The Loop : French Quarter - S/T

French Quarter - S/T (2008)

In my time working with AZ local music, I started to see a trend in how the scene was segregated by genre and the groups that existed, played with each other the most and had similar sounds/band members. I spent a lot of time researching bands for my radio show, so much so that I began having fun nicknames for most of them. (please don't be offended friends, this are meant in the most endearing way possible) A few examples being :

Jangle Pop Mafia - The Format, El Oso Negro, Reubens Accomplice, Limbeck (honorary)

Screamo Mafia - Greeley Estates, Scary Kids Scaring Kids, The Cover Up

West Valley Mafia - A Change of Pace, It's Like Love, Micah Bentley

The Hippy Folk / Dance Party Mafia - What Laura Says, Black Carl, Kinch, Loveblisters, Matthew Reveles

Jailbait Mafia - The Summer Set, The Maine, This Century, Raining and OK

Arts District Mafia - Any Ryan Avery group (Father's Day, The Best Friends, Hi My Name is Ryan, Locking Your Car Doors) Andrew Jackson Jihad, Iji, Uggamugga, Porches, French Quarter.

The latter was the most fascinating of all, and the first artist I really discovered was French Quarter. French Quarter consists of primarily one guy, Stephen Steinbrink (who now simply goes by his own name) singing quiet, lo-fi folk music with just enough production shine. The defining characteristic of the arts district mafia, moreso than any of the other groups, was their pure DIY culture. They centered mostly around a venue in Downtown Phoenix called The Trunkspace, a one room, narrow and oddly shaped room that doubled as a coffee bar and had the architectural character that drew people to the "historic" Downtown neighborhoods ("historic" is sort of relative for Arizona, a state that was the 48th state in the union and less than 100 years old at that.) Many of the shows were no more than 10 dollars, bands shared equipment and groups of kids could be found huddled in circles in the parking lot or peeking into the windows. It is one of the defiant few "all ages" venues that exist downtown, standing tall as even Modified Arts shifts angles. Some of the bands were fantastic and some were terrible and noisy, but it was the passion and comradore that brought people back every show to see bands, side projects, side side projects and jam sessions. It was very much a culture of "hey, I'll give you a CD in exchange for a hug" and thrived on the support of the bands.

French Quarter had many of these DIY characteristics. He is signed to a local label (called Gilgongo Records) that has a staggering amount of releases in various types of packaging, many of which are attributed to Steinbrink. He has nearly 30 different projects listed on his MySpace from art magazines to tshirts to caps to music pressed on cassette, CD and vinyl as well as a host of split 7"'s with other "Arts District" bands, including Andrew Jackson Jihad. It drawls parallels to artists like Daniel Johnston, with less schizophrenia, of course. He has supported himself on nationwide tours, playing house parties and venues across the country, bringing along some of the Arts District bands or just playing with friends he's made along the way. One of the writers for State Press Magazine at ASU took a break from school for a semester and toured with Stephen, which was printed in the magazine, which I looked forward to. It was the romance of touring and exploring the country on music without all the BS that some other local bands have found themselves stuck to.

This record features many of the songs I would play on my show (back in the day when you could download music from MySpace, sorry Stephen. I swear I bought the record later.) including dreamy, buzzy songs like "Stay" and "In June". His lyrics are sincere and poingnant, and despite several collaborators listed on his site (as is the nature of the Arts District Mafia), it is clearly Steinbrink's. They don't point to anything inparticular, some about love but not necessarily. He's kept a sort of mystery in that sense, and in a Mafia of several "joke" bands, French Quarter is far from a joke. It's almost effortlessly brilliant, proving him as the stand-out performer in a sea of "loud" bands, with a simple guitar, smart hooks and distinctive voice.

It almost seems unfair to lump some of these bands together, because so many of them have their own sound and identity, however I think specifically with the Arts District Mafia, someone like Steinbrink was able to be fostered in this community and clearly takes cues from the culture that was created there.