The Stepkids
Gig Seeker Pro

The Stepkids

Bridgeport, Connecticut, United States | INDIE

Bridgeport, Connecticut, United States | INDIE
Band Rock Soul

Calendar

This band has not uploaded any videos
This band has not uploaded any videos

Music

Press


"Local CDs: The Stepkids And Riot Kings"

Every once in a great while, a Connecticut act releases a disc striking enough to turn heads after just a few bars, to command that attention for its duration and to beg the question, “Wait — this is a band?” This first album from The Stepkids is one of those discs. A brief instrumental intro and the charmingly loopy “Brian Ninja” make clear this is music designed to make you freak out, maaaaaan, with its layers of vocal harmonies, glistening synth arpeggios, reverby guitars and space-funk grooves, but as the disc progresses, it becomes increasingly evident there’s more than just a barrel of signifiers at work here. This is some real psychedelic soul, futuristic electro-rock, a wall of sound wrought of Technicolor bricks of harmony and counterpoint, painstakingly arranged, played and sung expertly and with commendable confidence. The album lends itself to a front-to-back listen — songs often explode into clouds of abstract, sound-collagey haze that don’t work quite so well out of context — but its 31-minute runtime should be undemanding for most attention spans. For those of us who can focus for longer periods of time: Where’s the rest?
-Brian LaRue - New Haven Advocate


"Be In The Know | The Step Kids"

(July 9, 2010) Last Saturday morning Dru played me some music that blew my mind. Young band from the East called The Step Kids. Fell in love with what I heard. Hints of Sa Ra meets The Black Keys meets Sly Stone. It was moving and well done. ... From what I understand the album should be out in August. Fingers crossed! - Anthony Valadez, KCRU, Los Angeles


"Stepkids Album Comment"

Oh, but we have the Stepkids to listen to! Pink Floyd and Marvin Gaye making Astral Weeks together. - Mates of State, via Twitter.com


"An Artful Weekend in Bridgeport"

"Their sound can best be described as psychedelic rock, but it includes elements of soul, electronica and punk. This band has plenty of energy, and a bright future ahead of it."
- Melissa Bernstein, staff writer - Bridgeport Banner


Discography

The Stepkids (self-titled) LP

Photos

Bio

The Stepkids are singer/songwriters Dan Edinberg, Jeff Gitelman, and Tim Walsh. They will be releasing their self-titled debut LP in August of 2010.

Formed in late 2009, this group's genesis was a long-time-coming. Edinberg and Gitelman have been playing music together for 12 years, yet their commitments to other projects (Gitelman - 2 years playing guitar for Alicia Keys; Edinberg - 5 years touring/recording with indie act Zox) stalled their focus on finally forming a proper band together. As Edinberg's commitment to Zox was winding down, Gitelman introduced him to Walsh, and the trio immediately began writing/recording together. After experimenting with recording to analogue tape, the trio knew they had found their sound, and Gitelman left Alicia Keys to focus on The Stepkids full-time.

The Stepkids debut LP fuses the influences that the three members have held near-and-dear their entire lives. Trained primarily as jazz musicians, and then moving on to gospel, r+b, and rock, the bandmates sought to bring out the musicality of each of these styles, yet at the same time not to be purely imitative. While broad in its stylistic scope, the LP has a very unified and distinct sound that makes for a potent, memorable listening experience. The album tracks are ordered as they were written; it is meant to be heard in its entirety. The album CD packaging is a three-dimensional popup staircase, designed and constructed by the band themselves.

The Stepkids will be touring worldwide throughout the latter half of 2010 and beyond.