Interview: Been Stellar
Photo Credit: Sam Keeler for NME
Interview by Catherine Langworth
Catherine Langworth (CL): Okay, I’m Catie, and I said this already, but I just wanted to thank you guys for taking time out of your night and just answering a couple of questions. I’m a big fan of yours, so I’m really excited to get this interview started. My friend Delaney knows this. I was on the train ride here with her, and I was like “Oh my god, Been Stellar! I get to interview them!” So if you guys are ready, I’m just going to jump in with a couple of questions. I saw you guys open for Fontaines D.C. this fall, and you immediately captivated me. Is there anything specific about the Fontaines D.C. tour that you learned from to help you with your own headline?
Sam Slocum (SS): Yeah, definitely. You learn something from every tour you do, especially every support tour you do. So, I guess, speaking for myself, as far as being a singer and the front person, you pick up on whatever the other front person’s doing. So, I guess there’s a lot to be learned. There’s always something to be learned. So we did a tour a few years ago with somebody who, she was very subdued on stage, and then somebody like Grian is larger than life on stage, and you kind of just like, I’m never really looking at somebody being like, oh, I want to do that, but you’re just naturally being exposed to something night after night, and you just start thinking about how can I apply that idea to what I’m already doing and stuff like that.
Skylar Knapp (SK): I think the other thing, too, about that tour, because we were obviously excited to do it, but, and every tour we do with a band from Europe or the U.K. is that there’s goods and bads to it. The bands are always really excited to tour here, but then it’s always really disappointing because people don’t show up in the United States like they do in Europe or the U.K. But with Fontaines, it was like, even Omaha, Nebraska, or whatever, it was sold out. So I think that there was an appetite for, I feel like, our kind of music that, you know, I was maybe a little pessimistic about over here. So I think that was a big takeaway that I had, is like, oh, wow, people actually want to go to these kinds of shows.
CL: Yeah. And that ties really well into my next question. I read a couple of your interviews, and I know you said that you gained a lot of traction in the UK because they kind of have more of a creativity when it comes to music and more of, like, an open-mindedness to experimental avenues. But you guys have been playing together for a long time.
SS: Yeah.
CL: I was wondering if you’ve noticed a shift in attitude in the U.S. towards your guys’ kind of music.
SK: Yeah, I mean, this tour so far has been, like, probably my favorite tour we’ve ever done, like, more than, you know, the times we’ve played in the UK. And, you know, we’ve headlined in the UK maybe, like, twice now, and then in Europe, like, we just got back from a few months ago. And I prefer this so far. I don’t know how to put it. I feel like growing up you’re always, like, kind of accustomed to the sort of idea that an American band has to become successful in Europe or the UK before they become successful here. Like, we’re in Boston. The Pixies and stuff like that. That was kind of always the case for bands like that. But, yeah, I think, I don’t know, I think for a long time people weren’t really as interested in live music here as they once were. I think, like, especially just, you know, and this isn’t a bad thing, like, you’re changing genre of music, not so much being, like, guitar music, but also being, like, you know, pop and rock, which, again, isn’t a bad thing. But, like, I feel like it’s less, it incentivizes people less to go out and actually see a show because if you’re going to go see, like, Sabrina Carpenter or whatever, you’re going to pay, like, $70 or something crazy. You know what I mean? So, like, some people can afford to do that, but most people can’t. So, I think maybe now there’s, like, a turn where it’s, like, oh, I actually like seeing music by people who aren’t, like, absolutely giant musicians. Like, pop stars playing, like, arenas. You know what I mean? So, yeah.
CL: Yeah, absolutely. You know, at least for me who enjoys it, that just feels good to see that. You guys helped the culture come back.
SK: Oh, yeah. Yeah, totally.
CL: So, you guys mentioned, like, rap and pop, and I know you’ve said that, you know, Laila, your drummer, she kind of has that hip-hop background, and you’ve mentioned that it kind of took you guys a while maybe to find your sound because you all came from such different musical backgrounds.
