People First, Music Second, Safety Third: An Interview with Philly’s Stealing Society

Aug 27

By Maya Bishop | August 27, 2026

Stealing Society ran away with my heart at Phthalo Fest 2025. Since then this Philadelphia, PA band has been blazing a trail of shows in their home state, releasing new music, and mailing local writers stickers. They’re the kind of band that puts everything into their performances whether it’s to a crowd of two or two-hundred. I’m gladly putting Joey, Colin, Alex, Dave, and Jake in the hot seat for their sound, style, and stage presence in this one.

In the midst of a punk, hardcore, metalcore driven scene Stealing Society has chosen Hard Rock as their genre du jour, what drew you all to this sound?

Joey: Make the music you love. My favorite bands are in the hard rock genre. Melodic vocals with a little grit combined with high energy riffs - that’s the sweet spot I think we like to play, write, and live in.

Colin: I grew up listening to a lot of bands that follow that style and I think ultimately a great guitar hook sticks in my mind the most

Alex: We play what sounds best to us. Between the heavier elements and the rest, we average out somewhere around hard rock.

Dave: We all had some sort of footing in the hard rock, I think we just all blend together really well when it comes to this style and we all give our own little style in it.

Jake: Guitar driven hard rock I feel like is a lost art. I miss the sound and feels good to create our own modern version of the genre.

Your first Album “All By Chance” had a rather subdued energy compared to your later releases. What was the band's headspace like back then? How does it compare to where you are now?

Colin: We’re basically a completely different band with a different lineup personnel wise so it makes sense that the final product sounds different. Alex, Jake, and Dave bring a harder influence

Joey: Like Colin says, different personnel led to the biggest stylistic changes. Other factors were the abilities of the members. Colin and I are much better at our instruments now and knowing our strengths and abilities vs back in 2018-2020 when most of ABC was written.. I think ABC was kind of our crash course into making and recording music for the first time. Each Alex, Jake, and Dave bring elements in their playing, writing, and performing that elevate the group to a style and level I just don’t think the ABC era had or would have known what to do with.

Alex: It's been so cool getting to know Joey and Colin (the og members) more through the years and to see how far they've come from that first album. I wish I could've been lucky enough to have been jamming with these dudes back then. Everyone in this band keeps growing and honing their craft. It's my favorite thing about these guys.

A lot of your songs show relationships in a less than favorable light, both familial and in the dating sense, where do each of you fall in the whole “blood of the covenant vs water of the womb” argument?

I believe both can be strong-bonded, so no real preference one over the other. They each hold their own weight and their own trifles, the latter of which we tend to explore lyrically, since it’s more fun to write about complex relationships than happy, simple ones, personally.

Alex: I love this question. I rarely speak to any blood relatives. Relationship with self is the most important.

You also speak a lot about damnation, salvation, and religion. How do all of you feel those things have shaped your approach to music and life?

Joey: I see the positives in having organized religion and general spirituality, having had mostly positive experiences myself growing up Catholic. If anything, I’m more agnostic or spiritual now. I think in most of my adult life, though, I’ve seen countless examples of people using religion as a manipulation tool, an abuse of power, or a reason to treat others poorly or less than human, which saddens me and has painted my life view and our music more cynically with regards to religion and relying on it as a true north for virtues.

Colin: Hail Satan. Uh sorry I mean I grew up in catholic school and there are a lot of themes there that lend itself to the struggles of life so it makes sense to incorporate some of those themes into the songwriting. Also hail Satan.

Alex: BREAKING NEWS: children force fed Jesus by hypocrites grow distaste for organized religion.

Dave: Growing up in private schools I’ve seen my fair share of different religions, each one having its own sort of thing whether negative or positive and going off of Colin it helps incorporate those things in music.

Jake: Growing up with influences like Slayer, hard rock and metal has always been a space to challenge beliefs and cultural norms. I personally do not value the efficacy of organized religion and music allows us to explain an alternative view.

When it comes to your public image, the band is pretty open about all your individual talents and your human shortcomings, do you think that peak behind the curtain makes people more comfortable letting loose at your shows?

