Exclusive Interview: Pop Culturalist Chats with The Stolen About Their Debut Album

It’s been over ten years since Dom Cuce (vocalist/guitarist), Rob Chiarappa (guitarist), Kevin Smart (bassist), and Mike Chiarappa (drummer) formed The Stolen. In that time, they’ve grown as individuals, as friends, and as bandmates. They’ve built a catalog that includes hits like “Empty”, “Rooftop” (feat. Jake Miller), “Change the Record”, and “West Coast”. They’ve gone from performing in the basement of a pizzeria to playing venues like The House of Blues, Gramercy Theatre, and El Rey. This past May, the band dropped their highly-awaited debut self-titled album, which they state is some of their most important work to date. Pop Culturalist spoke with bassist Kevin Smart about the new album, the group’s humble beginnings, and what’s been the key to their longevity.

PC: The Stolen have been a band for over ten years, which is a rarity in the industry. What has been the key to that success?
Kevin: The band started when we were basically all kids. Well, I actually joined the band about six or seven years ago, but they started it when they were kids. The key to our longevity as a band is that we’re friends first. We had a solid friendship before I joined. As you know, Mike and Rob are brothers, and Dom and I lived right next door to each other. Before we were a band, we were all friends.

PC: When you look back at the past decade, is there a particular moment that sticks out to you?
Kevin: I would say these past three years because we’ve seen a lot more growth for the band. We’ve been playing more shows than ever and have been supporting bigger artists. I remember the first time we went to Columbus, Ohio, we played a pizzeria basement. It was a pizza shop with a little venue in the basement and we played to five or ten kids. When we go back now, there are almost a hundred! It’s been cool to see the growth in markets outside of our hometown.

PC: What’s one thing that the band knows now that they wish they knew at the beginning?
Kevin: Tour smart! When I joined the band, I was a junior in high school. Mike was also a junior, Dom was a senior, and Rob was in his second year of college. We were playing local shows all over the place in Jersey. We’d do shows in Pennsylvania, New York, pretty much anywhere close by. We were lucky to be working with people who toured before. Our manager, Scott, has a lot of experience touring with other bands. We were told to just go tour.

When we booked our first tour, it went down to Florida and then out to Ohio and some Midwest states. I remember we were getting paid like nothing to go out and do these shows. We were barely surviving; we’d sleep in our vans, we wouldn’t have hotels, we were barely getting by as kids.

The thing that we didn’t know is that we should post about our tour online and push to get people to come out. We would just post our tour flyer and say, “Hey, we’re going on tour.” That was it. We weren’t really telling people to come to our shows. That’s one thing we wish we knew back then. We should have reached out to people in those states and told them to come to our show.

PC: Does that make you appreciate the success even more now?
Kevin: Absolutely! If we sold three t-shirts at a concert, we were in heaven. We were so happy. That’s like $30 bucks and we would get $50 or $100 to play the show. After gas, we’d have like $70 dollars in the band’s account. We’d have to find a truck stop and sleep there because it was always a long drive.

I remember times when our van would break down and we’d barely have enough money to fix it. We’d be states away and would just have to figure it out. For us as a band, it was important to be able to understand the bottom of the barrel, how to tour at that level, and how to operate as a band at that level. It teaches you a lot and gives you a ton of wisdom.

PC: How did you stay motivated during those times?
Kevin: I was naïve at the time. We were just so excited to be on tour, we didn’t think about the money. We weren’t thinking about how many people would come to the show, how much merch we’d need to sell to be able to afford this or that. We were best friends on tour and having a blast playing music.

It’s never been about the money for us. It’s about being able to play shows and create music. That’s what kept us motivated throughout the ups and downs of being a band in the industry.

PC: The band just released their self-titled album. What inspired it and what was that creative process like?
Kevin: We signed with our label, Revival Recordings, back in July of 2018. It was cool because we dropped a couple of singles, and by summer/fall we did about 30 to 40 shows around the U.S. At that point, we were like, “Let’s make an EP, that’s what the label wants.” We would write while we were on tour, and when we got home, we’d continue and record at the same time.

I remember Rob was like, “Let’s just do an album!” We were like, “What? That’s an extra five or six songs and we need to deliver this by February.” It had to be done by February, so we just wrote and recorded nonstop. Rob produced the record, mixed it, and mastered it. I sleep pretty late—I’m always up working on music or something until one or two. I would wake up at 8:00 AM and see a text from Rob at 7:00 AM saying, “Hey, I just mixed the song. Check it out!” He would work all night writing, mixing, or recording at his house. It was crazy. Then we’d go over to his house and help mix, record, and do all that stuff. There were nights where we’d be at his place until 2:00 or 3:00 AM.

It was a really cool process and super collaborative. We had the opportunity to work in a big studio and actually record all the instruments—we had access to all of that. There were times where we would go to the studio up in North Jersey and they have an apartment, so sometimes we’d stay there or sleep in the studio. We’d sleep on couches and bring blow-up mattresses.

PC: We spoke with Rob earlier this year and he said that the music on the self-titled album may be the most important music for the band up to date. Did you feel that as you were putting together the album and did that bring any additional pressure?
Kevin: Absolutely! We’re always trying to grow as songwriters and as musicians. We were funding everything ourselves up until we got signed to a label. When we’d go into a studio to record an album, we would drop thousands of dollars. That was really difficult; we’d all have to chip in. We all had to take other jobs to make that happen.

When we got signed to this deal, we were able to be helped out with our recording costs and everything that comes along with it, which made us work harder. Also, we’ve been growing as humans over the course of the year that we started writing the record. I mean, technically the first single off the album was “Overboard”, which came out in February 2018. A lot happened in between then, from relationships to life in general. It was really cool because the album captures experiences from the entire year. Most bands or artists will go into the studio for a month or two straight and write an album and it’s done. We technically started this in December 2017 when “Overboard” was written and the self-titled album didn’t come out until May 2019.

PC: If you had to pick one song off the self-titled album that encompasses The Stolen as a band, what would it be and why?
Kevin: That’s a hard question. This album is really special to us. If you listen to the record from front to back, you’ll notice that there are some pop records, there are some more rock records, and there are some emo ones. Someone who listens to “Rooftop” might be in for a surprise if they listened to “Stuck” first. There are very different sides to this album, but the best part about it is that we have all of these influences and we’re able to mold them together and make it a record. It’s hard to pick just one song because this album as a whole is The Stolen.

PC: You guys have a really dedicated fan base that’s grown with you as a band. What’s one thing fans would be surprised to learn about each member of the band?
Kevin: Wow, this is a hard question as well! The really cool thing about our fan base and our relationship with them is that it’s not like a rockstar attitude. There’s no rockstar attitude when it comes to the shows or hanging out with them. When we get to the show, we don’t just go in the green room and wait until we go on, and then after the show go to the next venue; we have this relationship with our fans where we can hang out with them.

There are a few instances and traditions that come to mind. Last fall, we were in Salt Lake City. There’s an In-and-Out there and we’re Jersey Boys, so we don’t have that on the east coast. Thirty of us rolled up to In-and-Out and hung out, had food, and just talked. So, to answer your question, I think the fans know us pretty well. Even if we’re not going out to grab food with them, we’re hanging out with them at shows. I doubt there’s anything that would surprise them.

PC: What’s next for the band?
Kevin: We’re going on tour in the fall and we’re working on another record! We haven’t announced it yet, though. We’ll tour in the fall and write in the winter. There’s a chance that if we have some songs finished and recorded, we’ll play them live, but it’s all up in the air at this point.

PC: You’re the bassist for The Stolen and you’re also a drummer for Jake Miller. How challenging is it for you to balance all of that?
Kevin: It actually does get pretty challenging at times. There are some time conflicts where both bands have shows. I actually joined Jake’s band and The Stolen at basically the same time. I was super lucky to be asked to join both bands, so we just try our best to make it all work. There were times with this past tour when I’d fly out to meet Jake for like 24 hours and fly back to do a show with The Stolen. It’s definitely difficult, but everyone is super supportive and helpful, and that makes it a lot easier. I do my best to put 100% into both bands and just do my best as a musician to fulfill the expectations.

Who in the Band is…

PC: Most likely forget the lyrics?
Kevin: I would say Rob, even though he writes a lot of the lyrics, he can be very forgetful about things. Like he’ll lose his keys, he’ll forget a bunch of things, so I feel like he might be the most forgetful.

PC: Most likely to be late?
Kevin: Rob

PC: Most likely to party too hard?
Kevin: Dom. Dom is a pretty crazy partier.

PC: Most likely to get lost?
Kevin: Mike. Mike’s the worst with directions.

PC: Most likely to order pizza after midnight?
Kevin: That is me 100%!

PC: Most likely to break hearts?
Kevin: Break hearts? Wow. I feel like that could be Mike.

PC: Most likely to fall on stage?
Kevin: Fall on stage? I’ve definitely fallen on stage, but I don’t remember anyone else falling. So, I’m going to have to throw myself into that one.

PC: Best with advice?
Kevin: Best with advice? Not to toot my own horn, but I feel like I’m pretty good at like handling situations and giving advice, but I feel like we’re all smart in our own ways and are really good at…so I’m just going to say the whole band.

To keep up with The Stolen, follow them on Twitter and Instagram, and pick up their self-titled debut album on Amazon Music, iTunes, or stream it on Spotify.