Will Butler’s first assembly with playwright David Adjmi was pretty open-ended: a buddy had instructed Butler that Adjmi — a fan of Arcade Hearth, the band Butler was in on the time — was engaged on a play a few band and that Butler might “write the music or simply seek the advice of or no matter.”
However from their first sit-down at a diner close to New York’s theatre district, Adjmi’s imaginative and prescient was “immediately recognizable” to Butler: “Like, oh, it’s a demo — it’s like a transcendental factor that they will by no means recapture. You may have issues falling aside as a result of the headphones sound unhealthy, you have got folks yelling at one another over music however it’s due to how their dad handled them,” he recollects with fun.
A decade after Butler first despatched his music demos to Adjmi, their collaboration, Stereophonic, is probably the most Tony-nominated play not simply of 2024, however of all time. A real musical-play hybrid, Stereophonic immerses the viewers in a fictional band’s recording course of in 1976, as they make the pivotal album that may launch them to superstardom. Snippets of takes together with beautiful full songs punctuate the band’s alternately hilarious and gutting drama in and out of doors the sales space, taking part in out over round three intimate hours. Extremely, the actors who sing and play their very own devices as a really credible rock band onstage had been at greatest proficient earlier than Stereophonic rehearsals started.
Will Butler
Nina Westervelt
Although the fictional band and narrative have drawn comparisons to Fleetwood Mac and its storied course of of creating its basic 1977 Rumours album, Stereophonic (which was simply prolonged by means of January 5, 2025 on the Golden Theatre) by no means appears like a retread of rock historical past. That’s a testomony to Adjmi’s writing and the forged’s expertise and chemistry — but additionally largely to Butler’s songs, which mix a real ‘70s rock sound along with his personal distinctive sensibility into songs that sound like something however pastiche. (The unique forged album, together with songs each within the present and heard solely partially in it, is out now on Sony Masterworks Broadway.)
Butler, who parted methods with Arcade Hearth in late 2021 and now performs in Will Butler + Sister Squares, is himself up for 2 Tony Awards on June 16 — for greatest unique rating and greatest orchestrations — and is discovering fertile new artistic floor (and demand for his composing abilities) within the theater world. He spoke to Billboard in regards to the singular “jigsaw puzzle” of Stereophonic and making a plausible band onstage.
Did David provide you with any particular pointers for what he wished the music in Stereophonic to be like — or did you have got whole free rein to jot down some songs and see how they turned out?
Complete free rein. After which as soon as the script existed, it was like… a thousand-piece jigsaw puzzle with 200 items lacking [Laughs], and determining becoming these items in. There have been a lot of songs, like this one on the album referred to as “In Your Arms,” that David actually beloved and that felt just like the band, however didn’t make sense in any of the scenes. We’re displaying these moments of music — and so they all need to have a goal, all of them need to emerge from the characters on the proper time and in the best method, and it nonetheless has to really feel a bit of bit mystical.
The forged of Stereophonic
Julieta Cervantes
Your music is so evocative of nice bands of the ‘70s but by no means feels prefer it’s copying that fashion; it actually feels timeless. How did you arrive at that sort of stability?
I imply, I sort of lucked into probably not realizing the good rock and nice pop teams of that interval of the ‘70s. Like, I simply didn’t actually know Tom Petty moreover the hits, I didn’t actually know Fleetwood Mac, Led Zeppelin, early Bruce Springsteen — I didn’t actually know all these touchstones for David. However I knew the stuff round it and I knew the place it was main. Like, Bruce Springsteen wasn’t listening to Bruce Springsteen; Bruce Springsteen grew up listening to ‘50s teams after which within the ‘70s he was going to Suicide reveals in like, tiny basement golf equipment in New York. And I used to be like, “Oh, nicely, I do know ‘50s woman teams, and I do know Wall of Sound and I do know Suicide. So as a substitute of copying Bruce Springsteen, why don’t I simply fake like I’m Bruce Springsteen, and take heed to Suicide, and take heed to woman teams and like, see what occurs?” [Laughs.]
That’s loopy! “Masquerade” particularly feels prefer it could possibly be an ideal Fleetwood Mac music…
I get it, as a result of there’s this velocity up within the second half, however I used to be sort of simply ripping off an Arcade Hearth transfer. Like, I assumed folks had been gonna name me out for ripping off Arcade Hearth.
Even with the direct influences being so free, had been there sure sonic components that you just wished all of the songs to share?
I knew I wished actually tight, stunning harmonies, particularly for [singer] Diana and [singer and guitarist] Peter. Once you hear two folks in concord you’re like, “Oh, this is the reason they’re collectively, this is the reason that is compelling.” After which while you add a 3rd voice to it you notice why they’re a band simply intrinsically. There’s so many various sorts of ‘70s concord — there’s the Eagles, The Byrds, Richard and Linda Hamilton, Fleetwood Mac — however all of them have this stunning concord, notably should you’re in California [where Stereophonic takes place]. After which Peter is a guitar participant, so there needed to be some guitar riffs within the present.
Will Butler (heart) within the studio in the course of the recording of Stereophonic‘s unique forged recording.
Andy Henderson
How concerned had been you within the casting course of?
