Get to know the original rock songs in 'Stereophonic'

The award-winning play about a rock band recording their difficult second album features amazing original music by Arcade Fire's Will Butler.

David Adjmi’s play Stereophonic has definitely struck a chord with West End audiences — just as it did on Broadway, where it set a new record for a play with 13 Tony Award nominations — with its riveting fly-on-the-wall portrait of a 1970s rock band trying to record their pivotal second album.

The gorgeously crafted production invites us into the recording studio where the five quarrelling band members, and two long-suffering sound engineers, are battling creative differences, romantic spats, drug-taking, ego trips, and the pressures of fame as they try to find that spark of genius.

Thanks to original music by Arcade Fire’s Will Butler, you truly believe in this fractious group as rock ‘n’ roll greats — even if they’re a hot mess behind the scenes! As the show extends its run at London’s Duke of York’s Theatre, get to know the songs of Stereophonic — you can hear them in full on the cast recording, or book tickets to hear them live.

Book Stereophonic tickets on LondonTheatre.co.uk.

“Bright”

This is the breakout hit of the show, the song we hear gradually develop into a stone-cold classic — and which tells us so much about the characters in the process. It’s created by singer-songwriter Diana, who is deeply insecure about her lack of instrumentalist experience compared to the other band members, but who is clearly a major talent.

Her boyfriend Peter, the group’s controlling frontman, alternately encourages and undermines Diana when he’s threatened by her burgeoning independence. It encapsulates their power struggle, and its inherent ambiguity: Peter is cruel to Diana, but his suggestions for changing the arrangements are also great. The song’s potent lyrics come to reflect their relationship.

“Seven Roads”

The whole band is rocking on the propulsive journeying song “Seven Roads”. It’s full of yearning and passion and features the kind of catchy hook that tells you this unnamed fictional group is going to be massive. At least, they could, if they could only keep it together.

That’s the irony of “Seven Roads” in the show, since the song sees another character go into total meltdown: drummer Simon, who up until this point had been the peacemaker between two warring couples (Peter and Diana, plus bassist Reg and keyboardist/singer Holly). Is Simon’s insistence that there’s a ringing in his snare drums a diva strop, brought on by an interminable recording process, or a sign of obsessive genius? That’s up to us to decide.

“Masquerade”

Another total banger, which would surely be this band’s number-one single off their smash-hit second album — that is, if its creation doesn’t finish them off for good. It’s a proper earworm that you could imagine being played at all the grooviest parties, with a funky bass line and a shimmering guitar riff. It’s definitely the song you’ll come out of the theatre humming.

However, like all the songs in Stereophonic, it has thematic layers too. It’s the source of yet more band conflict, including Simon messing up the tempo because he refuses a click track. The lyrics sound ominous in retrospect: Love has led the narrator into a dangerous situation. “My soul is sold and the money paid.”

“East of Eden”

The aching, poetic lyrics of the heart-rending folk ballad “East of Eden” perfectly reflect another explosive argument between the play’s most dramatic pair, Diana and Peter. She is struggling to hit the big top note in the song during an exhausting late-night session, and once again, Peter’s bedside manner is decidedly lacking.

That leads to a big fight, after which Diana returns in a different emotional state — and nails the climatic note. It’s a riveting example of how the personal bleeds into the professional in artistic endeavours, and it leaves us with mixed feelings about whether struggle, conflict and even suffering are a key part of creating something meaningful.

“Drive”

Holly leads on the spine-tingling, haunting, almost transcendental “Drive”, which is fascinatingly equivocal about love: the lyrics linger on sorrow and regret but end on a hopeful note of the sun rising beyond the next horizon. There’s a survivor’s determination which reflects Holly’s own journey through her challenging times with addict Reg.

However, the otherworldliness and profundity are hilariously juxtaposed by the realities in the studio. Diana and Peter are now barely speaking and, during the recording at four in the morning, won’t even look at one another while recording their backing vocals. It’s the band at its most bitter and petty — but, weirdly, making beautiful music.

Album tracks

If you become a superfan of the fictional band in Stereophonic, check out the full cast recording. There are more tracks on there that aren’t actually featured in the play, but are both brilliant songs and further illuminate these fascinating characters.

They include Holly’s lament “In Your Arms”, which expresses how wonderful she felt with Reg before it all went wrong; a moment of perfect synchronicity for Peter and Diana as they casually cook up the evocative “Champagne”; and another punchy banger with killer drums, “Domino.”

But perhaps the most perfect encapsulation of what makes Stereophonic so special is “Exorcist II”, which relegates the band to the background (you can hear the opening chords of “Masquerade”) and gives us the amusingly inane chat of engineers Charlie and Grover. That’s the play in a nutshell: the extraordinary and the everyday, the mess and the magic.

Book Stereophonic tickets on LondonTheatre.co.uk.

Photo credit: Stereophonic in the West End. (Photos by Marc Brenner)