Stateside are an Australian rock band from Brisbane, formed in 2014. The band consists of guitarist Ethan Laenen, drummer Hamish Maguire, bassist Jackson Lehane, and vocalist Erin Reus. Stateside have released two independent EPs: Burning Bridges and Naïve.
History
Early years and ''Burning Bridges'' (2014–2016)
Stateside was officially formed on 17 March 2014 as a rock band in Brisbane by high school friends: Erin Reus on lead vocals, Ethan Laenen on lead guitar, Brendan Heidke on rhythm guitar, Denzil Bowen on bass guitar, and Hamish Maguire on drums. The band spent the year writing demos that would later become their debut EP Burning Bridges released on the one-year anniversary of the band's inception in 2015. Earlier that year, Stateside entered the Brisbane Battle of the Bands and were one of the top six finalists, unfortunately the band lost against Counterfeit Umbrellas. The popularity of the Burning Bridges EP led to the band opening as the local support for bands; The Wonder Years, As It Is, Cute Is What We Aim For, Knuckle Puck and With Confidence. The band embarked on 3 national tours over the next year as the openers for popular local bands in support of the 'Burning Bridges' EP.
Restructuring, Bowen's departure & '''The Way We Were''' (2016–2017)
2016 saw the band start to restructure their sound with the help of producer Troy Brady, formerly of The Amity Affliction. Due to conflicting schedules, founding bassist Denzil Bowen left Stateside in early 2016 to focus on university study. After spending a year working on new music, the band released their new single 'The Way We Were' in March 2017. The music video for the single has now gained over 1'000'000 views and took the band to new heights of popularity.
Lehane's arrival and ''Naïve'' (2017–present)
Bassist, Jackson Lehane joined the band shortly after in early 2017, just prior to the release of their Naïve EP. The EP reached No. 9 on the Alt iTunes Charts and No. 28 on overall charts and was met with favourable reviews. The band then spent the rest of the year on tour promoting this new EP, supporting Against the Current and Stepson. The EP was praised for exploring issues on toxic relationships and emotional turmoil. On 2 February 2018, the bands second single from the EP, "Neon" was released alongside an accompanying music video just days before the bands first national headline tour. The Naïve Tour saw the band filling rooms all over the country & was supported Stuck Out. The band spent the rest of 2018 on the road supporting Simple Plan on their Australian leg of the “No Pads, No Helmets...Just Balls” 15th Anniversary tour, supporting Belle Haven on their 'You, Me & Everything In Between' tour, performing at the annual BIGSOUND Music Conference in Brisbane, Australia, supporting Neck Deep on the Australian leg of their 'The Peace and The Panic' tour as well as nabbing a spot on the lineup for the inaugural Good Things festival in Brisbane as a local support band. Through extensive touring & promotion of the Naïve Tour in 2018 the band made a name for themselves throughout Australia & were listed by Hysteria Mag as an upcoming band to look out for. In April 2019, the band performed at the inaugural UsFest to raise funds for Girls Rock! Sydney. The event was created by RedHook vocalist and Music Feeds journalist Emmy Mack. Later in the year the band was the main support for With Confidence's Australian tour. In March 2020 they supported Japanese rock band ONE OK ROCK along with US band Set It Off on the Australian leg of their Eye of the Stormworld tour.
Musical style
Front woman Erin Reus cited Bring Me the Horizon and PVRIS as major influences to the band's sound, especially on their 2017 EP Naïve. "As a young person learning about love, I didn’t know how else to express my feelings other than to write about them. I spent a lot of time hovering over all of the problems, and writing/recording/releasing the EP was basically closure for me......." said Reus when interviewed about her lyric writing on the Naïve EP. Reus' vocal talent has been described as a mix of Jenna McDougall, from Tonight Alive, and Halsey.
