A Sunday Conversation with Stone Axe

It's official. Here at the Ripple Effect we are head-first members of the Tony Reed for Emperor of the World Fan Club. Seriously, first his 70's stoner creation Mos Generator blew us for a beer bash keg party earful. Now comes his latest creation Stone Axe and their dead on perfect blend of rootsy blues rock and roll. You won't have to go looking to hard to find it here, it'll be right there . . . on our Best of the Year List. So, it was with great pleasure that we were graced once again by the main Reed-man, this time to talk about the incredible cutting hardness of Stone Axe.

When I was a kid, growing up in a house with Cat Stevens, Neil Diamond, and Simon and Garfunkle, the first time I ever heard Kiss's "Detroit Rock City," it was a moment of musical epiphany. It was just so vicious, aggressive and mean. It changed the way I listened to music. I've had a few minor epiphany's since then, when you come across a band that just brings something new and revolutionary to your ears. What have been your musical epiphany moments?

When I did a "Sunday Conversation" interview for Mos Generator last year i answered this question with a story about my musical upbringing and the music that was played around the house as a child(from ten years after, Sabbath, Moody Blues to Kenny Rogers & Charley Pride) and the the impact that KISS had on me at 9 years old. After KISS I got heavy into RUSH and really started to collect records, which were difficult to get growing up in Joyce, Washington. Then, in 1981 I saw Heavy Metal on showtime and the scene with Black Sabbath mob rules turned my musical world in a whole new direction. a few months later I heard run to the hills on local rock radio and my heavy metal fate was sealed.

Talk to us about the song-writing process for you. What comes first, the idea? A riff? The lyrics? How does it all fall into place?

In Stone Axe I write and record all of the music and Dru takes the songs home, writes the lyrics and melody, then comes in and records them. we never play the songs together until after they are recorded.


Where do you look for continuing inspiration? New ideas, new motivation?

The past. We are not trying to reinvent anything. we are using the massive canvas of the 1970's to create music that we love.



Genre's are so misleading and such a way to pigeonhole bands. Without resorting to labels, how would you describe your music?

I would have to say that we are a straight up rock band. of course, when we describe ourselves we have to say "seventies" style rock band, and then name a few bands we obviously sound like.



What is you musical intention? What are you trying to express or get your audience to feel?

We want people to feel the way we feel when we listen to our favorite songs. music is very powerful. we are striving for a glimpse of what it was like to write music 35 or 40 years ago.



In songwriting, how do you bring the song together? What do you look for in terms of complexity? Simplicity? Time changes?

It all depends on what style the song is. so for, the Stone Axe songs have been very simplistic. the simplicity is what drawing a lot of people to it. I think arrangements will become more complex when we start to bring the live band into the writing process.



The business of music is a brutal place. Changes in technology have made it easier than ever for bands to get their music out, but harder than ever to make a living? What are your plans to move the band forward? How do you stay motivated in this brutal business?

Our plans are to work as hard as we can. Touring and putting out records. I would like to do 2 albums a year. I am confident that if I can come up with material there are labels willing to put out the music. Especially if they know we will work hard to promote the album.


Come on, share with us a couple of your great, Spinal Tap, rock and roll moments?

We've only been together for 6 months. as of now, nothing weird has happened to us. Maybe we'll get a tap moment on this upcoming tour.


What makes a great song?

Everybody has a different answer for that. Of course, I am into the riff, but I also like a great chorus.



Tell us about the first song you ever wrote?

It was called "island of the phoenix". It sounded like "the eagle has landed" by Saxon.


What piece of your music are particularly proud of?

In Mos Generator we did a concept album called "the late great planet earth". It was basically a 45 minute song with 12 movements. It was a very taxing process to write and record it but in the end it turned out very dark, powerful & moving.


Who today, writes great songs? Why?

Of course i am into bands that write in a retro style and are sonically true to that time period as well. Bigelf are one of my favorite bands playing these days. (ours too!) Also Dexter Lones Circus Orchestra, Blood of the Sun and Pearls & Brass.

Vinyl, CD, or digital? What's your format of choice?

I like them all, hey all serve a purpose. We use all formats to sell our music. Hell, we even have 8 tracks.


We, at the Ripple Effect, are constantly looking for new music. When we come to your town, what's the best record store to lose ourselves in?

Goodwill

Buy the new album here:  Stone Axe

Oak is Keeping – Animal Style

Throughout mythology, there have always been bizarre creations, amalgamations of disparate elements that should never be able to exist together. The part-man, part-bull Minotaur; the part human, part horse Centaur; the complete mishmash of animal parts that is the Griffin. Compelling for their juxtaposition of animal parts, these creatures have captured man’s imagination. In music, rarely does such an incongruous hydra come about, fusing completely disparate elements into one living, breathing, beautiful creature.

