Stereo 550 has been a musical platform at GTB for 12 years, bringing art and soul to our agency and drawing people together through music. Over the past decade we’ve hosted nearly 100 shows, from emerging artists to seasoned performers such as Portugal. The Man, American Authors, Neon Trees and Third Eye Blind. Ultimately, GTB connects artists to the communications world.
With restrictions in place across most of the world we’ve had to get creative on how we connect as a team. This new challenge created new opportunities to welcome talent from across the country and invite our global team to join in events across our network. Recently we hosted the sixth virtual GTB Stereo 550 featuring the band Judah & the Lion.
Judah & the Lion’s hit song “Take It All Back” reached #1 on the Billboard charts and was certified Gold. Their sound is a mix of Americana, club pop and hip-hop. Their new album Pep Talks, includes collaborations with Kacey Musgraves and Jon Bellion. After playing a few songs, including “Beautiful Anyway,” Judah Akers, Nate Zuercher and Brian Macdonald of Judah & the Lion sat down with GTB’s very own Dean Ditto to chat about songwriting, lockdown and their current favorites.
Dean Ditto: Let me ask you the story about ‘Beautiful Anyway.’ That’s a great song. How do you deliver those powerful, emotional lyrics every time—and not just for that song but for a lot of your songs—without it just becoming spitting out words? How do you channel that emotion? Is it that every time you sing the song, you’re reliving that experience and tugging at scabs, or does that actually help you?
Judah Akers: I think it can be. Some of the songs on ‘Pep Talks’ that were about my mom’s bout with addiction, alcoholism, or heavier things that I was going through at the time … I’ve found even during this down time they did wear on me a whole lot more than what I thought. Because you’re going back to that wound and addressing it with however many people are showing up, and then you’re doing it again, and then you’re having to talk about it in the meet and greets. Then in the meet and greets, people are coming up and saying their versions of that. I think there’s a level of stress there, but I think that for the three of us, what we figured out early on is that the longer we get to do this—have the honor of playing music for people—each word, each song has to matter. Our mission in this has been trying to help people. We don’t give a crap about being famous or being whatever. We genuinely, at the core of us, want to help people.
‘Beautiful Anyway,’ came out at a time when a lot of my friends were really struggling mentally with self-hate, suicidal thoughts… you can name it. A lot of fans at the meet and greets were coming up and saying the same things. So just the thought of having the chance to speak into people’s lives through a song—which is easier digested than a simple conversation sometimes—the thought of helping that one kid at the show who’s going through that means everything to us.
I think that that song will be a whole lot easier to sing than some of the more stressful songs on ‘Pep Talks.’ I think it’s healing and it’s hard, to answer your question. But the point of it is to help people, and I can always get behind that.
*Host Dean Ditto introduces the Speed Round
DD: Nate, you first. Are you a snowboarding banjo player or a banjo-playing snowboarder?
Nate Zuercher: Probably a banjo-playing snowboarder. I’d like to think I’m better at snowboarding than I am, but banjo has definitely taken the priority.
DD: Yeah, the banjo lets you be a snowboarder.
NZ: Yes, exactly.
DD: Brian, favorite hip-hop artist from the East Coast, favorite hip-hop artist from the West Coast, go!
Brian Macdonald: I gotta go Jay-Z and Tupac.
DD: Tupac, getting old school, man. Jay-Z, one of the old masters.
BM: One of the first piano pieces I learned when I started doing more improvising was ‘Changes’ and that intro. That piano was just so beautiful and universal.
DD: That is a great song. So Judah, Justin Verlander or Jacob deGrom?
JA: I gotta go Verlander. I love his attitude and the way he thinks, it’s sick.
DD: He was awesome while he was here in Detroit. Last one for each of you. So you’re driving in your car and a song comes on, and it’s a song you’ve gotta sing along to and you crank it up — what’s that song?
JA: ‘In da Club’ by 50 Cent.
DD: There you go. Good call. I’ve got 50 Cent right here.
*Dean holds up phone.
JA: ‘Get Rich or Die Tryin’ was my record in high school, so I stand by that. I would love to meet him.
DD: He’s quite the entrepreneur. I’d love to meet him not just from a music standpoint but from a business standpoint, he’s got a good story. Nate your turn. What song do you crank up and sing along with in the car?
NZ: ‘Nothin’ But a Good Time’ by Poison.
DD: Awesome, man. That’s kind of my high school song that I grew up with. I think that’s circa 1987.
NZ: I’m not sure, but it was the movie ‘Grind’ when I was in middle school, a skateboarding movie. All the dudes are in the van … singing that, going down the highway. Maybe that was a precursor to my dream of doing that with these guys.
DD: Your inspiration. So Brian, what about you? Is it a rap, hip-hop song, is it ’80s heavy metal hairband, what is it?
BM: I’ve got to say one song that’s weirdly been following me around in the grocery store and different places is ‘Soak up the Sun’ by Sheryl Crow. I’ve been jamming to that. I’ve cranked that a couple times in the last couple of weeks.
