PRESS CONFERENCE - Stephen Sanchez discusses “Angel Face (Club Deluxe)”
Kylie Fajman - @kyliefajman
On August 23rd 2024, I was invited to sit down with one of my favorite artists, Stephen Sanchez, known for his 1950’s esque attire and hit song Until I Found You. I was able to join via Zoom for a quick chat amidst his press conference about his upcoming tour and newest album, ‘Angel Face (Club Deluxe)’. With questions ranging from inspirations for his career all the way to what are some of his happy places, Stephen gave us some insight.
One of the things I find the most interesting about ‘Angel Face’ is that this album has its own story. Well, most albums out there tell a story, but not like this one. Stephen developed a plot line, history, timeline, and characters that represent this album. He portrays a fictional character named, ‘Troubadour Sanchez’ who meets his love ‘Evangeline’ in this 1950’s twisted love story. Before I give too much away about this stunning album, Stephen himself goes into detail below.
So lets say one of your listeners has found their way into a forbidden romance just like ‘Troubadour Sanchez’ what kind of advice would you have for them to achieve a storybook ending like their story?
“Oh my god. Don’t. Don’t do any of that. Don’t do any of what that character did. Don’t try and disband a relationship, don’t do any of that stuff. You know, story book endings..what even are those? Who knows, who even knows! To each their own, right? I’d probably just say pursue a thing thats healthy, they wanna know you, you wanna know them and thats it. You’re on the same page. Thats probably the best way to attain a storybook ending is to have someone thats willing to write a story with you and it doesn’t feel like you’re forcing their hand on the paper, you know?’
What can fans expect on this tour iteration and also what has been the best or most memorable part of this tour for you?
“Its different this time cause, you know last year we just told the story outright. We walked everybody through, we were all ghosts last year. Like, the Troubadour had died, the Moon Crest’s had died, because Hunter had killed me and the rest of the band died later on. We made it as like we were ghosts haunting these venues across the United States and everything. And now, we’re taking it way further back like this predates the Angel Club shows but it doesn’t predate like the love story with Evangeline and The Troubadour and like early on in that. So what you can expect with our shows is the real thing, as if you were back in the 50’s actually seeing The Troubadour and The Moon Crests live.”
What are some places that you go to to find peace to search for that yearning sensation yourself?
“I’m such a romantic as it is, so you know so I’m kinda operating out of that always. I think I’m not necessarily looking for it either. I think its something that I’m just…it's either there or it's not. I never try to like force it to be there, but I love when it is…maybe if I were to say like a place..I love the ocean, the ocean’s great..love the ocean..love a surf..love that vibe.”
When you write for characters, how do you dive into their world, do you have any methods or techniques in how to get into their mindset when writing?
“The characters totally have their own mindset and their own feelings and everything like that for sure. But, I think they are just my feelings at the end of the day too. I think I’m always just writing them from a perspective thats a bit exaggerated, like theres some songs that are just right on the nose and this is exactly how it is and exactly how I feel and so I’m just going to make these characters feel that. And then there are some that are just a bit..more intense and dramatic.”
In your debut album, Angel Face, you explore the story of the Troubadour Sanchez which is a fictional musician from 1958 what inspired you to create this character, and how does it reflect your musical journey?
“I love 50’s and 60’s music. I’ve always wanted to..be back in the day playing music because I love that sound so much. I think it was very selfish..like very selfishly driven. It would be so fun to just like play…I don’t know..like play dress-up. It ended up being like way cooler than I thought it would be, we made it way cooler. It could have been like totally bombed and been so lame and cheesy. As far as inspiration goes..everything to do with the 50’s and 60’s was inspiring. A lot of the story telling like Marty Robbins, he told like gunslinger stories, and longing for love, and loosing it. I think tons of that was inspiring when it came to creating a character.”
How do you plan on bringing the 1950’s environment to the 2020’s live show experience?
“I mean so far so fantastic, it's been really really cool and I’ve loved doing it. I feel like what we’re doing is no one else is really..well there's a couple people now doing it and that's pretty cool. I think we’ve had some sort of degree of influence in that. But, it's been really interesting like people show up and are like totally in on what we’re doing..and it's been really cool…I don’t know what else to say about it. Other than like seeing people get just as involved in the world like we are..like we just love playing dress up..some of the guys hate their suits but I love it, but I think that’s all I can say, its been cool, a really unique tour among all the other tours going on..ours has been different.”
Getting the chance to sit and listen to my favorite artist explain his creative process, and talk about his music from his perspective was something I will never forget. It made me adore him and his music even more. I never thought I’d be able to speak in a zoom with a musician who intrigues me as much as Stephen Sanchez, but I will be forever grateful for this opportunity with a damn good musician.
