SXSW Interview: Stonefield
You all know we love our Australia, so their latest export, Stonefield, seemed like the perfect act to check in with this week, just before the band heads overseas to the festival for the first time. The four psych-rock sisters are prepping a new album for release later this year, so keep your eyes peeled, and expect to hear a few new tunes at this year’s fest.
ATH: For a lot of bands, this is their first time coming to SXSW, Austin, or even the United States. What are you anticipating for your arrival into our town? Anything youre really hoping to do while youre here?
Stonefield: From everything we have heard, we are preparing ourselves for an obscene amount of people and chaos when trying to get from one show to another. It sounds like a huge buzz, so much great music and a heap of fun. Were pretty excited to hear that theres some great vintage shops and that the city is beautiful, so hoping that we catch a break to check out the other amazing stuff Austin has to offer, as well as SXSW.
ATH: For most SXSW sets, you get 30 minutes to leave a lasting impression. What’s your plan of attack? You have a set list mapped out yet?
Stonefield: We have a shortlist, but yes we plan to make it punchy with our best songs, energetic and exciting. We quite like showcase sets because you can go really hard and not worry too much about saving your energy. Theyre over before you know it and youre left wondering what just happened.
ATH: The festival caters to music fans, but food and booze are an important aspect of the fans and the bands. What’s your band’s food and beverage of choice?
Stonefield: 3/4 of the band are vegetarian, so that tends to narrow things down a little. We find ourselves eating a lot of Mexican and thai. Cider is generally our go-to beverage.
ATH:Describe the music community where you come from? Does everyone work together? Is there a lot of competition?
Stonefield: Were from the Macedon Ranges in Victoria, Australia which has an amazing arts culture. When we started playing as a band, we were all very young, with our youngest member being 7. The youth music scene there is great and everyone is so supportive of each other. Our closest city where I guess you would now call our music community is Melbourne and the music scene is amazing. There is so much of it and most of it is great. Its an incredible community to be a part of.
ATH: What are a few bands we might not know about, being in the States, that should be on everyone’s musical radar?
Stonefield: Mangelwurzel are pretty wild. The lead singer is hilarious and comes out with some pretty raw onstage banter and they remind me of Zappa. Orb are one of our favourite up and coming bands – very Sabbath. Theyve only released a single so far, but I think theyre gonna do really well.
ATH: Let’s say your band has been booked an official showcase at a pop up venue somewhere in the middle of 6th street (where a lot of shows are set up). The lineup features thrash metal, hip-hop, spoken word, and you. The sound is horrible, the lineup is not your style, and the crowd seems angry at the world. How would your band deal with such a situation?
Stonefield: We would look at that as a perfect opportunity to change everyones mood and put on a great show. I think we cope well with these sort of situations.. it kinda fuels the fire!
ATH: What’s your favorite album to come out in the last year? What’s playing in the tour bus/van?
Stonefield: I really liked Alabama Shakes, Sound and Colour. I have no idea why it didnt do better here in Australia, but I think its ripper.. Brittanys voice is absolute killer and its a really dynamic record.
ATH:The digital age is upon us, like it or not. What are your band’s thoughts on streaming services like spotify, pandora, etc.? Blow em all up? Or embrace the future?
Stonefield: I say embrace the future. At least its not illegal downloads and most people pay their monthly fee. It makes it so much easier for people to access your music from all over the world and I think for us we have accepted that our source of income is touring.. thats the way its always been for our band and many others, so we dont really know the difference. Of course it would be great to be the way it used to be – people saving up their pennies to buy a record that they will treasure.. but times are a-changin.
ATH: Clearly coming over to the States to play shows is something a lot of bands are excited about, but what are some other life or musical highlights for you this year? Wed like to get to know you.
Stonefield: We just finished recording and mixing our second album that will be coming out later this year. Were really excited to release that.. super proud of it and we feel like its a huge step up for us. Were also really excited to be working with our US booking agency Panache, after meeting last year at Australias version of SXSW.
ATH: This is important to us, although a lot of music people scoff at sports. Do you have a pick for the winner of this years up-coming Euro Cup? Also, is it rude for us to assume that everyone loves soccer/football outside of the US?
Stonefield: Haha I dont think its a rude assumption, its probably more so rude that we have zero idea about most sports, especially the Euro Cup!
[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/205994213″ params=”color=ff9900&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false” width=”100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /]