What inspired the name of the band? What are your influences?
Stone: I listen to so much on the radio during the day it’s hard to pinpoint. It could be Bruno Mars, or Disturbed and anything else in between they play. I listen out for the harmonies and the highs and lows in the composition. I love music man.
Darren: Same. Too many to mention. But to pick a few you could say Elbow, The Beatles, Cherry Ghost, Joni Mitchell…
Stone: But the stuff that got me writing was Iron Maiden, Guns N’ Roses, Pearl Jam, that sort of stuff.
Darren: And the name? Well it’s simply our surnames. Wish it was more interesting than that for you… but it does have a nice ring to it so we were lucky there.
How do you approach songwriting? Are there any themes that you are keen to explore when you start off?
Darren: We don’t have a set approach really, other than get together with the guitar and jam.
Stone: Maybe approach it via the pub?
Darren: I can have a riff and a melody and Stone will write some words.
Stone: Or sometimes it’s an organic jam, you know, we’re just playing and it happens, such as Mystic Miles.
Darren: Sometimes a complete song is brought to practice. It really does vary.
Stone: But there aren’t really any pre-planned themes to our songwriting. Oh, we do like to have something positive in our songs though. Well, most of the time anyway.
How do you approach songwriting? Are there any themes that you are keen to explore when you start off?
Darren: We don’t have a set approach really, other than get together with the guitar and jam.
Stone: Maybe approach it via the pub?
Darren: I can have a riff and a melody and Stone will write some words.
Stone: Or sometimes it’s an organic jam, you know, we’re just playing and it happens, such as Mystic Miles.
Darren: Sometimes a complete song is brought to practice. It really does vary.
Stone: But there aren’t really any pre-planned themes to our songwriting. Oh, we do like to have something positive in our songs though. Well, most of the time anyway.
Why do you write the sort of music that you do?
Stone: It’s a culmination of loads of influences through loads of genres. I couldn’t imagine us writing any differently.
Darren: Our songs have been written during happy times to sad times to high times and I think that’s reflected in our album. From the optimistic americana britpop of She Came Round to the more classic rock sounding songs like Sense Out Of Crisis and Mystic Miles to the fragility of Elope to a bit of rapping on Th(f)ree.
Stone: Positivity is the meaning of the album, but always acoustic, that’s our thing.
How do you decide what songs to perform live and how do you transpose them into that live setting?
Darren: How do we decide the set? We tend to just work it out at the time.
Stone: Yeah, it’s usually whatever songs we feel like playing and putting them in an order that flows. And usually it’s just the two of us up on stage.
How do you decide what songs to perform live and how do you transpose them into that live setting?
Darren: How do we decide the set? We tend to just work it out at the time.
Stone: Yeah, it’s usually whatever songs we feel like playing and putting them in an order that flows. And usually it’s just the two of us up on stage.
What plans do you have for the future?
Darren: We’re gonna be getting back in the studio to get that second album done. Itching to get the new songs down.
Stone: Yep. Album two is looming and I’m so happy we don’t have to record it through a lockdown this time!
Darren: Thanks for having us.
Stone: Cheers, it’s been a pleasure.