Stonebreakers are ready to launch “Boogie Swing” on Rob Mules Records 15 Feb. In that regard we had a nice little chat with the foursome from Tromso.
Who are Stonebreakers, and what is the story behind your band name?
Stonebreakers consist of four regular guys from the high north who love straight forward rock’n roll. There’s nothing fancy-pancy about us and we like to keep things simple. The name «Stonebreakers» reflects the hard working attitude we put into our music.
Your single is called «Boogie Swing», tell us about it.
«Boogie Swing» is a catchy little number based on a groovy guitar lick backed up by a steady rhythm section. It has a feelgood atmosphere which makes you wanna move and groove.
As for the lyrics, we’ll leave that for the listener to interpret. The same goes for the song title. It is what it is.
Ellery Daines has produced and mastered your single, what is the story behind it?
Ellery came from New Zealand to Tromso last year and has been hanging around Kysten studio learning how to become a producer.
A few months back he announced online that he was looking for local acts to practice his production skills on, so we volunteered.
We spent two days in the studio and he did a great job with the technical stuff, planning the sessions in advance and the production of the three tracks we laid down. They sound really, really good. Ellery is a great guy to work with and he has definitely helped us to refine our sound.
Tell us about the cover art?
Our cover art consist of minimalist design and photos from our gigs, which we hope will provide a visual shorthand to identify us, as we release more singles leading up to the first album. The photo for the cover of «Boogie Swing» is taken by Øyvind Aronsen.
What’s in store for Stonebreakers the coming year?
First of all it’s the digital release of «Boogie Swing» which we hope will get a good reception out there and bring us some new fans.
Second, and maybe most importantly, we’ll hit the studio again mid February to complete work on our debut album set for release in September. We’ve got seven or eight songs ready so far and maybe we’ll throw in a brand new one as well.
Third, we’d like to do more gigs. We’ve got a slot at RMR’s annual rock show in February and will play Prelaten and Bastard Bar in march. That’ll be great fun. We hope we can benefit from our deal with RMR and get the chance to bring our rock’n’roll manship outside Troms. So if there are anyone in charge of booking bands to suitable venues, or bands looking for a support act reading this, we’re ready. We’d also very much like to play Bukta. That would be awesome since it’s our local rock festival and we all relate to it in one way or another.
Finally we’re constantly working on new material to develop our sound and style.
Talking about sound and style, tell us about your influences, bands you like? What are Stonebreakers “built upon”?
It’s no secret that we’re big fans of old school rock’n roll and hard rock. It should be fairly easy to see and hear the influences from especially early AC/DC. We’re trying to bring back the badass, old school rock‘n roll sound and feel you find on albums like «High ‘N’ Dry» by Def Leppard or «Back in Black» by AC/DC. The rawness in attitude and sound from that era is what we’re looking for, and trying to recreate.
Having said that, our sound and style is also shaped by our individual taste in music which ranges from extreme metal via grunge and stoner to straight boogie-rock. Naming all the bands we listen to would take forever, but if there’s distorted guitar to be found we’re likely to be on board.
Photo by Øyvind Aronsen
Listen to their mixtape below. Several catchy rock numbers to get your feet moving.