Interview with Stone Gods

Stone Gods are a band formed from British Hard Rock band The Darkness. They formed in 2007 and have already scored number 2 in the Radio 1 Rock chart ..you wouldn’t have thought they are an unsigned band eh!?

I, Alexandra McLoughlin was lucky to grab an interview with them at the Brighton Centre to talk about their EP, The Album and much more…

Interview Information

Hi Guys how are you doing?

Richie- Very well Alex.

Toby-We’re having a lovely time.

Dan- We’re very well thanks.

Your first release is called ‘Burn the Witch’ why did you name it ‘Burn the Witch’?

Toby- It’s a song about burning a witch so the title is not a cleaver metaphor or anything it’s quite literal. The chorus goes ‘We’re going to burn the witch’ so it made sense to call the song ‘Burn the Witch’.

Dan- We could call it something fancy and arty instead that isn’t in the lyrics but…

(Laughs)

Richie- …We’re not that cleaver!

Dan- ..Or Arty.

According to your website it sold out within one day. That must have amazed you guys…

Dan- I think there was a lot of pre-orders. People buy a lot online these days so we kind of knew that was going to happen actually. We were pretty sure it was going to go because there was a lot of demand for it. That was kind of cool.

Richie- Good feeling ya’know? Anything could have happened really…It was very exciting actually when we found out that it had all gone.

You must be very happy with the EP itself ?

Richie- Yeah yeah very much so. It’s good.

Dan- I think it’s a quality first product.

If you got an opportunity to re-do the EP is there anything you would change?

Dan- Erm..No.

Toby- I might have slightly shorter sideburns but other then that no.

Richie- Erm..I don’t think so. I think it’s did it’s job. It’s a good collection of music, really well packaged. And it gave anyone who bought it a value for money, unless they bought it off eBay for £30 which I saw some people selling it for which I thought was disgusting but people cash in don’t they?. Evil Evil b******s!

Yes they do. They do it with festivals as well don’t they?

Richie- it’s absolutely shocking really when stuff like that happens. Ticket places are kind off clamping down on it and finding ways to get around it like having to take I.D to get in and they’re saying bring the card that you bought the tickets with which is kind of good. It’s just a way of making money.

It’s not very fair when you go to a venue and you’ve got the touts outside and they buy a ticket from whoever then they sell it for lots more money..

Richie- I know..It’s shocking really. The same thing with the EP ya’know?! Because it was limited it sold-out so there was a demand there and people just cashed out which I don’t agree with because obviously the person who bought it is a fan of the band and they’ve been royally ripped off and if I could have given them one myself I would have done…for £3.99 I would have …

(Laughs)

Richie- I wouldn’t have just given it. I would be stupid.

(Laughs)

Richie- That’s career suicide!

(Laughs)

Not only did it sell-out within one day but it also hit number 2 in the Radio 1 rock charts. That is an excellent achievement! What is the first thing that went through your mind when you found out about that?

Richie- Why on earth are Nickleback number 1 and we’re number 2? It should have been the other way around..surely! That’s the first thing that went through my mind..no actually that Nickleback song is a really good song I like it.

Rockstar?

Richie- Yeah. I really like it! I love the video as well.

What about you Toby?

Toby- I went “What does that number 2 mean”?

(Laughs)

Richie- You did actually (laughs) you sent me a message going “What’s that number 2 mean”? (Laughs) We’re number 2 in the charts man!

Toby- And they left a couple of numbers of the end of it and I put 211 with a bullet!

(Laughs)

How about you Dan?

Dan- To be honest I was like “What is this chart based on?”

(Laughs)

Dan- ..But..yeah I’m still wondering that actually. I was like “wow” that’s cool. Number 2 early on in anything is cool.

Richie- Defiantly the other new entry as well was…we were the highest new entry at number 2 and the second new entry beneath us was at number 21 or something.

Dan- Bloody Hell!

Richie- So I mean yeah it’s pretty good really.

Ed- I was the same as Dan really. I didn’t know..Back in the day there used to be 1 chart so I was trying to work out exactly what that chart means. Number 2 is great anyway.

Dan- Ed and I are still struggling with that.

(Laughs)

Dan- I don’t understand anything. I don’t understand what’s going on.

(Laughs)

Apparently your debut album is due soon. How’s the recording going?

Richie- It’s gone. It’s finished.

(Laughs)

Toby- It’s all finished and ready to go. Ready to pop.

Dan- We finished a while ago.

Richie- September we finished it.

How did it feel to support Thin Lizzy on a few of their UK tour dates?

Dan- Very cool. They are a really good band. I think John Sykes did a really good version of Phil Lynott.

Richie- He did sound just like him. It was great! It was a lot of fun. They were the first gigs we did as a new band so they were a bit special anyway. It felt good. It was a lot of fun.

