We were lucky to catch up with Stephen James recently and have shared our conversation below.

Stephen, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Can you recount a story of an unexpected problem you’ve faced along the way?

I think the most prevalent issue I’ve run into in pursuing my musical journey has been finding the right group of kindred spirits to play music with. The name of the project that I’ve been running for over 5 years is called Dead Phones & Dogs. We’ve been active post-pandemic in LA for about 2 years now and we’ve had lots of highs and lots of lows in what feels like a very short period of time. We’ve had a revolving door of artists interested in/involved with the project (since it first morphed into a rock band back in 2018), who have dedicated some real time and love to the concept, but then eventually lost interest or desire along the way.

Song-writing and chasing this dream of mine of playing rock music as a career is something that I carry with me every day, but it’s been really tough to form a true ensemble that is a long-term functioning band of the same people show after show. Schedules, conflicts, differences, life changes, the season, etc.

Through the constant process of addition and subtraction though, I’m finding that I just have to double-down on an unwavering belief in myself, the songs, the socials, and the process, and in keeping the train rolling, I’ll be able to make these full-band songs/recordings come to life on stage as opportunities arise and musicians are available to join me for a night of Dead Phones & Dogs! Whenever we’ve been able to get a 3-5 piece group rocking on the stage, it’s almost always a core, deeply euphoric memory. Here’s to many many more of those!

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

Yeah, of course! My name is Stephen James and I’m the leader of an indie-pop-rock musical project called Dead Phones & Dogs. I’ve been making songs and belting out melodies since I was about 7 years old, and over time, that process matured into me making writing songs, honing my craft, and eventually releasing 2 LPs under my name (Stephen James): “Roman Buildings” in 2015 and “Optimum” in 2018. The Optimum Tour was my first time playing music around the country (circa 2018) and when I got home (Chicago at the time), a few childhood friends and I rebranded to Dead Phones & Dogs: a concept that embodied the sound of a rock band as opposed to an individual. There’s kind of a long-winded story behind that name; ask me if you ever see me!

We put put out a self-titled debut record at the end of 2019 and played around Chicago a few times before, ya know, 2020 and all that. Through the challenges of the pandemic, we managed to release 2 bedroom-type singles and naturally, play 0 live shows. Though thanks to the internet, one of our songs had a little moment of semi-viral success. “Popcorn & Pepsi” has garnered about 220,000 streams on Spotify in 5 years since its release, and is our most popular song to date. A rebrand here, a few changes here, and a spontaneous middle-of-the-pandemic, cross-country move later, Dead Phones & Dogs re-started up in Los Angeles in 2023. The band began playing 4-piece live shows in late 2023 and put out a new song that I consider to be a “fan-favorite” (if you will), called “The Ache”.

In 2024 we headlined Harvard & Stone and The Viper Room, packed rooms, and played a few more lively shows around town. I wrote, recorded, and released “Bones in a Suit & Tie”, “Different Kind of Fine” and “Bad Thoughts”. We made a really fun music video for “Bones in a Suit & Tie” and started up a social media team. Singles for the new record are continuing to roll out and we’ve got some releases and announcements coming soon for 2025, starting with a brand new song coming out January 10th :) See you soon!

How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?

I continue to strongly encourage people to go out and watch local bands, see live theatre, go to a comedy/improv show, and so on. I know it’s already becoming such a tired battle cry, but get out and actually do stuff and live, and please don’t hold your phone up the entire time you do. Content and socials on our phones and TVs will always be there for us in a moment’s notice, but you never know how fleeting a local artist’s time may be in a particular scene. Go engage with artists who are putting their hearts out there as often as you can, and you’ll likely find a lot more joy and fulfillment in the process. Whatever stage you’re at in life, let’s try and take pride in being a society that encourages artists to do their thing and give them an audience whenever we can.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

I think that ever since I started playing music and engaging with the performing arts around age 7, I just knew that I had to give this a real shot in life. My grandfather is a lifelong artist. The parents that raised me are both artists. My older sister is an artist. So it’s probably not a surprise that I found myself addicted to playing guitar, singing, writing songs, acting, and being on stage in this life.

I’m grateful for all of the teachers that taught me English, Math, Science, etc. over the years, and I’m really proud of all the friends and folks I know who find joy working in slightly more practical fields, and have jobs in industries that they enjoy. But throughout my youth, through high school, through college, till now, there is a feeling that performing/being on stage has provided to me that is unrivaled. It’s one of the great honors of my life to have performed on stage in front of audiences as much as I have, and I feel that I owe it to that little kid to keep chasing his dreams. I (somewhat) owe it to my (4 year) college performance degree to keep chasing the dream. And while I’m in my 20’s and still figuring out a post-college, post-pandemic life for my wife and I, I’m going to keep honoring the legacy of artists that brought me into this world and the dreamer and rebel within me that have gotten me this far.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://linktr.ee/deadphonesdogs
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/deadphonesdogs/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/deadphonesdogs/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@deadphonesdogs7384
• SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/user-337417688
• Other: https://open.spotify.com/artist/6f9ZwOWJgnZrBOjb1tu3mM

Image Credits
Jeffrey Neubauer Mathias Fau Autumn Amara