Joey: I like to think so. As cool as it is to idolize people as “rock gods”, I think having our “persona” just be ourselves makes us more relatable. We’re just 5 dudes from the greater Philly area writing and performing kickass rock songs. We want everyone to feel they can be a part of the show rather than just observe it.

Colin: A lot of the music I like is self reflective and often even self critical so I think when people hear that back in songs, it can provide a kind of catharsis

Alex: We all have the ability to grow and change given the chance. Everyone in this band knows that and confronts it in their own way. Our public image is hopefully something along the lines of “we don't care what you think cuz we are in competition with ourselves”.

Dave: I think it shows people that we are also just human beings, most people never truly see behind the curtain of artists, we’re very open in what we do and try to make everyone feel safe and welcome.

Jake: I think the more vulnerable and personal you are with your songs, the more people can relate. Being open and transparent with people will only enhance the connection to our music.

The band has really active performances (I remember you being very comfortable running into the crowd at Phthalo Fest last year) how do you hype up the audience to match that energy?

Joey: Create the experience you’d want to go out and see. That’s what we try to bring live. Standing still playing your instrument or gripping the mic isn’t enough. Jump around, smile at people, make them feel like they’re part of it. If they’re connected, they’ll get into it. That’s how we create energy.

Colin: listen it’s no fun playing to a crowd that’s just standing around drinking beers and fucking around on their phone so I think if I give energy to the performance, whether you like the music or not, at the very least you’re watching something that looks entertaining… hopefully lol

Alex: ya know I wish I could run into the crowd but I'll just throw sticks at them and make faces instead

Dave: I hate standing still on stage, it’s ass. I’ve seen singers with great talents lose crowds because of standing still. Even if it’s 5 people in the crowd I will be moving because it adds to the overall performance of being raw and authentic.

Jake: I believe because we don’t use backing tracks there is a rawness to our sound which helps excite people in the crowd.

You’ve released videos about how important communication and planning are to your live performances, especially since you really lean into doing tricks and rather showy moves, how do you keep those lines of communication strong and open?

Joey: We loosely plan our stage moves ahead of time. Some things are hard planned in certain spots of songs, but most of it is kinda spontaneous or we just know “oh Colin likes to start this song jumping off a platform” or “Jake likes to run into the crowd during this solo”. One time I tried to jump over Dave while he was sitting on the stage and almost ran right into Jake, who would’ve flattened me had I not stopped mid-run. So yeah, a healthy balance of spontaneity and communication helps us live.

Colin: We pride ourselves on band communication which is why I think we’ve been together for these past number of years and have been able to accomplish the little that we have lol. I think it all goes back to what we think will give an audience an entertaining product while also making ourselves happy with the end result.

Alex: One of the best parts of sitting behind the drums is getting to help convey the energy of the high impact show moments. These are the moments my brothers here tend to do all their fancy shmancy stage moves. I just provide the explosions.

Dave: We try to let each other know what ideas would be best to do live and what won’t work, fortunately we all gel well together and are very open minded. ]

Joey has been proclaimed the “band dad” . What does that entail for him?

Colin: Making lunches every morning for school, giving us a kiss on the forehead as we head out the door, and making sure we get to the bus stop on time 😂but in all seriousness every group or team, band or otherwise, doesn’t need equal voices at the same volume and intensity all at the same time or else it would be chaos. Joey has a really good head on his shoulders and is a great mediator whenever there are differing opinions on any one topic.

Alex: Well other than that he birthed me personally, he's also just my dad and I love that about him. There would be no stealing society without joey. I would probably stop music altogether without that gem of a soul. He also does our taxes and that's dads job for sure.

Dave: this fucking guy, it’s like we’re all his kids and he’s just taking us on a journey. The dude is legendary he handles a fuck ton of stuff for the band and we are insanely appreciative of him. Without Joey leading there would be no Stealing Society.

Jake: Joe is the glue that holds it all together. Being in a band isn’t just about playing music. These days it’s so important to have a following on social media and to network and Joe does it all. He keeps the train on the tracks and holds us all accountable, on top of being our best all around musician.

