Portland Oregon's The Stops released their debut LP earlier this
year to much critical acclaim. The Quintet play sharp, infectious punk
rock with shadowy edges, Ruby, who contributes her guitar skills and
vocal prowess to the melee recently took some time out of her busy schedule to
answer some questions for us as her band prepares for their European invasion.
Interview by J Castro
Let’s start out by telling me who’s currently in the band and
what everyone does:
RS: Lizzie Sings, Cissie
plays bass, Rita and I are on guitars, and Fukuko plays drums. That's the line
up for our recent recordings. We have Mike Warm (Observers, Defect Defect, The
Minds, Arctic Flowers) filling in on drums right now since Fukuko just had a
baby.
Tell me The Stops origin story. How did you all meet and how
long have you been playing music together?
RS: Fukuko and I met in
Portland after she moved here from Tokyo. We would chat at shows and eventually
I asked her if she wanted to start a band. Fukuko had seen Cissie play with
Repercussions at Chaos in Tejas so she suggested we ask her to play bass. With
Rita it was a bit more complicated. We actually met in Czech as teenagers when
we were both on tour and she was living in Brazil. She moved to Vancouver BC a
couple years later and we met again when I was touring up there. Eventually she
moved to Portland and we ended up living in the same house. She was dating my
roommate. Rita had played guitar for an awesome punk band in Sao Paulo called
As Mercedes, so asking her to join was a no brainer. Since Fukuko, Cissie and I
were practicing in the basement it wasn't long before we were like “just get
down here!”
Lizzie and I had been hanging out at the same shows for about
11 years. In 2013 I saw her sing and play keys in a band called Pataha Hiss.
Her style seemed like a good fit for us so we asked her to join.
When you started the band, did you have a particular sound in
mind that you wanted to work towards or was it a “hey let’s just play and see
what comes out” kind of thing?
RS: We all agreed that we
wanted it to be melodic punk. We didn't have an exact sound in mind- we just
knew we wanted a vocalist that could sing well. It was quickly apparent that
the instrumental portion would be a fusion between what we were listening to at
the time and the bands we grew up on. While we had no intention in achieving
this, we are often told that we have “the Portland sound.”
RS: I would say that
people are mostly supportive. There is a lot of band member overlap, and in
that way it feels like we're all in it together. I feel really lucky to live in
a place where everyone in the punk scene plays an instrument or at least
aspires to. At the same time, we are all pretty spoiled to have so many
talented individuals and great bands that sometimes it can be hard to get
people excited. I've seen really good punk bands play to stiff crowds and empty
rooms here. I went to a Poison Idea show recently where someone said, “come on
you guys, it's fucking Poison Idea,”
since only a couple people were giving as much as a foot tap. Regardless, a lot
of people are engaged in the punk scene and this provides the framework for
people to participate in other ways than just attending shows and playing in
bands. Whether it's opening a business, starting a craft night, or putting on
an art show, people here are interested in participating in others endeavors-
creative or otherwise.
Your debut LP Nameless
Faces came out a few months ago, can you tell me a bit about your
experiences working on it?
RS: Franz from Sabotage
Records contacted us last July to ask about doing an LP. We didn't have enough
material to do it at the time so we really had to buckle down to make it
happen. The pressure of time constraints made us get a lot done. Rita and I
went to the studio for mixing whenever we had time but it still took months to
finish. The Stops even started recording for a 7” before we were done mixing
the LP. Fortunately it was a lot of fun to be in the studio and we had a great
sound engineer who I've known for over 10 years. Adam Becker (Autistic Youth,
Defect Defect, Red Lantern Studios, Trash Treasury) did the recording and mixed
with us from November till around April. He'd do things to help us de-stress
like playing Michael Jackson in our headphones between recording flubs. He also
had a really cool analog chorus/delay/reverb pedal, previously used by Elliot
Smith that we used for a couple of songs on the LP.
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| The Stops - Nameless Faces LP 2015 Dirt Cult Records (America) Sabotage Records (Europe) |
I was reading an interview with Kim Shattuck from The Muffs
and she said she never includes politics in her lyrics because she feels that
it dates the song. What do you think about that statement? Are there any
subjects you try to stay away from in your lyrics?
RS: I think she makes a
valid point but we have never been concerned with what we should or should not
talk about. We have not put any lyrical constraints on ourselves and there
aren't any subjects we have purposefully avoided. That being said, our aim
isn't necessarily a political one. Our songs are about our experiences as
people and how we see the world. The content of our writing isn't meant to fit
into a mold that reflects stereotypes about us as women, punks, etc. For us,
the point is to play music, write lyrics, and be in a band simply because we
enjoy doing it. Putting restrictions on what we sing about would totally go
against the grain of the type of people we are.
What band or musician would you say has had the single most
influence on your life? Tell me about the first time you heard them and how you
felt when you did.
RS: If I must pin it down
to one band then I have to choose the one that got me into punk: The Ramones.
My only exposure to rock n' roll before them was what was being played on
alternative radio stations in the 90's. Discovering the raw pop hooks of The
Ramones was life changing. I don't know what I thought punk was at the time but
it was not immediately clear to me that they were it. When I found out, I
thought “oh this is punk.. Ok I guess I like punk.” I began hunting down
information on bands like the Sex Pistols and Clash so that I could download
their albums off Kazaa. The Ramones' sound was a perfect introduction to punk
for me. It felt like I was beginning to understand what made me tick.
 |
| The Stops/Daily Ritual split EP 2015 released by Sabotage Records and 4490 Records |
The band recently played a show with School of Rock Portland.
How did you become affiliated with them and how did you feel the show turned
out?
RS: Lizzie currently
works there as a piano/vocal instructor, and we were asked to play the Best of
Portland fest because one of the lead organizers liked our demo. Overall the
show was good and a lot of people came out to watch the kids. It's really heart
warming to see teens and pre-teens playing in bands. The school provides an
environment that helps them succeed as budding musicians while giving them a
safe space to feel supported and engaged. We have many friends who have contributed
to or worked with School of Rock since it's a great way for musicians to give
back to the community.
 |
| Photos by Daniel Vincent and Aaron Sharpsteen |
I’ve seen a couple of really cool Stops shirts. Is that
Medusa’s severed head being held up?! They’re both great! Who came up with the
designs for them?
RS: Hey,
thanks! That is in fact Medusa's severed head. During high school I became
interested in Greek mythology. Using Medusa on a T-shirt seemed appropriate for
us so I asked my roommate if she could draw it from a photo of a famous statue.
Rita put the drawing in photoshop, tweaked it and designed the background. The
skull design was done by Rita's friend Flávio
Bá. We
found the image on his website and asked if it would be all right for us to use
it. He was more than happy to let us put the design on a t-shirt so he added
The Stops logo at the top. Our new design will have a girl's leg kicking a cop
in the face. We found this design in my friend Allison Phillips' portfolio.
What non music related things do you all enjoy doing around
Portland?
RS: We all work or go to
school. Everyone in the band does many music related things including DJing,
working at the local radio station, giving music lessons, attending shows, etc.
So the only time left at the end of the day is spent hanging out, eating good
food, watching TV or reading for the most part. Sometimes during the summer The
Stops like to go to the river after practice just to catch some rare Portland
sun-rays.
Where can people log on or go to buy your music?
DirtCultRecords.com
(North America)
What lies in the future for The Stops, any tour plans in the
works?
RS: Yes. We're touring
Europe from October 2nd – October 24th. We will have our 12” and a split 7” that we
did with Daily Ritual. After that we will be taking a couple months off and
writing more songs. We might tour the US sometime in 2016.
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