How do you invent a convincing fictional band for your play, film or novel? And what happens if they actually top the charts? The creators of Scott Pilgrim, the Commitments, Stereophonic and more reveal all
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hey have sold out venues on both sides of the Atlantic. Their first-ever gig was opening for a former member of Arcade Fire. Their 2024 album has been acclaimed as sounding like a lost classic of 1970s rock. Their two top tracks, Bright and Masquerade, have notched up 700,000 streams on Spotify. In fact, by the numbers, they’re having one of the most buzzy rock debuts of recent years. Yet they don’t really exist. They don’t even have a name.
The band is in fact the unnamed five-piece featured in Stereophonic, a hugely successful, Tony-winning drama, currently playing in London’s West End. Written by David Adjmi, with music by former Arcade Fire member Will Butler, Stereophonic earned five stars from the Guardian, which praised its “moments of creative transcendence, including a late-night epiphany so electrifying that the sound waves will excite your internal organs”.
Making it in the music industry is often framed as a triumph of individual artistry and hard sweat. Yet a huge number of bands invented for novels, TV shows and films have ended up with real songs and even real hits. Spinal Tap, born of the 1984 mockumentary, landed a Top 40 single – and a reunion concert, thanks to the recent sequel, which keeps the silliness dialled up to 11. The Commitments, the group from Roddy Doyle’s 1987 novel, have enjoyed the sort of success and longevity many flesh-and-blood acts would kill for, from a chart-topping album (the film soundtrack) to international tours.
