Past, Present, and Future: Elliot Stanford

For years, multi-faceted creative Elliot Stanford has been a key part of not only the Wilmington music scene, but also the artistic community at large. We had the pleasure of sitting down with him to discuss his journey so far and to get a deeper look at one of our city's most authentic souls. Photo: @oddityinfocus

Let’s start from the very beginning, walk me through your artistic awakening. What inspired you to become a creative? How do those early inspirations still reflect themselves in your work today as you refine your artistic voice?

Stanford: In a single answer; my parents.

My mom noticed my creative spark before I was more than a soft brain wandering around on all fours. I was in kinder music almost immediately and I remember the teacher pulling her aside with a strong opinion that I should pursue music because my ear was rather good. After that I was taking piano lessons as a 1st grader and mom was the reason we got to every lesson or recital. My father has played drums since he was 10 years old so we were born into a home with a Kit. But before I was able to sit on the seat he had me banging pots and pans in the kitchen or head banging to Iron Maiden in the living room. Music has just always been there for me, it is in my heart.

When I got to guitar playing after my parents split up and I moved to North Carolina my inspirations got much darker. I found 90s pop punk revival and took comfort in Green Day’s power and lyricism. I pretty much became obsessed. With my Seattle connection I felt incredible connection to the moodiness of the grunge movement and at the time watched a lot of live performances of Pearl Jam, Alice In Chains and Nirvana shows with my dad. It was almost like watching sports. We broke down performance etiquette and crowd control and he told me stories of seeing them in clubs. It really stoked the fire for me to play music in my own way. That’s when I started learning about DIY culture and I have been pretty one track minded since.

I would say I’m still chasing the power and depth of emotion that a lot of my old favorites have. I also use the family connection to keep perspective on what this is all about. I started as the cousin, brother, nephew, son playing in the corner and in a lot of ways I will always be that. I’m very grateful my family supports and inspires this creation.

Interviewer: Written like a true poet. Discovering yourself in an artistically nurturing atmosphere like that is so fortunate, and the authenticity that our community knows you for makes so much sense given how free you’ve always been to express yourself in that way.

Stanford: I must say too, all of my current growth, songwriting abilities, singing, guitar playing has been because of all my wonderful friends who are chosen family for me. Whether it’s been in bands or just jamming with them, they inspire me to be a better musician regularly. That’s an incredible thing to have as an artist. Truly priceless. Love the homies.

As a follow up on musical inspirations, was there ever one piece of work that was particularly impactful to your life and direction?

Stanford: Yes, I have some 45s of Green Day’s back when they were sweet children. Hearing someone who was a couple years older than me (at the time of recording) play so aggressively and sing about real things happening in their high school life. I was pretty blown away. Same experience with Blink 182's Cheshire Cat, I heard that stuff and was pretty convinced I had to try it out. At least see if I could get my guitar as distorted or if I could write something so catchy and real. Simple songs done well. It gets me every time man.

Interviewer: As they say, three chords and the truth. Now for some more recent reminiscence, if you’re ready.

Stanford: Yea yea yea yea yea let’s go!

I want to pivot to the Ridgewood years. A good amount of what we see around us now in the Wilmington music community can trace roots back in some way to that band. Where do you think that spark came from, and how did you guys seemingly find yourselves at the center of it?

Stanford: Well thank you for that high praise. I think the spark truly came from the level of friendship between Matt, Bennett, Charlie and I. We all had a clear goal for the band to be an original act that had roots in punk rock with no real rules, so as not to limit ourselves. We worked really hard to create a set that was dynamic and well put together so the crowd would experience a range during our set and we would hopefully draw more folks in. We also marketed really well, masterminded mostly by Charlie Peters, he was exceptional about booking gigs for big events like back to school and getting the word out efficiently.

Then outside of the band we had incredible support from friends who would donate time or art or an ear to hear about our silly new band that we were so excited about ahaha. Special shout out to Daniel Wellish for listening to every single Ridgewood rehearsal and STILL going to every show.

It never felt like there was a center or that we were in it. It always felt to me like people needed someone to see playing live that was around their age to go “I can do that, I’m way better than that!” Or to be like “Hell yeah I wanna try” and the way the world opened up after the pandemic aligned with when we had found each other and decided to make the band, it seemed we caught lightening in a bottle. We were the ones to be looked at for a new generation of students that had no house show venues. So we started playing houses again, with a lot of help.

The first couple shows were similar line ups but once we started meeting other bands like Pleasure Island, Narah, Cancel, Lawn enforcement it was blossoming into such a lovely scene. One I had been craving since reading about 924 Gilman st. In California.

Interviewer: It really was lightning in a bottle, a few of those bands you mentioned popped up right around the same time, in no small part due to the environment those early house shows created. Also awesome that you mentioned Gilman, that third wave punk rock scene was something special.

Stanford: The PCE was also instrumental in creating places for Ridgewood to play at. They actually hosted our first “live video” before we could have a live show so that people could get ready for what we were working on! Trent and Reid were incredible in maintaining the spark on that front.

I think ultimately Ridgewood happened the way it did because of everyone involved, we were really just happy to be sharing our stuff with people who were excited to hear and with the incredible effort of the village it grew to a height we hadn’t considered previously. Forever grateful.

Interviewer: I do miss those early PCE days, those guys knew how to get everyone together it was really special. That first Halloween festival was my first real exposure to the scene, I knew of a few bands and had been to a show or two but that’s what really kicked it off for me personally.

Stanford: That show was my first time playing a real stage. I remember saying to myself “you’ve been waiting for this kid. Let em fuckin have it!”

One more follow up about Ridgewood, was there one standout track that you feel best defines the essence of you at that point in time?

Stanford: I think the song "Nothing" is probably the closest to encapsulating who I was at that time. Young and really hungry with plenty of self doubt. Much of that is still true but there was a way I wrote that song that carries a lot of hope for me even to this day. I’m proud of that and I think that’s the true essence of my heart, regardless of all the other dynamics we have as humans, I think that hope burns in me constantly. It can be rather annoying at times, but I cling to it.

Interviewer: I always enjoyed that riff and the build up and drop off quality of the song, it matches the lyrics in the sense that the listener never quite “arrives” until right at the end. Charlie’s solo hits like a hopeful resolution to the tension the song is laced with.

Stanford: Yes!! That’s what I was going for and the band wrote their parts so freaking well (shocker freakin epic musicians) around that idea. I’m so happy it translated.

Interviewer: Alright so I’ve got one that’s outside the scope of music, and then the next one I’ve got we’ll get to Attach.

Let’s keep approaching present day. Between then and now, you seem to have opened the gates on a wider range of artistic pursuits. Can you give me the rundown on how you’ve been expanding in the arts outside of music over the last few years, and to tie it all in, how have those endeavors refined your current musical identity?

Stanford: Absolutely! Well I am an actor as well! I started doing musical theatre in high school and when I got to college I was going to quit it and become a psychologist. It was the perfect plan until APA writing became a consistent feature so I jumped ship and went back to the theatre! I studied the historical context of plays and wrote a lot of papers and learned a lot about myself as a performer too. My senior year I was able to incorporate music into my theatre degree by writing and performing metal music on stage with Matt Dauphin while the cast of Electra, directed by Christopher Marino, put on their production. It felt like the pinnacle of my experience both in theatre and with Ridgewood through college.

After I graduated I joined the department again as musical director for Romeo and Juliet. Creating a three piece punk band and writing music for the entire show as well as re working sonnets for myself and cast members to sing. We had a wonderful production run and had a performance put on by the women run RIOT GRRRLZ company which was spectacular to be a part of. We also had a student named Ellie Manfreda create a beautiful rendition of a Shakespearean sonnet and perform with us during our pre show punk show. The whole experience was undeniably rewarding and pushed me in so many ways.

