Stateside

Stateside were an Australian rock band from Brisbane, formed in 2014. The band consisted of guitarist Ethan Laenen, drummer Hamish Maguire, bassist Jackson Lehane, and vocalist Erin Reus. Stateside released three independent EPs: Burning Bridges (2015), Naïve (2017) and Havøc (2020). They broke up in 2020, without ever having released a studio album. History Early years and Burning Bridges (2014–2016) Stateside was officially formed on 17 March 2014 as a rock band in Brisbane by high school friends: Erin Reus on lead vocals, Ethan Laenen on lead guitar, Brendan Heidke on rhythm guitar, Denzil Bowen on bass guitar, and Hamish Maguire on drums. The band spent the year writing demos that would later become their debut EP Burning Bridges released on the one-year anniversary of the band's inception in 2015. Earlier that year, Stateside entered the Brisbane Battle of the Bands and were one of the top six finalists, unfortunately the band lost against Counterfeit Umbrellas. The popularity of the Burning Bridges EP led to the band opening as the local support for bands; The Wonder Years, As It Is, Cute Is What We Aim For, Knuckle Puck and With Confidence. The band embarked on 3 national tours over the next year as the openers for popular local bands in support of the Burning Bridges EP. Bowen's departure, Lehane's arrival and Naïve (2016–2018) 2016 saw the band start to restructure their sound with the help of producer Troy Brady, formerly of The Amity Affliction. Due to conflicting schedules, founding bassist Denzil Bowen left Stateside in early 2016 to focus on university study. After spending a year working on new music, the band released their new single "The Way We Were" in March 2017. The music video for the single has now gained over 1'000'000 views and took the band to new heights of popularity. Bassist, Jackson Lehane joined the band shortly after in early 2017, just prior to the release of their Naïve EP which released on 25 May. The EP reached No. 9 on the Alt iTunes Charts and No. 28 on overall charts and was met with favourable reviews. The band then spent the rest of the year on tour promoting this new EP, supporting Against the Current and Stepson. The EP was praised for exploring issues on toxic relationships and emotional turmoil.