5/16/17 - Special Guest: Stone Driver

This episode features Stone Driver, a critically acclaimed rock band based in Washington, DC! Also featuring music by Swampcandy, Classified Frequency, Loud Boyz, Lionize and Borracho. Details and important links from this episode are all on the website at www.dcmusicrocks.com/past-episodes

Thanks to Stone Driver members Tim, Chad, Dan, and John for joining us this week!

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FROM TODAY'S SHOWMUSICAberdeen by Swampcandy (Folk/Americana)Send Me by Stone Driver (Hard Rock/Rock)Over you by Classified Frequency (Rock/Fusion Rock)Loud Boyz in Love by Loud Boyz (Punk)Black Cat by Lionize (Rock)Know the Score by Borracho (Hard Rock/Stoner Rock)ANNOUNCEMENTSArtists who are DC Residents! the DC Arts and Humanities Fellowship Program is accepting applications.  You can receive up to $10,000.  It’s not hard to apply and you don’t need to show a final product at the end.  Go check it out!  
https://dcarts.dc.gov/node/1237331NEW RELEASESThe Cowards Choir - The Singing Tree (Single)The Sea Life - Blame (Single)Blue Skies and Death - Innocence of Youth (Single)Sub-Radio - True Love?!?! (Single)THIS WEEK'S LOCAL DC SHOWS TO SEE

Fri May 19
Pleasure Train & Surprise Attack @ Mason Inn in DC
L.A.T.O. @ The Hamilton - Loft in DC

Sat May 20
Black Masala @ Celebrate Takoma Festival in Takoma, MD
Soundproof Genie  @ Hard Rock Cafe in DC
Throwing Plates @ Barnhouse Brewery in Leesburg, VA

Sun May 21
The North Country @ Dew Drop Inn in DC

Mon May 22
Ken Wenzel @ Open Road in Fairfax, VA

Tues May 23
Sol Roots @ The BullPen Nationals Park in DC

Wed May 24
The Duskwhales @ Gypsy Sally’s in DC

Thu May 25
Classified Frequency, Derek Evry & Stone Driver, Charity Event for Joe Strummer Foundation (@strummerville) @ Black Cat in DC

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STONE DRIVERVIDEO - BIO - LINKS - TRANSCRIPT

Bio:

Stone Driver is a critically acclaimed rock band based in Washington, DC with Chad Lesch, Tim Boyer, John Gossart, and Dan Epley.  Stone Driver pulls from a wide diversity of musical influences, from Pink Floyd to Alice in Chains, blues rock to progressive, to create meaningful, relevant, and real music.

Stone Driver completed their second album "Rocks" with London, UK based producer Sefi Carmel, who has produced music for other notable artists David Bowie, Phil Collins, Bruno Mars, and BB King.

Stone Driver has been featured on both national & international media outlets, and has generated a diverse fan base of modern rock, blues, grunge, and classic rock aficionados.  Stone Driver and its members have shared venue billings with Living Colour, the B-52s, Radiohead, The Whirlees, Bush, Everclear, Hole, and Soundgarden.

Links:

Facebook: www.facebook.com/StoneDriverBand

Instagram: www.instagram.com/stone_driver

Twitter: www.twitter.com/StoneDriverBand

Official: www.StoneDriver.com

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INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT

Brian:     Stone Driver is a critically acclaimed rock band based in Washington, DC. We got Chad, Tim, John, and Dan. Together the pull from a wide diversity of musical influences to create meaningful, relevant, and real music. Stone Driver's been featured on both national and international media outlets, and it has generated diverse fan base of modern rock, blues, grunge, and classic aficionados.

     I first came across these guys when I was checking out the scene, and since I'm in a rock band, I totally loved the rock, and I heard these guys and I was just hooked. And ever since then we've kept in touch. It's with great pleasure that I get to formally introduce Stone Driver. Thanks for being here guys.

Chad:     Thanks for having us.

Brian:     This is amazing. Now, right off the bat I want you to tell us about ... So the name Stone Driver; where did that come from?

Chad:     Oh boy ... That was ...

Tim:     That's a good story, right?

