Interview: Stereo Wall, Not Ordinary Alternative Rock

JAKARTA - Carrying the alternative rock genre since 2012, Stereo Wall which is now inhabited by Cynantia Pratita (vocals), Rama Mayristha (guitar), Ussay (guitar), Ramadhan Satria (bass), and Rei (keyboards) is one of many bands that started their career from mere prank which turned out to result in success thanks to their consistency in the Indonesian music industry.

Moreover, Cynantia's presence in the 2021 Indonesian Idol audition which has gone viral among netizens is arguably contributing to boosting her personal popularity and Stereo Wall.

As a result, in 2022, Musica Studio is interested in releasing their latest work titled Home which is also intended to open the journey with the label. Reportedly, Stereo Wall will also produce a new single and even the debut album in the near future.

VOI is interested in digging deeper around Stereo Wall's next work as well as their creative process so far. Check out the following interview.

Stereo Wall started his career in 2012, why hasn't he released an album until now?

Ramadan Satria: We are actually confused until today, we haven't made an album. But if we think about it, actually one, there is no money yet. Second, I don't know, if the album release is live, it's all ten to twelve songs, right, now that must have taken a long time to make it, then it's hot to release it quickly if it's already one song. That's why if you look at it from 2016 to 2021, it's only one or two songs that we make. Because if we really collect everything up to ten new songs, we release them in the form of albums too late. So it's in the form of singles all this time.

What does Stereo Wall's alternative rock look like?

Ramadhan Satria: We are alternative rock, not really the alternative rock genre, which is like that in general. But we are literally alternative. So, sometimes it can become modern rock, go to pop rock, soft rock, so yes, alternative is what we really take.

Can you tell me about your creative process when making songs?

Ramadhan Satria: For making music together, we only have one person who actually made a pattern or chart from him, all of them from him in the past were our guitarist Rama. But, now it's not here because the recovery process due to his bones is broken. So yes, all of that really came from him, he wanted the lyrics, the song pattern, the basic notation, later when he developed it, only came together. Why did everything come from him first? Yes, the problem is that Stereo Wall's common thread is not lost. Even though it's changed genres like that, but the identity of this band is still there.

How do you make the decision that song A has English lyrics and B has Indonesian lyrics?

Ramadan Satria: It's actually more because it's still confused to make Indonesian lyrics that don't sound like a fringe. Until now, we still like it. We still think about various ways to make good Indonesian lyrics. Therefore, the way we work around it is by making English lyrics.

What are your next plans with Musica?

Ramadan Satria: If our new release was in March, we should have released a mini album that was really planned for the road to go to the full album. Finally, after us for a long time, we just wanted to release an album after joining the label, right. Well, to get to the album, we have released one song called Home and we will give two more new songs later. So in the mini album there are three new songs including Home and five songs that we will remake of the old songs that we have released.

With Cynantia's participation in the Indonesian Idol audition having an influence on Stereo Wall?

Cynantia: There is, since joining Indonesian Idol, it has also been affected by the band at that time. Because people get curious, as a result, the audience becomes more.

Stereo Wall is very open to the digital world. Starting from Instagram and even Tiktok, you manage it well. How important is a band or musician doing that?

Ramadan Satria: It's important if it's for now, of course if we look at the band, it's been given a lot of platforms for promos, so why don't we use it. It's different from the past, the media for us to get a lot of information isn't that much, at most from TV or radio. Now since the internet (zaman), the platform has been abundant, so now we've made it very easy. So even if we trade, we can promote it through social media like that. That's why it's that important. But, it's all back again if our goals are heard, it's different if you really want to be idealistic, it's up to you.