Turn it Down: The Stick Arounds celebrate 10 years

Friday, Nov. 15 @ The Avenue Café, 2021 E. Michigan Ave, Lansing. 21+, FREE, 9 p.m.

For the last decade, The Stick Arounds have been perfecting its trusty brand of rock ‘n’ roll at venues across the country. Friday, the Lansing-based five-piece hosts a “10th Anniversary Blast” gig at The Avenue Café. Openers are The Plurals, Jeremy Porter and Popular Creeps.

Since its genesis, The Stick Arounds have had a few lineup changes, but now comprises Matt Carlson and Jeff Gower on vocals and guitar, drummer Joel Kuiper, bassist Ian Walker and Jason Lantrip on lead guitar and vocals.

“We’ve become very tight musically,” Gower said. “Being a band with three guitarists can be tricky, things get muddy. One of the most frequent compliments we receive is how well we make that work. We each try to cover different ground and that’s something we’ve honed over the years."

But like the Byrds back in the ’60s, the Stick Arounds don’t only focus on cranking up their guitars —the human voice is a primary instrument on the group’s two full-length albums released via GTG Records.

“If I don’t mention our harmony vocals, I’d be remiss,” Gower said. “It’s something on which we work very hard, and it’s becoming more automatic. It’s one of my favorite aspects of the band.”

According to Carlson, lyrically, the diction varies from song to song, but there are a few reoccurring themes.

“The inside joke has always been that Jeff’s songs are all about drinking and mine are all about being sad,” Carlson explained. “It’s not true, but it always seems a funny way to get the basic point across that we both bring differing viewpoints to the songs.

He added that his verses cycle back around to the idea “of being left behind emotionally, economically and physically.”

Beyond that, Carlson said it’s Gower who brings the twangy-vibes to the table.

“With Jeff’s songs, they often contain some form of regret or second guessing on the part of the narrator,” Carlson said. “He writes great songs and they fit incredibly well in the power-pop format, but I really love that everything he writes has some basis in his affection for country music.” 

As for the band’s sonic vision, it’s diverse but has also remained focused over the years. From the Smiths and The Cure to Dinosaur Jr and Uncle Tupelo, the gears fluidly shift between genres.

“It’s different for each member, of course, but power-pop is where we first looked when developing our sound,” Gower said. “That’s a wide range of bands including, Teenage Fanclub, Guided by Voices, Big Star, Velvet Crush, Cheap Trick. All the big names, and plenty of lesser-knowns, under the power-pop umbrella are inspiration.”

While the band has honed its craft well, it didn’t come easy. The band has grown from Michigan-only dates to traveling to other parts of the country.

“Over the last two or three years, we’ve changed our touring plans to focus more on short stints around the Midwest,” Carlson said. “We’ve played a bunch in Chicago and Milwaukee and it’s helped to grow our fan base and forge friendships with several other bands.”

This year, aside from promoting its latest LP, “Ways to Hang On,” the band has steadily released new tracks and covers each month at stickaroundsmusic.com for its “Hot Singles Club.”

“It’s been a great exercise in song craft and production for us,” Gower said. “All engineering is done by the band in our home studios. We have 10 ‘Hot Singles’— soon to be 12— and they’ll likely be packaged as a complete set on CD early in 2020.”

Beyond that, Carlson said the band has “something like 24 songs that are being demoed” and the guys are ready to start cutting another proper LP.

“Next year will certainly be full for the Sticks,” Carlson said. “We’ll be releasing a new record next year if all goes according to plan. We’re prepping right now for some recording sessions in the very near future.”

Of course, you’ll continue seeing their name on bills at local venues, too.

“We’ve had a fairly ambitious live schedule for a band full of dudes with day jobs,” Carlson said. “It’s been sort of the perfect balance of studio work and live gigs.”