LIVERPOOL’S STONE SHARE THEIR GENERATION DEFINING DEBUT ALBUM ‘FEAR LIFE FOR A LIFETIME’
“I’ve had the name ‘Fear Life for a Lifetime’ since I was like 19. Some of those songs are that old.”
INTERVIEW/ALBUM REVIEW | STONE – FEAR LIFE FOR A LIFETIME by Anne Kelly 5/5
For the past 5 years, STONE as we know them now have grafted blood, sweat and tears to get to this moment. Building a strong reputation across the UK and European live circuits for their industrious dynamic performances, STONE have cemented their name as one of the most exciting emerging artists on the rock scene. Achieving well earned bragging rights heading out on tour with the likes of YungBlud and Inhaler over the years, as well as supporting slots with Sam Fender at Finsbury Park and Louis Tomlinson, who hasn’t been shy showing his support for the young band. With debut EP’s punkadot (2022) and punkadot2 (2023) out the way, STONE unveil their finest and most accomplished work to date with their highly anticipated debut album Fear Life For A Lifetime. We caught up with the driving force of band, Fin Power (lead vocals/guitar) for an exclusive chat about the new album.
Northern Exposure (NE): So the debut album is out on Friday (12/07/24), how are you feeling?
Fin: Excited. I can’t fucking wait.
NE: STONE’s latest EP (punkadot2) was only out late last year, so has the album been planned for a while?
Fin: Yeah so I’ve had the name ‘Fear Life for a Lifetime’ since I was like 19. Some of those songs are that old. The EP is sort of like songs that were never making the album so lets do a little EP.
NE: How has the whole process been then, the whole campaign so far has been full on?
Fin: Yeah, it’s kinda been sort of on and off. Like we’ll have a couple of quiet few weeks compared to my schedule for last three weeks which has been incredibly busy. I just haven’t stopped.
Fear Life For A Lifetime enters with cinematic energy, setting the tone characteristically for the whole of the album. “This one is for the four pints street fighters / Hipsters with shit lighters / Kids on their Instаgram who don’t know what life is” knocks out Power in the album’s opening title track. Echoing the shared delusion of navigating modern life, STONE use their unique – and dominantly Scouse – voice to resonate with listeners.
Flowing straight into the first single release from the album ‘My Thoughts Go’ the momentum is maintained. On writing the song, Fin shares: One day I’ll share the story of how I wrote that song. It came after a very embarrassing drunk night. Like the band was kind of upset with me and I thought I need to write a good song.”
NE: Go on then…
Fin laughs and shakes his head before saying: “All you need to know is that I missed band call and I had to make my way to the next show, but I made the show so it was all good. But I don’t drink anymore though so im good – that was a long time ago!”
Next up, ‘Queen‘ and ‘Roses‘ capture STONE’s most indie and Brit-Pop tendencies with sophisticated flair. “I don’t love myself, I love the way you look at me” reflects an ongoing theme of feeling unworthy of love that resurges throughout the album. ‘Train‘ steers us on a different track but remains fitting with the album thus far. Bringing in elements of synth pop, ‘Train’ is a clear favourite so far. ‘Say It Out Loud‘ is dreamy shoegaze number which really allows guitarist Elliot Gill to have his moment to shine. All aforementioned tracks each showcase the versatility of STONE and their genre bending abilities they carry off so seamlessly.
Fin: That’s what Stone is all about, we’re genre shifters. We don’t have a box.
NE: In terms of influences, who were yours for this album in particular?
Fin: I’ve been listening to a lot of NAS, the rapper and a lot of Red Hot Chilli Peppers. I listen to a lot of different music but I’ve been listening to a lot of hip hop and hard rock. The rest of the band listen to different stuff though; like Elliot our guitarist is really into shoegaze and his guitars can be quite dreamy. Alex comes from a metal background and Sarah’s into the funk and stuff but we’ve all sort of met in the middle with hip hop. Well I do anyway, I just love it. I listen to Ice Cube, Dr Dre…
NE: Is this something new for you?
