Gründungsmitglied Chris Pastras hat Stereo 2012 in einem Interview treffend beschrieben.

„It didn’t piss off the cool guys and it didn’t piss off the hesh guys; it was just sort of, like, retro-Americana. It was, like an original vibe. And anyone that skated could be like: “Oh, I get that. It’s cool.” It was the perfect thing for the perfect time—Stereo. I met Jason because me and Mike V (Vallely) took a trip out to California, and I was, like, fourteen, fifteen years-old, and we came out and stayed with Mark Gonzales. So I got super lucky and I met Jason our first trip out, or my first trip out. We both kinda had similar music tastes and interests. We weren’t drinking beer, we were drinking wine. Stereo was, kind of, a manifestation of our aesthetic. We both got disillusioned with things, it was just like a no-brainer. Like: Why don’t we start our own deal? Our concept wasn’t fully developed. It was just like: “Oh yeah, we want, like, a retro skate brand!”“

Im Originalen Team waren neben Pastras und Lee noch Leute wie Ethan Fowler, Matt Rodriguez, Carl Shipman und Mike Daher.