The Chad Sipes Stereo Releases Their Poignant Album on the Opioid Crisis
If you haven’t heard of the pop-rock and grunge band The Chad Sipes Stereo, you are really missing out. Their music takes us back to the sounds of the 90’s and reminiscent of Green Day, R.EM., Weezer, and Twenty One Pilots. The 4 man band consists of Chad Sipes on the lead vocals and bass, Erik Cirelli on guitar and other noise, Jon Miller on guitar and sound engineering, and Nick McCall on drums. Chad was previously the bassist in Sodajerk, a touring band at the forefront of early 2000s alt-country. Despite his name being in the title, and he being the primary songwriter, The Chad Sipes Stereo is an actual band that has been together since 2010. They’ve released 4 albums and an EP called DIG. Their experimental single, “Extinct,” from that EP garnered success on Pittsburgh's Alt rock FM station as well as AAA radio. The epiphany the song represented paved the path for their latest album, Thoughts and Prayers..
We have never heard a more cohesive album, an album so interconnected and poignant as their newest. This 10 song pop rock masterpiece was written about the opioid crisis in America. “I am by no means an expert—I don’t want anyone to feel bad about taking medication—but I see something dangerous and very widespread,” shares Chad. He tackles every theme under the sun when it comes to pills and being medicated, from parenting styles and overmedicating to the joys of pills and addiction.
The entire album is a narrative of different circumstances of people and stories, but the thing they all have in common is medication. The album opens with “Every Single Kid,” a story about 2 different kids who lead separate lives. They both deal with their own problems and struggles but what they have in common is the medication their parents give them and the fact that their parents medicate them at all. The fact that this opens the album is a spectacular artistic choice. It opens the conversation as to one kid becoming addicted an reliant and the other having no effect. This leads us into “Pharmacy,” a hard rock song about the experimental use of drugs, singing “every single house is a pharmacy,” implying that you don’t need anything fancy to get what you need from medications.
“New Prescription” is the most present song as it reminds us that sometimes addictions come from the doctors who mean well. It has a Foo Fighters feeling to it with a strong 90’s vibe. It’s about how sometimes the addiction wasn’t started because of experimentation or burying feelings like most people think addiction starts, but rather a cure for physical pain. This song really hits at the heart of the crisis. Their next single, “Pill For That,” ties together all these songs and recognizes that pills really are a miracle for most and they do help, that they are in fact good. The band points out the positives of drugs and pills in this upbeat song, a big Green Day meets Twenty One Pilots style track.
The next two songs, “Bruise on You” and “Therapy,” lean into the effects that pills have over individuals and their loved ones. “Bruise on You” is a softer rock song more reminiscent of Nickelback and is more conceptual comparatively to the other songs on the album. It’s about a bruise on your spirit due to drugs and the bruise on your loved one’s trust. While it heals with time, it will get uglier before it gets better. “Therapy” takes things back up with a pop-punk sound, a big Weezer vibe with this one. The chorus goes “Dad’s not home/off to the airport/mom can’t feel/that’s what the wine’s for/another kid, another family crisis/babysat by digital devices/why won’t this kid stop crying/medicate them, you may as well try it.” It tackles the parenting styles in “Every Single Kid” that probably fueled their addiction. There’s a lot of pain in this song, but there’s also growth.
The next two songs bring in the next phase of addiction. “Ground Score” and “Relapse” are chaotic with more alt rock and heavy rock sounds. “Ground Scores” features the desire to stop and have a normal life but not being able to reach that goal. “Relapse” is exactly what the title suggests. It’s really a moving song about the tough battle with getting sober. It really is a hard thing to do, especially cold turkey. The song is in the point of view as the addict as they sing “The greatest failure is failure to try,” almost trying to convince themselves that they tried so if they just give in now, at least they gave it a shot. “Dirty Secret” is the next song that slows things down. The guitar is deliberately picked exemplifying the precision of keeping a secret that you don’t want to keep. As the song escalates we get more of a strumming sound, like the secret is out and the picking underneath is an attempt to keep the façade going.
The album wraps up with the titular track, “Thoughts and Prayers.” This song is more theatrical and dramatic as the rest and doesn’t wrap the album up in a nice bow. It’s about a former addict, who is now sober and put that part of their life behind them only to be dying of the effects that these drugs had on their body. It’s a message that drugs are really inescapable. The thoughts and prayers that other offer is all that’s left as they swirl over the head of patient.
Listen here:
We highly suggest listening to Thoughts and Prayers. You will walk away more open to the opioid crisis and your fellow human beings. It’s beautifully written and wonderfully presented.
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