The Stone Gods : Temple of Rock

Music, Media and Muses

A great review of Burn The Witch from Hardrockhouse.com

February 8th, 2008 Posted in Press
Feb, 08 2008
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www.hardrockhouse.com

Stone Gods – Burn The Witch

Pias UK

Rating – 8/10

Review Al Hey

Most bands go out on tour with some product to promote but, in the case of the Stone Gods, who have recently just completed their first full UK tour, it was more a case of just getting out there to introduce themselves. Having caught the band on tour and also being given access to talk to the band about the future it was revealed that there was an EP due for almost imminent release and that an album was also done and dusted. Well here is that EP…

Featuring four tracks, two of the tracks have been featured as snippets on the bands MySpace site, if you’ve listened to those snippets then believe me you’ve barely scratched the surface of what the full-length versions have to offer. Kicking off with “Burn The Witch”, which is bouncy hard rock, lyrically dark and edgy but a whole lot of fun, Stone Gods deliver some tasty layered guitar harmonies that mildly unsettle and create a musical accompaniment that would make this song a perfect soundtrack for anyone who decided to re-make the movie “Witchfidner General”. Dan Hawkins sounds like he is having lot of fun as he riffs his way though time changes that recall early day Metallica.

“You Brought A Knife To A Gunfight” is ultra catchy and if you don’t find yourself shaking your bits to this song you may want to check your pulse. Vocally Richie Edwards is having a ball as he spits out his lyrics sounding like a British version of Steven Tyler. The guitar solo is pure rock and roll being brash and bold and well arranged. “Breakdown” on the other hand begins with a wonderful homage to Thin Lizzy thanks to a tasty dual guitar harmony intro. Dan has never hidden his love of Thin Lizzy and this track does recall the spirit of that band’s earlier music. It’s pure Gorham and Robertson. The song itself could easily trouble the charts thanks to its infectious chorus and Bryan Adams like vibe. Rounding off the EP is “Heartburn” which instantly brought to mind the swagger of the Georgia Satellites and the country rock vibe of John Mellencamp. It’s a well crafted song that shows flair and taste in the guitar department as it dips into some nice country rock and Rolling Stones like licks.

All in all this EP is going to surprise and please a lot of people. Forget everything you know about the history of this band as the new music is a million miles away from where they came from (The Darkness). Each song displays something different and one is left instinctively knowing that as a collective the band have a great chemistry when it comes to songwriting. I have to admit that the prospect of a full album containing music as well crafted as these does get me very excited. Stone Gods have all the ingredients to become a major force in the rock and I for one hope this year sees the band reaching ever-greater heights.

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EP Review

February 8th, 2008 Posted in Press
Feb, 08 2008
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Thanks to Karyn for the link!

Altsounds.com

Stone Gods- Burn the Witch

The band- Stone Gods was formed by ex-Darkness members Richie Edwards on vocals and guitars (he was the bass player in Darkness), Dan Hawkins on guitar, Toby Macfarlaine on bass and Ed Graham on drums. They recently released the EP titled “Burn the Witch”.

The band’s biography describes the overall sound of the EP as:

“Fronted by Richie Edwards, whose powerful voice resonates with four decades of classic rock gusto”.

That statement actually makes sense because you would find echoes of Aerosmith, Queen and some glam rock bands of the 1980s. It really seems Richie Edwards and company have more or less shunned their previous musical root which was in the form of Darkness. However, this seems to be a remarkable piece of work, clearly superior to or rather interestingly different than Darkness.

• To remark that the first track, “Burn the Witch” is a breezy opener would be an understatement. It has got more surprises than what you would expect from an almost 5 minute rock track. There are elements of prog-metal, classic rock, NWOBHM (New Wave of British Heavy Metal) and speed metal. It takes all those vital heavy metal pills, breaks into one side and blasts in all its glory from the other end to finish what could easily be a key single for them if they have any plans of releasing this as a single. This song is definitely the highlight of the EP.

• “You Brought a Knife to a Gunfight” seems like a song Steven Tyler would do with Aerosmith. This when mixed with shades of Queen, specifically from their classic track- “Tie Your Mother Down”, would result in such a musical output. It is an interesting hard- blues-rock song.

• “Heartburn” is yet another blues-rock song but a slower number with beautifully arranged guitar solos and chugging rock ‘n’ roll vibe that gives images of thick- moustached rockers riding their Harley Davidson bikes through the Arizona desert lands.

• “Breakdown” is such an outstanding rock ballad. It is relatively a simple track but by no means falls short of any of those gorgeous guitar solos and musical adventures like the other songs.

The most fascinating aspect is that it has got a certain retro-sound to it and yet at the same time it is not a copy of any those classic rock bands. All the tracks are extremely well produced. That should not be a surprise since they must have had so much of production experience or at least been involved in the tedious recording process during their previous musical incarnation as “Darkness”. This EP is a winner in every sense. I can hardly find anything to complain about it. To reiterate that point, Ritchie Edwards himself comments as follows:

“We won’t repeat any mistakes from the past. We’ve got a really punk rock attitude. I don’t have to play the game anymore. I don’t want to be a celebrity. I’m just so happy to be in this band. The music is the only thing that matters”.

