Stereo Skyline

Biography

Stereo Skyline was a four-man power pop band from Long Island, New York. During their short but sweet existence, the band put out several successful EPs and demos, played Bamboozle 2007, Bamboozle 2009, and Bamboozle Left 2009, and garnered national acclaim for their full studio album. Inspired by a love of bubblegum pop as well as melodic punk rock, they toured the country, went through numerous lineup changes, and ended up being managed by the esteemed Ozone Management firm, while also being b...

Stereo Skyline was a four-man power pop band from Long Island, New York. During their short but sweet existence, the band put out several successful EPs and demos, played Bamboozle 2007, Bamboozle 2009, and Bamboozle Left 2009, and garnered national acclaim for their full studio album. Inspired by a love of bubblegum pop as well as melodic punk rock, they toured the country, went through numerous lineup changes, and ended up being managed by the esteemed Ozone Management firm, while also being booked by Paradigm Booking Agency. This led to a deal with Sony/ATV meaning getting signed to Columbia Records. Known for bubbly songs such as "Heartbeat" and "Tongue Tied", the band finally split in two in 2011, and it folded completely soon afterwards.

In 2006, Matt Villani left the pop punk group Valet Parking to form a new project, soon coming up with the name Stereo Skyline. He played piano, synth, and was the lead vocalist and had Kevin Bard on guitars and vocals, Jay Marotta on guitar, Tom Angenbroich on bass, and Anthony Purpura on drums. The band recorded their debut EP, entitled 'Worst Case Scenario'. in 2006 with producer Nick Zinnanti. Following their EP, the band began playing shows around the island. In 2007, they went through a major lineup change. Kevin Bard became the lead singer, Matt Villani moved to guitar and piano, Jay Marotta continued on guitar, Tom Angenbroich continued on bass, Anthony Purpura was moved to synthesizer, and Rob Michelson was added on drums.

The band continued playing shows, and they won a competition to play the 2007 Bamboozle Festival. Afterwards, the band obtained a new manager, resulting in the departure of their bassist Tom Angenbroich, who quit due to disagreements in the new direction, and shortly after kicked out their synth player, Anthony Purpura. Jay Marotta was moved to bass, and Kevin Bard picked up the guitar. Tom Angenbroich would have a short spell in The Farewell Effect following this, however, he left to pursue promotion. He is now the bassist for upcoming power pop band Set In Color as well as a promoter for Club Loaded. Anthony Purpura played guitar and vocals for Forever on the Shoreline, a power pop group from Levittown, and is now the guitarist for Set In Color as well.

Stereo Skyline then released a digital seven-song 'Self Titled Demo', toured throughout the country numerous times, and finally recorded their first full album. On July 16th, the band released the tracks from their first full work, which was recorded at Claude Zdanow's Stadiumred. In September 8, Matt was kicked out due to constant conflicts with the other band mates. This lead to the creation of his aforementioned project Set In Color with fellow aforementioned former Stereo members Tom Angenbroich and Anthony Purpura. Matt was replaced by Brian Maddox, formely of Scenes and Sirens.

The aforementioned first studio album, Stuck on Repeat, appealed to a wide variety of fans from teenage girls loving their pop sensibilities to older fans licking the throwback power pop feel similar to artists such as Rick Springfield and Cheap Trick. Tracks that got significant airplay included "Heartbeat" and "Tongue Tied". The album also received praise from the All Music Guide.

On November 8th, Jay was removed from the MySpace, indicating that he had left the band. It was announced in January 2009 that the band had signed a publishing deal with Sony/ATV. On February 9th of the following year, they were picked up by the Paradigm Booking Agency. They were represented by Matt Galle and Mike Marquis. In April of 2009, the band performed at Bamboozle Left! on the Saints and Sinners Stage. They played with rock contemporaries such as Fight Fair, The Jakes, The Friday Night Boys, Say it Twice, Racing Kites, The Morning Light, All the Day Holiday, Sonny, Breathe Carolina, and Brokencyde.

In June 2009, they announced that they had signed a record deal to Columbia Records. As interest the band waned, members Clayton Johnson and Brian Maddox left Stereo Skyline to pursue a different music career path together, forming an electronica project known as BLAC. The group, then a duo, released a few songs and soldiered out before calling it quits soon afterwards. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.