in early 2008 but don't hold me to that."

SG: You've recorded two tracks from your new album with producer Darrell Thorp, what does he bring to the table?

TSF: "I was worried about working with a producer because of all of the horror stories, but Darrell actually brings out some of our crazier ideas. I always have more than one idea for vocal tone and he helps me explore and push all of them. It is also comforting to know that you can try something that might feel too bizarre and know you have someone you trust outside the band to give some input. That and he's just as goofy as we are so it makes it very comfortable."

SG: The album is likely to be recorded without label support. Was this a conscious decision? What's your opinion of the music industry?

TSF: "It was a conscious decision. I remember in the first label meeting we had they started out the meeting by telling us how to write. I've been scared of the industry ever since. We want this record to be ours. We feel like the team we have (Darrell included) is perfect for the record we want to make. We don't want to be even remotely coerced into cutting a song or editing out a part we collectively like. If someone wants to get behind the project like we are than that's rad, but we won't change it."

Now for the wrap-up, well, for starters you can see what we think of The Stiletto Formal by having a read of our review for recent E.P This is My Boomstick. But don't just take our word for it - although you should treat our sage-like words as more valuable than something very, very, valuable - treat yourselves to a listen to two full-length tracks kindly provided to us by the band.

Track 1: The Fall of Ambrose Bierce

Track 2: Navigating the Formaldehyde Strait

You can see their website here, and their blog here.