The Violet Stones- A true homage to grunge, The Violet Stones can transport you to Seattle in the 90’s but with a more nightmare-like aggressive tone and experimental production.
Interview conducted on November 28, 2020
By Dan Locke
The Violet Stones: A hasty start in Sydney in 2016 led to The Violet Stones churning out gigs around the regional and metro east coast of Australia and establishing a local name for themselves. Their debut studio effort in 2019 citing influences from Nirvana, Hole, Incubus, System Of A Down, and Korn, cemented themselves as a provincial force not to be taken lightly. Their newest release “Shark”, brings a heavier and more introspective side of the collaboration that takes the best parts of the act’s powerful riffs, iconic melodies, and aggressive production that make The Violet Stones an innovative energy to behold.
What is your upbringing?
We all grew up in Western Sydney & grew up in musical families but apart from that we all had pretty different upbringings.
How did you discover music?
Sarah: I’ve grown up around music as my dad’s always been in bands so it was something, I’ve always had an interest in.
Louis: My mum was always playing music around the house so I was exposed to it from a young age.
Jarrod: My dad was also in bands so I grew up around music as the norm.
How did you start to write music?
Sarah: Personally, I started writing my own songs when I was 10 years old, they weren’t any good but the motivation was always there haha I think it’s a really fun way of expressing myself.
Louis: I started writing music for a music assignment when I was around 13-14 and found that I enjoyed it and my teacher said I had a weird way of writing and that made me feel good.
Jarrod: I only started getting into writing when we started the band & I was also studying music at the time which prompted me to start focusing on it more.
Describe your music
A fusion hybrid of grunge and alt metal with a splash of funk.
Sarah- How did you get your first guitar, and do you still have it?
What is your guitar of choice now? Year, make and model? And does it have a name?
My first guitar was a birthday present from my parents & I actually still use it! It’s my purple nylon gypsy rose; I actually really like the depth that it has & I’ve used it to record on multiple tracks. My guitar of choice right now is probably my Fender Jag. I am looking at getting a mustang and changing out the pickups but I just have my Jaguar for now! It’s a super versatile guitar and I love it.
What was your first performance at like?
Our first performance as a band was at a pub in Greater West Sydney. It was super nerve raking for me. I think we only have one or two practices before it. But I remember I could barely gain the courage to talk to the audience, we’ve come so far now!
How did you get the band together?
Jarrod & I met in high school and we were put in a band by our music teacher to play at assemblies. After high school, we decided to start the band up again & we met Louis a month or two later through a mutual friend and he decided to join after listening to the demo of our song ‘Gold’.
What does your name mean – The Violet Stones?
We were originally named Amethyst (after Sarah’s birthstone) but we wanted a name that was a bit more unique so we thought of The Violet Stones which is essentially the same thing!
What makes a good songwriter?
you’re writing in & someone who is not scared to think outside the box and try different things but other than that, songwriting can be very subjective!
Do you belong to any to songwriters’ organizations like the International singer-songwriter association?
Nope, we don’t really know anything about them haha
What was the title of your first original song? Did you record it?
The first song we ever made together was ‘Angel Eyes’ which is the first song off our debut album ‘Exordium’. We actually released a live demo session from our second rehearsal with Angel Eyes on it. It even got played on Triple J Unearthed Radio, I really don’t know how that happened haha!
Your new album “PIN”, comes out December 11th. Tell me about it?
Yes! This is a second album release and these songs really show our growth since out debut album. We incorporated some of our heavier influences such as System of a Down & Korn as well as experimenting with different time signatures to really capture our essence. We wanted to sum up every song on the album in the title but we couldn’t find a word that really captured what we were going for. We decided on ‘PIN’ as it’s an acronym for ‘Political, Injustice & Negligence’ which is what most of the songs are about. ‘PIN’ can also have loads of different meanings such as ‘put a pin it in’, ‘pin of a grenade’, etc.
You have been releasing a single almost every month. How are you able to do that?
We were eager to get some new music out and since the album has 14 tracks, we were able to release quite a lot of singles before the full album drops.
The virus started at the beginning of the year. How has it affected the release of your single “Kill Me”?
It’s interesting to think about what would have been different if the virus hadn’t have happened. We probably would have planned a single launch and we also may have been able to finish the album a bit quicker. It did hold things back a bit but on the digital side of things, there may have been more of an online audience especially since it was during the beginning of it all.
Let’s talk about your latest single “Power Hungry”?
One of our favourite songs off the album! The video was definitely the highlight for us with the single release. It was filmed on Louis’s birthday and we all dressed up and it was super fun. The song is essentially about school shootings in the US & how something needs to change. The music video was a metaphor about how guns give a false sense of security.
What is your favorite track on the album?
Sarah: My favourite would be ‘Insane’. I’ve always loved this one. There are some really cool rhythmic elements in it and its super fun to play.Louis: Stubborn would be my favourite song as it has a really good response when we play it live, it has a really good vibe and the song progresses in an interesting way.
Jarrod: My favourite would-be Power-Hungry cause it has a really cool groove and when we hit the chorus, there’s a darker drive that really changes the tone of the song.
How do you stay healthy while performing?
Drinking lots of water!
What are you’re feeling about streaming music?
The streaming platforms are a good way to get artists heard throughout the world but they don’t pay artists enough per stream.
Sarah- I saw something that you do some photo editing, is that right?
Yeah! We take a lot of our photos ourselves (we get our family/friends to take them) so there’s no one who edits. I find it super fun though!
How can bands keep their fans if they cannot play live in front of the fans and sell merch to them at the show?
Keep releasing music and keeping a high social media presence as well as interacting. We have just started a newsletter which we are keeping our fans
If you can’t do music what would you like to be doing?
Sarah: I would probably be a manager or organizer of some kind haha
Louis: I would probably be a model
Jarrod: I’m not really sure as the music
Anything you would like to say in closing.
Thank you to everyone who has supported us during this hard year!! Stay tuned for more! 🙂
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