The Drake Hotel in downtown Toronto is rapidly becoming Ontario’s new hot spot, so it’s no surprise that Jesse Dryfhout and Chris John of Canada’s new hot pop band Stabilo would be hanging out there.
As I walk into the hotel, I am escorted into a large lounge blasting music from The Beach Boys, while skateboarding videos are being played on the big plasma screen hung aptly over the fireplace. Sitting here I suddenly feel that there could have been no better place in the world to conduct this interview than in this hotel. The Drake became a hot spot after much time and tons of renovations and Stabilo became the hot band after 10 years of playing music together and three different bass players.
“Many, many times we got frustrated,” sighs co-lead singer/guitarist Chris John. “But just when you are ready to call it quits something happened to give us some validation.”
The very first real source of validation from this hard working band was winning a radio contest in Vancouver. The radio station, XFM, enlisted local bands to submit original songs, for a battle of the airwaves competition and then encouraged listeners to call and vote for their favorites. Stabilo submitted the song “Everybody” which not only won the contest, but also became the most requested song for nearly a month on XFM radio. It wasn’t long before radio stations across the country picked up “Everybody” and Stabilo had become a household name across Canada before they were even signed.
“Yeah that really started everything,” muses Jesse Dryfhout, Stabilo’s co-lead singer/guitarist. “It got us some attention and I wouldn’t say got us the record deal, but put everything into motion. A little bit of radio play goes a long way. We weren’t even going to put that song on the first record because it was about 11-12 years old and we were kind of sick of it and now eight years later we are still playing it.”
“Everybody” not only garnered them a record deal with a major label, but also marshaled a Canadian Music Award nomination for best new rock group.
“Yeah it was really cool except we lost to Theory of a Deadman. I mean it really all comes down to winning or losing for us,” laughs Jesse. “No, but seriously, when you think like that, that’s when you kind of lose focus on things and you have to realize there is no winning, it’s just about getting your music out to the people. The competition and all that crap is a way for the industry to validate themselves.”
Stabilo refused to lose focus and soon after they inked their record deal with super label EMI, they headed out to Los Angeles to work with über producer Brad Wood, who’s most famous clients include the likes of Liz Phair and The Smashing Pumpkins.
“I have always been a big fan of a lot of the records Brad has made,” says Chris. “I think it’s interesting that a pop band was produced by an indie god. Just to have that kind of element mixed in with our shit-mix of influences, like Bjork, Tom Waits and Radiohead, made for a really interesting sounding record.”
Stabilo has also proved that their album is more than a one-hit wonder. Their second single “Flawed Design” has been on the charts for fifteen straight weeks and their new single “Happiness and Disaster” was the third most downloaded song of all time on iTunes Canada following closely behind Gwen Stefani and Madonna.
“That was a shock,” Chris says while shaking his head. Jesse nods in agreement and quickly adds, “Even now I don’t know how that happened. I think 13,000 people downloaded it that week. It’s pretty cool.”
Although the band seems to be soaring it’s way into the hearts of the Canadian public, the guys haven’t taken their recent successes too seriously.
“Half of us still have day jobs,” says Chris.
“Chris and I haven’t been working our other jobs for a little while. Hopefully we don’t have to go back to them, but if things don’t work out I’ll go back into carpentry and install cabinets.”
With two top 10 singles, a record deal with a label most bands would kill for and legions of fans, Stabilo will probably never have to wield a hammer again, hopefully for the public though, they stick with the microphone and hammer out some more hits.