The Evolving Music of Jamie and Steve

Photo of Jamie Hoover by Laura S. Tinnel, Laura Lynn Music
Photography used by permission

If you’re at all a devotee of American power pop, Jamie Hoover is about as familiar a name as you can get. But for those of you who may need a refresher, he is one quarter of the band the Spongetones, one of the power pop’s most enduring and well-loved bands.

But Hoover has a whole lot more going on than that fabled rock and roll band. He is also one half of Jamie and Steve, writing and performing with fellow Spongetone Steve Stoeckel. The two have put out some excellent albums of their own, and their latest, Sub Textural, will hurt their reputation exactly zero. 

The six-song set is chock full of memorable melodies and soaring vocals, one which it’s pointless to pick a favorite tune. All songs in the collection are top-notch, though maybe “Flutter,” with its soaring melodies and acoustic fills, might just barely nudge its way out front.

“Sword of Love” sees Jamie and Steve’s harmonies at their most Beatlesque, while “It’s All Because of You” leans in a more Everly direction. The song that Hoover pointed out was “Cry,” a romp from the duo sans instrumentation.

Photo of Steve Stoeckel by Laura S. Tinnel,
Laura Lynn Music Photography, used by permission

“’Cry’ was done during the time I had rotator cuff surgery,” Hoover recounted, talking to Garagerocktopia via Skype from his home in the Charlotte area. “though the lyrics are Steve’s. What we wanted was a song that would work a capella. I also really love “410,” which is the address of my first house.”

Stylistically, the only prohibitive outlier is “With a Little Tango.” The song begins with a grind uncharacteristically edgy, one for which Hoover says he had Led Zeppelin in mind. Some of the guitar runs bear that out, though one could be forgiven for hearing touches of Joe Cocker and Paul McCartney, too.

The EP’s title is more than just an attempt to have a clever name. Hoover revealed there’s a hidden surprise in the songs for anyone industrious enough to seek it out.

“With Sub-Textural,” explained Hoover, “we decided to connect the songs to a subliminal message in Morse code. One word of the lyrics with each song will be transmitting a message in the background.”

Hoover declined to say to us what that message is, adding that it also comes, in part, from an acquaintance whom, shall we say, has an alternative understanding of the world. By all means, get the EP and start deciphering. There’s no prize for finding it, though. It was all about the amusement, both for Jamie and Steve and for the listeners.

“You might get a nice e-mail from us,” Hoover advised, “but that’s about all. For us, it’s all for fun, plus we enjoy having some mystery attached to our music. I always enjoyed the idea, for example, that Klaatu was secretly the Beatles.”

Hoover’s talent go beyond singing and playing. He is also a producer of note, lending his touch to a dizzying array of acts from across the musical spectrum, from acoustic cowpunk to pedal-to-the-metal thrash, kinds of music one wouldn’t ordinarily associate with a Spongetone.

Yet, Hoover, who also plies his trade as a teacher and technical advisor, says he there’s no hierarchy to his various projects. Regardless of whatever capacity in which he may be, Hoover focuses on making the music the best he can make it, saying “whatever I’m working on at any particular time is what’s most important.”

It is one of the most common things in the world for rock band members, especially those who have been together for a long time, to do side or solo projects. Hoover affirmed the Spongetones’ import.

“We’re still happy being in the Spongetones. It’s been 38 years now and we’re still a band,” said Hoover. “It’s just that it’s simply a lot less difficult to organize two people than it is to organize four. It’s two less people to be diplomatic with. The Spongetones is what put us on the map, but I do love our Jamie and Steve records”

Hoover and Stoeckel began working as a duo during the recording of a Spongetomes album. Just because that particular work was finished didn’t mean their creativity didn’t.

“Around the time the Spongetones recorded Too Clever By Half (2012), Steve and I were just on fire writing songs together,” said Hoover. “We had so much good material that it seemed we were coming up with a great song every two minutes. For the first Jamie and Steve record, we had massive material – really, enough for a whole album.”

It soon became clear that Jamie and Steve had too many ideas to be a one-off. Hoover said torrents of good ideas have led to a treasure trove of wax-worthy songs.

“For the second EP, Circling, I would write the music, and we’d trade off vocals,” Hoover recounted. “We did a yin and yang. He’d be the good cop with the nice voice and I’d have the mean voice. We’d do a lot of role-playing, and a lot of it was just to get it out of our heads.”

“We were always in separate rooms, and we’d collaborate over Dropbox." 

"We’d also reverse roles a lot. Anything that’s a challenge, we like to do it. We always take the attitude that we have to love what we do, and then we go on to do it. We’ve worked as a duo so many times, it’s like muscle memory.”

When you look up the Spongetones, you don’t get too far before the word “Beatles” pops up. The band, by most accounts, formed to play Beatles and Beatle-inspired music, and it’s not hard to pick out that influence. Over the course of the interview, though, Hoover actually mentions XTC more than he does the Fab Four.

But Hoover said his sound and style have evolved quite a bit and acknowledges it encompasses far more than the British Invasion. Hailing from a region of the country internationally renowned for making great music, Hoover and Stoeckel never turned a cold shoulder to more local influences. As the two play on, they have come to appreciate great music far beyond British.

“Steve is a good singer and picker, and the Beatles were a common ground,” Hoover explained, “and here we were, guys with southern accents who were total anglophiles. But you grow musically, and as you do, you realize how cool guys like John Hyatt and Dave Mason.

“You don’t want to repeat the same things over, and over time we put a lot of hammer dulcimer and mandolin into our music. And here in North Carolina, Don Dixon is a big deal and I’m certainly influenced by him.”

Hoover also expressed an admiration many of the bands he has produced. Some are as far from the Jamie and Steve sound as you can get, especially with bands like the legendary punk group AntiSeen, whom Hoover has produced on many occasions. In fact, Hoover’s next project features what some may find to be an unlikely collaborator, Otis Hughes, formerly of the unjustly under-appreciated grunge/alt metal band Animal Bag.

“Steve and I are going to take a hiatus,” said Hoover. “I’m actually working on another duo project, this one with Otis, and we’re calling it the Stepford Knives. He really brings a different kind of voice – he comes from that Nirvana school, but he also owns all of Spirit’s albums. He’s someone who’s going to get me way out of my comfort zone.”

While the interview was all about Jamie and Steve, Hoover did give us the green light to divulge a tidbit of Spongetone news: The band has a couple of tracks completed, though the direction of the new album, as well as a release date, are yet to be determined.