I used to be there for the entire experience. And wow, I actually hated being behind the desk and judging them — what a horrible factor for a musician to do. We wished to forged people who had been knowledgeable musicians and wonderful actors and had been proper for the roles, however I used to be very cavalier in regards to the musician facet — the place I used to be like, anybody might be in a band, we don’t want technical wizards, they only must be musical and have some type of charisma and it’ll work out. We did know we would have liked a drummer, we knew we couldn’t educate drums in a brief period of time. However everybody else we simply wished to have a baseline [level of ability]. They wanted to have the best persona, to have the ability to be taught music, and so they wanted to have the ability to dance a bit of bit. And it was a bit of heavier elevate than I assumed, however ultimately my naïve self was proper.
One other a part of it’s that [actors] Tom [Pecinka] and Juliana [Canfield] and Sarah [Pidgeon] are simply such stunning singers — they sang so nicely collectively day one, like unmannered, stunning, idiosyncratic and so they blended completely. That was extremely shifting. After they had been simply working by means of the songs, there was such deep emotion there that I used to be like, okay, we’ll be superb.
In theater, it may be so apparent when somebody is fake-playing an instrument — and these actors aren’t simply proficient gamers, they completely embody what somebody taking part in their instrument could be like. What was it prefer to witness them evolving like that?
It was actually wild. Sarah Pidgeon, who doesn’t play an instrument — I imply, she performs a tambourine, she performs it nice — however even standing at a microphone took her about eight weeks to really feel. It was actually attention-grabbing to look at somebody learn to stand at a microphone in a method that simply feels pure. It appears like she’s presupposed to be there and presupposed to be singing. Tom Pecinka didn’t have a ton of guitar, however when he first placed on a guitar within the audition room, I used to be like, “Oh, I really can’t inform if he’s a superb guitar participant or a nasty guitar participant.” He seems the half, and his physicality was so pure.
Lots of it is usually actually nice directing, the constructing of the band and the orchestrations. We spent a number of time in apply rooms, me and Justin Craig, the music director, constructing a vibe as a lot as anything. I had [the cast] open for a present of mine within the fall, and I believe the physicality of taking part in one membership present sort of gave them a way of how highly effective they had been.
We hear many little snippets of songs earlier than we hear full variations, and we don’t hear full variations of all of them. How did you and David determine how that may play out?
Actually, we didn’t speak about it that a lot, as a result of it simply felt so naturally proper to each of us. It simply felt to me like the method of creating a document — somebody performs a demo off a cassette, and also you go work on it, and issues crumble, and eventually you begin to lose your thoughts and also you’re slicing issues which can be good, and then you definately’re dong the ultimate particulars and everybody’s dropping their minds. The arc of the play actually simply felt so correct to my life.
Some songs within the present, like “Vibrant,” we hear a number of totally different variations of as they’re being labored on. How did that writing course of — creating partial songs — work?
The arduous factor is simply writing a very good music. After I was engaged on All the things Now with Arcade Hearth, Thomas Bangalter of Daft Punk was producing it, and he’s like a thinker. He was saying how an amazing music can assist infinite cowl variations; like, a really nice music, the manufacturing is just not the factor. And there’s nothing unsuitable with the manufacturing being the factor — but when it’s an amazing music, you’ll be able to produce it 1000 alternative ways and you’ll have 100 totally different cowl variations, and so they all communicate in some sense. So I used to be like, “Okay, I’ve simply received to jot down this music, and if it’s ok, then we will do it 100 alternative ways and it’ll be compelling.”
Having had this expertise, are you interested by doing extra theater work?
Yeah, me and David Adjmi are engaged on a extra conventional musical, or I suppose extra of a rock opera or one thing. It’s early days, however it could be foolish for us to not do one thing else — and I believe it’d be actually enjoyable to make it. And I’m good pals with Lucas Hnath, who’s such an excellent playwright — we’ll slowly work on a pair issues.
One among my very own takeaways from the play was how, as a fan, it may be straightforward to romanticize and mythologize the inner drama of a well-known band — however actually, a band is made up of people who’re coping with very human-sized joys and tragedies. As somebody who has been in a much-adored huge band and has most likely had that projected on them as nicely, what’s it like seeing how Stereophonic performs out?
I believe there’s a people sense that relationships predate artwork, the place it’s like, “Oh, they’d this stormy relationship, and so they wrote a music about it.” And the play is basically displaying that it’s all only one mess — should you’re creating, should you’re collaborating with somebody, the connection is the artwork and also you’re making it with the individual and it’s only a human mess. It’s all essentially rising from the identical place, and oftentimes, that place is kind of damaged. I recognize simply how true [the show] feels. It simply reveals the tangled net of attempting to make artwork with with 4 of your folks, which is basically highly effective.
I used to be in a band with my brother and his spouse, and now I’m in a band with my very own spouse and her sister. So I’ve been in bands with these lengthy, deep relationships. I consulted with David a bit on the technical facet, however I didn’t inform him what it was like being in a band with household — and since he’s so observant or possibly simply that he’s an excellent playwright, the humanity of it is extremely correct to me. And it’s a credit score to the humanity of the actors, too, as a result of it’s one factor to learn the phrases and it’s one other factor to love, make them occur in actual life and put actual flesh and bones on it.