Stoby’s Video Series Shines a Light on other Local Bands

Ottawa band Stoby has been making sweet little videos as tributes to other local bands they love and want you to know about.

In the series they have called “Better know an Ottawa band,” Stoby has paid homage to such local bands as Outfielder, The Monotymes, and The Deliverables. The videos shot in isolation are never dull and you never really know what you’re going to get during the approximately minute and a half.  If you haven’t seen these videos I strongly encourage you to go check them out on YouTube or Facebook.

We caught up with Stoby’s guitarist Kevin for a socially distant interview about the “Better know an Ottawa band” ahead of their latest video where they shine a light on local rockers the Dant Danners with a very feline heavy performance. Check out the interview and then watch the next video below.

Interview

I absolutely love the short music videos you have been making about Ottawa bands. Where did the idea come from? And who came up with it?

At the beginning of the pandemic a lot of bands were giving shout-outs to other bands on Instagram -including our band. We wanted to give out a shout out back to those other bands. We have access to some recording equipment and video cameras… So we kind of made it a challenge to write tribute songs and create videos about Ottawa bands.

How are you choosing the bands?

We chose to make songs/videos for certain bands because we admire these bands. In all cases so far, we have played at least one show with the band (although in the future we might make tribute videos for bands that we haven’t played with). Our latest release is for the band “The Dant Danners”. We have played with them at Black Squirrel Books, and at Mayo Fest. We tried to make the song synth orientated like them, but still tried to make it sound like a song Stoby would play. In all honesty, the visuals don’t have a deeper meaning with the band we cover. We are just trying to do something interesting for every band. One challenge is making all these videos under social distancing.

I find the video work very impressive. Who is taking care of that aspect?

I (Kevin, guitarist), film a lot of it, but I have been taking ideas from Maryse (the singer) and Rick (the bassist) about it. So it’s like we all have ideas, and I try to make the ideas work as best as I can.

Speaking of the videos, I only notice two of you. Will the other members of the band eventually make an appearance?

Rick and Devon could make an appearance in the future. Either they could film themselves in isolation and I could edit into the videos, or isolation is lifted and we all just hang out and film a new video.

Any teasers or clues about who is next?

After the Dant Danners, it will be another Ottawa band for sure. I wish I had some compelling clue about them. I really don’t know what to say lol. We also did a cover of a Winnipeg band that broke up ten years ago, and never recorded an album. That’s more on the weirder side of things we recorded. A Ukrainian harmonica player makes an appearance on that recording.