STONE have shared new single ‘Waste’ today, and are announced as the latest signing to Polydor Records. Across a breakout 12 months, the Liverpool four-piece have sold-out multiple headline shows across the UK, toured with the likes of Yungblud, and released singles such as ‘Stupid’ and ‘Let’s Dance To The Real Thing’. They joined the line-up for Sam Fender’s show at Finsbury Park, before festival appearances at Boardmasters and Reading & Leeds for the second year in a row. The band will head to Europe for two headline dates and Reeperbahn festival in Germany, plus Louis Tomlinson’s festival in Malaga this August, and will join Inhaler for some UK dates in October.
Alongside ‘Waste’, the band have released a new music video, plus a B-side single ‘Radio Ready’. The tongue-in-cheek visuals for ‘Waste’ were created collaboratively with Dave Crane, and see the band lean into a deliberately abrasive “false rockstar fantasy” before things unravel into a grim reality. Frontperson Fin Power explains that the single is a cathartic reflection on his personal struggle with acceptance and validation, and is inspired partly by his experiences with disassociation.
In Fin’s words; “‘Waste’ was written about being sick of people judging you without knowing anything about you. Opening lyric ‘you probably hate me’ refers to the fact that I started to find it easier to assume people disliked me from the outset, instead of being caught off-guard by negative energy. The chorus is about how the need to be liked or loved can become an almost obsession that is dangerous to my mental health. The song’s middle 8 section is inspired by a time where I felt so distorted in my own brain it was like I was in a video game – sat in the passenger seat of my own emotions. We produced the song with Al Groves (Bring Me The Horizon) and recorded the vocals in one take each time, running straight through the verses and choruses so that the anger and breathlessness was real and raw. We didn’t drown it In effects and the guitars were slightly under-tuned so that when I was raging my guitar, it would bend more into tuning (Al had a genius moment here).”
STONE are Fin Power (vocals/guitar), Sarah Surrage (bass), Elliot Gill (lead guitar) and Alex Smith (drums). The band were named as part of the NME 100 for 2022, and have been championed by the likes Jack Saunders and Clara Amfo on BBC Radio1 and Steve Lamacq on BBC 6 Music. Their single ‘Let’s Dance To The Real Thing’ recently soundtracked the new Liverpool FC home kit reveal, see here. STONE have quickly become a key name in the new-era Liverpool scene alongside contemporaries like Crawlers and Courting. Having formed right before lockdown, no show is taken for granted, and their dynamic live sets brim with an unapologetic, raucous energy which is balanced out by obvious depth and heart. As a result, the band has amassed a burgeoning fanbase which already extends far beyond their roots in the North-West scene. Now joining forces with Polydor, it’s clear that the stage is set for STONE to rise as one of the UK’s most endearing and exhilarating young acts.
