They'll try to tell you Rock music is dead.
They'll point to ever-changing trends - the rise of different genres, the apathetic culture, the cynicism of today's music fan. They'll show you MTV; scroll the radio dial for a glimpse of the moment. They'll say it's a lost art, no longer at the center of the cultural lexicon, no longer the heartbeat of a movement.
They haven't seen Stars in Stereo.
The truth comes out when the lights go down. When hundreds of people pack shoulder to shoulder, pressing to get closer. The truth comes out when Drew's drums explode into the opening song. When Frogs' guitar is loud enough to hurt, but no one covers their ears. The truth comes out when you hear Bec's voice. This isn't a song - it's an anthem. This isn't a chorus - it's a battle cry.
Rock is dead?
Tell it to the crowd packed toward the front, catching Jordan on their outstretched hands when he drops his guitar and leaps with reckless abandon from the stage.
Tell it to the kid getting crushed by life, by stress, by his struggle to get through the day, who jumps and sways feeling Justin's bass, who sings along to every lyric and feels good for the first time in ages.
Tell it to the girl who comes home from the show and lies in bed with her head spinning, a thousand hopes and dreams launched into flight, who puts up flyers the next day because she wants to start her own band.
This is the power of Stars in Stereo, of their electrifying live show, and of their self-titled debut album.
This is five friends on a journey together, crisscrossing the country again and again, winning over new fans in new cities every time the lights go down and their first song bursts through the speakers.
This is lightning in a bottle, in ten tracks.
This is a roadmap of pain, and loss, and the dark underbelly of love, but also redemption, change, and hope. There is violence. There is joy. There is life.
This isn't a trend, or a scene, or another flash in the pan.
This is Rock. Alive and well. Kicking and screaming. Meeting the moment.
This is Stars in Stereo.
*SinS has shared the stage with The Used, Foxy Shazam, Blue October, Flyleaf, and Drowning Pool, Halestorm, Young Guns, and Bullet For My Valentine
