Date of Interview: February 2008

In this Stone Gods interview frontman Richie Edwards discusses success, avoiding The Darkness pop crowd and promises that Stone Gods will tour, tour, tour…Is the immediate plan to be putting yourselves out on the road?Richie: “Yeah. I mean, we did a small tour in January which was fantastic. It went really well and we basically just want to continue in the same vein. We’re hoping to squeeze in a support tour in March and then some more of our own dates in May and the June through September it’s off

around Europe doing the festivals. Maybe finish off the new year with another little run round the UK and get to some of the countries we haven’t yet visited. It is going to be a case of touring, touring, touring and getting ourselves playing to as many people as we possibly can.”Is it weird being back to, shall we say, more ‘intimate’ venues after all the arenas and flying white tigers?Richie: “It’s great, actually. I mean, don’t get me wrong – playing an arena is great and playing a festival to 85,000 people all going nuts, that’s pretty cool as well. But this tour we did in January, it really was fantastic to be playing these smaller venues. You’ve got the audience right in front of you, you can see the whites of their eyes and you can interact with them. You get a vibe of how things are going that you just don’t get from the stage of an arena. If you’re up there and there’s a good twenty feet between the stage and the start of the audience, you have no idea what’s going on out there. It’s really difficult to get the vibe, whereas when you’re onstage in a 200 or 300 capacity club, you can see everything that’s going on, right to the back of the room. I think it’s fantastic – you feed off the audience and they feed off you. It’s a far more intense experience and we all absolutely loved it. Just getting hot and sweaty and really feeding off the vibe of the crowd, it’s great.”Do you think Stone Gods can come close to the success of The Darkness? Does that even matter?

Richie: “It doesn’t matter to be honest and it also depends on how you measure success. My idea of success for this band would be for us to be at a level where we can carry on touring and we can carry on making records and if we could maintain that I’d be immensely happy – if things get too big too quickly, things can start to go pear-shaped, y’know? I certainly don’t think we’ll appeal to the crossover pop audience that The Darkness did, the kinda Saturday morning kids’ TV brigade. I don’t think we’ll pick up those fans at all, which to me is no bad thing really. Because once you start appealing to that audience, the only thing they’re really interested in is the next thing that’s coming along, whereas the core rock audience – which is hopefully what we’ll appeal to – is more real fan-based. If they like you then they’ll latch onto you and support you forever and that’s really important to us. As long as we have that core audience that allows us to tour and make records, we’ll be happy.”

So, will anyone expecting a Darkness Mk II from Stone Gods be disappointed?

Richie: “Yes is the short answer – we’re certainly not The Darkness Part 2. Some of the same influences are there but it is a very different beast really. For a start there’s no way that I could ever sing like Justin and his unique voice was a big part of The Darkness’ sound really. Even if we were playing The Darkness songs they’d sound completely different by the time I’d finished with them anyway. But the general sound of Stone Gods I’d say is far edgier than The Darkness was.”

How would you describe Stone Gods’ music?

Richie: “Because there’s four individuals we have a very diverse set of musical tastes and I think that’s reflected in the songs we write. We’re certainly not a one-trick pony. There is definitely that classic rock element in there. There are also folky elements if you will, there’s some out and out metal in there. The album is done and finished and ready to go and it’s a very, very diverse album. There’s a whole range of styles on there and that reflects the way that we wrote, which was the four of us just sat around with an acoustic guitar and a pad of paper, throwing sh*t at the wall and seeing what stuck. It was far more about writing songs than it was about writing big riffs and they just took the shapes they took. We didn’t sit down and go: ‘Okay, we need to be heavier than The Darkness’, we just let it evolve as it would. I’d say in essence we are a heavy rock band but there’s a lot of different elements on the album.”

Your debut EP Burn The Witch is actually out today – are you nervous? Excited?

Richie: “Hugely excited actually. I got sent a couple of copies last week and they look awesome. I’m expecting a phone call later and I believe – I read in an email this morning – that it’s actually already sold out. Which is pretty cool. I mean, it’s a limited edition release anyway. We

just wanted to get something out there and get a bit of interest going but I understand it has already sold out, which is pretty good. I should point out, you can still get it by download though…”

Nice plug, sir. You say the album’s finished – do you have a title and release date yet?