Chad:     It involved, I think a dictionary ... It involved a little bit of bourbon. It involved a little bit of pointing at different names ... And we kind of liked it. I mean, the silly stuff aside ... You know, we think about a lot of the modern rock bands and classic rock bands ... We like Stone Temple Pilots, Rolling Stones, et cetera. So kind of that Stone Theme in Rock music.

Tim:     And then the driving music, the driving beat. That goes along with it to.

John:         It wasn't taken.

Chad:     Yeah, that too.

Tim:     After a Google search ...

Chad:     After multiple Google searches worldwide we found one band name that was still available, so we embraced it.

Brian:     You found it, you found the one. And I love it. Tell me the story about how you guys came together. How did Stone Driver come to be?

Chad:     So it ... Really, in this form it was a mix of all of us kind of reaching out, being independent musicians and using some of the different tools that are out there to find other players. Everybody who's been in a band has been down the deep scary pit that is Craigslist. You can get some unique matches there that ... some are appropriate for radio, some are not. And there's other websites like BandMix where you can find profiles of individuals that kinda list what they're looking for, music influences et cetera. So, we were really kind of lucky to form all together using those tools and just jelling.

Tim:     When I hooked up ... Chad and I were ... We've been in the band the longest at this point, but when I joined up I heard these guys, what they were doing, and thought it was just a great sound and I wanted to be a part of that. I thought it had a lot of potential. So, that's what attracted me to it.

Brian:     While I have you here, I realize that they're listening to you and they don't know your voices. So, introduce yourselves real quick.

Tim:     I'm Tim.

Chad:     I'm Chad.

Dan:     I'm Dan

John:         And I'm John.

Brian:     And tell them the instruments too. What do you play?

Tim:     I play bass.

Chad:     I play guitar, which has also been called the bass piccolo by other people.

Dan:     Dan: I'm the drummer.

John:         And I sing.

Brian:     Got it. And together that's the crew. Cool. All right, so now ... Now talk about where music came from for both of you. How did you end up playing music? How did that start?

John:         I think we've all been in bands for a long time. I mean, unlike some of the guys that we see around DC we're a little bit older. Not much, but a little bit older.

     When I playing music in Boston at Boston College, and was part of that scene in the '90s ... And everybody to my left's got more impressive stories than that.

Dan:     So I'm a recent transplant to DC area ... About three years. I'm originally from the Pacific Northwest, so I kind of grew up in that '90s grunge movement that started happening there. So I played a lot of bands around the West Coast. And over here I got to hook up with these guys.

John:         He's doing the like, "Aww, shucks," thing. This guy has shared the stage with the biggest grunge names of that era: Nirvana and Soundgarden ... And he was in a band called The Whirlies that was like setting the stage for what happened in the '90s. So Dan, as usual is being more humble than necessary.

Dan:     Aww shucks ...

Chad:     It's humble drummers ...

Brian:     Thank you for pointing that out, and I want to know those details. So, please call the other guys out to if they do that as well. We want to know these details. Share them with us.

Chad:     This is Chad, and any interesting details I have are completely fabricated. I grew up in a household that was a really big fan of classic rock and blues. At the same time I was growing up ... You know, similar story ... Grunge was coming out and getting really into Nirvana and Soundgarden, and some of the other heavier acts, like Tool ... So those two kind of influences really weighed heavy on me, but definitely a strong blues-rock base . And, you know, some of the classic influences there.

John:         Again, he's playing it down. So this guy's got connections to rock royalty. The Lush name I think most people know out there. And I think there's an Iron Butterfly connection that he might want to talk about.

Chad:     I am declining any 13 minute drum solos. Although I'm sure with the two drummers we have in this studio, they could do it.

Dan:     We need that.

Chad:     No. My uncle got offered the job to play bass for Iron Butterfly back in the day, and respectfully declined to be a teacher. So, you know, he figured,  "Those long bass solos ... that was just to much man. Let's deal with some kindergartners."

     But also a really big influence on me, musically and wanting to play music.

