The rock band StOp,sToP!, fronted by the Menorcan musician Jacob AM and now based in the United Kingdom, has returned as a duo with a stripped-back new sound.
Reinvent or die
The band lost its guitarist in 2023 and spent around a year auditioning replacements without finding the right fit. Jacob says the choice they faced was simple: reinvent themselves or disappear.
In the end, they concluded that what they needed was already in the band. They did not have to depend on a guitarist to keep making the music they love — they just had to work differently.
A bass-and-drums duo
After a period of silence following their December 2023 album Tangled!, StOp,sToP! have re-emerged as a two-piece, with bass and drums at the heart of the sound. Their first release in the new format is the single “Kill the Pedos”, inspired by the Epstein scandal.
Without a guitar, the band has had to rethink how its songs work:
- bass lines and drum patterns now carry parts that would traditionally fall to the guitar;
- synthesisers and effects fill out the sound;
- the arrangements are rawer and more minimal.
Jacob says the process was hard but that the result is original without losing the band’s identity. He is critical of what he sees as the standardised sound of much modern rock — including, he admits, their own earlier work — and describes the new direction as a deliberate break from it.
What comes next
The band plans to release a series of singles leading up to a new album, The Under Dogs Rising, later in the year. A European tour is also planned, including a show on Menorca at the Casino Nou in Ciutadella on 10 October.
For a band that came close to stopping altogether, the duo format has turned a setback into a creative opportunity.