Richie: “We haven’t got a title yet. We’ve got a whole pad of A4 of band name ideas that didn’t quite stick but there’s some fantastic album titles on there so we’re going to go back through all that and pick a title. Release-wise it’s going to be this summer to tie in with the start of the festival season. What we’re hoping to do at this stage – and we are still putting the final plans together – is get a proper single release out in May and the album probably in mid-June. That’s the plan at the moment.”

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Leeders Farm has opened up a new space for local bands

A Norfolk recording complex used by some of the UK’s top acts including Arctic Monkeys, Seasick Steve and KT Tunstall has opened a second studio to appeal to local acts.

Leeders Farm, owned by Dan Hawkins – the former member of Lowestoft band The Darkness and current guitarist with Stone Gods – is helping Norfolk musicians thrive by giving them a professional space to practice and record.

The new facilities at the residential recording complex in Wymondham seem to provide the perfect modus operandi and atmosphere for local talent to produce their music.

Sargasso Trio and Violet Violet are just two of the local acts which have made use of Leeders Farm in the past, but the facilities have also drawn in a plethora of international acts to the Norfolk countryside.

Indeed, without the studio, the cat suits and hair-metal guitar solos of The Darkness may never have made it into the public eye, with the band’s rock sound perfected at the complex.

If you’re lucky, Dan Hawkins may even make an appearance on your record, with Norfolk-based act Magnet Man already receiving the pleasure of the renowned guitarist walking in on his session.

Nick Brine, studio manager at Leeders Farm, talks about what makes the studios so special and what it means for the development of Norfolk talent.

Why was the studio built? What is its main purpose?

The opening of the second studio has been a success according to Nick Brine

The main priority of the studio is to make ourselves more widely available to the local music scene. We’re strong believers in grassroots level music.

Those who know Leeders Farm will already know about the number of local projects we’re involved in and our continued dedication to local artists and charities.

The main studio is now one of the busiest and best high-end commercial studios in the country – it is booked out most of the time to major artists and labels. This means it’s unavailable to local, unsigned artists and it’s sometimes beyond their budgets.

With the second studio we have the opportunity to provide excellent commercial facilities to local musicians and bands. There has been no compromise on the equipment and fully commercial recordings can be obtained.

What does Dan Hawkins think of it?

Dan loves the studio and has already used it for a few of his projects – he even decided to record his latest album with Stone Gods in the new studio, when he could have chosen anywhere in the world.

He really liked the feel of the place and found it very creative. Once he heard the vintage microphone pre-amps in there he was hooked, they really do sound amazing! Anyone hearing their new album can discover for themselves the depth and quality that can be achieved in there.

Are there any other studios expanding in the local area or have they become victim to the recession?

There are always small studios springing up but unfortunately most of them don’t last very long.

People think it’s an easy way to make some money doing something you love – in reality there’s so much more to it than making music. Without the contacts and experience it’s very hard to establish a strong client base.

The new studio is fitted with a range of hi-tech equipment

Not many studios expand nowadays but I think you need to be diverse and get involved in all aspects of the music business. You can’t spread yourself too thinly though or your primary business will suffer.

A lot of studios have been victims of the recession and the digital age. So much more can be done from home and on small budgets nowadays that there are less sessions around for big commercial spaces.

There will always be a place for studios like ours as bigger artists still want to get away and record together away from managers, record labels and the media. You just have to make sure you provide them with a service that makes them want to come back.

Smaller bands find it much more of a buzz and special experience coming into a studio than sitting in their bedrooms.

What do bands think of the new studio?

So far the feedback has been great with many repeat bookings. It’s a great creative space with a retro feel and it’s set in great surroundings.

Some local bands have been really excited to find that their favourite band is recording in the studio next door and they’ve managed to grab a chat and a cup of tea with them – that just adds to the buzz of the place.

Are there any Norfolk bands recording in the new space at the moment?

We’ve had some great local bands in the new space recently, I’ve been really impressed with the quality.

Recent artists include The Lost Levels, Fever Fever, Alloy Ark, Magnet Man, Bad Touch, Black Sharks and Nausia.

Dan has popped in to see a couple of these and even ended up playing on a couple of the records while he was there! Great treat for the bands, but Dan just loves being involved.

Any more future plans for the studio?

Dan Hawkins (right) and his brother Justin (left) played in The Darkness

We are looking to expand the record and distribution label. We want to continue doing one-off single releases with local unsigned acts and developing local talent.

We recently started a PR and band agency which is proving very successful.

The aim is to take bands out of their local circuit and take them to the next level, introducing them to a new, wider audience and introducing them to the music industry.

Our courses and song-writing workshops will also be expanded in 2010.

Because of the clients we have worked with, it makes it very appealing to local bands to be tutored by someone who can tell you exactly how What’s the Story? (Morning Glory) was made or how Bruce Springsteen sets his amplifiers or what The Stone Roses were like as a band.

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Robin Goodridge Robin Goodridge I met up with Robin about 3 years ago on a night out with some drummers and ended up in an after hours club in Camden town. We talked about the Bush days, why a UK band which was massive in the USA and would play in front of 80,000 people struggled in the UK, what made him come back to the UK and losing his passion for drums. I told him we need to get together and do an interview it took us this long to get it sorted out! Since that night Robin has given up London life for the fresh air and seaside of (my home town) Brighton and has got a new gig with The Stone Gods. We met up after the band opened the Download main stage. Let’s go back to the beginning of the 90s, when you joined Bush. Yeah, I wasn’t the original drummer, Spencer was the original drummer and he went on to play with Morrissey. I went down and saw the band and I loved them. I went in the studio in my usual way and told them that I should be their drummer. I auditioned and got the gig and we started writing songs.  They had a couple of songs written and a few I didn’t really rate so Gavin, Nigel, Dave and myself all started writing together. ‘Everything Zen’ came out of the first session and there was an identity appearing in the band, the rest is history as they say.  We got very lucky with a record deal in America.  We were a very good live band; we went out and did our job playing five shows a week, 78 dates on an American tour. That’s how we achieved what we did more than anything. In American you would be out there playing in front of 40-50,000 people and then in England it was the complete opposite. Why do you think that was? A lot of it was politics to be honest.  I think the press in the UK were just really upset that everyone was going on about us in America.  In 1994/95 we were the biggest band in American and it upset everyone because Oasis were doing everything over here and it was like ‘No, we want Oasis to be exported to America’. The Americans were bouncing back saying ‘No we’re not bothered about them, we like Bush’. This went on for quite a while and I think once that happened I think everyone got very entrenched.

A lot of people like Steve Sutherland, just flatly refused to get involved in us, so we basically became a rock band for the rock fans.  Thankfully Kerrang and the true rock magazines, they came in and were like ‘No, we dig it’, it was a really hard time for English rock bands, 1995, it was really tough. There wasn’t anybody of our ilk so they were happy. It’s become so much more entrenched now; rock is in another world now, whereas at that time you couldn’t hear rock music.  There was Radio 1 Rock Show and then regional Rock Radio. I mean you’re never going to get massive playing on regional Rock Radio.  Now there’s so much more out there, so many more places to go out and find bands, that particular scenario wouldn’t happen.  If you went out to America and got massive you would be massive over here in 2 weeks because people would just be going for it. Did that annoy you guys? No, not really.  It was boring because politics shouldn’t get involved with music but in the greater scheme of things that’s not such a big deal.  I loved the fact that America embraced us, to be honest with you, everywhere in Europe, we were in Germany, the Netherlands, Northern Europe we did great. Southern Europe, not the same – Spain never really worked out for us. Japan, Australia really good, it was just the UK, Spain and France that didn’t. No-one really understands why nobody likes bands in France and Spain.  We did really well, we worked hard, we did loads of festivals in Europe, we played Reading. I thought we were great that day; we got a lot more kudos out of playing it. We played Glastonbury twice and got a lot of kudos out of that, but no-one really wanted to give it up for us and when you’ve got an agent in American going ‘Why are you bashing your head against a rock when you can just come over here and play wherever you like to 30,000 people?’. The Internet never really was in force in that day, it made things a lot different.  We were lucky.  For god’s sake when we played in America there was only MTV and VH1 and we had 3 videos an hour on MTV at one point, which would never happen now.  There’s so much diversity now I don’t think we would ever have been as big but we were really big because MTV just loved us that much that they kept playing our videos and that was the only source of TV access rock music.  In three years it completely changed, there was MTV1, MTV2, it spread into a thousand different channels. So you moved out to America. I was in LA for four years, It’s a funny place, its great when you’re working, coming in and out of it, a few days in your house, a bit of sushi, then off for another tour; I really liked it, but when Gavin pretty much said ‘I want to go and do a solo record’ I just thought I don’t want to live in LA waiting around for Gavin to decide what to do, so I moved back to London where I was from and hung out with my mates; I had 10 years where I didn’t see my best pals very often, so I thought I’d go back to London and get on with other things.  I was right, because here we are nine years later and Bush still haven’t done anything, I would have been sitting in LA.

