New Music Spotlight – Stray The Course

The old school pop-punk revival is alive and well in Denver thanks to Stray the Course. Melding the signature upbeat, pop elements of late 90s punk with the darker states of early emo, the quartet blends their favourite musical elements to create their nostalgic and emotionally-driven debut EP, Jetlag.

We spoke with Ronnie Toplyn [guitar/vocals] and Ben Baroch [bass] about the band’s history, their spectrum of influences, and the making of their new EP – out December 15, 2018.

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JA: How did you guys get started? You were a band before and melded into something else.
RT: Three of us met back in college and started playing together. We gigged around under a different name until February of 2017 then we decided to start pursuing things more seriously. We got a lead guitar player and another singer named Steve [Nelson], and that’s when we went through the whole change: new member, new band and started over from there.

JA: You reworked a couple of older songs for the new release. What kind of changes have you gone through that made it into the new EP?
RT:  Since we’ve been going for long enough now, we’re starting to shape what we want the sound to look like. Before, we had a little bit of darker tendencies, and the backup vocals weren’t really thought out.  Now, having that second guitar in really helped us form the full sound that we’re going for.

BB: Yeah, having Steve join the band really put a breath of fresh air into the band.  

JA: How has the writing process changed now that you’ve solidified the entire group?
RT: Usually I’ll come to the group with a concept, maybe a chorus or verse. The way this particular single, “Jetlag,” got started is we were working on the chorus for it, and Steve was trying to teach me how to sing the harmonies. As he was noting out what the harmonies should be, that actually became the intro riff for the song just because it sounded so cool and the whole thing formed from there.

JA: Can you go more into developing your sound?
RT: One of the things that we tend to do is happier music but sad lyrics. I think that’s just something I’ve been very good at especially with years of writing the songs. Something that I connect with emotionally and feel very deeply about forms the easiest path for lyrics. Once you add in Steve’s guitar and Ben’s bass, it really changes the mood. We could do everything super stripped-down and acoustic, and it would still have that sad vibe but adding Steve’s poppier riffs and the energetic bass really brings the overall mood of the song back up to more of that earlier pop-punk.

Since we’ve been going for long enough now, we’re starting to shape what we want the sound to look like.

JA: How was the recording process for the new EP?
RT: It evolved over time. When we first went into the studio. We weren’t nearly as polished as we should have been. My singing especially, with each track that we added, it took probably two or three hours less of recording vocals because we knew what to expect going in and how to go about tracking and mapping the songs.

BB: We recorded a few songs previously, but it wasn’t anything that was very quality so when we got into the studio this time, it was a new experience. It was definitely a learning curve.

JA: You’re from Denver. Can we talk a little bit about the music scene and how that may or may not have influenced your music?
RT: The Denver music scene has probably three or four different layers. There’s the DIY hardcore scene which we are just slightly too pop-punk for. Then there’s a big indie and alt scene. We are kind of in a happy medium. We could go either way on some of the songs, and we can mix and match the set for different shows that we’re playing.

There’s probably twenty-plus smaller venues that we play at regularly. Denver has a ton of clubs and bars that regularly book punk and hardcore acts.

JA: Talk about your influences and what got you into music and playing what you play?
RT: I initially started out playing bass. I think the first two songs I learned how to play were Carousel by Blink-182 and Longview from Green Day. As I kept growing up and learning new things I discovered Silverstein. They’re probably one of my huge influences for lyrical content. I know they’re not pop-punk by any means, but they’re one of the bands that are still my favorite to this day.

BB: In middle school and high school I played saxophone in the school band. I started playing bass because Ronnie was a friend of mine from high school and we wanted to play in a band. He wanted to play guitar; he didn’t want to play bass, so I was like ‘ screw it, I’ll learn bass!’ So yeah, that’s how I got started, was ‘screw it, I’ll do it.’

And I mean I was always a little more on the heavier side of stuff for things I listened to. It doesn’t really influence my playing at all, but I love Slipknot and Disturbed – those kinds of darker, metal bands.

RT: There’s also a couple of elements within the drums that are more prog rock than pop-punk. Our drummer [Cooper Travis] is extremely technically skilled and loves playing in other prog bands around the area. I think especially on “Crazy” it’s most noticeable.

JA: You guys have a variety of influences then, with each band member having their own background or things that they really like opposed to just pop-punk.
RT: Yeah, Steve’s probably the most classic pop-punk, 90s early 2000s kid. I’m straight emo, like My Chemical Romance all the way, and then prog rock and metal combined. This is kind of what happens when you throw all that into the same thing.

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Grab a copy of Jetlag on Bandcamp. Stay up-to-date with Stray the Course through Facebook and Instagram.