The WiMN’s Front and Center is a weekly column that showcases accomplished women who work in the music and audio industries. We spotlight successful female performers, manufacturers, retailers, educators, managers, publicists, and everyone else in between. Want to be featured? Learn how here.
Front and Center: Sarah and Stephanie Snyder, Deer Park Avenue
By Myki Angeline
Every year when I attend the NAMM Show I always look forward to meeting up with my good friends of Deer Park Avenue. Originally from Northern California, the sister duo Sarah Snyder (guitar/vocals) and Stephanie Snyder (drums/vocals) have brought their award-winning rock sound all across the globe. Sarah and Stephanie currently live in Munich, Germany, but consider the United States their home country.
In fact, it is Long Island, New York where the name Deer Park Avenue comes from:
“We’ve lived in many places all over the U.S. and Europe, but the longest we’ve ever lived anywhere was Long Island and it still feels like home. When we were choosing a name for our band, we wanted something that had a lot of meaning for us, and those years were so amazing and so meaningful – our friends lived off Deer Park Avenue, our favourite pizzeria was there, our church, dance school, bakery…everything. It was the center of our lives there.” says Sarah Snyder.
Sarah and Stephanie discuss what being an entrepreneur is like here (2017 NAMM).
Sarah and Stephanie started out as journalists before becoming professional musicians. Endorsed by a handful of respected companies like Epiphone Guitars, Audix Microphones, and Dixon Drums (Stephanie is the first female endorsed) the sisters are also business entrepreneurs, music bloggers, and voting members of the Recording Academy (GRAMMYs). They come from a very supportive family who have instilled the importance of empowerment and self-respect that has served them well. They shared with me a recent situation when a music label took great interest in signing DPA, but had no interest in their original sound nor look. In fact, they wanted the exact opposite from the music duo; changing their sound from rock to EDM, and their appearance from edgy and strong, to more provocative attire. Basically to objectify the artists. They politely declined the offer.
“It’s a lie we (as women) tell ourselves that we have to look a certain way – that we have to be a certain way to be accepted.”
Deer Park Avenue announced they are working on new material they hope to release by Fall 2018. The new album reflects on a more raw, mature sound that speaks about staying true to yourself.
To learn more about Deer Park Avenue and to catch tour dates, visit their website: deerparkave.com
Below is the video of my interview with DPA at the 2018 NAMM Show:
