story by Kymber Berson
photo by Angel Sallade

While some members of Stellar Road acknowledge getting a late start picking up their instruments, the momentum of the band's success has been explosive. Since the release of their album Better Than Yesterday last April, selling out prestigious Chicago rooms such as The Note and The Double Door are among the recent accomplishments of this young Chicago band.

Jack Daly (acoustic guitar/lead vocals) said even though his parents encouraged him and his younger brother Mike to study music, the first time he picked up a guitar was his senior year of high school. Shortly after, Mike joined him (acoustic guitar/back-up vocals). Stellar Road formed as a three-piece when the Daly brothers teamed up with long time friend Justin Griffin (electric guitar/back-up vocals).

"It was a cool and different live show," Justin said of the two acoustic and one electric guitar arrangement. In July of 2003, the three went into a Bloomington, Ill. studio, where Jack was going to college at the time, to record what is now known as Acoustic Sessions. Griffin told Chicago Innerview that it was a unanimous decision to go acoustic for the recording. "My playing electric didn't work well on record. In an acoustic recording without drums or a bass, people are used to pure acoustic; we couldn't really throw the electric on top of it."

DALY'S INNER VIEW "We all agree that we try to stray away from pop music and what it has become these days. Bands come in and out so fast - we're doing something different and I think people appreciate that."

Shortly after their demo release, Stellar Road expanded from a three piece to a five-piece band as their sound continued to evolve, bringing on Jeff Gargas (drums/percussion) and Ben Kelly (bass) over the next year. Feeling confident in the band's full sound, Stellar Road headed into the studio in April of 2004 and re-recorded some of the songs from the demo along with some new songs. With the final band arrangement, Stellar Road was ready to see what Chicago music fans thought of their sound. "When we started, one of our main goals was to get in the city and create a buzz," said Jack.

Stellar Road solidified their place amongst the Chicago music scene and widened their fan base during two important "battle of the bands" competitions over the summer of 2004. "Emergenza is a nationwide battle of the bands," said Jack. "We made it to the finals in Chicago and took fourth place out of 182 bands." The second battle also proved successful when Stellar Road won Chicago's "Rolling Rock Battle of the Bands" in August at The Hard Rock Café.

Stellar Road's elements of success can be attributed to a combination between their songwriting and instrumentation. Mike added, "We all agree that we try to stray away from pop music and what it has become these days. Bands come in and out so fast - we're doing something different and I think people appreciate that." Griffin doesn't like to tie their sound down to a specific genre. "Our shows are energetic; we've always gotten a good response. It's a good mix of acoustic, some heavier, some lighter, a perfect in-between."

Stellar Road plans to be back in the studio within a year, but for now their concentration is to continue playing live shows, building a fan base one by one and letting their music evolve itself. "In music," Mike explained, "we try to remember to always be students because there's always more to learn."

Stellar Road :: at Joe's on January 15 :: and at 115 Bourbon Street on January 21.