STONE | Photo credit: Charlie Harris
Liverpudlian noisemakers STONE are back today with their first new music in a year. ‘NEVER AGAIN’ is the band’s unfiltered return to their essence: honest, unpolished, and fully autonomous.
STONE isn’t a band you get to know gently, and their re-introduction to the world is anything but that. Channelling the whipping textures of punk and hardcore to detail a story of recovery and redemption on many different levels, ‘NEVER AGAIN’ is the same STONE at its heart, this time unshackled, the edges rougher, the teeth sharper, free to swing harder, and in any direction they like.
Recorded live and invoking the raw spirit and spontaneity of their house party roots, ‘NEVER AGAIN’ doesn’t exactly mince its words. For STONE 2.0, control is the buzzword in the camp, whether that be in lead singer and guitarist Fin Power’s newfound sobriety, or from their experience within the music industry so far.
Lead vocalist and guitarist Fin Power says:
“‘NEVER AGAIN’ is a return to STONE’s loudest and rawest best. The track is a reaction to having had some of our control taken away for a chance of radio or viral success.
Sonically ‘NEVER AGAIN’ is lightning in a bottle. Tracked live it captures the band’s aggressive energy, exploding into its choruses before hitting even harder as the song ends.
Lyrically the track highlights the emotional journey of turning to sobriety whilst dealing with the fallout of our major label experience. The anger of feeling like a scratchcard for the previous label and the feeling of pride that succumbs under the anger drove the writing of the lyrics.”
While writing ‘NEVER AGAIN’, Power immersed himself in Mike Pondsmith’s Cyberpunk 2077 universe, drawing inspiration from its spirit of resistance. He says:
“In the Cyberpunk 2077 universe there is a bar called The Afterlife and if you die in a spectacular way you become a Legend of The Afterlife, and get a drink named after you. Cyberpunk is all about taking down the big corporations.”
As STONE begin to look forward to what a new future feels like for them, for now the band are setting their sights on one thing: real world connection. Whether through rage, sadness, sweat or pure euphoria, it’s punk with its back turned away from virality, and with its eyes towards the mosh pit.
Hear ‘NEVER AGAIN’ on streaming services here and share via YouTube below.
See STONE live this summer
August 15 – Pukkelpop, Hasselt, BE
August 30 – This Feeling By The Sea, Bridlington, UK
STONE – ‘NEVER AGAIN’ single artwork