Oak is Keeping is one such hydra.

With a body sturdily composed of riff-heavy, bass massive Black Sabbath, a brain derived from the harmonious melodies of the Beatles, and two thunderous paws, one crafted from Seattle grunge a la Alice in Chains, the other bearing the beefy imprint of swirling psychedelia, and a tail composed of the best distillation of post punk indy rock, Oak is Keeping is a band to capture the imagination.

And once they've captured you, they hang onto for dear life, ensnaring you into their drooling maw and carrying you off into a mythical sky of fierce, chugging, yet infinitely melodic and listenable rock and roll. Anyone who calls this stoner rock is stoned. Go beyond the power of the Sabbath riffs, lose yourself on the magic carpet ride that is the melody, sing along to the sweetness of the harmony vocals, marvel into the Alice-drops-down-the-rabbit hole psychedelic madness, that swirls and dances, yet never loses itself in its own madness. Melodic Psych? The Black Beatles? Who cares what you call it, labels are for small minds, and this music is all about expanding minds, erasing boundaries, exploding dimensions.. In the end, it’s just rock and roll and it’s simply marvelous.

“SiNk,” feedbacks and thunders it’s way into your consciousness before dropping into the mother of all Alice in Chains riffs, just as quickly to mutate into a snarling, beastly ugly Sabbath thud. Heavy? Hell yes, but it’s not metal. No way. Listen to the vocals as they come on, incredibly smooth, yet still impassioned. And what’s that he’s singing? By God, it’s a true melody, deep and, dare I say it, lovely. A melody that could easily grace one of the latter Beatles albums, married to the density of a Sabbath plodding footstep. Stuttering guitars, layered harmony vocals. Damn, what is this. It’s not prog, but it’s complex. It’s not metal, but it’s ominous and heavy. It’s not pop, but I’m singing along, joyfully, my soul rising with the soaring chorus. It’s a bowl-full of contradictions all thrown together, and I got me a spoon and I’m digging right in.

If “SiNk” didn’t fully ensnare me in the Oak is Keeping lair, “No Kiss,” completed the capture. Big, choppy riffs, stop and start like the thundering step of a mythological creature. Stepping heavy, plodding closer. Alice in Chains sounds heavier here, in the use of harmony vocals, the rising crescendo of the vocal bridge, the tone of angst as they sing, “They say that animals need their space/inside we’re cannibals/the human race/cut off our nose to spite our face.” But then that chorus comes along, as sweet and addictive as pop. Vocals soaring to higher registers, smoothly, melodically. The Oak is Keeping Griffin lives, many different parts all living together in perfect harmony.

Then “How We Treat Girls,” swings into gear throwing me for another, glorious, swirling ride into unexpected territory. The guitar tone here is pure indy rock, perhaps like the tone that we’d always hope The Killers would one day find. Sabbath is gone, instead the guitars shimmer and shine, the bass runs high up the neck, the vocals ride an intense melody highlighted by a hook destined to reside for years in my brain. The chorus is another masterwork of melody, a stark contradiction to the lyrics that spit and snarl with sarcasm and snot. More than any other, this song runs back to the past, like Spirit or Love, or some other psychedelic pop band that captured lighting in a bottle.

Getting the picture. This beast shouldn’t live, it shouldn’t exist, and it definitely shouldn’t be so compelling. Check out the knock em dead chorus of “Tell Me These Things,” with it’s choppy “Stab me in the front/don’t stab me in the back/stab me in the front/use a dull blade,” lyric. Not something you expect to find yourself singing out loud at two in the morning, but there it is. Arm it with an ugly Sabbath riff that mutates into a near Lizzy guitar attack, ending in a swirling maelstrom of double-fisted piano and you’ve got another winner. “Tempt,” then takes all this mythological fusing of elements and creates a beast that will forever exist in it’s own universe. Charging harmony guitar launches things forward into a neo Alice in Chains riff . . . but it’s not. The guitars swirl too much, like who? Early Cult maybe? I don’t know, but I do know that it moves quickly into a grungy chorus, before the whole thing builds and builds to . . a total drop out of all that is heavy. Suddenly the guitars are gone, piano trods delicately, the vocals floating into a psychedelic Beatles melody, for two measures before the guitars roar back, heavier than before. If this is an acid trip it’s one for the ages. Harmonics sing and dance. Counter vocals leak from separate earphone channels. Guitars swirl. Where is reality? Where is my desk? Who am I? Oh, yeah, I’m Racer, and I’m listening to some seriously intense, fantastically wild stuff. And the ride in this animal style is just beginning.

Come join me.

--Racer

www.myspace.com/oakiskeeping