Stillwater Black came together in 1991 when Chris Thayer met Ahmed and Sam Pierstorff while playing in the pit band for a high school musical production. Issac McCorkell was quickly recruited on drums and the band recorded its first EP, The Last Virtuous Lady of Athens.

In 1995 they signed with Cleaves Entertainment, a now-defunct independent label based out of Southern California's Inland Empire. Stillwater Black recorded their debut LP, Adam. They played frequently with local and national acts including Dishwalla, Save Ferris, Reel Big Fish, and IE punk/ska mainstays, The Skeletones.

In 1997 the members parted ways and the project lay dormant for two decades.

Sunday, November 6, 2016

I wonder what Chris is doing . . .

Hey Boss,

2016 is almost gone. Adam was released in '96!

We've still got a few weeks to track our 20th anniversary Stillwater collaboration.

I think it would be fun.


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That's the email I sent Chris a couple of days ago.

A few notes later and I was sitting with Issac at Chris’ gorgeous Redlands studio.


There was some catching up to do. Marriages, kids, divorces, projects. But it wasn’t long before we were making music, the grooves coming nice and easy even after all that time.

These guys are busy. Issac's been keeping up his chops, first with the Backyard Pimps and currently with The Sovereign Artist. And Chris never stops. After achieving national recognition with Big Papa and the TCB, he continues to push limits with his latest blues-rock hybrid, The Storybook Villains. And I've been drumming and singing with sansfife.

Sam couldn’t be there for that first reunion session, so I (barely) held down bass duties for my little brother while Chris rolled tape. A few hours later we were all listening to playback of the first new Stillwater Black tracks in twenty years . . .
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