Ryan Maker (guitar and keys), Storey Condos (vocals) and Marc Anderson (lap steel guitar) formed Stereosparks in California after Maker and Anderson saw Condos singing in a cover band. Two years ago, the band relocated to Nashville and became serious about pursuing a career in music. Condos said the band benefitted greatly from working with other songwriters once they got to Nashville.
“We were really excited about getting someone else’s perspective on our songs,” he said. “We were able to take our egos out of our songwriting process.”
Stereosparks collaborated with two-time Grammy winner Chad Carlson, who has worked with Taylor Swift, on their latest single, “Secret (Say You’ll Stay),” which has quickly become one of the band’s biggest songs to date. The song, which started out as an acoustic demo, quickly took on a different tone.
“We wanted to make the demo more edgy and raw,” Condos said. “The more we added to the song, the more I connected with the words of the song. I feel like ‘Secret’ is something that could be played on the radio, but it is definitely not something you’re used to hearing.”
Stereosparks differs from other pop-rock bands through their heavy incorporation of the lap steel guitar, an instrument traditionally used in country music. Anderson, the band’s lap steel guitarist, said he tries to make his guitar emulate the sounds of other instruments like the electric guitar. He said musician Ben Harper has been one of his biggest influences on his experimentation with the instrument.
“He takes traditional country instruments and makes them rock,” he said. “I saw him cover Jimi Hendrix’s ‘Voodoo Chile’ on lap steel and it blew my mind. I want to see how far I can take lap steel away from country music and make it fit in to the context of our band.”
