The Wichita band Stay The Course was formed in 2019 by frontman Joseph Meador.
Within a few short years, the group had recorded a series of singles and EPs, eventually settling into its present lineup with drummer Alonso Garcia, bassist Jeremy Brake and guitarist/vocalist Colby Munn.
Self-described as “easycore,” the outfit’s single, “Dreams,” released earlier this summer, often recall a particular brand of powerful punk that seemed inescapable between the summer of 2004 and the autumn of 2006. Think Taking Back Sunday, perhaps a pinch of Dashboard Confessional, and then throw in a dose or two of Rancid.
None of which is to say that the group is derivative. In fact, the latest single, “Post Traumatic,” leans into a quieter, more introspective mood, allowing Munn’s emotive lyrics, replete with a singable chorus, to shine through.
Munn recently visited the KMUW studios to discuss the band’s history, how it signed with the Ohio-based label Punkerton, and its upcoming album, “Red Flag.”
The following interview has been edited for clarity and length.
Joseph started the band sometime around 2019 and then you joined later. How did that happen?
Funny story, actually. I was out of music for a number of years. I sold everything, became a dad. I thought, “I’m not ever going to play music ever again. I’m Dad and that is it.” Then I got the itch again because it never goes away. The creative itch is just always in the back of your head.
I was actually doing another project, a heavy project, and Joseph recorded music. I said, “Let’s do a scratch demo. Let me use your studio.” He said, “I’ll let you do it for free if you help me play a few shows with my band.” I said, “Sounds good to me. I just want to play music anyway. I just want to have fun.” We ended up doing a couple of shows after that, and then I decided that, after months and months of us trying to track this other project, that I still wanted to do so bad, I just ended up coming into the fold with Joseph and then I started taking on writing. It was mostly because of the relationship I was developing with the guys. I was having too much fun, and the other thing wasn’t really a whole project anyway, so I said, “I like playing shows and, of course, I love you dudes, so I’ll go ahead and take that on.”
There’s a little bit of a throwback in the sound to the emo/screamo bands of a certain era.
Right.
But also contemporary sensibilities. Obviously that stuff develops organically within a band but was that all stuff that you had grown up listening to?
We’re all so eclectic in our musical tastes, that this wasn’t something we anticipated to begin with. Joey is a superfan of Rancid. He likes real punk rock and is a real punk rocker. I’m the guy who did a lot of acoustic stuff, but I mostly did heavy bands all throughout [my earlier work]. But I also listen to stuff like Taking Back Sunday, Sum 41, stuff from that era. Once I started getting involved in the writing process, I would be throwing everybody riffs and ideas and they’d say, “That reminds me of some from ’06” and then it developed from there.
You’re a band that in 2025 has signed to a label. A rare creature anymore it seems. How and why did that come about?
It’s so funny how it ended up happening. We didn’t even think about having a label. I’d gotten the first half of the record done last year. It was good. Joey wasn’t a huge fan of the record and then it grew on him. Once we got to the point of it being mixed and mastered, he started to believe in it so much that he said, “I’m just going to start firing it off to places. We’ll see what ends up happening.” Funnily enough, he ended up sending it to Brandon [Lewis, Punkerton Records] at midnight on a Tuesday. Brandon skipped over a bunch of emails, obviously he’s getting a lot of hits in his email inbox trying to do something with the label. He clicked on us at midnight while he was jumping into the bathtub to soak. [Laughs.]
He ended up listening to it and got ahold of it right away. He said, “I want to be part of this, and I think that I could help.” He loved our music and wanted to invest in that, and we definitely have a lot of gratitude for that, and we said, “He seems like the perfect fit to be a part of what we have going on, not just be a label owner.” He’s part of what the band is creating and putting out there. We got really, really lucky with that. Thank God he went to go soak in the tub at midnight one night.
All hail bathtubs!
[Laughs.]
You’ve put out those first singles which are ultimately leading up to an album.
Right. I believe that the album will be released in December or January. It’s going to be called “Red Flag.” It’s a mixture of songs that we’ve re-recorded from the past and then with five new songs. We think it’s probably the best thing we’ve put out. All I’m doing is playing music and trying to keep alive. It seems like we’re finally starting to catch on. It’s very exciting.
