Hello Rockstars!
Our Artist of the Week is Alt-Rock / New Wave / Genre Bending Band Style Cramps!
Here’s their story in their own words, Enjoy!
—–VMS 🙂
VMS:
“When did you start writing and performing your music.
What’s your backstory and current lineup.”
Style Cramps:
“We (Aaron & Caleb) Started writing songs together that would eventually become the early Style Cramps tracks in the summer of ’22. We were Experimenting with a few different style inspired by New Wave, and Punk until we had a a handful of songs to put out. We started showing them to our friends and a few of them mentioned they’d be down to learn the songs and jam with us. After practicing for a few months we played our first show in March ’23.
Our line up is: Aaron (Lead Vocals), Caleb (guitar & vocals), Houston (drums) Nicc (bass), and Matt (keyboard & back up vocals).
The fact that we were all good friends already and the homies just happened to play the instruments we needed to play live was really cool and made everything feel very natural.”
VMS:
“What artist or bands inspire you and your sound.”
Style Cramps:
“Some influences include:
Peter Hook of New Order, High Vis, Nirvana, The Cramps, Gorillaz, and Isolation Ward just to name a few.”
VMS:
“What’s your writing process and inspiration for your lyrics.”
Style Cramps:
“Most of our current songs were written by me (Aaron) and Caleb before we had our full line up. Usually I would come up with a bass line, and then have Caleb up with a guitar riff for it and then build on it from there, or vice versa. But now that we have a full band, we are trying to all contribute more to the writing process.
As far as lyrics, I usually tend to gravitate toward writing about government cover ups/conspiracy type stuff, or take inspiration from movies and podcasts I listen to haha.”- Aaron
“It’s a way to communicate thoughts and ideas that aren’t usually listened to patiently, paper is a lot more patient than people typa deal ya feel?” -Caleb
VMS:
“I love your songs: “Alone at Last”, “New World Era”, “Fool’s Gold” and “Nothing to Lose”.
What is the inspiration or story behind these songs.”
“Alone At Last”:
“This one was heavily inspired by people like Graham Hancock and the theories of a lost advanced ancient civilization that existed before civilization was destroyed by a cataclysmic event.”
“New World Era”:
“This one’s about being controlled by an unseen class of elite and how they want to keep their power by oppressing the rest of us.”
“Fool’s Gold”:
“Similar themes as New World Era, but could almost be thought of as a sequel in a way. It’s more optimistic in the sense that it speaks more about our rejection of the false promises and ideals that are pushed on the us by the Elite.”
“Nothing to Lose”:
“Being fed up with being told what to do and when to do it with no consideration for the time and effort it takes to do it.”
Listen to Style Cramps on Spotify:
VMS:
“Tell me about your EP: “Membranes Only”. What was the inspiration and process of writing your music.”
Style Cramps:
“”Membranes Only” was the first EP we uploaded under Style Cramps, a collection of electronic / new wave-esque instrumentals that we made prior to knowing what SC was going to become. It’s completely different from any other style cramps songs and was created by Me and Caleb along with collaborations from other friends.”
Listen to “Membranes Only” on Spotify:
VMS:
“Which local artist would you like to work with and why.”
Style Cramps:
“I think a Style Cramps X Spring Breeding collab would be cool for sure. They truly have their own sound going on and it would be interesting to see what would happen if combined our styles. We’ve been talking with “Pussy Velour” (our friends band in Reno) about doing a Split EP together as well so keep your eyes peeled for that.”
VMS:
“What’s your overall theme or message of your music.”
Style Cramps:
“Think for yourself, widen your perspective, stick it to the man (haha).”
VMS:
“Do you have a favorite song that you like to perform.”
Style Cramps:
“All of our songs are pretty fun to play. “Can’t Stand You”, “I Don’t Really Care”, “Flip My Lid” and “Nothing to Lose” are some of our favorites right now.”
VMS:
“Do you have any crazy or interesting stories from working in the music scene.”
Style Cramps:
“Our first show ended up being out of town in Reno. Our bassist couldn’t make it out for the show, so Aaron spent weeks before the show creating specialized backing tracks with the bass recordings and a metronome for Houston’s headphones and a separate split feed without the metronome to be sent to the PA. Houston our drummer, had never played to a metronome before. Aaron and Houston were so nervous the day of the show that both of them barely ate or spoke the whole day.
We all knew it was going to be super difficult to hear the backing tracks coming out of our monitor wedges so we had the sound guy put them at full blast. And then on our first song of our set, we blew out our monitor and couldn’t hear a damn thing from the backing tracks (haha). I don’t think most people in the crowd even noticed but we were all stressing out for sure (haha).”
VMS:
“What does the future hold for Style Cramps.”
Style Cramps:
“We are about 95% with our debut album that we’ve been recording and mixing ourselves.
“Fool’s Gold” was the first single from the album (Out now on all streaming platforms) and we’ll probably drop 2 more singles before the album comes out. We are very excited to share the final product and hopefully will be setting up some out of town shows or a small tour going in the near future.”
Listen to “Fool’s Gold” on Spotify:
VMS:
“What do you want your audience to feel and experience at one of your live shows.”
Style Cramps:
“Forget where you are and just let it all out. Nothing better then looking into the crowd and seeing people jumping around with big smiles on their face.”
Vegas Music Scene Thoughts:
What I love about Style Cramps is the fact that they are not afraid to cross multiple genres of music and are still able to make it their own vibe, feeling very fresh and relevant. Whether they experiment with 80’s new wave, grunge, 70’s rock and everything in between, they are able to make it sound timeless. They sucker you in with their in your face lyrics about conspiracy theories, love, figuring out who you are, and also trying to find your voice in a world that wants conformity, and keep you rocking out with their wonderfully bonkers musicianship that takes you on a journey of kaleidoscopic emotions, making for a one of kind visceral experience for the listener.
Their music is only one part of the puzzle, I greatly encourage you to go check them out in person. Their energy is infectious, and the passion for what they do is palpable. They have a hunger and drive to put on the best show and I guarantee you it will be a concert like no other. I’m so excited to see what the future holds for Style Cramps, I really hope they never let this industry change them, they have found a wonderful sound, style and voice in this scene, and I think the evolution of their artistry is going to be a fun one to watch.
For More Information about Style Cramps, please follow them on Instagram.
——Vegas Music Scene.