Stairwell

    Stairwell

    Orange County, CA9 reviews across 4 releases

    emopop punkpost-hardcorepower pop
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    Stairwell was a Southern California band formed in the late 1990s, associated with the Orange County Christian punk and emo scene. Jonathan Caro, formerly of Bloodshed, supplied the main songwriting voice, while Zak Shultz contributed guitar and vocal harmonies. The 1998 debut Whispers of Farewell combined post-hardcore pop-rock with gritty singing and thoughtful lyrics. By Fifty Years Too Late in 1999, the band had added subtler emo textures, including occasional violin, while keeping dense guitars and prominent melodies. Pacific Standard Time moved toward catchy pop-punk with varied tempos, low-register harmonies and occasional emotional ballads. The band then sharpened that approach on The Sounds of Change, whose polished hooks, Beach Boys-like harmonies and Weezer-influenced choruses placed them closer to melodic pop-rock than to their earlier post-hardcore setting.

    Takehold released The Sounds of Change in 2001, and Hopeless Records reissued it nationally in 2003 after the album had remained unavailable for roughly two years. The reissue brought renewed attention, but Stairwell's internal history was unsettled; Shultz described himself and Caro as later additions, with only one member remaining from the original group, and said the band had repeatedly changed lineups. Caro later said Stairwell ended while its prospects were improving. In 2021, a new version of Stairwell was announced with Caro, Shultz and Jeff Jacquay, although the project did not continue as the same full lineup. By 2023, Caro and Jacquay were working together in Binder of Light, a project presented as a continuation of Caro's earlier Bloodshed songwriting.

    4 releases reviewed