Stonefield

A few weeks ago I went to uni night at Charles Sturt University in Wagga Wagga where Stonefield were playing, supported by Red Ink, it was one of the best uni gigs I have seen and immediately I made plans to meet them after the set and chat to them about doing an interview, I am really excited so here it is!

First up, thanks for your time, what’s been happening?

No worries! We just finished our first National Tour, which was loads of fun. Now we have a little bit of a break to work on our next EP, in between a couple of support tours and festivals.

For those who are unfamiliar with you, can you tell us a bit about yourself?

We’re a rock band from a small town just out of Melbourne. We’re influenced by a lot of music from the 70’s. We won Triple J Unearthed High last year, from there released our First EP ‘Through the Clover’ and have just released a double A side.

How did Stonefield come together and where did you come up with that band name?

We all did singing from a young age and after a few years decided we wanted to actually play the music we were singing to. We got a drum kit for Christmas one year, which Amy decided to take up. Soon after I began playing guitar, Sarah started playing keys and Holly decided she wanted to play the bass. We’re all sisters, so because we all played a different instrument and live in the same house we began playing together and formed the band. We were originally called ‘Iotah’ but then had to change it due to another Australian artist with the same name.

We pretty much came up with it because we live on a farm with lots of stones and fields… we kind of just put two words together and came up with ‘Stonefield’. We wish there was a cooler story behind it… but that’s it!

I was blown away by how talented you all are, how long have you been doing music for?

Thank you! We’ve been playing for about 6 years. Pretty much as soon as we picked up our instruments we began playing together.

Where do you see yourselves in ten years?

Hopefully we’ll have quite a few albums out and will be touring around the world. We all want to keep playing for a long time, so hopefully if things go well we will still be doing what we’re doing now on a larger scale.

Who has had an adverse affect on your style and the way you work? Where do you look for inspiration?

Seeing an amazing live band always inspires us to go and write and practice, as well as listening to our favorite bands.

Do you have any favorite tour moments?

I think for me, playing at Glastonbury is definitely a favorite. It’s such an amazing festival, and to be able to play there for our first overseas show was a pretty incredible feeling. Another favorite for all of us was the first show of our National tour in Adelaide. The crowd was one of the nicest we’ve ever had. They were chanting for us to come on stage and were really appreciative of us. It was a pretty cool way to start the tour.

What is the best gig you have played?

Probably Glastonbury. Besides being one of the biggest festivals in the world, we had been waiting since October of last year to play… so to actually get there and do it and to have such a big crowd and stage was amazing.

Being an all girl band, I noticed many cat calls and comments from the crowd, does that ever bug you guys?

We don’t really take to much notice of it. Of course we really just want be known and appreciated for our music but I think it happens a bit to all bands anyway.

What have you been reading, listening to and watching lately?

I just finished reading Chrissy Amphlets autobiography, which was really interesting. She had a tough time proving her self and getting taken seriously as a girl in the rock music scene, so it was quite inspirational.

We’ve been listening to the album ‘ Baby Darling Doll Face Honey’ by Band of Skulls a lot recently. When we were in LA we met a guy who was mixing their new album and showed us their stuff. Great album!

We haven’t really had much time to sit and watch things lately, but we all love the movies ‘Into the Wild’ and ‘Rock School’.

Do you have any other hobbies and interests you like to keep up with?

Amy likes cooking, Sarah loves photography, Holly just does what a lot of other 13 year olds do and loves hanging out with friends, and I don’t really have any other hobbies other than music!

What advice do you have for people wanting to do what you do?

Take every opportunity you get, write as much as you can, play as many gigs as you can and don’t give up!

Anything coming up that we should know about?

We’re supporting Jebediah on their ‘Battle for November’ tour, which will be fun! We don’t have much other than that as we’re taking a bit of time off to write and work on our next EP.

Anything you want to say?

Look us up on Facebook and Youtube:

www.facebook.com/stonefieldband

www.youtube.com/stonefieldband