It took thirty years for them to make a second album, but it seems the itch caught up to them again, and this time around, it only took five years to get another entertaining dose of Roxanne. The band that gained fame in the 80s with songs like Cherry Bay and Sweet Maria is back with another set of infectious rock grooves. Following up on the resounding success of their sophomore album Radio Silence, Roxanne sought to turn even more heads with their latest effort, Stereo Typical. The album is a wonderful blend of all the important elements that made their first two albums great. Stereo Typical features the youthful exuberance and grittiness of the 80s while combining it with the maturity that Roxanne has gained over the last thirty-five years. For a band that took nearly thirty years off, it seems to have no effect on their ability to work as a cohesive unit, and it seems like that time off from Roxanne, where the guys did their own things, only contributed to the resurgence and popularity of music since their return. Roxanne is made up of vocalist and guitarist Jamie Brown, guitarist John Butler, bassist Joe Infante, and David Landry on drums. Clean Capture Magazine had a chance to sit down with the three J's, Jamie, John, and Joe, to talk about the band and Stereo Typical. Read below to find out all of the work that went into this great album and their plans to support it!
It took 30 years between that first and second album and five years for this album. What has really changed in that writing process that made it different between writing your second and now third album?
The writing process was different. I think when you're in your twenties, you write about things that matter to you when you're 20 and in your 50s; those things are different. So, I think the way that we put the songs together is still basically the same; each of us, on our own, comes up with riffs or concepts or things that we think might make a good song. Then we bring it, everybody jams on it, records it, and then we manipulate it until it's a song.
Was it harder writing the second or third album?
In a way, it was easier writing the third because we had some recent experience, so it wasn't like starting from scratch, but it was also right in the middle of Covid, which delayed it. So there were five years between the records, but there really should have only been about two. We ran into a ton of delays and then even manufacturing delays just getting the physical product back. By the time we got it, it's like, do we put it out now? If we put it out now, it's gonna be old in a month, it'll be last year's record. Then we held it even longer, and there were a bunch of unnecessary delays there. So really should have been about two years.
So you wanted to release it in 2020 then?
We were ready to start working on it right when the other one came out. It made us remember how to do this and our love for it, so we thought, let's do another one. Then it just took forever to make those arrangements, getting all our schedules together and having to sit at home for a year.
Is there anything that you worked on for a possible fourth album?
Yeah, actually, there are a couple of ideas on this record that didn't make the last record. So I figure we'll have the same situation on this record.
Is there a possible fourth album coming, hopefully, a little sooner?
It's in the realm of possibilities, I suppose.
Tell me about this album; where does that name come from?
It was one of the names we threw around for our last record, so we had that and just kind of saved it for this record.
Was there any meaning behind it?
I just remember when records started coming out in stereo, and I liked the emblem. Then I thought that would look cool, so that kind of led to the image gonna be on the cover. We also thought about if we're gonna make it into one word or two words, and we decided to make the song title one word, but the album title is two.
What is each of your guys' favorite track from the new record?
Joe: I like Waiting for Laura, but they're all good songs, and I like 'em a lot. It's really Foreigner sounding, which is one of my favorite seventies bands and all that.
Jamie: It changes so much because you spend so much time working on it, but if I had a say on which one I think is the best song on the record, I think Only A Call Away is the best song
John: I don't know, it changes all the time. Probably Gotta Live.
What do you think is the song that is going to be listened to for decades and leave a lasting legacy?
I think that one was on Radio Silence. I think Go Fuck Yourself on Radio Silence is the one that will have the legacy. It's pretty early right now, but it's different now because if this was 30 years ago, and this was released to a radio listening audience, you're certain radio stations are gonna play it. Now the internet and short attention spans and all that stuff it's a different world, but there are so many songs I think that that would transcend, that would just continue on. I think that one, it's just a well-crafted tune, well-written, well-crafted.
Did you guys write this record more for everybody, or were you trying to hone in on the people that listened to you in the 80s?
I think for our approach to songwriting in general, it's not that it's almost kind of selfish, but, it's like, what would we wanna listen to? Mostly it's about if we like it or not, and you know, we're all older, we're all successful in our own things. It's not like oh shit, we better write the next hit.
What are you guys hoping to do in support of this? Is there gonna be a big world tour?
We'll see what happens, what's offered like that, but it would have to be pretty good. I'm pretty comfortable in my life, and I don't necessarily want to go across the country like we did 35 years ago. All four of us, plus the crew with all our gear in a band, share showrooms, I'm too old for that shit. you know? But we're doing a little headlining thing here at a rock club, and then we're back next week, opening up for Last in Line.
We said earlier there may be a fourth album. What's gonna be the thing that drives you to do that fourth album?
I don't see why we wouldn't, it would just depend on how old we are when it gets around and what material we've each come up with. We live in different places so if I got an idea we had a place that we could rehearse, but we don't have it anymore. So now it would be a little bit different, it'd be a little bit more remote if we were to do another one.
So does everybody do their own version of songwriting in the band, and then you bring it all together at the end?
Yeah, pretty much. Everybody just records things on their phones and gets in the room and starts showing each other ideas.
Are a lot of your songs influenced by real-world things that you see?
Joe mentioned Waiting for Laura earlier on the new record, that song is actually about Hurricane Laura because we were all locked down and then we had Hurricane Laura was hitting. So I made it kind of seem like I was talking about a girl but really talking about that hurricane.
What do you want your fans to know about what you're doing now? What do you want them to think of when they think of your name 30 years from now?
Ultimately a band is a body of work, whether you're connected with their personalities or not. Like Jamie said, it was our 20-year-old selves writing that first album and now we're our 50-year-old selves. A lot has changed for the better. So if that's your body of work it's kind of your legacy.
If you liked what you heard from the guys, you can check out Stereo Typical on all major streaming services, and be sure to see them if they come near you!
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