How did you come up with the name of the band?
Stone Lucy was our band name in high school. Back in 1998, Myself,
Will, Kevin and Kevin's older brother Matt Rumley. The way I
remember it, we came up with the name one day we drove by a church
and I saw a statute of Mary and thought that Stone Mary would be
kind of cool. Then Will and the band interjected "thats a little too
religious, maybe that's too trite". Will suggested Stone Lucy because
his mother's name is Lucy.
There is allot of back history behind the original Stone Lucy. The
band broke up at the end of high school and we all went through a
period that we did not play music together for a while. Then one day
Will and I decided to get back together and started to look for
singers and drummers. We got in touch with one of our friends Akshay
Narang. Me, Will, and Adam were all permanently
living in Richmond in August of 2005.
Where are all of you originally from?
I grew up a couple miles from Garrett, we went
to elementary school together, we met Kevin and his brother Matt
Rumley is an amazing acoustic singer song writer you should check
out his web site www.mattrumley.com <http://www.mattrumley.com>.
We all formed a band in
eighth grade and that is how I met the amazing Rumley brothers, then
I went off to Harrisonberg.
I am from Fairfax Virginia, born and raised.
Thats where I met Will in elementary school, we
have known each other for about twenty years.
I grew up a couple miles from Garrett, we went
to elementary school together, we met Kevin
and his brother Matt Rumley is an amazing
acoustic singer song writer you should check
out his web site www.mattrumley.com. We all
formed a band in eighth grade and that is how I
met the amazing Rumley brothers, then I went
off to Harrisonberg.
I grew up on the eastern shore of Virginia, not in Virginia beach but
across the Chesapeake Bay in the peninsula there, its pretty rural but
its cool, I played in rock bands when i was growing up there.
Actually I moved to Harrisonberg to go to JMU, met some great
musicians and stayed out there for eight years playing music. The
common connection for all of us was Akshay, he was living out there
and that is how I met these guys and got hooked up.
I Grew up with Garret and Will, played music with them growing up,
graduated and went to the marine corpse. I ended up coming back early
and got hooked back up with these guys because they play great music.
Describe the Stone Lucy sound?, if someone has never been to a Stone
Lucy concert what should they expect to experience??
I would say hard rock, melodic vocals, when we play we don't try to
be like anybody, we play what we hear that sounds good and just
tried to play loud, hard, and fun and make sure we have some emotion
in it. If I had to equate us to bands that are known, tool, Pearl Jam,
and Soundgarden.
Personally I would have to say when I play guitar I try to sound like a
combination of Tom Morello from Rage Against the Machine, Mike
Einziger from Incubus, and Adam Jones from tool.
I think for our originals, and just from my part
in the band, I try and push as hard as possible
with these guys to keep a dynamic and definitely
have a softer melodic edge but to always keep
the music on an up tempo, for the over all feel
and vibe of the music I really push for raw
energy and real emotion to expose ourselves as
much as possible. Since I've been playing for
these guys I have put myself out on a limb
vocally and as a musician to just try to
experiment and do things I have never done
before, To see where it takes me, if I bomb then I
get another track in the studio and try again
(laughs).
What do you think keeps you together and pushing forward, what
motivates you as an artist??
For Will and I its a twenty year friendship with a passion to write
music and drive to write something that we think is important to say.
I think that Adam has complimented that to such a high degree that me
and Will couldn't be more pleased.
Stone Lucy is a true democracy. A lot of bands say that and don't
mean it or its jaded in some way. These guys truly write the music
together, someone presents a riff, the other guy works it out and its
still in a loose shape and loose form when I start to right melodies
over top of it. As a trio we work great together and we rely on each
other completely. That has allot to do with why we are having such
a tough time finding a drummer I believe, because when Kevin steps in
when he can, it works, because that style works and completes it.
We're looking for a drummer that fits like that and we won't accept
anything less.
Who in your personal life has inspired you musically?
The first person to inspire me and really get me hooked into music
really was my parents. The first song I ever new the lyrics to was
"Rock Raccoon" by the Beatles. My dad would sing a John Lennon
song to me to go to bed at night which was cool. Both of my parents
are very talented people but neither of them I would classify as
musical. From there I grew up and it was hanging out with Will and
the other guys I knew in elementary school and deciding to form a
band. Next step after that a huge influence musically who pushed me
to the next level would be Matt Rumley. He kind of gave me a good
kick in the assfor better and for worse.
