Tory-hating scouse band STONE cap off a blistering year of live performances with debut EP, Punkadonk.

Liverpool four-piece STONE are Fin Power (vocals/guitar) and Elliot Gill (lead guitar), Sarah Surrage (bass), and Alex Smith (drums). The mosh-pit inciting post-punks are set to release their debut EP Punkadonk this November. We caught up with them on the cusp of the release of their new single, ‘Money (Hope Ain't Gone)’ to talk about all things STONE.

Can you tell us who you are, where you’re from and about the music you make?

Elliot: We are STONE from Liverpool, and we write our own brand of post-apocalyptic scouse rock’n’roll.

What encouraged you to start your own band?

Alex: From an early age, I have always been surrounded by music. I guess this has always been what has pushed myself onto the music path. The same goes for all band members, really. I remember my dad driving me around as a kid blasting the prodigy's “breathe” — I guess that has heavily influenced my music taste and obsession with it, really.

If you were to describe your sound to someone who’d never heard you
before, what would you say?

Elliot: I don’t know why this one is still hard to answer. Essentially it's a Scouse blend of rock and punk with a hip-hop influence. I read a comment once calling us ‘post-apocalyptic Scally rock’ and that has a pretty good ring to it.

We love your last single, ‘Waste’. Can you tell us more about the lyrics in this track?

Fin: 'Waste’ was written about being sick of people judging you without knowing anything about you. The opening lyric ‘you probably hate me’ refers to the fact that I started to find it easier to assume people disliked me from the outset instead of being caught off-guard by negative energy. The chorus is about how the need to be liked or loved can become an almost obsession that is dangerous to my mental health. The song’s middle 8 section is inspired by a time where I felt so distorted in my own brain it was like I was in a video game – sat in the passenger seat of my own emotions.

Tell us about your new single, ‘Money (Hope Ain't Gone)’?

Fin & Elliot: Money is a very special song for the band as the song is not solely one person’s perspective. The song was written by both of us (Fin and Elliot), and this was the first song where we co-wrote the lyrics. The song shares both of our emotions and perspectives on the world today and the anxieties we face. The song is a statement of emotion about the state of this planet and how it feels growing up into adulthood in the current climate. We come from very different lives, and the mix of our lyrics makes the song the force it is. The song showcases love, hate and hope for the future.

Can you tell us more about how you produce your music?

Elliot: The writing process is a pretty collaborative one. Sometimes Fin gets a song idea on the acoustic guitar and brings it to the band, where we build it in the practice room before self-producing our demos on our laptops. Sometimes we’ll each be sitting in our bedrooms, writing new ideas to bring to the table. We love the demo process because it gives us a more intimate understanding of the song and its intentions by the time we hit the studio. We’ve also set up a mailing list which gives fans access to these early demos in batches. We put a lot of effort into them. Then when we’re in the studio, we build the song up track by track, and that’s where all the little magic moments and ear candy come to life. We have previously recorded with Gavin Monaghan from The Magic Garden in Wolverhampton, as well as Al Groves in the Motor Museum round the corner from us.

What advice would you give to anyone trying to achieve a similar sound to your music?

Elliot: I think one good piece of advice is to never be afraid to try out new things and mess with the format. We are in a serious writing process at the moment, which has us writing anything from drum’n’bass to grime-inspired tracks and everything. The release is the risk, and that’s where it gets a little bit scary, but if you’re producing demos or writing with the band between four walls, what’s the worst that could happen? Throw everything at the wall and see what sticks.

What music styles do you guys listen to, and how different are they from each other?

Alex: We all have sort of similar tastes and are always putting each other on to different music, but there is definitely a joint love of hip-hop and electronic music. We always find ourselves playing loud, bassy tunes before and after gigs, helps us get in and out of the mood before stage, haha.

Do you feel like your parents influenced your personal music style or not at all?

Alex: I think every musician has always had inspirations given to them when they were young. The band has a mix of direct influences. Alex loves darker, more industrial sounds, constantly revisiting the likes of slipknot and the prodigy, whilst Elliot was raised half on rock music, and loud guitars, getting into guitar heroes like Hendrix, Morello, Cobain, Matt Bellamy, but his mum got him into all the house classics on long car journeys, so there’s something in that too. He got his first fuzz pedal aged 11 and developed an affinity for all things loud, distorted and ethereal, leading into psych/shoegaze territories which helped inform his sound down the line.

Name an album you’re still listening to from when you were younger and why it’s important to you?

Elliot: When I was 10 years old, my friend’s dad put me on to The Pixies, and Doolittle has been one of my all-time favourites ever since. I just love how they laid the blueprint for alt-rock bands for decades. There is no Nevermind without Doolittle. Just the leftfield, urgent guitar lines, frantic vocals with absurdist lyrics, and just barebones basslines. It’s a perfect album, a blend of the eccentric but with real craft behind the songs, but you know you’re in their world all the same. I don’t know what it is about that album, but it lives rent-free in my head, and it has a direct influence on my guitar playing.

Where do you see your band one year from now?

Elliot: Touring the US and Europe, with a belter little debut album under our belt. Would love to just see us go strength to strength seeing our stages get bigger, more festivals, more tours! Just to be doing this, really.

What do you love right now?

Elliot: The amount of cool artists making moves, really feels like guitar music has become relevant again.

What do you hate right now?

Tories.

What are your plans with the band in the near future?

Elliot: We're touring with Inhaler and The Wombats this month, and we just played Reading & Leeds and Away From Home Festival with Louis Tomlinson in Malaga that same weekend, so that was an amazing way to finish off the festival season. And in between, we are just getting a load of writing done and getting ready for our debut EP, Punkadonk, which is out in November.

What was the best gig you guys ever played, and why?

Elliot: Hard one. Our shows just seem to be getting better and better, and the crowds have been amazing. I always love playing hometown shows, so when we sold out the Arts Club Theatre in Liverpool for our headline show in February, it was really incredible to see a packed-out room just for us. Same thing happened at our Sound City slot. Just amazing to be representing Liverpool. But on the Reytons tour, we played a sold-out Magna and had nearly 5000 screaming ‘fuck the Tories’ with us. Beautiful. I loved our first proper mainland Europe show recently playing at the Valkhof festival in Nijmegen. Such a lovely crowd and a gorgeous city just partying together.