The Music Edge:


More often than not, Warped Tour plays host to many bands that, well, sound like they all rehearsed in the same room, creating a musical osmosis that makes them all have the same galloping beats, and a guy who screams over another guy who sort of sings—or cries—depending on the band. Enter Stimulator. A band made up of guitarist Geoff Tyson, a former protégée of Joe Satriani, and the sultry and sassy Susan Hyatt, former singer of the group Pillbox and former VJ for the UK’s MP3TV. Together, the two take pop to a new level, giving plenty of nods to ’80s synth rock, while maintaining a precision level of songwriting and instrumentation.

Susan was also the consultant for actress Gina Gershon in the indie sleeper hit Prey for Rock ’n’ Roll, a story about an aging female musician trying to find vindication in music for being dedicated without ever reaping any of the rock ’n’ roll benefits. Though for Susan and Jeff, those rewards came about earlier this year from winning the John Lennon Songwriting Contest for the rock category—the grand prize being exposure to all the new fans on the Vans Warped Tour.

On winning the song competition, Susan rather matter-of-factly says, “Actually, we’ve never entered a contest before, but our friends in the band Bubble won it last year, and I thought, ‘Why not go through every avenue to get ourselves heard?’ These days there are so many people out there doing this, and I thought it’s the John Lennon Contest so why not, you know?”

Susan got her start in music, playing guitar at the age of 10, and Geoff was 3 when, he says smiling, “my mother started dragging me to piano lessons. I played classical piano until I was 12, and then started studying guitar with Joe Satriani at 13. Then I started playing bass at the same time. I also taught myself how to play sitar, mandolin and cello.”

Though Susan wasn’t involved with any form of classical training, she says, laughing, “I was more of a punk rocker. I couldn’t handle those music classes at school because everyone seemed like they were accountants.”

Geoff quickly replies, “I was in the Berkley school system, and from first grade on, you had your choice of any musical instrument you wanted and free lessons all the way up through twelfth grade. So it was a super-musical school, and everybody played something. And they had this award-winning jazz band, and there were so many famous musicians that came out of that place. So there was just music everywhere, every day, and you couldn’t get away from it. Even though it wasn’t traditional classes.”

Quite obviously, the benefits gleaned from such a great musical education have helped Geoff train with guitar god Joe Satriani and land a tour spot with the Vans Warped Tour. He adds, “I think a lot of it wasn’t just the lessons—it was the students, my peers. Instead of being competitive with each other in sports, or getting in fistfights, it was who could learn the Mixolydian scale the fastest—that sort of thing, you know. The friends that were in my class at Berkley High were Alex Skolnik, Charlie Hunter, Joshua Redman, the guys from Primus, the guys from Digital Underground, one of the guys from Cypress Hill—you know what I mean—these guys were my buddies. It was just a great creative atmosphere all of the time.”

Susan, who plays guitar and sings, says that while she didn’t have quite the music education background that Geoff did, it was easy for her to learn. “I wanted to be both [singer and guitarist]. I had another band called Pillbox in London and that was exactly what I did in that band. It was punk, grungy three-piece, and only now [with Stimulator] did I take the guitar off and opt to just carry the microphone.”

And Susan doesn’t so much as carry the microphone as she does twirl it around, bouncing off the stage monitors, going completely nuts when she plays live. Her persona on the stage is impressive and electrifying, and she’s practically pitch-perfect in her performance. “You get freedom, and I’ve seen all these singers, and that’s what I really wanted to do.”

“We did the record together,” Susan says of the spark that ignited Stimulator. “Initially, we were the songwriters, and put a band together after.”

When it comes to the writing process, Susan says, “It’s varied. We’ll get together and [write about] whatever we feel like, or some emotional event has happened and we’ll write about that. Or maybe it’s a piece of lyric or something.”

“I think it’s challenging all the time because when you have two musicians who are both songwriters, it’s challenging to want to do the same types of songs and move in the same direction. Because Geoff and I come from two different musical backgrounds—he’s a way more musical guy, and I’m more ‘punk.’ But it’s been working out great, and there’s so many things that we want to do. It’s a very good combination,” she adds.

Rightfully so, the combination of classically trained musician and punk-rock aesthetic has wielded Stimulator’s self-titled debut record to rave reviews. Basically it comes down to the particular practice of writing good pop-oriented songs with great hooks, great lyrics—and doing it so that it doesn’t sound like it’s been done a million times. Susan and Geoff have managed to pull off such a feat. “And we’re not trust fund kids like the Strokes, you know. It’d be great if we were rich and could do this all the time,” Susan says laughing.

Be sure to visit Stimulator and keep an eye out for them for when they tour!

Thanks Susan and Geoff!!!