The Flat Stanleys Never Really Got the Chance They Deserved

Baltimore Emo Band Showed a Ton of Promise Before Falling Off the Face of the Earth

When I’m feeling extra wistful, sometimes I’ll think about all the near misses that must happen everyday all over the world. It’s just that thing with life where you think you’ve got it all figured out and then like 4 hours later, you’re like “oh, I was so wrong.”

There’s countless bands I could think of that put out really great music, gathered loyal local followings, toured successfully, and then just kind of disappeared. I’ve written about one of my favorite bands before SKATERS who did just this.

Another example is Baltimore Co.’s own The Flat Stanleys. These guys rocked, and put out a handful of singles and EPs in the mid-to-late 2010s. They even recorded a full-length album in 2017 which has yet to be released. The formal account from the band via twitter in May of 2020 listed some very understandable mental health issues leading to the hiatus the group has experienced the past several years and the related lack of output. Completely get it, I’m not some fan that thinks I deserve someone to put themselves through something they don’t want to for my sake. Whatever needs to be done to get someone help, I totally get it and support it.

But sometimes you just despair those near misses and what could have been when you experience the sound and feeling of a great band.

But the optimist’s view would be what a wonderful thing it is to even have the experience provided by that artist, albeit fleeting and feeling all too short. The better “what if” question truly is “what if it never happened at all?”

And it’s that which helps to provide a good tribute to bands like The Flat Stanleys who created some tracks which evoked such strong, relatable emotions, and provided just another way to connect with others who sometimes feel and think the same. And it’s for that reason, it sucks there hasn’t been more from this group, but there’s always hope for the future perhaps, and for now we have what they were able to grace us with in such short supply.