He said he and his band, ?Meridian, played a show at “a really gnarly crust-punk house” in 2010 and saw people doing some type of drug off of the washing machine during his band’s set.
The band’s Midwest tour brings them to the Root Cellar tomorrow. Other bands that will be performing include Unions, Joe & Chance and Kleinerwasserbar.
Though the band’s show at the Root Cellar won’t have the same wild element, Stern said people should still expect to have a good time if they come out. He said the set is diverse with a lot of ups ?and downs.
“It’s cool to play different kinds of shows,” Stern said. “Our sound covers a lot of different aspects of folk, indie, punk and stuff like that. I think there are a lot of different kinds of bands we can play with.”
Stern said the band is having a lot of fun getting its live sound how it wants it. This is the first time all five members of the band have gone out on tour together, and Stern said he is excited because he didn’t ever think they would be able to do a tour together with everyone having busy schedules. Typically, he said, just he and his brother Jake, who plays guitar and does backup vocals in the band, are the only ones who are able to get out and tour.
“It’s really cool to hear the band fully realized as a five-piece performance instead of just a bedroom-studio project,” Stern said.
Meridian released its second full-length album, “The Cathedral,” in August 2014, and Stern said he has never been prouder of ?an album.
Though the band’s first album, “Aging Truths,” was more of a bedroom-studio recording that Stern controlled almost entirely, he said this album is more complete and a product of the band as a whole.
“I’m really happy that it exists in the world purely from a recording quality perspective, what the artwork looks like and how the vinyl turned out,” Stern said. “It’s just really nice to have a full product in your hand and be able to say, ‘I couldn’t have done this ?better if I tried.’”
“The Cathedral” also gave Stern a lot more ?freedom, he said.
He said he suffered from limiting factors such as budgetary restraints on the other albums he has worked on, but that wasn’t a problem for this album.
“It probably took 15 months from recording it to actually pressing it to come out, and between that was a whole lot of revision and work and checking every little detail,” he said.
He said figuring out how an album will sound is very important to him.
He wants to know if the album will become a soundtrack to a series of life events, Stern said, or just a list of songs.
He said he likes the idea of people reading the liner notes and being surprised by something they hadn’t noticed before.
“(The new album) is definitely a chronological break-up record,” Stern said. After going through all of the motions of a break-up, he said the ?album ends on a solemn but ?hopeful note.
“It’s more about two people’s time with each other winding down and coming to an end and all the ways that manifests itself in the world and seeing how the hell to process that with all the energy and emotion that that creates,” Stern said.
He said he and his brother are starting to gather songs for something new.
“The songs are going either one of two ways,” Stern said, “They’re either going really quiet and drawn out and really focused on vocal melody and subtle change. Then there are a few other ones that we’re just going to let it rip and write 2 1/2 or three-minute pop songs that are pretty ?structured.”
