Bio
Who is Stereoreel?
John 4:23: Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks.
The heart and soul of Stereoreel is worship. Our goal is not fame. It is to bring glory to Jesus Christ in everything from the words to our songs, the thoughts that we think, to the way we drop everything to help someone in need.
Our goal is not just to tickle your eardrums or make your chest thump from the amazing bass lines. (Although we do enjoy a good face-melting throw-down.) Our goal is to bring you to your knees before the creator of the universe. We take this calling seriously. Our band verse is: But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. -1 Peter 2:9
What do we sound like? Recipe for our Tangerine Album: A velvety mixture of alternative rock, gospel, and funk, a touch of dance and a dash of classic hymns. This music will keep teens jumpin’, and grandmas basking in glory. All at the same time. (As long as grandma turns down her hearing aid a tad.)
The Band-
Caleb Nei, who’s great music influences include Bono, David Crowder, Rachmaninoff, and __?_______ started playing keyboards by ear at 13 years of age. His worship leading was born straight out of the Jesus Movement, as his small keyboard sat behind his mentor’s on stage before thousands of people in a church in the cornfields of Indiana. From a young age, people noticed something special about Caleb’s worship leading. It was more than talent. It was the presence and power of God. Caleb’s great hero growing up was king David, who played music and Saul was delivered from tormenting spirits. Once when leading worship at a camp in Pennsylvania, a man told Caleb he hadn’t felt the Holy Spirit in worship since he saw Keith Green, another one of Caleb’s heros. Caleb has lived a life of sacrifice for the calling of Jesus Christ, passing up big job offers at mega churches to be a part of a church-planting effort in Clarke County, VA. His desire is to lead people into the presence of God as often as possible.
The story gets better. . .Caleb married Briana Dean, the oldest of 5 children. Although Briana’s father didn’t pull a Laban on Caleb, making him wait 7 years to marry Briana, he did have to wait almost 14 years for the Dean brothers, Seth and Ethan to graduate, learn instruments and become pretty much amazing and join his band. If Caleb had known this when he married Briana. . .he would have. . .well, never mind.
Seth Dean, growing up, cut his musical teeth on Burle Ives, Psalty, The Music Machine and the Newsboys, who he saw in concert in Keyser, WV in 1992 before anyone knew who they were. Seth’s musical sensibilites, great ear, attention to detail and work ethic packed him into a car and drove him down to Full-Sail University in Florida where he learned the ways of the sound engineering world. Seth later moved to Nashville where he interned Masterfonics but found himself drawn by God back to Virginia for the express purpose of joining Caleb and the former drummer, Dustin Martin, in getting Stereoreel off the ground. At this point, in 2008, they only had acquired the minimal gear needed to record oneself. During this year, 2008, they put together their first collection of original, lyrical, moving worship songs, Save Me. Seth moved back during the end of the recording process, and helped them finish record and mix the album. He joined the band to play guitar, but did not actually appear on the album. Needing a bassist to complete their sound, Seth managed to convince Caleb and Dustin to let his younger brother, Ethan, play bass, despite the fact that Ethan was a drummer and didn’t really know how to play bass. However, he was creative, musical, enthusiastic, and he learned quickly. (We’d like to send a heart-felt thank you to all of the bass instructors who post their lesson on YouTube.)
In 2009 Caleb and Seth set out upon a song-writing endeavor, otherwise known as 52 weeks. They locked themselves in a room with guitars, a piano, a Bible and a thesaurus every Friday and began writing songs such as Heaven’s Fire, Tangerine, Dance, and Ring Out Wild Bells. With their collection of music growing, they began to pray about recording a new EP on good equipment that would capture their sound and touch people’s hearts in worship.
Ethan Dean took the helm of the drum kit in 2010 at 18 years old. While people in churches usually complain about drums being too loud, you rarely have people compliment that the drummer brings them into worship with his playing. This is a regular comment about Ethan’s enthusiastic and musical drumming. Ethan’s playfulness and youth brings a fresh and funny balance to Stereoreel. His imitation of Tiny Tim at youth retreats will bring tears to your eyes and put the whole group in stitches. He is a man with a heart for Jesus, who’s musical and spiritual growth continues at exponential levels.
Speaking of exponential. . .2010 was a year of such stretching. In May, Seth met Nathan Vencil at a game night during a Bible Study, and upon discovering that he played bass, Seth invited him to become a part of Stereoreel. Nate came in just in time to learn their music for a huge youth retreat at Independant Bible Church in Martinsburg, WV for 400 kids. Thrown to the lions, Nathan lasted through the night (or the week, rather). . .and has become an integral part of the band, which recieved an invitation to lead worship at Eagle Eyrie for the United Methodist State-Wide Youth Retreat for the senior and junior high levels. During the same time, they recorded Tangerine, their second album, which was graciously mixed and mastered by friend, grammy award winner Dan Shores and Seth Dean. Stereoreel was also joined by friend and American Idol contestant Maddy Curtis for the recording of Tangerine.
Upon the release of the album, He’s Alive Radio Network picked up the single Tangerine and Little Stronger for broadcast from 8 stations in WV, MD and PA. The band is currently looking forward to more of what God has for them in this area and also in the area of leading worship.