Meet Chris Stank XM” Steinke | Founding producer of the bands Lend Me Your Ear and obcdion from Austin

We had the good fortune of connecting with Chris “Stank XM” Steinke and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Chris “Stank XM”, how do you think about risk?
It’s always a balance. You see people — especially young people — willing to risk everything to put themselves out there for the world, spending thousands and thousands of dollars. And I’m sitting here like, I could do what they’re killing themselves to do if I sold my house or whatever. So do I really care?

The thing is, I have invested thousands and thousands of dollars into my music career already, thanks to me having a knack for sales. And nearly all of those investments were bad decisions. You live and you learn, right?

I’m still ready to bet on myself, but I’m going to learn from my mistakes and wait around for the right time and situation. Sure, I’m getting older, but I have a good skin care routine: I don’t go outside.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
What sets apart the art in Lend Me Your Ear and obcdion is that the songs span genres almost track to track, yet it all sounds like a song you’ve known forever. Take Keep on Keepin’ On by Lend Me Your Ear featuring Casey Dion, now the lead of obcdion. People tell me all the time it sounds like a Disney Pixar ballad, like Let It Go’s predecessor. Now take the #2 most popular Lend Me Your Ear song, Rainy Day feat. Masta Ace. That’s an old school jazz hip-hop track featuring one of the all-time legends of hip-hop. Now with obcdion, we sound like everything from Cage the Elephant to Avicii. Maybe it’s a jack-of-all-trades-master-of-none situation, but that’s what inspires me. I want to see if I can capture the energy of any given song I love.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
This happens once per year when my best friend from daycare, Sam Cabot, visits me. He’s also my primary producing partner, so we love to lock in the studio for a few days, play chess… As far as going out, you gotta see some live music in Austin. See who’s playing at Empire, The Parrish, Antone’s, Little Darlin’. Grab tacos from Tyson’s, maybe go see a hungover matinee at Violet Crown.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
My shoutout goes to my OG best friend, Sam Cabot. This dude was holding down solo piano recitals in music halls by the 6th grade. I still can’t reliably read music or really, play any live instrument. But when we got older, I showed him what I was writing, he was the first great musician to recognize my abilities. He would even take direction from me! I was blown away. And with his help, we got more talented musicians to believe in what we were doing, and the rest is… well, we’ll see!

Website: instagram.com/obcdion

Instagram: instagram.com/lmyeatx

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrisssteinke/

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWSVidNPLvvdrNTPoG9Q7vw

Image Credits
@darkmode.photo on IG