Interviews: Stoneside

On this new occasion, we have had the opportunity to interview the Alternative Metal band, Stoneside from the USA. Check out the interview and follow the band on their FACEBOOK PAGE.

1.Where did you get the idea for the band name, you planned it or came out just like that?

For personal reasons, I’ll keep this vague. I was in a cemetery to visit “someone“. There was a funeral service going on off in the distance. I was kneeling there when a little boy, I assume from the service area, walked over to me. He said to me “are the dead people buried in these rock things“? He was referring to the tombstones themselves. I said “no. Not actually in the headstones. But they are… Around here.“ To which he said “… Well, they are on the stone side now.”

2.Why did you want to play this genre?

Well, that’s the thing... I have these stories from the cemeteries and old battle grounds. I have the stories from people who passed away and it simply wasn’t their time.. I think it’s hard to pick a genre just because I write the music from the feeling I get when I learn these peoples stories. because really, there isn’t a genre for what we’re doing here other than for people to define it by heavy downtuned guitars. So the short answer, people’s lives and deaths are complex. So the music should reflect the quiet sadness, that peace, and then that explosion. I don’t know what it is. Prog or alt-metal or something like that I suppose. I play it because I love it.

3. Did you know each other before the band was formed?

I and Wheeler, the drummer and co-writer met in an old band. We clicked immediately. He had these incredible elite-level jazz chops. It blew me away. We clicked as humans and became friends. When Stoneside was formed, he was easily the first choice.

4. Each band member favourite band?

God, that’s... gonna be impossible to answer without mentioning band after band. Can I pick three? Deftones, Depeche Mode, and maybe old Machinehead

5. Who or what inspires you to write songs?

I try to spend time in the areas of the dead. I sit and I wait for something to speak to me. I learn their story, I go home and write music to match that feeling. I don’t really wanna say too much about myself personally but it’s easy for me to find my own emotion to attach to those events and stories. For better or worse, things were rough growing up. I find sympathy in these people's successes and failures.

6. Where was your last gig?

This beautiful legendary venue in Texas called Fitzgerald’s. It was just over a century old I believe. So just like all things once the city swallows them, they tore it to the ground to build a parking lot..

7. Where would you like to play?

Personally? I like playing in towns and small cities that are in the middle of a place that is isolated.. in the states I would say someplace like the desert or far west Texas, the empty space of Wyoming, towns and small cities in the Midwest in general where the people there want something to bond with emotionally and we can share that moment... in the Uk..? Pretty much anywhere because the ghosts and centuries of history and stories there are so deep it almost goes on forever and anywhere we could possibly travel.

8. Who would you like to support?

Tool. Someone like Maynard Keenan; I’d like to pick his brain. He was a man that went to Los Angeles, saw that narcissistic self-absorbed side, and abandoned ship for a desert town to grow wine. The music is prolific… But the balance? That’s exceptional.

9. Who not?

I’m not throwing struggling working musicians under the bus. That said… I don’t think any of us in this group truly want to play with a band that’s Just some party band. Booze, shitty lyrics about women, you know the type, right? We aren’t here to call girls backstage and do blow off their stomachs. We’re here to work.

10. Any of you has ever suffered from stage fright? Any tip for beginners on how to beat that?

I know Wheeler has. I’d say he’s the best musician out of all of us. But he has a complex mind. I think sometimes that gets a hold of him before he goes to perform. When he’s loose, he’s almost in another dimension. Personally, I feel like I’m going to vomit before every show.

11. What bands have inspired you the most?

All the metal I grew up on, all the hip-hop I grew up on especially coming out of that Texas area where we grew up, early Metalcore, Radiohead, Duran Duran, Tears for Fears…… lately I’ve been into Alpha Wolf out of Australia....and Vision of Disorder’s “Imprint” at all times.

12. What's the weirdest thing a fan has ever asked you for?

A signature on their prosthetic leg. While it’s an awkward situation, there’s nothing I’d be more honored to do.

13. What do you think of your fans?

I have things in my body that sometimes make it hard for me to do things. We will just leave it at that…when I’m having those issues, these fans went ahead and literally built our first website. Designed art for almost every song, drew incredible artwork and pictures and photographs... it was incredible. They are incredible. I love hearing about where they’re from, how they came to be there, how they heard the music. I just love making that connection

14. What do you think of our site?

I love that you guys are putting independent artists out there. I mean, I don’t know how much your readers and viewers know about how hard it is as an independent project to get out there during the pandemic, but it is. You guys are at the forefront of that new wave.

15. Something to add?

Thank you for the time, first. Secondly, follow us on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, TikTok. We always follow back because it’s not a popularity contest. Lol. Take care and good luck, my friends.