Interview: The Sunstreak draw influence from the Cold War and create positive love songs

Photo courtesy of New Ocean Media

Rochester, New York's The Sunstreak have hit the tour circuit with Bamboozle and Warped Tour and are on the heels of releasing their debut album, Once Upon A Lie. Their first single, "Until I Met You" is scheduled to hit the radio waves at the end of this month and will bring with it a catchy, electronic-driven pop sound. I was able to chat on the phone with vocalist Tony Rebis on Monday about the album and some of the inspiration behind the band. 

Laila Hanson: I noticed that you've played with bands like Underoath and Saves The Day, but then on the other side of the tracks, you kind of have an acoustic pop sound that's getting more radio play these days. Based on that, where would you say you draw a lot of your inspiration?

Tony Rebis: Oh jeez. That's a tough question. It comes from everywhere, I mean, we're a Warped Tour band, we've played Warped Tour for so many years, so obviously all the bands on Warped Tour definitely had a big influence on us. But [we're inspired by] everything from Bon Jovi to Rascal Flatts, to some hip-hop. Our guitarist, Dave, he loves Jamie Foxx. It really does come from everywhere.

LH: What do you think of the bands on Warped Tour this year?

TR: Warped Tour always has some really awesome bands, then they have some bands that are up-and-coming, and they have some bands [that are neither]. Warped Tour has always been a launching pad, and there's always been some bigger acts on there that pump up the crowd, but it's always been a launching pad. This year, my favorite band on the tour was Innerpartysystem, they were bad ass.

LH: How do you like working with your label, EMI/MRV? How'd you get hooked up with them?

TR: Well that was our management that kind of put the wheels in motion on that one. We put out our record and they started shopping it, and MRV was on board. Everything's been awesome so far. Our whole thing that we've always tried to do is just surround ourselves with the best people possible. The hardest working, the most honest, the most dedicated people to our band. And MRV is all of the above.

LH: What do you have planned as far as promotion this fall once your album drops?

TR: We go on Top 40 Radio on August 31. So right now, it's just hurry up and wait [Laughs]. We're a smaller band; we've been around forever, but once the single goes to radio, it's going to be on a whole other level. The things that we could [do] now, and the tours that we could get on now aren't nearly on the same level as after the single ["Until I Met You"] goes to radio. So we're going to push it to radio, then we're going to see what doors open up for us, and we're going to pick and choose as they come.

LH: Would you say that you have a pretty positive outlook when it comes to themes in writing? Even your band name alone seems like a light of hope, and I was wondering if that positive energy was something you aimed for at all.

TR: Well the band name kind of has a weird deep meaning to it. But we're a pop band, we write catchy songs, and that's what we love, and that's what we're all about. There's different messages we try to portray, but absolutely, there's no Debbie downers on the album or anything like that [Laughs].

LH: What is the meaning behind the name?

TR: It's kind of hard to explain, but during the Cold War, there was a government-funded project called Operation Sunstreak. And what it was is that they were studying remote viewing, and seeing if it was possible. Basically, if you apply your mind to it, anything is possible. Jack [Flynn, guitar/vocals] was watching a special on the Discovery Channel, actually, and it was about Operation Sunstreak, and it was like "Ah, that's really cool!" So it was kind of like working from that.

LH: What's everyone's musical background in the band?

TR: Well, me and Jason [Sarkis, bass] started this band in high school, [about] 10 years ago. And then we got Jack six years ago, then Gary [Foster, drums] was in a local band in Rochester that we had played some shows with, so he hopped on board with us, and then Dave was also in a band in Rochester, and HE hopped on board with us and he was the last piece of the puzzle. But we've all collectively been doing this for so long that it makes me want to vomit [Laughs]. A lot of people are going to hear us on the radio and be like, "Oh, they came out of nowhere, that's so awesome!" But we definitely did not come out of nowhere. We've been working at this and struggling for years and years and years. We've fought wars together. When you're a struggling band and you've been doing it for so long and nothing seems to work, and there's just obstacle upon obstacle upon obstacle, you really just have to fight and you have to never stop believing. That foundation, that core foundation is unbreakable. It never just happens overnight. I mean maybe it does for some people, they just put out a record and all of a sudden it's huge, but not for us.

LH: How was the creative process for your music video for your first single, "Until I Met You" ?

TR: The video was made in Rochester, New York with a company called Film Orange, and really, it was very last minute. We weren't even going to do a full music video, and somehow we ended up doing it, and it was so last minute. There really wasn't even any time to experiment with different story lines. It was kind of like, "Okay, we have three days to do this, let's bang this out." But I'm very happy with the way it came out, it's a relief.

LH: The title track of the album, "Once Upon A Lie," seems to be the darkest. I was wondering if you had any specific idea when writing that song?

TR: We released that song as the first of our new songs, so it was up on [our MySpace] for awhile. That's personally one of my favorite tracks. There's something about it, it's really cool, I like a lot of the electronic stuff that Dave put in there, it's awesome. It's a cool opener, it's the first song on the CD, so I think that people are going to like it. [It's] kind of our thing [to use electronic synths]. Dave is also our producer. He's incredibly talented. The [electronics] are also in our live shows. We recorded the entire record in [Dave's] bedroom [Laughs].