100 Bands in 100 Days Presented by Verity Credit Union — Day 66: Stereo Embers

Please check out Verity Credit Union, our great partner in the 100 Bands in 100 Days local music showcase.

Artwork by Seattle-area painter E.R. Saba

Music fans of the Pacific Northwest, get ready for our fourth annual year-end daily local music showcase, 100 Bands in 100 Days, where every day until December 31st, we’re showcasing a new band or artist you have to know about, presented by Verity Credit Union. Make sure you are checking the #100Bands100Days hashtag at Twitter on the daily to stay on top of all the bands featured and make sure to follow Verity on Twitter and NW_Music_Scene as well. Some days the featured act could be an established and locally-adored northwest-based musician and other times they could be a band with a small following that just hasn’t had their deserved time in the sun yet. Either way, we’re fairly confident you can come away from this daily segment with plenty of new favorites. Today’s featured artist is Stereo Embers.

Stereo Embers – Photo Credit to Baiba Rubino

Last week we reviewed the latest output from Stereo Embers, a band that has one of the most distinct and addictive sounds in the northwest.

Stereo Embers are an American Rock band from Seattle, Washington.  They carry no pretense- no effort to be something that they are not, and display their musical influences proudly.  Through their songs, homage is paid to bands like The Who, The Faces, Big Star, and Cheap Trick.  Their music is energetic, melodic, anthemic- much as the music it is influenced by was and still is. 

While individually, they have had the pleasure of sharing the stage with many notable artists (Pearl Jam, Death Cab for Cutie, and Built to Spill to name a few), it is sharing the stage together as Stereo Embers that has brought out the best in them.  With this band, the whole truly is greater than the sum of its parts. 

Stereo Embers has released three EPs (Stereo Embers, Code of the Sound, and  on November 3, 2017, Astronaut Handshake, Vol. 1).  Stereo Embers also released a 7” Vinyl Single (“Wrong Way”/ “Ways of the World”) on the Hockeytalkter label owned by Mike McCready of Pearl Jam.

Here’s some of what we said about the EP in our review:


The first song on Astronaut Handshake (Vol 1), “Wagon” starts out of the gate somewhat slowly with some delicately picked electric guitar and starts building tempo until around the 40 second mark when drummer Cassady Laton hits you over the head with a beat that brings to mind only one other drummer, Keith Moon. The guitars are also right on par with an epic The Who – “We Won’t Get Fooled Again” vibe before Robb Benson’s powerful vocals take over the song with a decidedly northwest spin about road tripping from Washington to Cali. It’s a great tune and sets the tone for the rest of the journey.

Although I didn’t pick up on this in the first two Stereo Embers releases, Benson’s vocals will no doubt draw huge comparisons to a fallen Seattle vocalist, Shannon Hoon of Blind Melon, especially on “The Pull” which is a mid-tempo indie rocker. Also, the blazing lead guitar work from Tim DiJulio on that song further demonstrates he’s one of the best in the northwest.

The final song “Break This Down” could have easily been written by Lennon and McCartney in 1967, in fact I think if you played this one to some of your friends and told them this was a lost Beatle’s track, you’d have some believers on your hands. It’s as fine as a song as your will find in 2017 andBenson also shows he has plenty of power in his voice when he wails like Chris Robinson of the Black Crowes.


Stereo Embers will be playing a show at the Royal Room in Seattle with the Guessing Game on December 8, 2017. Click HERE to get more info on Facebook about the show or purchase tickets HERE.

(Listen to ‘Astronaut Handshake (Vol 1)’ below via Bandcamp, where you can also purchase it and you can also get more info about Stereo Embers on Facebook HERE.)

A huge shoutout to Verity Credit Union for doing so much for the music community and for being such a great partner. 

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