Tim:     Well, as a bass player, a lot of people will sympathize with my origins. My brother was in a band, he was a guitarist, and there was an upcoming battle of the bands, and the bass player in the band left. So I got drafted to be the bass player. This is quite a long time ago. We won the battle of the bands so I stuck with it. I moved out to Colorado. I played in Boulder for several years out there with several bands. About 15-20 years ago I moved back east and have been playing with a variety of different bands here in the DC area. It's been my dream just to play out, get a really tight band and play good original music. I think I found it with these guys. Just a great connection between all of us, musically.

Brian:     Now that's amazing. Now, what's ... One of my favorite questions to ask, and I'd love to ask you guys ... I want to hear from each of your actually. If you could offer one piece of advice, what would it be?

Chad:     Geez ... Just keep at it. I think that's what I'd throw out there. We were talking a little bit before the show and we were talking about how it can be hard to be a local band, although the internet is exploding, sometimes it seems it's that much harder to pull in a draw or let people know it's local. So I would encourage people, and this isn't a shameless plug, to go to websites like DC Music Rocks and get invested in the community. It's out there, and the more that you network with other groups and other people who appreciate the local music ... The sooner you do that, the sooner you're gonna get some more opportunities. But other than that, you gotta keep plugging, keep plugging, keep plugging, and keep trying to be original with how you can get it out there.

Dan:     I think some of it to, at least for me, you have to have fun doing it. I mean ... There's times where we get done practicing and are playing and we kind of look at each other and are like, "That was fun." I think that's a big part of it too. You have to enjoy it.

John:         You gotta get used to playing for the bartender ... I mean, you're gonna have some of those shows. We've outnumbered the people that we're looking at early on, and you gotta do it. I think Dan's absolutely right. You gotta love it; you gotta have fun. You gotta be able to play that show as hard as you would play the Black Cat. And we've had those shows, and we have fun. We've had some tough nights where it's us up there, but we're doing it 'cuz we love doing it and we have fun. We've had some great shows. I would just wish somebody was around to hear it.

Tim:     I'd say my advice would be, as a musician, is just to keep an open mind and listen to all kinds of different music, because you never know what sort of influence you might get from it. And it's always been my goal to try and draw from all kinds of different music. So that would be my musical advice.

Brian:     And you know, that is a perfect segway into my next question, which is; now what do you guys have in your music collection that might surprise us? You're this hard driving rock band, but what do you have in there that might surprise us?

Chad:     I have the greatest Menudo hits in my car right now, and it's great. It spans the entire 17 to 18 year collection with a full cast of rotating members. I probably should try and recover from that one . Miles Davis; been really into that as of late. So, been trying to get a lot smarter on the jazz front and try to expand a bit, musically. So, trying to push myself there.

John:         I'm wearing a special shirt ... I was ... I could never play it. I started out on the bass; never got as good as Tim, anywhere near Tim. But I started out on the bass and I was hooked on the Ska scene. In Boston Bim Skala Bim was breaking out back then, and I aspired to that, and I still listen to that stuff; Chucklehead and Bim everyday.

Dan:     I gotta pretty surprising one, probably. I have the sound track to the Phantom of the Opera.

Tim:     Really?

Dan:     It's good.

John:         He wears the mask a lot of times at shows, and it's kinda creepy.[crosstalk 00:10:49]

Chad:     I get asked to wear the mask a lot, but that's for other reasons.

Tim:     What kind of drum kit do they use on that?

Dan:     A very special drum kit.

Tim:     Mine is no surprise with being a bass player; old school funk. Anything with a hard driving funk beat ... I'm into that.

Brian:     That's awesome. There's Silkman; that hard driving funk beat is a key to a lot people's hearts too. So that makes a lot of sense.

     Now, just to wrap here. Make sure if those who are listening want to find out more about you guys, where do they go to find out?

Chad:     So Facebook is usually the most up to date. We're @StoneDriverBand on Facebook so you can find us pretty easily there. We've also recently taken to Instagram, which is Stone_Driver on Instagram. And finally, after some years of counseling the band has convinced me to delete our MySpace page, so any aficionados out there ... I apologize. It's no longer an option

Brian:     Excellent.

John:         And Stone Driver.com

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