Video summary
The band Stone discusses their collaborative songwriting process and the evolution of their second album, highlighting a blend of spontaneous rehearsal room sessions and individual laptop demos. While some tracks like "Never Again" and "Money" came together rapidly in the studio, the overall creation was a lengthy six-month journey involving multiple demo iterations to refine every part of the musical puzzle. The recording phase felt surprisingly quick because the band recorded live in the studio with a dedicated daily schedule, aiming to capture the energy of a single take rather than chasing perfection through endless overdubs. This approach allowed them to release the album quickly while maintaining a sense of urgency and momentum as they look toward future festivals and potential tours across Europe.
A significant portion of the conversation focuses on the band's distinct sonic aesthetic, which Ellis describes as aggressive, messy, and discordant rather than polished or technically perfect. He explains that his playing style intentionally embraces imperfections and "drunk" sounds to create a memorable character, rejecting the traditional producer-driven pursuit of a flawless take in favor of retaining idiosyncrasies on the record. This philosophy extends to their use of equipment, particularly the Blackstar amplifier, which they praise for its ability to handle high gain and heavy distortion without sounding overly compressed or thin. The amp provides a warm, crunchy foundation that supports a stack of pedals, allowing them to achieve a "meaty" and abrasive tone that fits their pulp punk spirit while remaining portable and reliable for live performances.
Regarding their pedal setup, the band members share how they have organically built their boards over time through trial and error rather than following a specific plan. Ellis notes that his clean channel is intentionally not clean, relying on the amplifier to do heavy lifting before adding drives or fuzz pedals to create a noisy, textured sound. He mentions experimenting with various effects like tremolo and reverb, acknowledging that while he has received many pedals as gifts or purchases, the final setup is simply what works best for controlling chaos and harnessing noise. The group agrees that their gear choices are driven by a desire to capture a specific feeling of aggression and theatricality, ensuring that even if they break a string or push the amp too hard, the resulting sound remains authentic to their vision. Ultimately, their musical identity is defined by this commitment to grit and raw energy, proving that a great platform for pedals does not require technical precision but rather a willingness to embrace the messiness of live performance.
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I'm Ellis. And
>> I'm Sarah.
>> And we are in the band Stone from the
pool. When we write together as a band
and like all together in rehearsal room,
which is a lot what happened for our
last album and there was so many like
sporadic moments, but then there's just
times we are just sat down with like the
puzzle of like a song like on on your
own, I guess. So, it really depends. It
depends who's in the room. Our last
album was mainly done all together in
the room, but we've got a hell of a lot
of demos are all just done like cranked
out on a laptop as well. Yeah, it's
taken a lot of thought to be able to get
everything all the all the parts of the
puzzle like getting together for to make
it a good tune and and just have to keep
going over and going over and going over
again and again until it's perfect.
>> Yeah, sometimes they just they come at
night the ideas and that's when like
sometimes I'm not like the most
methodical like I'm going to finish
this. I just sometimes I like look at
like a I don't know like my computer as
like a a notebook to like make a
scribble with and then eventually that
might become some kind of big portrait
or it might just get chucked in the bin.
I don't know.
>> That's nice. I like that.
>> I think Never Again came together really
quick.
>> Smithy came with that one, didn't he?
But then
>> he came with like this these chords and
then the bass and then he was like I
want fast something fast. Yeah, I think
the fastest song we've ever put together
potentially could have been Money,
maybe. Do you remember like in the
practy room, Finn just started strumming
those chords and then it just kind of
happened?
And then just
>> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That that like came
together really quick. But but just cuz
it came together quick doesn't mean it
actually did cuz we we like recorded it
like three times, right?
>> Yeah. We've done like a long time with
the song, I guess.
>> Right. So, it's kind of like a mixture
of both. We've like demoed every song on
the last album like three or four times.
Like made a big list, whittleled it
down. It It doesn't feel doesn't feel
quick. It's like a long process, but
also short and like we did it over like
what 6 months or something.
>> And then and then we recorded it. It
felt dead quick because we blasted it
out like like half a day every day. It's
like, okay, this morning is dedicated to
recording this one song. This afternoon
is this. Cuz we did it all live in the
studio.
>> Yeah. I think that's kind of the
livveness of it. It was quite it felt it
was long but quick trying to get
everyone happy with one take. Painful
painful.
>> We really wanted to just put this second
album out and let it just percolate a
little bit. But then we've also now
decided to keep it moving. Keep it
moving and and uh see if we can strike
any more gold. But we've got a couple of
festivals throughout Europe mainly
relatively free the end of the year.
Well,
>> yeah, something might crop up.
>> Yeah, something if anyone wants to take
us out on tour.
>> Yeah.
>> Feel like I could only think of like a
bog standard word.
>> What word is that?
>> Crunchy.
>> Crunchy. Meaty.
>> I think crunchy. Treby. Like I don't
know. Like I feel like running
throughout the whole of Stow's timeline,
it's always been like we're going to
what we crank up the treble on the bass.