So Bush has not broken up. No. It isn’t finished, 3½ years ago Gavin contacted everyone and wanted to do another Bush record but the songs he’d written were as a solo artist. Everyone listened to it and got together and we were like ‘Gavin you’ve written a solo album, just go and release a solo record’.  It’s like you’ve got a pair of trousers and you’re trying to cram three other people into one pair of jeans, it’s just not going to happen.  Just go and do your thing and if and when we want to make a record that everybody’s happy to do we’ll do it but otherwise it doesn’t make any sense. I would be much more interested in just going out and playing the hits for an hour and 20 minutes, that would be great fun because I wouldn’t have to do anything, I’m playing it as per the record, if that was ok with everybody, there would be not creative input because that was done back in the day, you’re not going to mess around with your hits, so from that point of view I would like to do it. There is an inevitability about it but it’s not my priority now because it has already happened, what I want to happen now is I want Stone Gods to be a big successful rock band in their own right. So after some time out you joined up with Spear Of Destiny. Tell us about that? I was in Bush from 1992 and there was a lot of tours, a lot of stuff, four albums – it was nice. After Bush I had a couple of years where I didn’t do a lot, I did a few sessions, did favours for people and then I started touring with Spear of Destiny and I found I really enjoyed touring again, it was easier, it wasn’t 75 dates, it was 20 dates in the UK, Europe. And the musicians were amazing – Craig Adams (Sisters of Mercy and The Mission), Adrian Portas, Kirk Brandon. I was like ‘Yeah I’d love to play with those guys’ and that turned into a really great re-entry into touring again, without all the dinosaurs and dragging trucks around, it was just four musicians, a couple of techs and a splitter bus and I loved it, I got back my passion for playing again.  There was a lot of baggage with Bush, when a band gets the size of Bush everything gets really big, it’s like why can’t we just do a small show without all the rig? Well it costs £10,000 to get everyone together and it’s like ‘Well how does that work, I’ll set my drums up’.  It got to that point where it becomes a giant machine you’ve got to start up.  It’s cool, but you can’t do things for fun. Vince this tech guy who did the guitars and the drums, we had such a laugh and I thought I’m all right, I can play and I enjoyed it and I don’t need all that other crap. Did you doubt yourself?

I didn’t doubt my playing, I lost being right there at the front line, you’re just used to sitting in this bubble and then get plonked on the stage and play to 30,000 people.  Everything was done for you – I never tuned my drum kit – I just thought I don’t really enjoy this anymore. When I got back into it I opened up flight cases in the lock up and I’d go ‘I didn’t know there was all this gear in here’, I was finding snare drums and things, we’d obviously been sent or bought and I just either never used them or I’d use them on one day and then go ‘No I don’t like that’. It was great fun going out on the Spear Tour and saying ‘I know, I’ll take that snare drum I found the other day, I’ll take that as a spare and see what it’s like’. I got back in touch with what it’s about, I really enjoyed it, and from that it made me able to get involved properly and be creative again.

Now you’re with the Stone Gods how did that gig come around?

