When you talk about music having a message or a band that influences action, it is sure to bring as many groans as cheers. Perhaps you think you’ve heard it all before and don’t want to be weighed down by heavy themes and political prodding.
Chad Stokes of State Radio has a completely different approach and philosophy, however, that is more about organizing communities and getting more hands-on. The band has an “Action Calendar” of service projects that they’ll be doing on tour along with a foundation they’ve created to help with the organization.
“We’ve started a foundation — Calling All Crows — it’s two-fold, for humanitarian aid and a service initiative,” Stokes says by phone from his Massachusetts home. “We started doing it just because we wanted a way to harness all the energy from the fanbase and make it more than a concert. Some people were working with us on a project earlier that day — it seemed like a good way to bring it together and starting to make an impact in the different communities we go to.”
Stokes says the projects include a little of everything — sometimes painting schools or murals, pulling weeds and gardening, helping out at food banks or getting involved with activist-related events on street corners. During the band’s stop in Charlotte on Oct. 1, they will work with Samaritan House, a nonprofit organication that provides recuperative care to the homeless, from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. to host an afternoon of gardening.
During the band’s last tour, they did a service project in every city, but that started to take its toll on the group. “As good as that felt,” Stokes says, “everyone was getting sick or exhausted by the time the show came around. It was a tricky balance.
“One goal is to get people fired up about public service and get their feet wet in that realm if they haven’t done it before,” he adds. “Stuff like that is kind of hard to start on your own sometimes, but once you get an introductory glance, you realize there’s a whole world out there. We’re also trying to raise — we have a goal this year of $100,000 worth of stoves for the refugee camps in Sudan. It’s $20 a stove, so it’s a real tangible way for people to give. We’ll do 5Ks and home-run derbys in different cities to help raise money for that as well.”
Stokes got involved in public service while growing up near the Peace Abbey, a retreat center in Massachusetts focused on peacemaking efforts. He wanted to be a part of the legacy there and started to get involved in any way he could, beginning with a Stone Walk, pulling a gravestone to Washington, D.C., as a symbolic showing of the effects of war on civilians.
“It was just getting involved and seeing your heroes on the wall or books about them — John Lennon or Ghandi or Mother Theresa or Muhammad Ali,” Stokes says. “It was an amazing place where I was kind of shaped politically. That’s important — for people to understand and have knowledge. It’s important for a kid from Cleveland to know they can make a difference, even if it’s in a small way and going to a soup kitchen once a month.”
While so much time was spent on getting the foundation started, Stokes and his bandmates also found time to record a new album, Let It Go, which was released this week (Sept. 29). The 11-track disc is comprised of new songs that were written recently and also older songs that have been “sitting on the shelf” since the early days of Dispatch, Stokes’ first band.
“You just have a moment here or there and sing something into a tape recorder, and now I have all these tape cassettes building up,” Stokes says with a laugh. “It’s almost a cop-out — you record for 20 seconds then keep doing what you’re doing and think, ‘I’ve done something worthwhile.’ It would be great to have a lot of time to finish songs or at least commit to getting a song done, but … It’s pretty piecemeal unless something comes real quick, which doesn’t happen as often as we artists might like.”
Aside from the new songs on the album to choose from, State Radio also includes a couple of covers and even newer songs during its set. Stokes says the newer ones are great for fans, but can be an annoyance for the casual listener wanting to hear the songs they know.
While the band’s sound fluctuates between a heavy rock and a more upbeat, peaceful reggae, Stokes feels the band is definitely in more of a comfort zone with the harder stuff. “That’s just where we are at the moment,” he says. It’s different from Dispatch, where the music focused mainly on harmonies. While the band gets together for a reunion show from time to time, Stokes says he isn’t sure they have the time to record again. “When Dispatch plays live, it’s just kind of enough. It feeds us for the moment because we’re all doing other things,” he says. “That’s not to say it will never happen.”
As for the lyrics, they’re usually a combination of imagery as much as political messages and calls to action. But that could change. Stokes is aware that some fans may not like it, but he’s considering making the next State Radio album be a little more personal.
As for the crows — Calling All Crows and the band’s last album, Year of the Crow — Stokes hopes some people will take the time to learn its meaning … but it’s OK if you don’t.
“I think the crow is pretty ubiquitous and pretty iconic and mysterious,” he says. “It’s nice to use an image or idea like that where it can be straight-up and people can take it face value or look it up and find that there are so many levels. I think that’s OK — that’s what’s fun about how someone interprets someone else’s artwork.
“It’s neat to take someone on the journey if they want to go, but if they just want to watch the parade go by, that’s OK, too.”
State Radio will perform at Visulite Theatre on Oct. 1. Doors open at 8 p.m. Tickets are $15.
This article appears in Sep 29 – Oct 6, 2009.