Anytime I've ever been in a cracky room,
I've fixed something or Finn's come
over, Finn's just like with the treble
and you're like okay, it sounds good. As
long as it's like fat, crunchy, meaty.
So this is more than one sentence tre.
I kind of came from like the Joey
Santiago kind of school of like
it's if it's not going to be super
technical, it's got to be super
memorable. And part of something that
makes it memorable for me is like the
character. And I just think there's
something very aggressive about the way
I play and there's something a little
bit discordant now. I'm always trying to
I hear something and like something's
too nice. It needs to be a little bit
messed up in some kind of way. But yeah,
I don't know. Discord and aggressive.
Um, I've heard drunk style once and I
can't argue with that.
>> I love that. It's a bit like yours is
like bit like
>> there is it's like feedback and it's
like it's got to be a little bit messy.
There's I'm I'm not very
>> It's not too polite, is it?
>> No, I'm I'm polite but I'm not very
clean cut. I'd say there's a there's a
messiness about the sound which I think
really gives it like a character.
Especially on the album like compared to
how we used to record it used to be like
producer telling us to get like the
right take and that's right. What's
wrong with it? I don't know. Uh but now
it's like there's little imperfections
and idiosyncrasies that live on that
record that I I can hear them and yeah
but messy discord and abrasive is a good
word. This is just how many synonyms I
know.
>> How many sentences was that?
>> There's like pulp punk. There's a pulp
punk and spirit inspiration there like
big time. Um, I'd say definitely
>> well, it's just it's just like so easy
to use. It just like does what it says
on the tint, you know what I mean? I
love the fact that you can absolutely
crank it as well. Like you can get some
really nice really nice like crunchy
tones on it, especially like I used to
use the um the 6L6 on it. One notch from
the 606. I've just moved I changed
recently cuz I thought I'll give it a
try. It sounds really nice just warm but
also like crunch, you know? It's not too
thin. I have mine on stage at a quarter
volume, but it has like the range to be
able to go up to like big venues.
>> I have to have a certain volume
threshold for it to kind of feel like
it's opened up and then at which point
I'm way too loud and then and then
fights into now this now like the black
star. It's like we we can respond to the
room and it doesn't have to oh, you
know, be yeah, I'm like a little bit
smooshed up and overly compressed. It's
like it it opens up nicely. Also, the
the it's lightweight, portable, saves
everybody's back is great.
>> Mine is so light. I I can carry it.
>> There's other things that I want to try
on it, like the cab rig stuff and like
the the like plugging into me computer
and stuff. Like I I I am a little bit
worried about moving the needle too
much. But I I know that as soon as I
sort of feel familiar with the sound, I
can kind of switch it up. It's just got
like a really high gain, high like
really nice break up to it. It's a real
good platform for pedals. I think that's
and I use a lot of pedals. Um, and like
it takes up a lot of headroom, but if
you take up like this big gnarly reverb
and like got like two drives on, it's
like a lot of amps will just go. Whereas
this feels like feels like there's a lot
of headroom on these amps. So, I'm Yeah,
I'm really I'm psyched about Black Star
amps. Honestly, we've just like switched
up. Uh we still I've been on the the
same chain series for like a minute and
uh yeah been around the world of the it
was the EL84 I had and I've just
switched to the newer one but great. So
thank you.
I stack pedals a little bit but I my
clean sound is not clean. My clean sound
is kind of disgusting. So I think the
amp is doing a bit of heavy lifting. It
it's a great foundation but it just it
stacks well with your drives. I think
that's what I like. And I've got like
some I've got like a fuzz factory
knocking around at home that I haven't
tried yet, but that that will put it to
its test, I think, if I can get some
horrible fuzz. There's a lot of gain to
go off already. So, once you sort of
know where you how you're stacking it,
you're always fine tuning everything on,
you know?
>> I'm not super experimental with pedals
to be honest. Like I I have my
overdrive. I have a sand.
>> I think you just acrew it over time. I
think I think I I found that I've ended
up with a pedal board that does a lot of
stuff. Yeah,
>> I just if I want a tremolo, I can I can
dial it in. I've got like a little sort
of line six model thing that I was
given. I suppose no, I don't think
anyone really sets out to go this is
what I'm going to do. This is I go on a
quick board or big run down. Maybe some
people do that, but the average person
just has one rubbish fuzz until they've
got a better fuzz and then they keep
hold of that rubbish fuzz because it
might do one thing. And I think that's
just kind of it. I've been gifted some
pedals. I've been bought some pedals.
It's it I I guess you just acrew it and
you deal with the results. You just dial
in whatever is good. But no, I don't
think there was any particular like this
is the sound. Uh for me, I think it was
just like started out super noisy and
how much can I kind of control and
harness. I guess the feeling is
everything. I say like when I was saying
before about the way I play is quite
aggressive. I think that's kind of what
sells it for me is the the almost the
theatrics of it. But
>> yeah,
>> I don't know. I don't know. It it it
feels everything until you bust a string
and then you felt too much, too hard.
>> Fair enough.
>> I don't know what's that.
>> It feels good. Do it. You know what I
mean? So I I don't know. I probably