| | | |  | STONE PARADE’S inspiring blend of melody driven rock and compelling lyrics reveals a band with a sincere interest in the world around them. “In one word, promising... It is one of those things you hope for. The vocals of lead singer Greg Byrne are emotional....
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| Interview | Northern Beaches rock outfit Stone Parade have spent the past 18 months touring the USA and recording their debut full length album ‘Chase the Setting Sun’ from the confines of their Brookvale studio.
AAA was invited to interview singer Greg Byrne as the band prepares to hit the road in support of their latest release.
Access All Areas.net.au: What inspires you to write songs? How many songs did you end up writing for this album?
Greg: I’ve actually lost count of how many tracks we wrote for this album. I know we’ve created an absolute bucket-load over the last couple of years and we are all very ‘anal’ when it comes to selecting which songs were keepers. Generally when you cull it down to around 12 tracks, you write at least 4 times that amount.
Greg: Many of the songs that were written for this album were inspired by stories that we read or things that happened in the media. Each and every song has it’s own tale.
Access All Areas.net.au: How did you come up with the album name ‘Chase The Setting Sun?’
Greg: It was inspired by one of one our songs called ‘Chase the setting sun’. It is a story about two 16 year old girls from Melbourne who took their own lives. I guess the saddest thing is that when life is stripped away from you at such a young age you never really get the chance to discover what it’s all about. I think people are forever in pursuit of happiness and in my opinion the art of happiness lies within. In life you need to find that happy place, somewhere to be, somewhere to go, something to look forward to.
Access All Areas.net.au: How would you describe this album?
Greg: It drives, it stirs, it hurts. It’s the album that we’ve always wanted to write.
Greg: Would you say that since your last release your sound has changed or evolved into something different?
Greg: I would say that the core of our sound has always been there, just waiting to be bitten into. I feel like now we have simply written better songs and brought out all the best elements of Stone Parade. It is not so much that it is completely different from our last release. It’s just better and more believable.
Access All Areas.net.au: How did you find the recording process?
Greg: Gruelling…I think when you do everything yourself it’s sometimes easy to get bogged down. We assigned ourselves the task of writing, producing, recording and engineering, something I don’t recommend to other bands. Having said that, we are very pleased with the end result.
Access All Areas.net.au: Did you also mix and master the album?
Greg: I think if we tried to do that too we would have ended up shooting ourselves! We had the album mixed and mastered in the US.
Access All Areas.net.au: Were you there for the mix?
Greg: Two of us flew over and spent some time with a fellow called Will Sandalls. He had done some work for us the last time we were over there.
Access All Areas.net.au: Why did you choose to work with Americans? What was it like getting the album mixed by an American?
Greg: Believe it or not it’s actually cheaper to get an album mixed and mastered in the states.
I also think that there is much more competition amongst engineers so you will find guys that are brilliant at what they do and are trying to prove something so they work really hard. In my opinion the more time and effort that goes into creating an album, the better the end result.
Access All Areas.net.au: How did the listening party go?
Greg: It was a real buzz to be able to play some songs for fans and family once again. I guess it was a chance to say thanks to everybody who has helped us out over the years. I think for the band it was a chance for us to wrap up a pretty intense period of our lives and celebrate the completion of the album.
Access All Areas.net.au: It is rumoured that you have a new drummer?
Greg: Yes we do. His name is Billy and he’s a bloody good drummer. Sometimes it can be hard to be able to find a new member to fit into the mould. Fortunately we all get along great and share the same hunger and passion for music.
Access All Areas.net.au: When can we expect to see a copy of the ‘Chase the setting sun’ in stores?
Greg: I wish I could tell you but at the moment I am a little unsure. I guess it all depends on whether we have one of the major record companies out there snap it up in the next little while or not. Either way we hope to have it out there January 2008.
Access All Areas.net.au: What is next for ‘Stone Parade?’
Greg: We currently have our brand new EP out which has a few tracks as a preview for the album. We also just won the Nokia Be Heard Competition which gives us $10,000 which we'll use to push our new songs next year. Maybe try fit a film clip in and some general promo. and I know that at some stage we want to get back to the US and there was even talk of us getting over to France in January but on that one we will just have to wait and see.
Access All Areas.net.au: Thanks for your time and all the best with the new album
Greg: No worries!
CLICK HERE FOR YOUR FREE STONE PARADE MP3 DOWNLOAD - FAITH & LOVE
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| Biography | STONE PARADE’S inspiring blend of melody driven rock and compelling lyrics reveals a band with a sincere interest in the world around them.
“In one word, promising... It is one of those things you hope for. The vocals of lead singer Greg Byrne are emotional.
His heart is worn on his sleeve and raw emotion drips from every lyric” - The Dwarf Magazine
STONE PARADE has toured extensively around Australia, supporting major US artists such as Maroon 5, Hoobastank and 3 Doors Down. 2006 saw the band complete a successful 3 month trip to Los Angeles where they recorded at Interscope Records and played a sold out show at ‘The Viper Room’.
Since returning to their hometown of Sydney, the band embarked on recording their career defining debut album ‘Chase the setting sun’. This highly anticipated release showcases the band’s worldly maturity and ability to capture the listener’s every emotion. The album was mixed in Los Angeles by Will Sandalls (Interscope/Geffen) and mastered in New York at Sterling Sound by Leon Zervos (Maroon 5, Avril Lavigne, Aerosmith, Santana).
STONE PARADE have recieved rotation on Australian radio (Triple M, 2Day FM, NOVA and FBI) and were winners of the Coca Cola Live and Local Competition. |
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