Before Steal The Night rocks the stage at The Lair with their funky pop rock tunes, they sit down to chat with us about their influences and aspiration. Don’t miss your chance to see them battle it out this Wednesday, October 1st for round one of Emergenza Festival Australia. In the meantime, check out our pre-show interview with the band:

HOW DID YOU COME UP WITH THE NAME STEAL THE NIGHT?
After weeks of discussing possible band names, we found it really hard to agree on one that we all liked and that suited the style of music that we play. We are all fans of The Cat Empire and Ben (our lead guitarist) raised the possibility of calling ourselves Steal the Light after their most recent studio album. This however was all discussed via a Facebook group inbox and the word light autocorrected to night when Ben typed it in on his phone. So it was really a name that we just stumbled upon accidentally.

WHAT'S YOUR LIVE SET UP LIKE?
We’re a five-piece band with lead vocals/rhythm guitar, lead guitar, bass, saxophone and drums. Our vocalist switches between electric and acoustic guitar, and our sax player switches between alto and tenor. Our lead guitarist occasionally jumps on the trumpet, our bassist provides some sweet harmonies, and our drummer really brings that heavier sound with his clever use of double kick, cymbals and tom fills. As a band that’s just starting out though, we’re still working on building and experimenting with different sounding effects and back line gear to properly establish our sound.

IF YOU COULD DESCRIBE YOUR SOUND IN THREE WORDS, WHAT WOULD THEY BE?
Hard-edged, melodic, full.

WHO ARE SOME OF YOUR MAJOR MUSICAL INFLUENCES?
The five of us have quite diverse musical backgrounds with all of us (bar Ricky, our drummer) starting off our musical careers as horn players. So given that, we all have an experienced background in jazz and classical styles of music. As we all began to experiment on different instruments and explore different styles of music our diversity really opened up. Very early in the picture our main influences were The Cat Empire, Santana and The Eagles but as we began to explore our sound more we drew upon bands like Pierce the Veil, Sleeping With Sirens, Paramore, All Time Low and A Day to Remember. As a vocalist, I very much look up to my musical heroes in Eddie Vedder from Pearl Jam, Dave Grohl from the Foo Fighters and Dallas Green from City and Colour/Alexisonfire for a bit of direction.

WHAT'S THE CRAZIEST THING YOU'VE DONE TOGETHER AS A BAND?
Well, we did go for a band lunch date one time had to pull over on the side of the road about five metres from where we set off because I (Adam) had a flat tyre.

WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING FORWARD TO MOST ABOUT YOUR SHOW AT THE LAIR?
Having a chance to perform in a professional venue that is renowned in the industry. We are also really glad that we have the chance to showcase ourselves to our fans, friends and families.

WITH OTHER BATTLE OF THE BANDS COMPETITIONS AROUND, WHAT MADE YOU CHOOSE EMERGENZA?
Emergenza really stood out for us because it puts bands straight into professional venues that we go to all of the time to see our favourite bands (from Australia and overseas). The prize at the end is really something to aspire to, and we believe that the journey along the way can really teach us a lot, not only about the industry that we one day hope to leave our mark on, but also what we can be as a band.

For more details on the show at The Lair @ The Metro Theatre in Sydney on October 1st, click here.