SK: Yeah, yeah. Yeah, no, I think you’re right. I think we all come from, you know, we all grew up listening to different things, but I think by the time we, like, met each other and started working on this record, I think in a lot of ways we kind of, like, started to identify and loop in the other, like, you know, because, like, for this record with Laila, like, her drumming style, I feel like that started to influence the guitar playing, which was, like, you know, before we were, you know, working with her on that style, it was probably, like, a lot different. So I think the more you’re just in a room with people, it kind of stops mattering what really your influences are and what, like, the basis of it is. It’s kind of like when you’re bouncing off one another, it, like, kind of stops mattering, kind of starts to become something, I would say.
CL: Yeah, completely. Have you guys been listening to any music on the tour that you guys have all been able to kind of, like, come together and really enjoy?
SK: Yeah. I don’t know about this tour. Whatever you want to say.
SS: People Are On. Uh, Skye and I are just bonding over the, uh, is it Joanna Robertson, is that her name? Yeah, Joanna Robertson. She’s pretty cool.
SK: She’s, I think, a Danish guitar player, but she’s worked with Dean Lund and, uh, Elias Rahmenfeld from Ice Age; she’s got some stuff with, and she’s really cool. The new Elias record that I’ve been listening to, like, nonstop. Yeah.
CL: So no David Bowie?
SS: No David Bowie.
SK: But we love David Bowie!
CL: So you guys released your EP Been Stellar in 2022 and obviously you just put out Screams from New York, New York, yeah, uh, last year. I was wondering if you still resonate with the songs that you produced on Been Stellar? Can you still put yourself in the mental space that really came with creating them or do you feel like they belong to another person entirely?
SK: I feel like I was just having this conversation with someone yesterday. I kind of feel like now that we have an album out, I can almost appreciate the songs in the EP more because there’s less pressure behind them. I think when we were when EPs were like it was like all the songs we had, I kind of hated them because there was like um, it felt like a limiter on like what we could do and it felt like, it was kind of holding us back. It just reminded me of like, ah, and I don’t really want to be on tour right now, I want to be like, I know I’m ready for stuff, so I think now that we have the record out, it’s like, okay, I can kind of relax and like these songs are, I mean, I don’t really identify with the person who wrote them anymore because that was a long time ago, but I can tell people like them and that makes me feel good.
CL: You’ve been compared to a lot of the premier alt-rock bands of the early 2000s scene and I know you don’t like it but I’ve heard you have been compared to The Strokes. So, I wanted to know what you guys think distinguishes you and makes you a unique new sound from what we’ve seen in the past.
SK: I just think it’s a different band, you know. I think uh, I don’t yeah, I don’t really have, I don’t really think about that too much, like where we sit with like bands. I mean, I take it very seriously being a New York artist means a lot because um, there is such a story in history. But I don’t think it’s like, oh, we’re taking a little bit of this area, a little bit of that era. I think we kind of just make music and like, obviously, The Strokes and Interpol and all that stuff, like, without a doubt. I think we like a lot, you know, mainly growing up, like when we were in high school, that was like, we were really obsessed with it. Um, but as far as what sets us apart, I don’t know. I will say I think there’s kind of the quintessential idea of the New York band making rock and being one thing. I don’t think we’re very interested in existing in downtown New York, like art type, like leather jackets, like you know. I love all that stuff too but like uh yeah we’re you know I think at our core like we want to continue growing. I don’t mean that we’re going to leave New York and we’re not definitely not going to stop being influenced by New York, but I think people kind of limit themselves. Especially if you go to New York you’ll be looking around and seeing a lot of bands like “We get it, we get it.” We’re interested in making really good music and like making music that matters to some extent and I think that being too conscious of your place in a scene or anything like that is always kind of a, yeah, it’s kind of a bad thing, like a limiter.
CL: And one more and I’ll let you guys go. What do you have in store for 2025, any goals, aspirations?
SK: We’re going to be recording a lot, um, which is good, uh, and then yeah just a bunch of more touring. We just announced a tour today, and then fall will probably be more touring, but yeah the main thing we’re thinking about right now is the next stuff we’re writing.
CL: Yeah, okay, well I’ll let you guys go! We’re really excited to see the show so yeah thank you again, thank you for your time, nice to meet you guys.