Dan- It’s been nice of them to have us. We’re a totally unknown quantity as far as their concerned. We respect them a lot for letting us play with them.

Richie- Defiantly. Yeah.

What’s in the pipeline for Stone Gods?

Richie- Touring and releasing records and erm..Summer festivals.

Dan- We got Download festival, Isle of White and we’ve got a fair few festivals across Europe. We’re looking at doing a tour at the beginning of the festival season that’ll be May/June our own headline tour and we have the album coming out shortly after that and then continued touring for the rest of 2008 and 2009.

Thank you for letting me interview you.

All- Thank you.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

My Interview with Madina Lake

 * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *    

My Interview with As I Lay Dying

Information

Taken At: Mean Fiddler, London

Taken On: September 8th, 2007

Interviewees:

Phil Sgrosso- Guitar

Related Links:

As I Lay Dying are a San Diagan Christian Metal band signed to Metal Blade records. They recently released their new album ‘An Ocean between Us’ and won an award for ‘Ultimate Metal Gods’ at the MTV2 first All that rocks special.

I Alexandra McLoughlin was lucky enough to grab a quick chat with guitarist Phil to find out about their faith, restaurants and more…

From what I have heard about you, it seems you are an admirable set of people. What do you say about that?

Phil- Errr (Laughs) I dunno.

I’ve heard about your religious beliefs and you are very proud of them, personally I admire that. Have you ever done talks about it before?

Yeah we met other people or certain other musicians and just chatted to them about it and what it was like growing up and when we first became Christian and stuff like that.

Why did you decide to play heavy metal music in the first place?

It’s just a lot more energetic and there’s something about fast drumming and fast guitar playing that’s a lot more aggressive and I guess that was something I was kinda drawn to when I was in high school.

Have you ever broken your guitars before?

My guitars are always broken but I don’t break them intestinally.

You toured with Bullet for my Valentine this year. What were your favourite moments of the tour?

My favourite moments were …I think it was really cool playing the Hammersmith Ballroom in London. It was crazy to see how many kids were there and there’s a huge stage. It was just really cool.

They cancelled some dates last year in November where you were supposed to be supporting them. Were you disappointed?

Well we came back over in February and we finished most of their shows, there were only 2 shows we didn’t do.

You’ve just released your new album ‘An Ocean between Us’ Why did you choose to name it that?

Tim our singer thought of the name. It was kinda about the separation of you with things in life that don’t really improve you, things that are not necessary.

It’s been doing really well with the critic’s as well. You must be very proud of that…

Yeah! Most people seem to like it and I guess it’s selling better then the previous one so it’s pretty cool.

How would you compare this album with the last one?

I can’t really listen to the last album and be as proud as I am of this new album. I love the songs that we did and it’s just very exciting to play new songs live.

Did you think it would get such great reviews from the critics?

I dunno, I had a lot more confidence with this record. I felt that people were gonna like it more then the last album

You are playing the Mean Fiddler tonight. What have you got planned for the live performance?

We’ve got a few new songs and we have some crazy lights and there’s not too much we can do at this venue. It’s gonna be fun no matter what!

Do you prefer the bigger venues to the smaller venues or the other way around?

It’s different because back in the U.S we can play a thousand capacity but we’ll have more production because we’re from the states, it’s easier to move all our gear there. I like both. It’s cool playing festivals. I like indoor shows more then outdoor shows.

Why’s that?

When you’re outdoors the sound is a lot different, the weather is a lot different and my guitars keep going out of tune. The temperature is not as stable I guess.

Do you prefer to play in hot or cold venues?

I prefer hot because when I play it’s kinda gross but I like sweating, I like to feel like I’m putting on a show. If I get off the stage and don’t even break a sweat It seems I didn’t really do much.

I know that you travel a lot around the world. You must get really bad jet-lag. Do you?

Yeah but we try to adapt at soon as possible. I think it’s gonna hit me tonight or tomorrow, the jet-lag.

And you’ve been here in the UK since last night. Have you enjoyed it so far? Have you looked around and seen the sites?

Yeah! I walked down to Leicester square today and London’s great yeah. I ate some Nandos which was ok, pretty expensive. It was good.

What have you got planned for the rest of the tour, apart from obviously playing?

Sleep and just hang around with the other bands.

Do you plan to go to Nandos again?

I don’t think so. Maybe Waga Mamma. I might go there.

Have you been to any other nice restaurants here in the UK so far?

I went to a Thai Place a couple of last year. I forgot what it’s called but I guess the Thai and Indian food is good down here.

What is your favourite thing about playing here compared to playing in the US?

I don’t really know. I don’t know.

Are the fans crazier over here then in America?

I think in America they are but over here they are getting there. I think in the UK the fans that you get are really appreciate you a lot more then the US fans because they get to see us all the time. When they see us here, they see us maybe once or twice a year and they are really stoked on it.

