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It’s an universal adage that people are measured by their good deeds and not merely by their intentions to do good. Boston’s rock trio State Radio don’t just talk about being humanitarians, they are active participants in humanitarian causes and motivate others to do the same through their music. State Radio’s songs are inspired by a social consciousness to examine the world from a bird’s eye view. Lead singer/guitarist Chad Stokes, bassist Chuck Fay and drummer Mike "Mad Dog" Najarian are not merely romantic poets prophesizing about making the world a better place, they take steps in making it a positive place that draws attention to the environment and those in need. The band practices what they preach from riding bikes to gigs to support Bikes Not Bombs to hosting food drives in conjunction with Rock For A Remedy and playing shows to raise money for the Learning Center for the Deaf. The band extends themselves to participate in various humanitarian projects in every town they visit while on tour from serving lunch at a homeless shelter in Houston to building a community garden at an inner city elementary school in Washington, D.C.
The film,
How’s Your News?, was a project created by
Stokes while working at a camp for adults with disabilities. The film was picked up by
Trey Parker and
Matt Stone for a run on HBO and MTV. Additionally,
State Radio have joined with
Amnesty International to expose the injustices and improprieties enforced by legal systems around the globe.
State Radio have worked to minimize wildfire danger by removing invasive plants from areas in California, and have partnered with
Oxfam America to organize home run derbies and 5K road races to raise money and awareness to help protect women against violence in Sudan. Their deeds inspire a call to action and their music assists them in this endeavor starting with their debut offering
Us Against The Crown and continuing with their second release
Year Of The Crow, which was recorded in the UK and produced by
Tchad Blake (Peter Gabriel, Pearl Jam, Soul Coughing). The band’s third album,
Let It Go deepens their involvement in socio-political issues. The album kicks off with "
Mansin Humanity," a gripping, bombastic rocker about the Armenian genocide that slides into the reggae-pulsed "
Calling All Crows," which re-enforces the tenets of
Stokes and
Sybil Gallagher’s organization named after that title with a mission to protect women against violence. The band’s songs blend hard rock jaunts with elements of soul, punk, folk, and reggae making for a rich, pulsating amalgam.
Stokes tells on the band’s website, "This has always been an organic, grassroots thing. It’s about trying to be true to what we do." Stokes speaks to Ultimate-guitar.com about State Radio’s mission and the band’s present tour to support Let It Go.
UG: How did you meet Chuck Fay and Mike Najarian? What made you decide to start a band?
Stokes: I was a fan of Chuck's old band, Princes of Babylon, and I met ‘Maddog’ (Mike Najarian) when he was playing Buckets outside of Fenway. I wanted to start a band because I love playing music with people and I really enjoy the writing process.
"When people hear the name, they assume that we are a political band."
Influences come from all over, different experiences like jumping of freight trains or being in Northern Ireland during some of the troubles, or my time in Zimbabwe, in books, talking to people, stories of injustice like Troy Davis' story, sometimes a melody in a dream.
What motivated you to make Let It Go?
The Year Of The Crow record was done in England in 2 and 1/2 weeks with super producer Tchad Blake. With this record, we did it with our front of house sound guy 23 year old Englishman Dom Monks, Tchad Blake's assistant on our home turf in Massachusetts. We recorded everything in one large room, amps and all to two inch tape. Recording to tape is a much different process than doing it digital. More of an organic process that has more listening and less looking at computer screens. The songs were basically built long before the recording but there were a few decisions we had to make on the spot. In those cases, we try a few different ways of playing it and then chose one and keep going. Some of the songs like "Held Up By The Wires" have been recorded at every album session but for some reason or another didn't make the cut. In that case, the songs been around for seven of so years.
Who are some reggae artists that have influenced your writing?
I like Desmond Decker, Jimmy Cliff, The Gladiators, Marley and the Wailers, Gentleman, etc. (In) Boston: Hemes.
What gear do you use to create that reggae feel on the album like in “Bohemian Grove“?
For “Bohemian Grove” we used a mbira, a Zimbabwean thumb piano, an old Japanese guitar of mine from the late ‘60s through a 1964 black face Fender deluxe, a Fender p-bass through an old ampeg tube 15, Maddog's beat up drum kit from high school, same one he plays live, and a glockenspiel we borrowed from my high school. Dom was great about coming up with interesting sounds and of all the tracks, this one may sound the best with our vocals.
What is the band like when you perform these songs live?
Maddog's an animal behind the drum kit and Chuck gets all sorts of great sounds out of his bass while singing a ton of back up vocals. Sometimes we are reserved if we are concentrating hard on playing the song well, but if we know the song like the back of our hands, then we can relax and have fun with it. Since we're a trio, there's not that many toes to step on so that helps.
What are your aspirations for Let It Go?
We love going to Europe so I hope it does well over there. We just hope our fans like the record and keep coming out to the shows.
"We wanted a way to get people involved in public service and humanitarian aid."
The name came from Slobodan Milosovic and his abuse of the state media in Serbia. I was watching a program on his demise and the people's revolution. When people hear the name, they assume that we are a political band. I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing.
What inspired you and Sybil Gallagher to start the organization, Calling All Crows?
We wanted a way to get people involved in public service and humanitarian aid. People would always ask us about different issues and then say, "What can we do“? And now, we have a really concrete answer - join Calling All Crows and come along for the ride. It takes some time away from the band but we do a lot together as well. You just have to hope that a band that serves together, stays together.
Do you have any words of wisdom to aspiring musicians?
Find some good people to play with. They don't have to be wizards on their instrument. Record a few songs for cheap, but with quality, get them up on the internet and make some hard copies to pass out to everyone you know and play for nothing. Drive around and play in front of anyone who'll listen whether that's on the street or in an old folk's home. Play and create because it's fun for you. Don't put pressure on yourself to write the best song ever just have the guitar or piano available frequently so that you can pick it up, not the piano of course, and see where it takes you.
Interview by Susan Frances
Ultimate-Guitar.Com © 2009
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