Today we’d like to introduce you to Stephen Johnson.
Stephen, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
The origins of the band go way, way back to the 2000’s in Milwaukee, WI. I’ve always been an angsty little songwriter, wailing my childhood away and playing Green Day covers with my friends in a cramped basement. The “band” was originally a solo project, creatively titled: Stephen James. Rock n’ roll, right? I put out a full length album in 2015 during my senior year of high school called “Roman Buildings” and another one called “Optimum” at the end of 2017. These were bedroom LPs that were made literally in bed, at a desk, on the couch, the living room floor, etc. of whatever apartment I was living in at the time. Making these records defined my adolescence, and I go back and listen to them sometimes, in all their cringe and glory.
In 2018, I hit the road with some old friends and we did a small (but very mighty) US tour, mainly across the west coast. When we got back from that whirlwind of an experience, I felt like we were onto something. We hopped in the studio (in Chicago) and made a record called Dead Phones & Dogs, which is what we decided to call the project moving forward (long story). Our biggest song to date “Popcorn & Pepsi” is from that record. I spent some of my college experience in London in 2019, and released the singles one by one, before we put out the entire project that December.
We were really hoping to ride the momentum of that record into something big, but yeah… 2020 was not a good year to make big things happen. Weirdly enough, our record started streaming online better than we could’ve expected, and it racked up over 150,000 streams that year. We stayed and sat around in Chicago for while waiting for venues and the such to open as the pandemic dragged on, but eventually I decided to move the project to LA and start a new chapter. We put out a ‘Bleachers-esque’ indie-pop anthem called “Still Seem Blue” during the pandemic, before entering a bit of a hiatus to figure out what was next.
Moving across the country and finding a long-term spirit/make-up for the project has been a challenging, constantly-evolving prospect. We’ve had ups and downs and we’ve had people come and go, for sure. But in the last 8-12 months, we’ve got things semi-officially fired up. In 2024, we’ve released 2/4 songs from our newest record (“Bones in a Suit & Tie” and “Different Kind of Fine”), we made a video we’re really proud of, and recently, we headlined Harvard & Stone and The Viper Room. Our last show (Viper) was absolutely magical, and was a major affirmation that we are on the precipice of something really exciting. Ticket and merch sales are on the rise and the audiences are seemingly having a blast, and we are too!
We’ve got a few more tunes to release and a few more shows coming up to close out the year. And in early 2025, our record is coming out, and we’re looking into every opportunity to go on tour. We’ve got a fiery live set, packed with vicious little punk cuts, cathartic, ear-wormy pop bops, and everything from acoustic bedroom-sadboi, to theatrical, grandiose Rock n’ Roll. We look forward to sharing these moments with more of LA, the US, and listeners all around the world.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
It has not been a smooth road in any way, shape or form. For one, we’re all Gen-Z struggling (tortured!) artist types working multiple jobs in one of the biggest (most expensive) cities in the country. It takes a lot of dedication and mental perseverance to spend your time recording/producing new music (which costs money) OR in rehearsal (which costs time and money), especially when you’re tight on: time and money. I’ve been dreaming this dream for almost 20 years now, so there’s nowhere else I’d rather be. But I can’t expect everyone to feel the same way as I do all the time, and so it’s been a struggle to find the right cast of misfits to embody Dead Phones & Dogs. I’m super grateful to anyone who’s ever been a part of making this project thrive. But people move on, lose the drive, find other inspirations in life, etc… I’m here with the songs, the concepts, the social media accounts (and so on) 24/7, and all I can do is try to find kindred spirits along the way who are really really in love with playing music, performing live, and want to be a part of something really special.
Being in a tight-knit, well-oiled ensemble is a really hard thing to do these days, with the amount of attention that other aspects of life sometimes demand. It takes A LOT of work to get that record made or to get that sold-out show on its feet. But once you feel the energy in the room, all of the blood, sweat, and tears just morphs into gratitude and euphoria. I think the current iteration of the group is phenomenal, and we can’t wait to keep grinding away at this, against all odds.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
We’re an indie/pop-rock/punk band called Dead Phones & Dogs, providing LA (and the world) with catchy, cathartic pop tunes that often inspire head-banging, groovy dancing, fist-pumping, and gentle swaying (with flashlights out), among many other forms of expression that you’ll catch at our shows. We’re a 3-4 piece rock band (depending on the day), full of characters who have a knack for the performative side of life. We grew up on anthemic 2000’s pop-punk which bleeds into our sound, but we also have jazzy inclinations, poppy sensibilities, and like to mess around with genres/styles from song to song. We have quite a few tunes that genre-bend mid-song. Some artists that I love dearly and draw inspiration from: Green Day, Hippo Campus, Valley, Bleachers, The Band Camino, Weezer, The Front Bottoms, John Mayer, Mac Demarco, and on and on.
Our most successful track to date is called “Popcorn & Pepsi” and it has over 200,000 streams on Spotify, for those who are inclined to crunch numbers. In 2024, we’ve put out two awesome new tunes “Different Kind of Fine” and “Bones in a Suit & Tie”, which has a lovely music video to accompany it. On June 29th 2024, we headlined The Viper Room in West Hollywood and had that place JUMPIN. One of the highlights of my life to this point. But with this current version of the band, we’re really just getting started. We have a new record coming out at the start of 2025 and will be playing all around LA in the meantime! Come on out to one of our raucous shows, you won’t regret it!
Where do you see things going in the next 5-10 years?
You know, I think the landscape of the pop/rock/indie music scene is saturated, vibrant, ever-changing, and has so many different avenues to explore. I think in 5-10 years, people will likely still be consuming all different forms of music all around the world. We just hope to be a part of that in a meaningful way.
We don’t want to put ourselves into a box where people can say “Dead Phones & Dogs is ONLY this kind of music, and I don’t like that genre”. We like to experiment with our sound, we like to change it up, as you’ll hear on this upcoming record. Obviously, when you operate like that, you’re going to have varied reactions, depending on which style you’re dabbling with for that moment in time. Some might love it, some might not. If our next record appeals to a lot of people in a powerful way, that’d be phenomenal. If it ends up being the one after that or the one after that, we’d be just as thrilled.
We’re just going to keep making songs that we love in the moment and invite people into the stories that we want to share. We’re grateful to be making music that people are already vibing with in a digital and live setting! And the goal moving forward is to up the rate at which we release material, so that people can discover new parts of our energy, character, and catalogue.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://linktr.ee/deadphonesdogs
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/deadphonesdogs/?hl=en
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/@deadphonesdogs7384?si=_cLDMm3_MvFR0nTG
- soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/user-337417688
- Other: https://open.spotify.com/artist/6f9ZwOWJgnZrBOjb1tu3mM?si=8eeJ-Cj5RgmUuhm8-Qu9tQ&nd=1&dlsi=6e7b3e89c69d4779
Image Credits
Main Personal Photo: Jeffrey Neubauer Viper Room Photos: Mathias Fau Harvard & Stone Photo: Autumn Amara