I would say the people that influence me
musically are the people I play with, because you
have to play off people. In terms of writing or
the riffs I write, there are certain guitar
players that I previously mentioned. I try to put
myself in a pretty high caliber of people, at
least in my head, so I try to reach certain mental
plateaus where I think and feel like I'm playing
something that like one of my heroes might play,
so that pushes me. I guess girls, random girls, or
anything that makes me sad, so really my
inspiration is always women. Women are the
source of all the joy and all of the pain in my
life.
Without a doubt my father and his younger brother were my biggest
inspirations and the reason why I am so dedicated to playing music
today. It was like the Partridge family in my home. As early as I could
remember they would plug up amps, my father played bass and his
brother was lead guitarist. They actually played in a country band
when I was first getting into music, and they were pretty big they
opened for several big named acts, and opened the Tangier Sound
Music Festival in front of Brooks and Dunn. Music has been there
from the beginning for me and I share the common love with them and
really owe them to be so dedicated to music today.
What do each of you do with your lives outside of the music industry?
Drink beer and bang sluts ( laughs).
Well the sluts don't generally fall into place but i drink lots of
beer. I'm actually a full time student at VCU, closing up on the end of
my college career and I work part time as a banquet server, a very
glamorous job I know.
What do you want to do with your degree?
Become a rock star ( laughs ). I am paying a whole lotta money to
become a rock star. I am a psychology major, so if worst came to
worst and I had to do something with my degree, I would want to
become a school psychologist.
When I was in school I didn't know what I was going to do after
college, I want to play music and have that be the main
focus of this portion of my life. I just graduated from James Madison
University in Harrisonburg about a year ago, and right now I work
full time as a paralegal. I am pretty much dedicated to music, if i
wasn't doing this I would be in grad school for philosophy or law
school.It's all or nothing with anything and I'm a driven guy, so I'm
with music now and thats what it is. Its all music all the time on the
Will channel.
I am a full time graphic and web
designer at a medical equipment
company here in Richmond. I think
that visual arts are extremely
related to the auditory senses, I
really do. I think my work
graphically is totally tied into
what I do
musically. Graphically I think that
my styles and tastes can be
very easily compared to the music I
play - I like bold colors and
abstract images that evoke
emotion. I feel very fortunate to be
have a full time job that I enjoy and have as a way to express myself. I
think the two interact very well.
I drink beer ( laughs ).
What’s it like to start up a band in Richmond, is their allot of support in
the community, do allot of people come out?
Because we are just starting out int he Richmond area, the scene
itself we haven't quite broken into yet. Everyone seems supporting.
Finding the right people seems to be the most difficult part. We have
tried out a number of drummers and its hard to find the right kind of
people. Richmond seems like theres a pretty good scene out here.
Richmond has been good for the type of music that we play, it could
be better. A bigger city is going to cater to harder rock more, but
Richmond caters a lot more to the harder rock better than the
western part of Virginia and I don't think that Stone Lucy would
have progressed as quickly as we have had the opportunity to play
here at the Canal Club tonight so quickly if we were in a different
area. You have to have stations that play rock music and people
listening to rock music. If you are living in a place more rural then
Richmond, its going to be a lot harder to play this type of music.
People want to hear more of the classic rock stuff, thats what sells
elsewhere. I think its geographically dependent, I think Richmond is
a pretty decent you know, I can't complain.
I feel like the scene in Richmond is pretty good in general, there are
a lot of artists out here trying to make interesting music, and I think the
cool thing is that they do not necessarily fall into one type of sound, I
think there is a Richmond sound, I don't think our band really sounds like
that but there are a lot of bands that could say the same. The other
bands would say they don't sound like the Richmond sound either, and
thats whats cool about the Richmond sound is that everyone kind of
knows what it is but at the same time no one can claim to be part of it.
Hopefully it will be a good place for our band to grow.
Tell me a little bit about your creative process When it comes to writing,
when you guys practice do you riff a little and see where it goes, who
does what??
