STONE LIVERPOOL - 'The Underground Voice For the Lost Youth'

em bowen✨💞
Nov 7, 2022
5 min read

Updated: Dec 18, 2022

Cambridge Junction, Finsbury Park, NBHD Fest, Inhaler Tour..

Meet my new favourite Scouse punk rockers

Words by Emma Bowen

Images by Emma Bowen, Lia Qin

MOSH PIT RATING: 110%

SET LIST from NBHD Festival:

Keep Running

Fuse

Let's Dance To The Real Thing

Money (Hope Ain't Gone)

Waste

Stupid

Leave It Out

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STONE LIVERPOOL

My new favourite punk band..

Frontman - Fin Power;

Guitarist - Elliot Gill;

Bassist - Sarah Surrage;

Drummer - Alex Smith

I was first introduced to listen to this band earlier this year when following Inhaler around on their European tour. It takes a lot for me to get involved with a new artist; I often need to see them live to discover that personal connection. But something about STONE hooked me straight away. The first song I fell in love with was ‘Let’s Dance To The Real Thing’ – a punchy and energetic tune with spoken word style lyrics painted over the top.

Branding themselves as ‘the underground voice for the lost youth’, there’s an incredible sense of power that these four young musicians portray through both their music and their live shows. I was lucky enough to catch them for the first time at Cambridge Junction in June opening for Inhaler, and this only solidified my admiration for them. I then saw them again in July at Sam Fenders Finsbury Park show – another incredible set, but I think they would’ve benefitted from a slightly smaller stage to draw the crowd closer to one another. This band isn’t one you can just watch from the back with your arms folded. Power’s energised dance moves and interaction with the audience is encapsulating, and this is only enhanced with the passionate performances from Surrage, Smith and the ball of energy that is their iconic guitarist, Elliot Gill.

My third time seeing STONE was at NBHD Festival on October 1st 2022, playing the modern intimate venue – Canvas. We turned up early to catch Brooke Combes set – another beautiful upcoming artist who I caught at The Lexington late last year, bringing a new jazzy tone to the music scene.

Due to the hectic schedule of the festival, we found ourselves darting back and forth between various venues to catch the sets we wanted to see. I was a little further back than I’d hoped, but luckily as I’d suspected, the difference in music style between Combe and STONE meant a good changeover of crowd. We used this to our advantage and quickly headed over to the bar to neck back a few drinks before weaving ourselves towards the front of the stage just before the set started.

The Liverpudlian punk rockers had drawn in an impressive crowd with a few STONE t-shirts spotted down the front; We were about two or three rows back, but an audience with that much energy means you’re never in the same spot for more than one or two songs.

In their iconic leopard print style and neon orange jumpsuits, STONE graced the stage, and you could feel the adrenaline in the room building higher and higher as they jumped into their first track – ‘Keep Running’.

This was the crowd I’d been waiting for.

Mosh pits were opening every few seconds at the command of Fin clicking his fingers, some of the more dedicated fans were screaming all of the lyrics back to the band word for word, cameras were out, arms in the air and the energy was electric. With a seven song set, they kept engagement up through the whole performance and interspersed some of the tracks with spoken word introductions to the songs – one of my favourite unique elements to their performance that really proves these guys were born to be in the spotlight.

The highlight of the night for me was definitely hearing ‘Waste’ live. There’s a brief silence before Fin makes eye contact with the crowd to speak the first few lines of the song, starting with the words ‘You probably hate me, but what can I say? I’m a hateable guy, who loves to play the game..’ before the track kicks in. This is definitely one of my absolute favourites at the moment. It has the perfect mosh pit moment at around two minutes into the track, with a punchy drum beat that slowly builds the tension up until it finally snaps, and NBHD did not disappoint with the pits..

I was lucky enough to catch STONE another five times last month opening for Inhaler across Sheffield, Manchester, Glasgow, Southampton and finally the Roundhouse. Although intimate venues are my personal favourites, there’s no denying that these guys were designed to be on the big stage. They certainly have the energy to fill out a venue of thousands, and I’m sure one day soon they’ll be doing just that.

Their new song Money (Hope Ain’t Gone) has been on repeat for me since the moment it dropped a few weeks ago. It was released during the Inhaler tour, so naturally we’d spend hours whilst travelling looping the song in an attempt to learn all the lyrics, and it’s so catchy that we managed it quite successfully!

After every show, we’d exit the venue to find men in balaclavas and the iconic STONE jumpsuits handing out stickers and badges – a very clever marketing tool that I’d always look forward to participating in. We must’ve collected a fair few of these sticker packs after every show, and found ourselves running the city sticking them everywhere we could.

I was also lucky enough to get a few setlists and guitar picks from the band during the

tour, as well as meeting Fin briefly after Sheffield.

He admitted he was a bit nervous during a few of the shows, but his confidence and passion onstage shows that he didn’t let this hold him back. He also made the time during their sets to talk about some of his own personal struggles with mental health and the importance of everyone looking after each other, a very relevant topic for our generation.

These guys have definitely got this whole ‘band dynamic’ nailed down perfectly. Everything from their logo and branding to their stage presence, their performance, stickers and merchandise, their style, social media presence and of course the music itself, all fits together perfectly.

They’re a voice of change for our generation. Closing their shows with an arm to the sky and a repeated chant ‘Join Us, Join Us, Join Us.. We are STONE’ is one of the most captivating moments of all, and really makes you feel as though you’re a part of their revolution.

I’m desperately counting down the days until their UK headline tour next April, which is selling out quickly, so don’t miss your chance! And their EP ‘Punkadonk’ drops in a few weeks as well, so be sure to keep an eye out for that! Featuring their new track ‘Money (Hope Ain’t Gone)’ alongside some of my other favourites like ‘Waste’ ‘Moto’ and ‘Radio Ready’.

Stone Liverpool – We love you! Keep it coming..

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After completing an impressive festival season and two tours supporting both Inhaler and The Wombats, STONE have finally announced their own UK headline tour for April 2023! Check out more information and ticket availability through their Instagram:::

@stoneliverpool