I can safely say that the music they made is a testimony to his statement and it is this attitude that would win them a devoted audience in the foreseeable future. Perhaps, the leaving of Justin Hawkins was a blessing light in disguise to dispel all the “Darkness”. Call it tempting fate but I can really smell a sweet sense of success, here.

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Disposable Media Review – Norwich 30/1/08

February 3rd, 2008 Posted in Press
Feb, 03 2008
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Disposable Media Review

Click on link to see photo’s of the gig!

Sunday, February 03, 2008

Stone Gods – Live at Norwich Waterfront – 30/01/08

Norwich gig venue The Waterfront has never been as packed before, and there’s good reason. This is the hometown/last-night-of-the-tour show by the Stone Gods; the new band by the line-up of The Darkness (minus singer Justin Hawkins, the old bass player promoted to front man, and with a new bassist roped in. Got that? Good).

The extreme density of the crowd is no-doubt helped by a quarter of the audience being made up of friends and family of the band (guitarist Dan Hawkins’ mum alone has ‘plus sixteen’ on the guest list!), but the performance delivered more than warrants it.

On the whole, Stone Gods are a much ‘heavier’ proposition than their previous incarnation, delivering a 12 song set that hints at every rock sub-genre they can possibly think of, from classic metal, a bit of punkier stuff, and even what one gig-goer dubbed ‘theme tune from a crappy American teen drama’.

They may technically be a new band, but the stage-presence and musicianship of these guys is outstanding, with front man Richie Edwards clearly being born for the role.

Enjoy the pictures, and don’t forget to check out our exclusive interview with the band in Issue Ten of Disposable Media, due out any day now!


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ROCK OF AGES

February 1st, 2008 Posted in Press
Feb, 01 2008
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Stone Gods Interview - - Many many thanks to our friends at Rock Of Ages, Andy and Bill for recording this for those who missed it on the night. Please.. check out their site and leave some lovely comments too! Guys, you rock!!

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Interesting article from Cherwell Seeing the Light

February 1st, 2008 Posted in Press
Feb, 01 2008
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Stone Gods emerge from The Darkness

I have failed you. I am sorry. You lent me the Dictaphone and everything, and I let you down. This is Cherwell, and so you want something post-modern and ironic, or at the very least scathing and cynical. But all my pretensions to critical greatness have been jeopardised by the fact that provincial little me has been charmed senseless. In my defence, Stone Gods are no ordinary band: they used to be The Darkness (before the lead singer left, and Toby MacFarlaine arrived). So their charisma has been honed on TV presenters and proper celebrities. Can you blame me for liking them?

Backstage at the Carling Academy (evidently not refurbished when the rest was) they have a small fridge containing their rider: apples, hummus, “about 8 types of cheese”, Stella, and both colours of wine. According to Dan Hawkins, they ‘had some mangetout turn up too once’. This can’t be rock and roll – they’re too nice. This generosity of spirit apparently extends even to each other: they collaborate on songs, the four of them ‘sitting around with acoustic guitars’. MacFarlaine describes it as ‘like that game you play when you’re a kid: you draw the head of the monster, and fold it over and pass it on’. The analogy isn’t borne out by the music: the songs are tightly structured and tidy. They are also catchy. This is fortunate, because there are exactly 3 minutes of the new album available on MySpace, and they are headlining the show. Evidently, they’ve got a bit of a way with words – conversation moves from Pavlovian conditioning to raspberry pavlova. And then onto Kanye West (“nice sunglasses” according to Edwards), Joe’s Café on Cowley Road (‘brilliant’), and the relative merits of buying a pig or buying a pigskin hat from Reign.

MacFarlaine and Hawkins are local boys: if you want to make a pilgrimage (more original than stalking Thom Yorke), MacFarlaine used to live at 526 Banbury Road. The band have been enjoying meeting their new fans – including a 52-year old lady-rocker, who assured them she’d still be head-banging at 101, and a small entourage which escorted the drummer to Boots the Chemists (I am assured he wanted to go). On stage they not only thank us for coming, but apologise for a song called “Magdalene Street”, because it’s named after a street in Norwich which is pronounced all wrong (Biblical rather than Oxonian pronunciation).

Attempting to regain some journalistic objectivity, I took a discerning friend to the gig, planning to hijack his critical opinion and present it as my own. Unfortunately, he liked them too. He said they sounded original. And the downside of liking something (apart from embarrassing myself dancing like a muppet and witnessing my beautiful sarcasm wither under the onslaught of niceness) is that you want it to like you back. I don’t really have anything to offer them – when I ask what they would have liked as gifts MacFarlaine says he wants a Pembroke scarf. Oh, and Dan Hawkins would like a trophy wife. So here’s the pitch: he’s vegetarian, would have liked to have studied anthropology at uni, and if there’s any justice in this world, he’s going to be in a famous band.

by Emma Butterfield

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