Longstay is a five-man band based in North County San Diego. Their debut EP Houses and Homes was released in 2010, as was an EP collection of Christmas songs.
“I’ve been making Longstay Christmas records for friends and family the past four years, admittedly a stolen idea from when I first learned about Sufjan doing this,” says Nik Ewing (who has also played with Lesands). “I posted one song from each EP of years past, and this year’s full EP, at thisislongstay.com/christmas. Only one or two of the songs are blatantly Christmasy: most are just songs I had lying around that I wanted to release in some form.”
Longstay also made a promotional maze website for the debut EP with hidden mp3 downloads: thathouseisnotahome.com
As of 2011, the band included Nik Ewing (vox/guitar/piano), Jordan Groth (guitar), Josh Dunn (bass/vox), Kyle Rosa (drums/vox), and Phil Hansen (piano/vox). Their only show for the first half of 2011 happened February 24 at the Belly Up, while Nik Ewing focussed on a new EP with his other band Lesands.
By 2016, Kyle Rosa was also with Poison Headache, alongside Phil Sgrosso (Wovenwar, As I Lay Dying). Nik Ewing played with Cardboard Truckers, Three Chamber Heart, and Tape Deck Mountain before launching a solo album in 2019.
As of 2019, Longstay featured Nik Ewing, Josh Dunn, Jordan Groth, and Kyle Rosa.