Side Bangs

Photo by Cal Green


With sounds that evoke comparisons to Portishead, Mazzy Star, Modest Mouse, and Florence the Machine, Side Bangs is the brainchild of Steph Rodgers.

Her atypical songwriting and curious soundscape draw the listener into a world of psychedelic rock infused with trip hop, grunge, jazz, pop, and ultimately, captivating storytelling.


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Live at Rockwood Music Hall

"Gaslit" and "Handcuffs"

UPCOMING PERFORMANCES

Stay Tuned for 2023 Performances

ABOUT

Steph Rodgers is a Brooklyn-based singer, songwriter, guitarist, and the architect of Side Bangs.

She was raised in the village of Dresden, a manufacturing community of ~1,600 located in the hills of Southeastern Ohio. A lifelong songwriter and singer, she first picked up a guitar while studying Economics at the Ohio State University, where spent her study breaks quietly fingerpicking Death Cab for Cutie, Modest Mouse, and Coheed and Cambria riffs. In Columbus, she collaborated with friends on indie rock and dance songs, but when she moved to New York City with three suitcases and $2,000 to her name, the guitar went to the local music store.

In New York, Rodgers led the fundraising operations for liberal political candidates until 2015, when she headed to The University of Pennsylvania for her MBA. During the first year of the program, she bought a cheap guitar, and soon, she started to write again. After finishing her MBA, Rodgers moved back to NYC to build a career in Finance. When she wasn't in the office, she used her guitar to relax and unwind, and she stayed dedicated to her art by setting songwriting goals for herself each year.

In 2021, she completed an EP under the name Nini Rodgers, and in 2022, she formed a band to help further execute her artistic vision. In the studio and on stage, Jonathan Toscano compliments her melodic bass lines with a romantic’s touch and dynamic sound, and Bryan Framhein leads the syncopated rhythms with discipline and an unyielding groove.

Today, Side Bangs is playing Shows in New York City and elsewhere, and Rodgers is leading the production of the Side Bangs debut album. A prolific songwriter with a taste for the unusual, the album basks in strange song structures, emotional progressions, and building tensions with words and sounds. An emotional lyricist and big picture composer, Stephanie Rodgers and her band lock in on carefully crafted arrangements that emerge the listener into a curious world of memorable riffs, sonic ear candy, and melodic storytelling. A team effort, producers (and teachers) include Mark Marshall, Denise Barbarita, Jeremy Stoddard Carroll, Uri Kleinman, Clara Lofaro, Robert Smith (Defy Recordings), Chris Burkett (co-writer of "Sol").

FOLLOW ALONG

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Photo by Manish Gosalia

CONTACT

stephanie@sidebangsmusic.com

Photo by Shannen Bamford

Photo by Shannen Bamford

Photo by Shannen Bamford

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"Galaxies"

"Smarter than This"

Rehearsal

"Heartbreak Repair Human"