Well, Ed, the original drummer, (ex-Darkness drummer) got an injury about 18 months ago so my first ever gig with Stone Gods was Download last year. I took the job just for a three week tour and it just kind of turned into the way the band played, they really enjoyed it and they asked if I was interested in making it a full time thing.

I have a certain way of playing and a certain way I like to play with other people and if they’re open and want to do that then that’s great and that’s how it happened, they were really happy to adapt the music slightly to let me do what I like to do as well, from a feel point of view, because a lot of it was quite straight. If you listen to it, it’s quite straight and I like to have a little more groove in it than was on the first record.

With the success you’ve had with Bush and now Stone Gods, what advice would you give guys and girls who want to get into this business?

I read your interview with Dave Mattacks who is a bit of a historical gem. I was in a blues band when I was about 18 and Dave Mattacks came to see us. He was playing with Richard Thompson and he had three months off and he nicked my job for 3 months in the blues band I was in. The guys were all in their early 40’s and I was about 19 and he became friends with them and ended up doing my gig which was cool. I went to see them play, I love Dave Mattacks, he’s a legendary great technician, sound, time; unbelievable.  So I thought, fair enough, if I’m going to lose my seat for a few months I better go and watch what he’s doing, so I can get my head around it.  I was playing in a blues band but I was playing more like the drummer in the Fabulous Thunderbirds.  Dave Mattacks told me when I talked to him about stuff later on, the name of the game is to find the music that you really do play well and play that.  Because a lot of drummers make the mistake of trying to be a rock drummer, funk drummer, jazz drummer, they never get to the real depth and roots of one particular discipline and if you can get that discipline and really study it that’s where you start. If you start there you’ve got a much better chance of getting on in the world of music I think.

Words Mike Dolbear

www.mikedolbear.com

Stone Gods Temple now has Twitter.

Follow @StoneGodsTemple here

Now in its second year, Exposure® Music Awards launched its second territory in the East of England this year to find the best new music in the Region. With categories including Best Dance, Rock, Pop, Best Male, Best Female and many more, we find out who the winners are at this glitzy Awards bash at The Junction!

Jam-packed with the best new music, live from Award nominees and winners, Awards will be presented by Glen White KISS 105-108FM, Dan Hawkins (The Darkness, Stone Gods), Nick Brine (The Darkness, Arctic Monkeys, KT Tunstall) and more…

For further info, please see:

Exposure® Music Award East

Under 14’s must be accompanied by an adult.

Doors / Bar open 7pm.

• J1 / £10 adv Buy

Richie is an interesting choice for front man, because as the Darkness’s bassist he seemed to be a quick fix after former bassist Poullain left, and didn’t seem to have the same flair as the brothers. Yet here he is, and a good choice he’s turned out to be. His rough energetic vocalsgo well with Dan Hawkins’ solid AC/DC-esque riffs, and his gravelly tones also work with the bands more poignant songs, such as the aacoustic”Magdalen Street. The song that stand out for me is the first track, and title track of the first EP, “Burn the Witch.” A song that incorporates an aggressive riff with often humeruslyrics, and an almost Metallica-esque finale. The chorus is a simple yet effective statement – “We’re gonna burn the witch!” This song is defiantly a good benchmark for things to come.

“Don’t Drink the Water” is another great rocker, and a parody of the British tourists, and shows that Dan Hawkins hasn’t lost his comedic skill with lyrics that he used so well in The Darkness.

A very nice man pointing out the exits
A pretty young girl handing out the wotsits
Saved like a fucker for my summer holiday
And I can’t wait to get away For the début album of a band formally 3/4 of The Darkness, this, I believe, is a great achievement, and shows, that with Justin gone, these guys can seriously rock. With influences of AC/DC, Thin Lizzy, Thunder and a twist of metal, this album will sate the thirst of anyone looking for modern rock bands, easily comparable with Airbourne and The Answer, the other great rock bands of this decade. They already have a regular spot at the Download Festival.

The Darkness may have come to a sticky end, but without the media hype and excessive lifestyle, the Stone Gods are sure to remain a mainstay of the rock genre, and maybe one day their hard work will pay off.  

HarryB89 – cd.ciao.co.uk