American Hi-Fi lead singer Stacy Jones says that with their new album hitting stores the band feel like they’ve finally found themselves. But when asked to explain further, Jones admits defining the band isn’t that easy.
“We’re a schizophrenic band for sure,” Jones says, while taking a break from their current tour with Bowling For Soup. “I mean there’s no denying that. To me, that’s the best thing to be because we like so many different types of bands. We’ll say ‘Let’s do that ELO -type of part on this song’ or ‘Let’s do that like Squeeze might do’ or ‘Let’s do that like Cheap Trick or Oasis.’ When you do that and you reference all of those bands, the songs that you write are inevitably going to sound like the songs that you are listening to. This record reflects a certain portion of my record collection.” The latest album that he’s discussing is American Hi-Fi’s upcoming release, Hearts On Parade. The band, which is filled out by drummer Brian Nolan, guitarist Jaime Arentzen and bassist Drew Parson, recorded it on their own, without external interference – one of the mixed blessings of having been dropped by Island Records before they started the new album.
“It was very liberating, because we didn’t have a label, we were making this record on our own with our own money basically,” Jones says. “It was cool because we didn’t have to answer to anybody but ourselves. So we really made this record for us. We didn’t have any outside influence.”
Still, the band didn’t try to experiment too much or make a difficult record. American Hi-Fi are, unapologetically, a pop rock band.
“We’re a pop rock band and we’re happy to be that,” he says. “We’re not trying to push the boundaries of pop music like Radiohead or the Doves. Which I love, but I think we’re more happy in the middle.”
