Tear in the Radio #2 - The Stolen Volume 2 | Page 52

“If we really had to stick our names to someone and throw all our influences in a
blender, I’d blend out The Killers, Bruce Springsteen, and Coldplay and I’d drink
that.” Stam lays down the band’s musical influence in an order that suggests
everyone loves each artist mentioned equally but Montgomery interjects.

“If I may, I think Jake is really under selling himself in terms of The Killers. Brandon
Flowers is a god to him. He would literally pray on his knees just to get the chance to
be next to Brandon Flowers. “

Jumping into defense, Stam explains: “I’ve seen them four times and I’ve seen
Brandon twice, and I already bought tickets to their next two concerts. Look, I love
the dudes, they’re good guys and they know what they’re doing. They’re still here
and they’re killing it. The Killers are killing it.”

The influences listed are clearly evident in the band’s latest EP We Are Friends, but
was first expressed in their debut EP Croton. “We have this train station; it’s called
Croton Falls. We figured we’ve lived around it, we’re all from there and we’re always
taking it to get to New York and I guess it’s a good way of describing of where we
grew up and I guess musically, it was really just us dipping our toe into the music
water. We had so many influences and I don’t think we quite knew who we were yet
on the EP and even though I love Croton, but We Are Friends finally captured our
sound for the most part.”