“Do the work” is a phrase you hear a lot these days. And in today’s ever-evolving music world this phrase is absolutely clutch for bands who want to make it.
In the rock world, this phrase, this ethos is embodied by the bluesy Canadian rock duo The Blue Stones. Tarek Jafar and Justin Tessier, who met during their days attending Windsor University, worked for years playing shows, touring, and putting out EPs — all while attending school, and then working full-time.
Another phrase you hear a lot these days is “betting on myself.” That’s exactly what all the hard work Jafar and Tessler did inspired them to do. They left their full-time jobs behind, and bet on themselves. The hard work and belief in themselves helped this band accrue over 11 million streams, and signing a record deal with eOne. After they released their record Black Holes (a record whose theme is believing in yourself, and putting the work), the band has become a popular addition to music festivals around the world, and set them on a tour of the U.S.
We caught up with Tarek Jafar late last year to talk about the band’s belief in itself, their new album, and more as they get set to play Wonder Bar in Asbury Park, NJ tonight.
In the fall you guys released your first full length record after being a band for seven plus years. How’d it feel to have your first full-length record out after all those EPs, and all these big time streaming numbers?
It’s kind of nice to have something officially put out there that’s available to be streamed and listened to now. However, like you said, we’ve released stuff on our own before so we know what the feeling of an album release is like. But … this [was] entirely different. There was a whole team behind this process, and it was really exciting, and I don’t think I ever felt that excited for an album release before.
Can you talk about the transition from going from an independent band to a band that was signed to a major label? Was it tough going from being so DIY to being on a label?
It was actually a pretty smooth transition. We started out with some management that was based out of Cleveland and they helped to bridge the gap between us being an independent artists and being label artists. I think we lucked out with the team that we ended up with because everybody is so amazing. They’re all motivated. They’re all in on these projects and are behind the artists 100%. As an artist it’s nice to have this kind of support because it pushes you as well. We haven’t run into an issue where it’s been the old story of artists fighting with their labels or the managers or whatever it’s been. I think we’ve been pretty fortunate.
Are you thankful for the experience of releasing all those EPs, being on the road, and being a band for a while before releasing a full-length record?
I think it’s key actually. There’s a lot of meteoric rises these days. A lot of bands or artists shoot up quick but they might not have the experience or all the hardware that goes into building something that lasts. So they tend to fade away. Justin and I have been doing this for seven plus years and that all sort of helps. Number one, as an artist, it helps you figure what you sound like and who you are. But also you’ve also had your ups and downs and you’ve experienced it all before. There’s nothing really that shocks you anymore. It prepares you to be ready for anything. And in this industry you have to be ready for anything.
One of the themes of this record is this duality of coming age and whether you go out and take a risk, or you play it safe. How much of this is rooted in your guys story?
Quite a lot of it actually. It’s something that Justin and I went through that, especially when we were writing this album. We were just coming out of university and [it’s a time where] you’ve been put out into the real world for the first time. You’re out of the comfort zone now and you have to start making decisions for yourself. There’s the whole idea of whether go with a safe decision or do you take a risk on something that you’re passionate about that could really pay off — but it’s still a huge risk. That is our story. We like to channel that through the music and want have other people react to it and be like, ‘You know, that’s something that I’m going through as well.’
How long before did you guys coming out of college to take that risk immediately or was it something you had to work up to dedicate to a band full time?
It was definitely a process. We were doing this in university in our sophomore year. We started to jam together and it was very amateur and very casual. Throughout [our time at] university we kept building up — writing more songs and we started playing more shows. So it was a gradual increase over time.
After university we were just working in regular jobs. That’s when it started to come into play like four or five years in. And we kept thinking, do we keep doing this? Do we change to something else? Should we just drop it? There was a point where we considered dropping it altogether. How it worked out was when you finally do decide to stop something, then everything, all the opportunities that are being pushed in front of your face will be gone. So you have to sort of jump on when we get them. So it’s been a gradual process, but we’re very happy that we stuck to it.
With all this time spent in the band prior to the record deal, and then recording this record — what’s the biggest lesson you’ve learned as a band, and the biggest lesson you’ve learned personally?
Sometimes we get asked questions about how we did this. What was our ticket to getting where we are? But I think the most important thing was actually two-fold. It was making music that we were passionate about, making music that we liked, and not buckling under the pressure of trends. Also just finding shows. If you you want to progress your project, whatever it is, just play shows whether it’s local or branch out and do other cities that are near you. You just got to keep playing shows because all the opportunities that we came across were a direct result of playing shows.So I think that’s probably the most important thing. Just making music that you want to make and playing lots of shows.
About myself? I guess in a way this whole process was battling between two things and trying to make that decision like we were talking about earlier. But at the end of the day, music was always thing and I, and I think I might’ve ignored that call for a while, but at the end of the day, you get pulled into it because that’s truly what the passion is. So I guess listen to yourself in a way because yourself is right.
You’ve sacrifice an easier life to be in a band. You got a record coming out, you’re touring the, we’re going to tour the world, but at the end of the day, what do you love about this band that makes you want to dedicate every fiber of your being to boost offs?
Wow. That is a heavy question. I believe 100% in the music that we make and I love to play it. I love when people are at shows that sing the songs back at us and having a great time That is enough for me to keep wanting to do it. It’s so awesome to have such a good reaction to something that you created. Also, Justin and I had been good friends forever and it’s just kinda nice that it is the two of us and we’re also good friends. So it makes it easy to keep going with it.
The Blue Stones perform tonight at The Wonder Bar in Asbury Park, NJ along with Ropetree. Tickets are available here.