Do you know roughly then you will be coming back after this tour?

I dunno. Hopefully sometime next year maybe do a few festivals again maybe Reading and Leeds. I dunno if it’s an option because they don’t have many heavy bands but I think it would be great if we played it.

There is always a first time..

Yes.

Do you want to play Glastonbury Festival at all?

Never heard of it.

No heavy metal bands really played there but like I said, there is always a first time.

Yeah.

How about Download festival?

Download’s great! We played it last year. It’s a great festival.

Did you enjoy that?

Yeah I thought we put on a really good show. The kids were pretty stoked.

Thank you for letting me interview you.

No problem.

 * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

My Interview with

The Ghost of a Thousand 

The Ghost of a Thousand are a band of 5 members. They are based in Brighton, West Sussex and have toured with bands such as Aiden and will be touring with The Gallows.

The band members are:

Tom Lacey - Vocals
Memby Jago - Drums
Andy Blyth - Guitars
Jag Jago - Guitars
Gez Walton - Bass

Interview Information

I Alexandra McLoughlin caught up with Tom and Andy from the band to find out about their new album, Influences and more…

Hello guys how are you?

Tom and Andy: Very well thank you.

I know that your new album came out in February and was rated 5Ks by Kerrang quite fast when did you find out about that and how did you feel?

Tom: About 3 or 4 days before it came out I think.

Andy: Yeah about that.

Tom: I didn’t believe it to be honest. It was great!

Andy: As much as it’s a massive ego boost and we were over the moon it puts a lot of pressure on us now to live up to that type of reputation. That’s not a bad thing.

Do you think the fact you toured with Aiden around April helped you get known at all?

Tom: That was a great tour just because there was so many people there every night and everyone seems to get have a good time and get into it. It was defiantly like a start but that’s our first ever tour.

What was it like touring with them?

Tom: Awesome! They’re really nice guys and down to earth and would just do anything to help out. Very good band. We are great friends with them.

Andy: Yeah that’s great.

And you went to the Metal Hammer awards. That’s what I heard anyway…

Tom: Andy went. I didn’t

Andy: Me, Jag and Mem went.

What was that like?

Andy: Yeah I dunno. I can’t remember (Tom laughs) There was a free bar.

You were drunk?

Andy: I was very drunk. It was an awesome experience drinking with bands and stuff.

Let’s talk about the new album again. Who named the album because it’s a pretty interesting name for an album?

Tom: We all did really but I guess I was the one that came up with it. We wanted the title to reflect the first record. It’s kinda our stand against people we don’t like and things we don’t like.

Are you proud of this album and what is your favourite track on this record?

Andy: I have to say mine is probably One For The Road. Just because it’s just fast and have got balls of riffs and great vocals. It just flows really well.

Tom: I like Up To You because I get to scream. Its really great fun.

You must get a really bad throat with all the screaming…

Tom: I did when we were recording. Yeah. We had 5 days to do the vocals and on the third day I got really sick.

That doesn’t sound very nice…

Tom: It’s alright. You get used to that. It’s not so bad actually.

And tell us the story behind the album…

Andy: Well musically I think the inspiration is kinda like Smackhead, Refused like post hardcore mixed with sort of Bronx style stuff.

Tom: I think a lot of it was writing records we wanted to hear that other bands weren’t doing. It’s very cool those bands are great but we wanted to do other stuff.

And out of the other Brighton bands I have heard, they are mostly Indie music and you definitely stand out a lot compared to the rest of them. Are you quite good friends with some of them?

Andy: I went to college with The Kooks. The drumer from the Ordinary Boys, Im best friends with.

Are you quite supportive of eachother?

Andy: Yeah it’s like Orlando from Macabe a Brighton band has bought our album and they are all really supportive and vice versa.

Tom: Everybody knows everybody and that’s a good thing.

There’s a rock school in Brighton. What do you think about the whole idea of a rock school?

Andy: I was at it for 3 years. I think it serves a purpose. I’ve made connections there and I met Mem, our drummer there and then Jag and Tom. It’s made me make connections with creative people.

Tom: And I guess it can be a bad thing because there’s a lot of people that go to college who expect to get signed and that’s not really how it works.

Andy: … and they don’t really get that you have to work to get where you go.

So as children, did you want to be rockstars? I know it sounds crazy but most people when they young change their mind about what they want to be when they’re older.

Andy: I wanted to be in a band since I was like 12. I started to play the guitar. So my dream was to be in a band who went on tour.

You Tom?

Tom: I’ve been in bands all my life but this is my second serious one. I used to play guitar in a band. We were crap but it was great.

Are your parents quite supportive of you being in a band?

Tom: They love it. They are always at the shows. It just gets to the point when I tell them not to come because they just say “Oh you have to play this song” “Oh you have to play that song” that’s what it is.

