All Across The Nation with The Stolen

All Across The Nation with The Stolen

The Stolen recently completed a cross country tour with Jake Miller, which included a stop in Los Angeles at the iconic El Rey Theater.  Hitting the road in support of their recently issued Fragile Heart EP, The Stolen captivated audiences with their vibrant brand of 80’s new wave and modern day indie rock.  Prior to their adventures of the highways of America with Jake Miller, we caught up with lead vocalist / guitarist Dom Cuce to catch up with the happenings of the exhilarating band on the rise.  Read on…

Introduce yourself, tell me what you do in The Stolen, and how long the band has been together.
I’m Dom, I sing and play guitar. So it’s kind of a long story, technically, the band has been together for 12 years. Myself, Rob, and Mike started jamming together when I was ten years old, we were playing classic rock covers at block parties, bars, pretty much anywhere we could play, we did. As we got older we started to write our own music and touring and all that stuff. We met Kev in middle school and he was a good friend of ours and he eventually joined the band in high school.

Where is the band based out of and what is your local music scene like there?
We are based out of Old Bridge, NJ. The New Jersey music scene is one that is very tight knit and kids are super passionate about their favorite bands. For us especially, the people we have met in the NJ music scene have become some of our best friends.

What are you looking forward to the most about your upcoming Back to the Start tour with Jake Miller?
One thing we are looking forward to the most is sharing the music we make with a whole new group of people. A lot of the people we are playing in front of haven’t heard our music before so it’ll be fun to show them what we are about and who we are as a band and as individuals.

How did you wind up on the Jake Miller tour?
It’s a pretty long story, but we’ve had a good relationship with Jakes tour manager Scott and Jake himself for a while and the offer came onto the table for us and we’re really excited to be on the road with him.

What could one expect from a live The Stolen show?
For our live shows, we just want to make sure everyone is having a good time and vibing. We bring a lot of energy and passion to our live show and we want the fans to feel that.

Any strange or scary happenings on the road or at a show?
Not too many, most of the time it’s our van breaking down, a couple weeks ago we were doing an overnight drive to Chicago and alternator went, so we slept in the van until we were able to get it fixed the next morning. The good thing is that we don’t have to worry about that this tour since we will be traveling in the bus with Jake.

One of your first stops is the El Rey Theater in Los Angeles. Have you ever played here in the Los Angeles area, and if so, what were your impressions of LA and the West Coast?
We have never played on the West Coast, but we all have been there and we love it. We’re really excited to see how kids on the west coast react to our music, it’s going to be a fun experience playing out there.

Is there any overall story or concept behind the EP title Fragile Heart?
Theres no overall story, it’s just mainly a compilation of what has happened to us over the past year.

Select two songs from Fragile Heart and what inspired the lyrics.
Euphoric is a song about connecting with someone, being on the same page with someone on so many different levels.
West Coast was written about the irony of the “LA lifestyle”. It was written about a girl was thought to be down to earth and cool, but cared more about her social stature than anything.

What would you like a listener to remember after hearing Fragile Heart by The Stolen for the first time?
We just want people to focus on the honestly in our music. We write music that is true to us and we feel that’s the most important thing.

Any final words of wisdom?
We just want to thank our fans for the continued support, whether it be coming to a show, sharing our music, or getting merch, we appreciate more than words can describe.

The Stolen is Dom Cuce, Rob Chiarappa, Kevin Smart, and Mike Chiarappa.   If you missed their tour with Jake Miller, be sure to go to their Facebook page as they have just announced dates for a December trek!

(Interview by Ken Morton)

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