Stealing Society does bring a fair amount of covers into the setlist, you also do cover band shows. How do you think that impacts your individual sound? Especially when you’re often comparing yourselves to bands with 10-20 year careers?

Joey: We try to play covers we mostly enjoy, and I think we have taken elements from covers we sound and feel the best playing and apply them to our own music, Rage Against the Machine and Alice In Chains have heavily influenced parts of “Facade of Calm” and “Not Gonna Make It”, respectively.

Colin: It’s always good to learn other songs because it adds to your own toolbox for coming up with original ideas.

Alex: Everyone tells us it's a bad idea to mix the cover band and the original band under the same name, and while it's certainly not easy (and we may pivot away from it eventually), I like that we gave it a shot anyway and didn't let the opinions of others hold us back from exploring that option. We forge our own path. May that lead to lessons learned and love of the process.

Dave: Covers are a good way to get a foot in the door and get some practice on stage. It also helps with any funding we might need if original shows are a little slow. Make no mistake we are an original band that does covers here and there. When we play live we make sure to state that so whoever listens can check us out online.

Jake: Covers are a fun way to pay homage to our influences. We are able to put our own spin on the songs we choose and it helps us make some money for recording. The ultimate goal is to play originals full time.

When doing those covers how do you translate those fans into people who check out your original work? Is it just a lot of hoping for the best?

Joey: Yeah, kinda. We’ll play cover shows and get followers and even repeat people coming to future shows, which is always really freaking cool. However, few of those translate to fans of the original project, which is the main objective. We've realized recently that doing cover shows might not be as beneficial at this stage of the band as it was one or two years ago.

Colin: I think it’s equal parts organic and hoping for the best. We try to play a good amount of covers that would lend itself to our original style so it happens naturally. We’re not trying to be the most successful cover band in the world but we realize that people want to listen to what’s familiar to them on a night out.

Alex: I love changing up the drums of some cover songs to match our style. I do my best to play what best serves the music, but that's always going to be up to personal preference. I couldn't stomach playing covers as written, it's just not something I can do. Hopefully that translates into cover fans catching drum licks in our original music too!

Dave: It's 50/50 because we also incorporate some originals into our set to show people that we aren’t just about covers, while they are fun we have a bigger goal in mind.

Jake: Cover gigs get you more exposure as a band. Crowds are bigger and if they enjoy our cover songs, they are more likely to check out our original music.

Your latest single “Not Gonna Make It” seems to focus on falling into addiction due to a traumatic life, it’s also quite fatalistic, is this coming from personal experience?

Joey: Personally? No, though most of us have known people who have struggled with addiction to varying degrees. When Jake showed us the guitar parts for this song, I knew the lyrics needed to be equally as gritty and raw as the riffs. One previous release, “Pinocchio”, focused on telling a down-and-out character to take responsibility for their actions. “Not Gonna Make It” is from the perspective of that character who is seeking sympathy by saying “yes, I did put myself here, but there's so much more that led me here” and exploring their experiences based on what I’ve seen personally.

Alex: We tried our best to write drums and tempos that conveyed the uneasy pendulum of withdrawal and addiction. One moment peace, one moment rage. Another moment of rage. We like rage.

Dave: Joey wrote this one so it’s a bit hard to speak BUT I’ve seen a fair share of people struggling with addictions and traumatic life.

“Not Gonna Make It” also has a very interesting line “label me as the devil, I guess I’ll earn it” how have you escaped the trap of becoming your worst selves because it seems no one expects better of you?

Joey: It was inspired by someone I care much about — hearing them speaking of their upbringing. At a certain point of being told “you’re a bad kid” they figured there’s no point in trying to be good since they'd been branded the “problem child”, so they might as well just be bad. It’s a vicious cycle stemming from the perceptions of others determining your self-worth, and I think as an adult, they’ve grown more certain of themself and that a bad decision or action doesn’t necessarily define who you are if you’re not willing to let it.

Colin: We haven’t hail satan.

