STONE

Ever since their rapid rise in the depths of lockdown, Liverpool’s STONE have thrived best when leaning into the chaos. Having further sealed themselves as a vital force on the global punk scene with their 2024 debut album ‘Fear Life For A Lifetime’, the band are back with a follow-up that’s loaded with their most reflective and bruising work to date.

‘AUTONOMY’ comes as a fierce testament to the band’s resilience, fighting spirit and togetherness. Having publicly come to an end of their major label agreement earlier in the year, this is the sound of friends settling old scores while learning to have fun again. Discussing that sense of freedom behind the material, frontman Fin Power says the band were determined to finally put the industry bullshit to one side and make the album they wanted.

While ‘AUTONOMY’ is a more grown-up version of STONE, there’s still a clarity and brutal decisiveness at play. Power says there was an inner-battle throughout the writing process. “I do miss that ferocious beast that I was, there was that real anger and that ‘fuck you’ energy. I think there was a part of unlocking that on this album and letting the handbrake off. With all the label stuff, I think I found that again.”

Largely recorded on home soil at Liverpool’s Whitewood Studios and produced by Rob Whiteley (The Night Cafe, The Wombats, Courting), aside from ‘Hope Ain’t Gone’ which was produced by Rich Costey (Foo Fighters, My Chemical Romance, Muse) sonically, the album delivers some of their heaviest, hard-hitting works so far. 

Accolades to date include recent mainstage performances on Rock Werchter and Pukkelpop along with support runs with Yungblud, Inhaler, The Wombats, The Kooks and DMA’s. Heading the UK and Europe into next spring, the band will perform their biggest ever headline show at 2000 capacity Ancienne Belgique in Brussels.

Still vital outliers forging their own pathway, STONE aren’t concerned with the wider scene. “We’re like a nomad band. We can’t sit with the arty post-punk bands because we aren’t them, we can’t sit with the hardcore bands because we’re not hardcore purists, but what we’ve tried to do is genuinely genre-busted and we’ve got our own vibe going on. We’re so proud of it, it’s always been sink or swim but we’ll never give up. We’re doing whatever the fuck we want, there’s no red tape here. That’s where STONE thrives.”

STONE are Fin Power (vocals), Sarah Surrage (bass), Elliot Gill (guitar) and Alex Smith (drums)