Stereos is a Canadian
pop rock
Pop rock (also typeset as pop/rock) is a fusion genre and form of rock music characterized by a strong commercial appeal, with more emphasis on professional songwriting and recording craft, and less emphasis on attitude than standard rock musi ...
band from
Edmonton
Edmonton is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Alberta. It is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Central Alberta ...
,
Alberta
Alberta is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Canada. It is a part of Western Canada and is one of the three Canadian Prairies, prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to its west, Saskatchewan to its east, t ...
, formed in 2008. Their musical style fuses aspects of
electronic music
Electronic music broadly is a group of music genres that employ electronic musical instruments, circuitry-based music technology and software, or general-purpose electronics (such as personal computers) in its creation. It includes both music ...
,
rock
Rock most often refers to:
* Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids
* Rock music, a genre of popular music
Rock or Rocks may also refer to:
Places United Kingdom
* Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wale ...
, and
pop
Pop or POP may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
* Pop music, a musical genre
Artists
* POP, a Japanese idol group now known as Gang Parade
* Pop! (British group), a UK pop group
* Pop! featuring Angie Hart, an Australian band
Album ...
. Their breakout came from appearing on the
MuchMusic
Much is a Canadian English language discretionary specialty channel owned by BCE Inc. through its Bell Media subsidiary that airs programming aimed at teenagers and young adults. It is headquartered at 299 Queen Street West in what was o ...
original series, ''
disBAND''. In October 2009, they released their debut self-titled album, ''
Stereos''.
Biography
2008–2009: Early days and record deal
The band formed roughly two years prior to its 2008 appearance on
disBAND under the name Stand By Me. After meeting disBAND Guru
Greig Nori
Greig Andrew Nori (born November 21, 1962) is a Canadian producer and musician from Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, and is the frontman, co-lead vocalist and guitarist of the pop punk band Treble Charger. In the late 1990s, he began working as a pro ...
, Stand By Me was advised to change their name due to copyright issues. Turn It Up was chosen. Later, in order to perform several shows in
Toronto
Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...
,
Ontario
Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...
,
Universal Music Canada
Universal Music Group (UMG) owns, or has a joint share in, many of the record labels listed here.
According to the UMG official website, the main labels are Abbey Road Studios, Capitol Music Group, Decca Records, Def Jam Recordings, Deutsche Gra ...
A&R rep
Mark Spicoluk
Mark Spicoluk is a Canadian content creator, yoga instructor, musician, podcaster, and entrepreneur. He is best known as co-creator and yoga teacher for the lifestyle brand Boho Beautiful, his time as bass player with Avril Lavigne, and as the v ...
advised the band to change their name again, and the band chose the name Stereos. After receiving the thumbs up from the judges from disBand, Stereos went to a large gig to receive a contract from the President of
Universal Music Canada
Universal Music Group (UMG) owns, or has a joint share in, many of the record labels listed here.
According to the UMG official website, the main labels are Abbey Road Studios, Capitol Music Group, Decca Records, Def Jam Recordings, Deutsche Gra ...
and judged by
Kiss
A kiss is the touching or pressing of one's lips against another person, animal or object. Cultural connotations of kissing vary widely; depending on the culture and context, a kiss can express sentiments of love, passion, romance, sex ...
member
Gene Simmons
Gene Simmons (born Chaim Witz; ; born August 25, 1949) also known by his stage persona "The Demon", is an Israeli-born American musician. He was the bassist and co-lead singer of the hard rock band Kiss (band), Kiss, which he co-founded wit ...
.
On June 4 their music video for "
Summer Girl" debuted on the MuchMusic Countdown. The single also debuted at #2 on the
Canadian Hot 100
The Canadian Hot 100 is a music industry record chart in Canada for songs, published weekly by ''Billboard (magazine), Billboard'' magazine. It was launched on the issue dated March 31, 2007 as the standard record chart in Canada; a new chart ...
based on the large number of downloads in the first week and in June 2009, Stereos' debut single, "Summer Girl" sold over 120,000 units in Canada and has been certified
CRIA double platinum in digital downloads. The band released their self-titled debut album ''
Stereos'' on October 20, 2009 and was certified gold by the
CRIA in January 2010 with sales of over 40,000 copies. The band started their first ever Cross-Canada tour on November 7, 2009 in Windsor, Ontario.