Since then I’ve acted in a feature film for director Mark Briede, hopefully out soon, and I have some projects lined up! Acting and music are really similar for me. They are both channels for me to connect with and be honest with my feelings. My best friend and professor Dr. Wellman always said that theatre is “the study of life” so I figured I’d be a good perspective. I’ve lived a lot of life. And I want to live so much more.

Interviewer: I’ll definitely have to keep an eye out for that film! Thank you for the deep dive, we've always seen Elliot the musician, and I’ve seen various things via social media you’ve been working on but I didn’t know the extent — Its exciting to watch my perspective zoom out in real time.

Now we’ve arrived at today. Attach looks to be a huge evolution in how you express yourself and, for the people reading, is such a dynamic and intense live experience. How did this group take shape from a sonic perspective? What lessons or differences are you seeing this second time around when it comes to starting an original project from scratch?

Stanford: Sonically, Thomas and Riley built the bones of attach while recording guitar demos for fun. Thomas was my bassist for Romeo and Juliet and a close friend from college, he approached me about maybe singing some demo vocals over these tracks. I heard it and was immediately in. We met for the first couple rehearsals and I was playing bass as well. It wasn’t going well haha. I couldn’t keep up with the sheer power and speed of the two guitars. We offered the drum position to Bennett because he and I live together and we trusted his musical prowess to add the our sonic evolution. Then we went to Max Fogleman for bass and I am so happy we have him. He brought so much song structure experience from his work with Anywhere Else and other projects, and has an incredible bass style. After we were fully assembled the songs started to come together in clever ways that felt new and exciting for all of us. I had a hard time trying to find ways to sing over a lot of it at the beginning! It was a huge jump from the four chord songs I was writing.

We all bring experience from other projects and between the five of us we have all the skills to keep ripping for the foreseeable future. I’m stoked and honored to play with such talented and open minded people. We have already achieved so many of our goals but the sky is the limit. I feel lucky too, because all of my projects have had an independent element. We never hesitate to share opinions, but for the most part your job is your job and we trust everyone to crush it. It creates a nice environment to take risk and that is really important for fostering creativity.

All we have left to cover is what’s in store for the future. What comes next, both for you personally and for Attach, and what does the roadmap to those ambitions look like in your mind?

Stanford: My road forward looks like a lot of writing for Attach and myself. I’d like to get back to writing and recording some little tunes myself just to practice and really mess around with my DAW. It would be awesome to put out an EP or something of re-recorded SoundCloud stuff.

Attach does all our recording at my house with Riley producing. He is incredible and really kind to work with. As a vocalist it’s not always easy to find environments to practice, write, and record, but Riley is super easy going and very knowledgable. I want to find a way to open that up to bands that are growing too. I know how hard it can be to practice on campus or for bands with lousy neighbors, it would be nice if all of the effort I’ve put into this space could be used to launch other creations. Some bands have started, both Snout and Passenger Seat rehearse weekly and I love the community aspect of that. I love listening to other projects as well. What a privilege to listen to someone’s process. Bennett and I also play in a cover band of sorts called Square One, to play longer sets in more low key settings. I’d like to see us grow in that project and I expect we will. He is a truly talented human and great bandmate all around, I’m lucky we are as close as we are.

Other than that I’ll be haunting Wilmington I suppose! I love this town. Don’t get me wrong, there is a lot of evil here, but I think there is a lot of good to be done too and a lot of roads to be paved. I’d like to be here to see it.

Thank you all again. Incredible questions. Thanks for being interested in me.

Interviewer: Thank you as well, It was an absolute pleasure to have you sit down to do this with us and for you to take the time to tell part of your story. Anything else you’ve got for readers that we didn’t get to touch on?

Stanford: Yeah. If anyone falls, pick them up. Love you.