We did a email interview with Toby from Stone Gods and talked about the bands forthcoming album, the current state of the music scene and their hectic touring schedule

Hello and thank you for taking time out to do this interview.
First of all can you give us a brief history of the band for the people who have never heard of you?
Dan, Ed and Richie used to be in a group called The Darkness. I played bass with Graham Coxon. They had begun a new project and asked if I wanted to join, which I did because it was to be a fully collaborative effort, songwriting-wise, and we’d been friends for a decade anyway, so it just seemed very natural.

How did you come up with the band name Stone Gods?
We didn’t. We came up with nigh on three hundred names with various degrees of appallingness. HMS Battlecat, anyone?
Luckily our long suffering guitar/ backline technitian and all-round good egg, Adi Vines, came up with Stone Gods, reasoning that it would look good on a black t-shirt. I think we mulled it over for a night and by morning we were all agreed.

What are your influences and whom would you say contributed to your current musical style?
The four of us have hugely varied tastes and influences. What you can hear is the sound of four eclectic brains being mushed. Influences go from AC/DC to Megadeth, taking in Creedence Clearwater Revival and The Dixie Chicks along the way.

You have seventeen shows running from the middle of June until the end of June, are you looking forward to getting back out on the road again?
Good God, no.
Only joking. Of course! Being on the road and gigging every night is when you really feel like you’re in a band. There’s been a few months of listening to mastering and thinking about artwork and doing the odd interview and that all kind of makes sense once your out there “doing it”, so to speak.

You are playing the Download Festival on the 13th June and the Isle of White Festival on the 14th June, which festival are you looking forward to the most?
I think we’re looking forward to both equally. They’re both pretty big deals, aren’t they? Prestige and all that. Personally I’m looking forward to the Isle Of White because I’ve never been there before and I have some friends from there. On the other hand it’s Download, it’s ”rock”, it’s “roll”, it’s probably the “N’” to boot.
It’s just going to be great to get out and play to a whole bunch of rock fans in Wellington boots.

Will you have chance to check out any bands at the festivals or will you have to head off straight away for your next show?
I suspect we’ll have to shoot off pretty sharpish. That’s usually the way with these things. You never know, though, there might be time for a quick nose about.

Do you have plans to play at any of the other festivals this summer?
Speak to our agent, I’m afraid I have no idea at this time. I just go where I’m told.

When you first started playing shows, did you get many people going along expecting a Darkness tribute band, or expecting you to play a number of Darkness shows and if so have people got the message now that you are a serious rock band?
I think a few people may have expected that. We pretty much made a point of saying that that wasn’t going to be the case. I remember one guy in the front of one of the Thin Lizzy support shows saying, very calmly, arms folded, “Play Bald or something off One Way Ticket…” I simply replied, “You’ve got the wrong band, mate” and that was that. Anyway, I haven’t the faintest idea how to play any of those songs.
Everyone has been very respectful, so far, and I think that within the first few bars of our set people realise that this is a very different group.

You played in Brixton Academy with Velvet Revolver, how did the show go down and what was it like seeing the band play one of their last shows with Scott Weiland?
That was awesome! Brixton is such a great place for a rock band to play. It’s just a really great size and atmosphere. The audience was up for it from the get-go, so we thoroughly enjoyed it.
It was fun to see Slash and Duff and Matt, being a big Guns fan, myself. I never really got into STP, but the Revolver were very entertaining, even if there was a bit of a “vibe” going on with them at that point. But that’s really not for me to comment on.

Do you prefer being on the road touring or in the studio recording?
Both are great. After a while of recording you want to get on the road, and after a while on the road you want to get in the studio. They’re the two sides of the coin. I wouldn’t want one without the other. Then you don’t have a coin. You have a token.

Do you have any funny stories from being on tour?
Yes and I put them all in the tour diaries which go on our main site and our myspace. Lots of funny things happen on tour. Lots of very mundane things also happen on tour, too. Sticking a bunch of blokes in a van and sending them up the M1 for a fortnight is like an experiment. Who’s going to crack first and buy a copy of Nuts?

If you could play with any band past or present, who would it be and why?
I’m really just enjoying this group at the moment, thankyou.

What is the most memorable gig you have played and why?
Personally I’ve done lots of memorable gigs, for lots of different reasons. I guess our first show supporting Thin Lizzy should go here. You never get to do your “first gig” again, do you?

You have recently announced that your debut album will be called 'Silver Spoons And Broken Bones' how did you come up with the album title?
It was just a phrase I wrote down when brain-storming a bunch of possible titles and it stuck with all of us. Now it has come to mean something more. It’s about coming from a perceived position of privilege and the truth behind, or underneath that. It’s presenting the falsehood and unveiling the reality. There’s a lot of truth on this record, so I suppose it’s about that.

When will 'Silver Spoons And Broken Bones' be released and how many tracks will feature on it and what themes do you cover in the songs?
It’s coming out on July 7th. It’s a thirteen tracker and the themes are as varied as the songs. Essentially it’s a good-time rock n’ roll record. There are some tough things on there. Some songs were born of catharsis, so there’s an anger in there. There’s also a sense of triumph.

Your EP 'Burn The Witch' sold out of physical release copies on the first day, how many copies were released and were you surprised to see them snapped up so quickly?
I think there were like 2000 physical copies pressed and there were many, many preorders, so it wasn’t really a surprise, but that’s not to say that it didn’t kick arse when we heard the news.

What do you have planned after your tour in June and when can we expect a headline tour to support the album release?
The tour in June IS a headline tour. But there will be more to follow, yes.. Gigs, gigs and more gigs. We plan to play the shit out of this year.

What do you think of the current music scene?
I think it’s pretty healthy. There’s a lot of really good bands coming through and the whole live circuit is really buzzing. I’m not sure there’s really a “scene” going on, in the traditional sense. Those are always press creations, really, aren’t they? But there’s a lot of good things happening. Hooray!

What advice what you give to a new band starting off?
Don’t tailor your style to fit in with a “scene”. If you sound like an identikit band now, by the time you come out properly you’ll be totally old hat and ridiculed. And rightly so! Do what you do and do it well. Don’t trend hop.

Where do you hope to see Stone Gods in 5 years time?
I don’t want to “see” them anywhere, because I expect to still be in them. I think we’ll be rocking out and playing nice-sized venues and eating nice-sized meals with a nice-sized fan-base cheering us on.

Okay, one final random question; if you had a choice, what animal would you be out of a Zebra and a Giraffe?
I’ll take Giraffe. They’re kind of out there on their own. Zebras are like weird horses. Who needs that?

Thanks for your time, is there a message you would like to give to your fans reading this?
Thankyou for reading this. Now go buy our record. Xx Toby

Interview by Trigger