These Stains Are Who I Am is a music project formed in 2017 by Ben Centra and Andrew Glaude. As roommates that shared a passion for music, naturally these two goofballs started writing songs together. Their first song was titled “These Stains Are Who I Am,” about a kid with a dirty death metal t-shirt. They layered some vocals over a MIDI file, said “that was fun,” and put it on SoundCloud for some reason.
In the years since that original demo, Ben and Andrew honed their songwriting and producing skills through These Stains and other solo work. But one thing hasn’t changed: the impetus for a song is still the first dumb idea or phrase that enters their heads. They find their work funny, and hopefully you do, too.
In March 2020, These Stains released an EP containing 6 of their best songs, re-recorded and remastered. It’s available for purchase on Bandcamp and is streaming on Spotify and all other major streaming services.
With the pandemic upending their lives shortly thereafter, Ben and Andrew suddenly had plenty of time to write more music. So they did, starting with some quarantine-themed “Songs for the Quarantimes” then moving on to songs about ketchup, forklifts, and short pants.
Seeking fame and popularity, Ben and Andrew picked a real crowdpleaser for their next These Stains project: a rock opera! And so Firesword 2 went from a dumb joke to serious reality during 2021. The 6-track EP was released in February 2022.
The hilarity continued through 2022 with the release of our new singles “The Taste of the Smell of a Horse” and “Blew Up The Moon.” We spent most of 2023 working on our most ambitious project to date: “The Concert: An Interactive Aural Odyssey,” an album that is also a choose-your-own-adventure game! Despite losing our minds on that project – and Ben having a human child to care for – we still rounded out the year with the singles “Drunk On Fall” and “Kicked Out Of Guitar Center.”
What does 2024 and beyond have in store for These Stains Are Who I Am? No one knows for sure. But it’s probably silly and has something to do with folly, hubris, love, or food (or maybe all four).