Are they not a bit weary of that whole Rock ‘n’ Roll lifestyle?

Tom: I think my dad is.

Andy: Yeah my dad is always very supportive and stuff and the same with Mem and Jags mum. Gez’s mum always lets us stay with them when we go to Wales and cooks us breakfast. Everyone’s being really supportive.

Let’s talk about you as individuals. Who is the craziest member of the band?

(Both laugh) Andy: That’ll probably be me. Just because I drink the most

Do you love your drink?

Andy: I do love my drink. I guess if your looking for a crazy member that would be me.

Tom: Gez is starting to turn into a bit of a dark horse.

Andy: Yeah! Gez has come out of his shell a little recently. But yeah I don’t think any of us is particly mental really.

Finally What’s in the future for you guys?

Andy: We’re touring with the Gallows in June

Tom: …and might be on tour with Hatebreed. We are going to release another single and a 2nd album.

 * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Ulterior Interview

Ulterior are a UK band who sure know how to work up a crowd.

Their single 'Weapons' has just been released and is proving to be a hit and they have another single in the pipeline due out in March.

I Alexandra McLoughlin was lucky enough to grab a chat with the boys at the NME show in London....

Hi Guys how are you?

All- cold. Freezing cold.

When and where did you guys meet?

Honey- erm me and him are brothers (points to his brother Benn). We met Paul in Nottingham in our home town and we met Karl on a boat on the way over from Lithuania.

Benn- We found him playing slot machines on a 9 hour bus drive from Lithuania.

Are you being serious?

Benn- Yeah.

Honey- No he’s not.

(Laughs)

I’m confused. (I point at Karl) you tell me the truth.

Karl- I met the boys in a venue in East London a year ago.

What made you all click when you first met?

Honey - Well when I came out of my mum me and him clicked (referring to Benn).

(Hysterical Laughter)

Benn- We didn’t have much of a choice. And then me and Paul..I actually hated Paul and then got to know him quite well and we started living together. Our guitarist left in time for Paul to play with us and he did and was wicked.

I just want to speak to you a bit about your new single. It says on your myspace that it’s supposed to be out in February. When in February is it coming out?

Benn- Err might be early March now.

Honey- It’ll be out in the second half of March.

Are you looking forward to it?

Benn- Course. It’s more produce for people to listen to us.

And your latest single to come out ‘Weapons’ is turning out to be a really big hit. Are you proud of how fans are taking to it?

Benn- Yeah well I haven’t talked to that many people who’ve bought it to be honest.

Honey- But the people who have bought it love it and we’ve sold out of it bizarrely.

Benn- It’s good, it’s good. It’s had a very positive reaction around here. It’s quite an old track for us. Its one of our favourites. It’s been around for a while and it’s just nice to release it.

And so you’re playing the Astoria tonight. Have you ever played this venue?

Honey- Nah it’s the first time.

Have you ever come here to see a band play?

Benn- Yes.

Paul- I went to one of my first ever shows here.
What are you expecting of tonight.

Are you expecting people to go completely barking mad?

Karl- Lots of girls.

(Laughs)

Honey- That’s what he was expecting.

(Laughs) 
 Are you excited?

Karl- No.

(Laughs)
You’ve also got quite a few shows coming up in Europe…

Benn- We’ve already played quite a few but Europe pays you ya’know?! You get £20 for doing a gig here. We have a right laugh.

Paul- We play more in Europe then we do in here.
Do you have really crazy fans?

Benn - All our fans are like proper music guys standing at the back staring and come up at the end of the gig and go “That was really cool man” and that’s it.

(Laughs)
So you don’t have the completely nutty fans that do all the croud surfing?!

Benn- Yeah we do.

Paul- Spain..very good response. Germany…good.

Honey- Everywhere has been good really. But obviously playing places like this you get a wider audience so hopefully we’ll get a lot more people into what we do.

Benn- It’s just satisfying now everything is moving forward. We battered floors for the first yeah I mean we were literally emptying rooms for the first 6 months but then people started coming round to it and getting it and then you got bands like The Horrors who absolutely love us and let us play with them.

Can you blame them?

Benn- No. Without doubt we’re the best band in this venue tonight..

(Laughs)

Benn- ….I’m not even joking.

I don’t think the other bands would like it if you told them that…

Benn- F**k the other bands.

(Hysterical Laughter)

Benn- The Horrors are wicked guys I don’t know the other bands. The Horrors are really nice guys. They are not as good a band as we are.

What’s the future for Ulterior?

Benn- Well we’ll release more and more and work hard. We do the press, we do the marketing. We do everything ya’know?!

Honey- Just more hustling until someone f**king has the balls to sign us properly

Thank you for letting me interview you.

Benn- That’s no problem. You’ve got the balls.