Alex: I love that line. Overcome negative perception from others and turn it into envy. The perceiver is fighting their own devil either way.

Dave: Everyone has their issues whether mentally or physically and we all deal with it differently. For me I just keep going, life is going to be tough no matter what, the best thing to do is keep pushing no matter what people may think.

Jake: Not sure if I’m answering this correctly but I think we all can fall in a rut from time to time. And I believe we put ourselves in these so-called imaginary prisons by choosing a victim mindset. Rough times will happen in life but refusing to take a victim mindset and choosing a better reaction has helped me better myself.

How do you envision the impact of Stealing Society’s music? When all is said and done what kind of legacy are you going for?

Joey: I want this band to be remembered for our human connection. I hope we are the band people put on to get through tough times, to motivate them to do hard things, or just to jam out to in the car with friends. I want them to say, “Man, I’m so glad I saw them at that show in 20XX, they kicked ass”. I hope we help people make good memories they’ll never forget.

Colin: I think we want fans to connect to our music and make music that we’re fans of and we’re proud of. We’re super excited for the next wave of song ideas to come out!

Alex: People first, music second, safety third. Every path has a first step and every person's journey is unique. It might not work, but have fun and learn something.

Dave: We want authentic people to come and listen to us, everyone can interpret our songs how ever they want, but if someone can connect in some way to this music that’s really the biggest gift there. We hope to potentially soar higher and reach a bigger fan base.

Jake: I hope we can carry the torch of guitar driven hard rock and metal for years to come. Hard to think about a legacy but I hope our legacy is a band that didn’t sell out to AI or tracked music and isn’t afraid to make mistakes. It’s 2026 and bands like Metallica are still selling out stadiums because people want to see humans produce the music.

Is this single the start of a new era for the band? Are you willing to tell us what else is on the horizon?

Joey: Yes, more new music - more singles and eventually a full length album later this year or early next year.

Colin: For sure this is going to be the style of the band for years to come. It took a bit of time for us to settle into the pocket we’re in and now that we’re here, we hope we can continue to put out great songs that fans of the genre can enjoy and connect with

Alex: The way everyone gives their input during the writing process should lead to our music changing and growing as each of our tastes do. No idea what that means for what's next and that's the most exciting part.

Dave: This is only the beginning.

Jake: I think it is. I think Stealing Society will have more of an edge and be able to utilize the strengths of the newer members.

Is there anyone you would like to thank or shout out?

Joey: Jake took the names out of my mouth. Other friends and family, too. Oh and to our #1 fan, Joey Knarr, for coming to every local show and even some not local. Also Rob Chiarappa and Brett Romnes for mixing and mastering, respectively, our newest single. We plan to continue working with them for our upcoming releases as well.

Colin: Satan probably. But yes what Jake said. Also the rest of the guys in the band (the Chodettes)

Alex: My wife and band manager Jordyn. She's a gift. The most supportive person I've ever had the honor to know and helps us so much with this musical endeavor. Wouldn't be anywhere without her. Pops for taking the best photos I've ever seen and being a great hang at the shows. My brothers here for making this experience what it is and doing what we love on and off stage. And knife twister for these awesome questions. Thanks for having us!

Dave: shoutout to these fucks in the band, without them we wouldn’t be here and without the support of our family and friends, we would not be chasing a this dream.

Jake: Shout out to Papa Melendez for all the photography and Jordyn Stein for reaching out venues and getting us gigs! They do this stuff under their own volition and don’t ask for anything in return. There’s others I’m missing.

The most important question of all, what is everyone’s favorite birthday cake?

Joey: Chocolate cake with buttercream frosting.

Colin: Cherry Cheesecake get at/in me.

Alex: Coconut anything and everything.

Dave: Strawberry Cheesecake.

Jake: Carvel Ice Cream Cake.

Other Places to find Stealing Society

Band Website: https://stealingsociety2.bandzoogle.com/home

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/stealingsocietyofficial

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/stealingsocietybandphl/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCt71yf1sTjNy0TmyaaqAUqQ

Maya Bishop