2010–2011: ''The Show Must Go...On The Road Tour'' and second studio album
Stereos went across Canada in March and April 2010 on
Hedley's The Show Must Go...On The Road Tour. Hedley announced the tour in support of their new album ''
The Show Must Go
''The Show Must Go'' is the third studio album by Canadian pop rock group Hedley. It is the first album by the band that drops their pop-punk / emo sound for more of a Pop rock sound, It was released on November 17, 2009, in Canada. The album wa ...
'' which was released November 17, 2009. "
Fefe Dobson
Felicia Lily Dobson (born February 28, 1985) is a Canadian singer. Born in Toronto, Ontario, she began performing as a teenager, during which time she received and refused an offer from Jive Records for a recording contract. Dobson signed with I ...
and Stereos were along for the whole trek, while
Faber Drive
Faber Drive is a Canadian pop punk band from Mission, British Columbia, formed in 2004. The band consists of lead vocalist Dave Faber, lead guitarist Jordan Pritchett, bass guitarist Jeremy "Krikit" Liddle and drummer Seamus O'Neill. Their bigge ...
and
Boys Like Girls
Boys Like Girls (stylized in all caps since 2023) is an American rock band formed in Andover, Massachusetts, in 2005. The group gained mainstream recognition with their self-titled debut album (2006), which went on to sell over 700,000 albu ...
joined on select dates."
In March 2010, the band received two
Juno Award
The Juno Awards (stylized as JUNOS), or simply known as the Junos, are awards presented by Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, the Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences to recognize outstanding achievements in Canada's mu ...
nominations which were for Best New Artist, and Best Pop Album. They released two other singles that charted moderately,"Turn It Up" peaked at #31, and "Butterflies" at #51. The song "She Only Likes Me When She's Drunk" failed to chart.
Stereos' second album, titled ''"Uncontrollable"'' was released on December 14, 2010. The first single from the album, ''"Uncontrollable"'' was released on October 25, 2010 and peaked at #42 on the Canadian Hot 100. The second single,"Body Move" was released in February 2011, just before their cross Canada tour. In mid April the band's drummer, Aaron, sustained a broken hand, leaving him unable to perform, causing the band to cancel their remaining shows.
2019–present: 10-Year Reunion and Return from hiatus
On March 10, 2019, Stereos announced a 10-year reunion show to take place on May 11, 2019, at Toronto's Rec Room during Canadian Music Week on their Facebook page, which ended up selling out. A second 10-year reunion show in the band's hometown of Edmonton took place on August 16, 2019 and also sold out. On October 20, 2019, the band announced they were officially back in the studio recording new material. On February 3, 2020, the band announced via their social media pages that they would be releasing a brand new single, titled "Sunset Gold" which was released on February 28, 2020.
In 2023, they participated in an all-star recording of
Serena Ryder
Serena Lauren Ryder (born December 8, 1982) is a Canadian singer-songwriter. Born in Toronto, she grew up in Millbrook, Ontario. Ryder first gained national recognition with her ballad "Weak in the Knees" in 2007 and has released eight studio ...
's single "
What I Wouldn't Do
"What I Wouldn't Do" is a song performed by Canadian singer-songwriter Serena Ryder, which was released as a single in November 2012. The song was written by Ryder and Jerrod Bettis for Ryder's fifth studio album, ''Harmony (Serena Ryder album), ...
", which was released as a charity single to benefit
Kids Help Phone
Kids Help Phone () is a Canadian charitable organization that provides online and telephone counselling and volunteer-led, text-based support in English and French to youth across Canada. Kids Help Phone also provides information on how to acc ...
's Feel Out Loud campaign for youth mental health.
Discography
Studio albums
Singles
Promotional singles
Other charted songs
Music videos
"Summer Girl" — 2009
"Throw Ya Hands Up" — 2009
"Turn It Up" — 2009
"Butterflies" — 2010
"
Wingin' It
''Wingin' It'' (originally titled ''Angel on Campus'' prior to its debut) is a Canadian teen sitcom which aired on Family. The series was produced by Temple Street Productions in association with Family. It stars Demetrius Joyette and Dylan Eve ...
Theme" — 2010
"She Only Likes Me When She's Drunk" — 2010
"Uncontrollable" — 2010
"Body Move" — 2011
References
External links
*
Stereosat
Twitter
Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...
{{Authority control
Musical groups established in 2008
Musical groups from Edmonton
Canadian pop music groups
2008 establishments in Alberta
Musical groups disestablished in 2012
Musical groups reestablished in 2019
2012 disestablishments in Alberta