Stone Foundation are a soul band who hold their own with the genre’s American greats whilst incorporating a British mod sensibility.
Bassist and co-founder Neil Sheasby speaks to Jason Barnard about their imminent UK tour and latest album ‘Everybody, Anyone’, a record that continues their flourishing collaboration with Paul Weller.
You’re shortly embarking on a new nationwide tour, what should fans expect from your new show? How much of ‘Everybody, Anyone’ will you play?
They can expect a full spirited committed performance, value for their hard earned money, we’ll always give 100% every time we walk out onto a stage, it’s our natural environment, we love gigging. We’ll be playing the bulk of the new album, we’ll also be joined by the backing vocalists that contributed to the record too so that’s a first for us and our audiences.
You seem to have built up a following based on word of mouth and the quality of your live shows. Is this something you recognise?
Absolutely. I think we have a unique and special relationship with our audience, the gigs feel like all inclusive affairs, they are very much a part of the night, the atmosphere is always electric and it does thankfully seem to be continually growing and mainly as you point out via word of mouth.
You played Glastonbury last year, what have been your most memorable live performances?
Glastonbury is always a nice prestigious gig to get and sends out the signals that you’re doing the right things to get noticed. My favourite gigs recently have been Shepherd’s Bush Empire in London, Oran Mor in Glasgow & Voodoo Rooms in Edinburgh, then internationally The Blue Note Club in Tokyo where we had a little residency, beautiful Country, beautiful people.
How did the band form and how do you feel your sound has developed since you started? Have you grown in confidence as writers and performers?
The band formed 21 years ago around the relationship that myself and Neil Jones have and still have two decades later, I mean that on a working and personal level too.
We’ve certainly developed over the years as writers and musicians but we are lucky to be surrounded by wonderful players and people that share our vision for Stone Foundation. Our confidence has also been buoyed by working with artists like Paul Weller too, he’s been very supportive & encouraging.
Your known for your soulful sound. What artists, past and present do you admire and why?
The masters like Marvin, Curtis Mayfield, Al Green, Van Morrison…I’m also hearing lots of contemporary music that inspires too, it’s all still out there if your radar is open. I think you can tell music which comes from an honest place, it has integrity and longevity.
What inspires you to write, do you start with a musical phrase or lyric?
Can be either way round, even a title can spark a whole song, there’s no set formula for either me or Neil but we always trade our thoughts and ideas and work on each other’s suggestions, it’s nice to have that sounding board that works two ways.
Paul Weller has featured on quite a few of tracks for The Stone Foundation. How long have you been working with Paul and how did you get to know him?
Paul liked a couple of our previous singles and subsequently sent us a rough demo to develop which turned into Limit of a man, our first Co write together. He had some free time and suggested we came down to his studio, Black Barn, & work on a few more ideas together, soon enough this morphed into the creation of the Street Rituals album sessions which Paul ended up being heavily involved with both as producer and a contributing musician on most of the songs.
It was slightly surreal at first but it soon felt natural and we’ve become good friends since those initial meetings.
Paul, Mick Talbot and Steve White all feature on ‘Carry the News’, a bit of a Style Council reunion! How did this come about?
Steve and Mick played on the tune, we wanted a slightly different feel and approach so we asked them if they’d be up for helping us out. Paul’s (vocal) contribution happened a few weeks later so they didn’t actually record their parts at the same time but it was nice to have them all feature on the track, first time since Broken Stones I think (from Paul’s Stanley Road album).
You also collaborated with Kathryn Williams and Hamish Stuart on your latest LP. Was this something you had in mind when you first went into the studio?
Yeah. Don’t walk away was intended as a kind of duet and we needed the right voice, Kathryn was perfect for it and we were honoured when she agreed to do it.
Also Only you Can had that AWB feel so it seemed only right that we pursued Hamish, what an amazing musician and singer, not only is he synonymous with his years in the Average White Band but he also served time in Paul McCartney’s touring band, it was an absolute privilege to work with him and a testament to our thing as well that he agreed to get involved.
Out of all of your albums, which tracks are you most proud of and which go down best live?
There’s been 7 albums, I really think the last 3 are very good. They sound like the records we intended to make. I’m particularly proud of certain songs on this new one because they have challenged our boundaries…Carry the News, Rise above it, Standing on the top…..they’re not simple things to pull off and making them sound right was an indication of the bands development, I think we are capable of some really exciting stuff.
What are your plans after the tour as we go into 2019 – another album?
We will continue to tour the Everybody, Anyone album into 2019, we’ll go to Europe, possibly Japan again, few more UK dates then it’ll be festival season so I doubt you’ll see a Stone Foundation album in 2019 but we will start the process of writing and recording again. The whole idea and concept of an SF20 album seems appealing to me, it’s also nice to put some distance between releases, it’s been pretty relentless for the last couple of years.
The new Stone Foundation album Everybody, Anyone is available to order now on a variety of limited edition and signed formats.
Their UK tour starts 25 October, see the Stone Foundation website for details.
