Ex-Heartbreaker Returns to the Trenches with The Speaker Wars

Gainsville, FL (April 16, 2025)—The Speaker Wars was born while Stan Lynch was producing a solo record for Jon Christopher Davis and, at the last minute, Davis goaded him into making it a band. A friend of Lynch’s said, “While you still can and want to, you may as well.” Surprisingly, he wanted to.

Lynch left the Heartbreakers as Tom Petty’s drummer in 1994 and was fairly public about not having had a great experience. That was his last band. He has become a notable songwriter and has spent most of his time behind the glass since. Now he’s joined with Davis, Jay Michael Smith on guitar, Brian Patterson on bass, Steve Ritter on percussion, and Jay Brown on keyboards to create some kick-ass Americana rock ’n’ roll.

The self-titled album, to be released May 30 on Frontiers Music, was recorded to Pro Tools between Lynch’s Clay Hill Studio outside Gainesville, Fla., and 5M Studios in Denton, Texas, owned by Davis’ friend Mike Pisterzi. Pitsterzi co-produced the record and became the final arbiter of the songs.

Lynch fashioned Clay Hill after an Old West church with a 28-foot ceiling and a huge drum room. It houses a 1980s Trident console with a great selection of mics, including vintage Neumanns and others he accumulated through the years. “When I’d hear a good mic,” he laughs, “I’d ask the studio, ‘Any chance I could buy this one?’”

The record was pieced together during the various stages of Covid restrictions, and Lynch wore many hats—co-producer, engineer, songwriter, drummer, background vocalist (as well as lead on “Trader South”)—and on some songs, he played multiple instruments.

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“I can only wear one hat at a time,” he says, explaining that he’ll set mics before playing, but then all bets are off. “When I’m playing drums, I have a lobotomy. I just have to play, and the next day I can go back and put on my producer hat and listen.”

Lynch says that he hopes the record does well enough to shed light on what a “sweet, soulful cat” Davis is. “I went to produce him, and at the first meeting with the label, they pitched us these five shitty, generic, puppy-mill songs, and I said, ‘What are these songs?’ They said, ‘These are the five writers du jour.’ Without realizing this was verboten, I said, ‘This stuff is terrible; Jon is really good. Why would we do this?’ And we both got fired that day.

“I’m in the parking lot and Jon is running after me and I’m thinking, ‘Is this where he kicks me in the nuts and I end up in the hospital?’” he continues. “But he catches up to me and gives me a big hug and goes, ‘Thank you, man; nobody has ever stood up for me.’ I thought, ‘I don’t know this guy that well, but the fact that I could get his ass fired and all he could do is say thanks, this guy is really walking the walk!’ Then he called me the next week to start the project.”