Interview: Stone Theory

There have been numerous times when the self-appointed guardians of musical taste and gatekeepers of hip have declared rock n roll, and especially hairy-arsed heavy rock n roll dead, yet there continue to be a stream of young bands cranking out the riffs, ignoring the naysayers and entertaining the masses. One of the latest bands in that tradition are about to launch their debut EP…read all about Stone Theory and find out more from our pre-launch interview:

Introduce yourselves. Tell us who you are and how did you get together.

Well I am Jack, and I am the singer of Stone Theory; I’m Eddie (aka Temmie), the Drummer; I’m Kris and play bass and I’m Ryan the guitarist. Ryan: Well it was through college really, we all studied music together and then bodged together for a charity show and rolled onwards. Temmy: Well I begged you to play…Ryan: WE, begged him to play!

And the name?

Kris: Well the name came from the Terrence McKenna proposal that man developed consciousness by eating pooey prehistoric mushrooms: The Stoned Ape Theory. Not much else to it other than we didn’t want the word stoned in our name in case it presented any difficulties: snip, snip and we have Stone Theory! Voila.

What’re the bands that you are collectively happen to listen to on the road and what bands drive a wedge between you

Jack: I’m gonna throw out some Led Zeppelin, something we can all appreciate. We all appreciate old blues. Temmy: I don’t know about you but I love Guns n’ Roses. Ryan: I love them too but I think we’re about 50/50 on the G n’ R. Jack: I think that we can all bond together on the blues and hard rock bands like Simo, Simon McBride, Temperance Movement and Rival Sons. Ryan: Count on the legendary bands as well like Sabbath, Zeppelin, Stones. Kris: We all dig Rory Gallagher, man what a guy.

Given the chance, who’re the one, well established act you’d most want to support on a national tour?

Jack: Screaming Jay Hawkins but sadly he’s dead. Give me a moment cause I know what you’re going to say… I’d love to support Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats. Ryan: Motörhead but again, Lemmy’s no longer with us. I don’t know it’s a difficult one…Monster Truck would be pretty cool.

NME, Kerrang, Mojo and Classic Rock magazines. How important is print media to a working band in the age of social media?

Ryan: Massively! Rock n Roll appears to be a dated and dying art form on one hand and then on the other hand you have people keeping it alive and kicking through these outlets. Jack: It’s too easy to give support through social media but there’s so much crap on Facebook that I wonder how people are meant to remember all the little things (such as us) and give away their affection too quickly and easily. Ryan: I think digital media is something that isn’t related in many senses to rock music. Rock is iconic and is more associated with vinyl, posters and going to shows as opposed to sitting at home streaming on Spotify. Temmy: Preach!!

How important do you think Artwork is for bands in these digital days?

Temmy: I think in a way it is very important as it tells about who you are, it has a bit of you in it. I don’t think people pay too much attention to who you are but it goes along way. What Ryan said previously about Rock n Roll being sort of dated, at the same time you do have to experiment with the new age and get everything together but you’ve gotta keep the balance. Ryan: You gotta keep the authenticity but also keep with the times.

A lot of the ‘old guard’ refer to Simon Cowell as the Antichrist and his telly program as the end of music as we know it. What is your take on that?

Ryan: I would feed Simon Cowell to a pack of lions, quite happily. Temmy: Amen to that. Jack: I think when it comes to rehearsing to perform something, when so juvenile to everything, for telly; that sort of mass exposure is not the way to do it. You need to make mistakes, be on the road and actually experience it and not have everything spoon fed to you. Let’s say you actually come first, second or third in one of these shows. Would you know what to do? Or would you just be told what to do? Temmy: well that’s pretty much what they’re doing now, it’s about what they want you to do. So pretty much once you go on that show you’ve sold yourself.

So, Vinyl, Cd, Digital or Cassette?

Ryan: CD, any day. Jack: Yeah I’d say CD, too. Temmy: Sorry guys, Digital. Ryan: Awh man that’s ridiculous. I mean, vinyl was great for the quality but it’s too impractical to carry around, like you can’t carry a vinyl around. It’d be like eating cereal with a spade. Temmy: Exactly, digital is a lot easier. [Laughter]

Live or the studio?

Unanimously: Live Jack: It’s the intimacy, I like to be sweaty. Temmy: While playing in a studio you’re a bit more restricted, you have to be very disciplined and play to a click. When playing live it’s not all such a big deal if there are a few wavers and that’s part of the fun being human and playing an instrument. Ryan: Well, we’re there to play to an audience and give everyone the best show possible every time.

Glastonbury or Download?

Jack: Download definitely as like an ultimate goal but it would be great to play something like Ramblin’ Man Fair on the Rising Stage. Ryan: Yeah absolutely, smaller up and coming festivals like that. Sorta what’s fuelin’ us really.

Final question. What are your plans for 2017? Realistically, what would you been happy to have achieved by the end of the year?

Ryan: Rock as many people’s socks off as we can. Jack: Playing a small festival I’d say was realistic. And our demo EP launch man coming up next week! Can’t forget that! The Old England in Montpelier next Saturday (the 11th), cheap times and emphasis on the party like! Get at it! Keep holding on too because we’re already stoked for our next release! Ryan: We’ve endeavoured down a different route and we want to get that, at the same time as all this demo malarkey is going on, into your faces as soon as possible as well. Hopefully we’ll have a bit more of the material ready by the time we hit up the Bierkeller in May in support of Colour of Noise. It’s a time frame we believe we can work with but nothing’s set in stone…

Read more: Metal & Prog Picks March.