Fin: I’ve always loved rap and old school hip hop but I listen to a lot of bands – maybe like a 60/40 with hip hop. Hip hop and rock music is where im at. So when you get the likes of Rage Against The Machine or Idles for example, I love it.
NE: Is that the sort of bands who you would aspire to be?
Fin: Yeah, I mean wherever the universe takes us really. Like Idles, they have done it so organically and each album they get bigger and bigger – that’s what you want. You’d rather be a slow log fire than gasoline set on fire. One is loud and quick but the other takes time.
NE: Do you have any particular favourite songs on the album then?
Fin: I love ‘Save Yourself’ because it’s finally time to get that one out. It’s the last song on the album, I love that song. It’s so personal to me as I was having a hard time in my life when I wrote it.
NE: I know the one, it’s very raw, something that I noticed throughout that you put into your writing. Is that something natural to you or is it difficult to bring out?
Fin: Yeah, so it’s a battle. The songs on there I can say were a battle to write and some were easy like ‘Save Yourself’. The choruses were there and the verses came to me like on a train. I wrote those two verses in like 5 minutes where as songs like ‘Queen’ were a battle. That took like 2 days to write. Yeah it was a battle, I had been playing with the chords and I just couldn’t get right. Finally when I kept it simple then I let it happen.
Fins talent to capture the inner screams of anxiety with raw passion is something to be admired on this album. It’s not sentimental though, it’s authentic, honest and resonating gut spilling at its rawest. Recent single ‘Save Me‘ and album closer ‘Save Yourself‘ are both exemplary versions of that ability.
Produced by Rich Costey (Sam Fender, Biffy Clyro) and recorded state side between April and November last year, Fear Life For A Lifetime is a fine example of modern rock music. Knowing some of the tracks have been a long time in the making, Fin says the evolution of some of the songs have been completely transformed in the final process; “the end of ‘Save Yourself’ is different and ‘My Thoughts Go’ used to be fast. Like as a joke Alex played it in like half time and the producer said slow that the fuck down it’s amazing”.
One of the most exhilarating moments of the whole album come from the collaborative track ‘Never Gonna Die‘ featuring punk rap talent shortstraw. aka Amelia Fearon. A naturally dynamic fit together, the song is probably the most reflective of Fin’s Hip Hop influences. ‘Sold My Soul’ mirrors the heavier influences of the rest of the band. Coming crashing in with its dirty guitar riffs, the antepenultimate song is infused in rock ‘n’ roll attitude oozing with confidence all over. ‘Hotel‘ strips things back a bit, bringing in that dreamy ambience again before culminating towards a climatic and noisy final minute outro which flows straight into finale track ‘Save Yourself‘ with ease.
Reaching such a pivotal moment in their careers, the release of a debut album can offer artists a real moment to reflect on just how far they have come.
NE: Has there been any particular moments of validation?
Fin: Probably last week when we played Rock Werchter – that was just wow! This is all I’ve ever wanted. Even if that was the peak then that’s all I ever wanted. That was my childhood dream and the fact that I made that happen, I made my childhood dream happen and shout out to the band because we did it together. I used to chase size and say like, it needs to get to this size but I’m just appreciate of the moment now. Like if you spoke to me six months ago then I’d have been like ‘We’re gonna headline Glastonbury’ (laughs) Like that shouldn’t be my goal, my goal should be to make music and live. The goal was to make music that allows us to make more music.“ (video reaction below)
NE: If you weren’t part of STONE – what do you think you would be doing?
Fin: “I don’t know. I don’t think about it anymore. I’m so obsessed with this that I’ve no other option other than to make music. It’s all I want to do and it’s all I will do. I am absolutely and internally grateful to be doing it now.”
And with that, STONE have created a piece of art which speaks to a generation. Reflecting unfiltered emotion whilst knocking us over with charm, Fear Life For A Lifetime should stand up against the best debut albums this year.
“Just take the album in your arms and do whatever the hell you want to do with it.“ – Fin Power (STONE)
STONE’s debut album Fear Life For A Lifetime is OUT NOW! Buy/Download/Steam
Stone are heading out on tour in October and remaining tickets can be found HERE!!
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