artist the STiG

                                        the story of the STiG

the STiG are a pretty girl in a sundress sitting on a log. and you are dying to know what is underneath. the log.

the STiG are a trio made up of indie-scene stalwarts jeff stiles, jay zeman and brad blackton. all three have a storied history in this border city's local music scene.yeah they're physically old but to say a musician has grown up is, well, maybe a bit optimistic.

their music is rock-based falling into the hinterlands of genres such as indie rock, electric folk/country space punk with a slight shade of reggae. the 90's weigh in heavily here due to liberal use of reverb and delay. the lyrics are downbeat odes to everything chief songwriter jeff has had the pleasure to observe.no hallmark greeting cards here and definitely no love songs unless its the pants-around-your-ankles-in-front-of-the-computer kind as in the song "ask jolene".

we are a breath of fresh air. classically-styled in the indie glam/punk rock genre we play thoughtful tunes with poignant lyrical messages.we are not a copycat band and we dont enbrace all the current tricks and styles that are currently popular in mainstream or indie rock to try to piggyback our way to exposure. no, we're just a good, solid rock band with an honest approach. our show is mixed with between-song scathing comments from the singer about any topic: no one is safe. but its not mean though. actually is all in the name of entertainment. and it is. entertaining, i mean.

  jeff stiles began writing songs in 1984 after hearing morrisey speak to him personally through the smiths' song 'how soon is now?'. he played guitar in many local bands but it wasn’t until the mid 90’s that he began writing stuff that wasn’t absolutely wretched. the songs are solid now but stiles has yet to write anything even remotely happy.

 jay zeman is the original jay z. long before hip hop and its wannabe squatterz, jay z was a staple in the scene tending bar at its very axis and laying down tastily wicked grooves in such bands as 'she's not moving' and ''the smoking poles' before joining the ranks of the STiG in 2009. jay is a stand-up guy to which any one of his 12000 facebook friends will surely attest.

the StiG began their journey with the wreckless, animalistic poundings of one cory (chokechain) low.. but, ah! don’t worry –  he’s not dead! he didn’t implode! he wasn’t crushed by a falling piece of stage prop! they just moved on and went their separate ways, silly. here’s to you, chokechain. thanks for the memories! 

 the StiG almost became a never-was after the drummer role was vacated. they languished (well maybe stagnated is a better word) for months until crossing paths with someone from their murky past – brad blackton: a local scene veteran and as steady as in-the-pocket guys come. brad joined the STiG army in january 2012 and they are just giddy about this. giggly like little school girls, they are.

 things are brewing up nicely in the STiG HQ lots of new ideas and whatnot are abound.

  hope to see you all soon in the YEAR of the StiG and remember: VOLUME is a TONE!