Will is kind of the brain child behind a lot. He is the basis of a lot of
the songs, behind the songs: he is kind of impetus for starting songs,
he comes up with a killer riff or something I really dig and then I will
pick up the bass and be like, "Sweet!" I will play along with it, then
Parker will throw in his input, its like Parker said, it's completely
democratic, we all listen to it and if we all like the song we will
work through it.
Adam does all of the lyrics?
Yes, Adam has written all of the lyrics and vocal lines.
However, Will is responsible for all of the copy on the web site and
for the good majority of the my space copy. He is definitely the one
with all of the wit on that stuff. My writing seems to be a little
dark and demented for web sites (laughs).
Speaking of the web site, were you serious when you said that one of
your influences are Milli Vanilli?
(Group laughs). Actually there was a breach of security, a break in
on our MySpace site, and someone tampered with it. So they put in
a lot of funny and odd things for three days, it was subtle things
randomly dispersed, stating things like we sound like MC Hammer
throughout our biography. Parker and I ended accusing each other as
to who put that stuff on the MySpace site. It turned out to be some
random guy, we thought it was pretty funny and there are no hard
feelings toward him, hopefully he is a Stone Lucy fan now. So we
decided to keep Milli Vanilli up there.
On the blog, one of the guys threw up a picture of Milli Vanilli up, so
thats why we had to keep that one
The reason I was never accused is because I am completely computer
illiterate (laughs). They said, "Garret is an idiot and could
not have master minded this."
And he craps in the woods (all laughs).
When you play out on the road, is it all the same or does each venue
have its own vibe? Do you have any favorite places you like playing?
Because Stone Lucy is so new and still in search of a permanent
drummer, I 'll speak from my experience with other bands primarily.
There is without a doubt a different vibe everywhere you go.
Reflecting back on a couple questions ago, depending on the
geographical location completely depends on how receptive an
audience is going to be. I think the trick there, is a band starting up
like us is friendships, and Myspace is a beautiful place for that. But
to find other bands that might have been together a little longer or
play in a place that you haven't played that you can get on the bill
with them and open up for them and get your foot in the door in
different places. And generally there's people who will know if a
place was a bad scene and you don't play those places again. You rely
on other bands playing the same type of music and see where they are
playing and find out what there reception was like, it gives your band
a good idea of where to try and book themselves. So if your good
about doing that and you choose the right places, then I think
generally the crowd is similar as far as to how much they are into to
it. You only blame yourself if get bad reception, I guess if the music
sucks or you picked the wrong place , or if your playing Sunday night
and people have to go to work the next day.
From he experiences I have had, the common thread I can find In all
bars and all places I have played, urinals are stinky, theres lots of
stickers, and usually smells like stale beer and vomit. If that rubs
you the wrong way then you are in the wrong business. But if you
wake up in the morning and say i love the smell of stale beer in the
morning...this is the gig for you bro (laughs).
I know you have not been together that long, but tell me about those
crazy things that rockers do and see; whats it like to be in a rock
band?
I wouldn't know. I'm sort of like a recluse, I don't really go in for a
lot of rock stardom. I'll party pretty hard once a month I guess and
thats my tension release. I've seen some crazy stuff before but take
it all in stride because thats not what is important about music.
I have done some crazy ass shit, and I 've gotten freakin lit, I woke up
on the hood of a cop car once, I've stumbled into a room with four
other people naked and passed out on the floor (laughs) . I am not
saying I'm a big rocker, but lets put it this way out of the seven days
of the week, 3 of the days I will be completely lit and the other 4
you'll find me slightly buzzed and stumbling through the day. I have
seen some crazy shit and its not necessarily at the shows, its like
everyone who plays music likes to party. Or at least I do.
What is a favorite song of your own that you wrote?
My personal favorite right now is the newest song we have written
called Expecting Gills. Tonight is going to be the first time we play it
out for anybody. I really dig it, its got a really cool groove and I love
playing the bass line on it.
My favorite song that we do is Nothing In A Name, its the fourth song
in our demo. It was one of those songs that was really bare bones
when we went in to record it and it was entirely different. And then
Kevin Rumley, Garrett, myself, Adam, and Alex Keena who recorded
our cd, and who is a brilliant recorder. We sat down and decided to
change it up, we said, "Lets do it acoustic, lets add this and that," and
it ended up being a song with a thousand over dubs. I love doing that
kind of stuff in the studio, when things take a drastic change from
where I thought they would go.
My favorite song would be the first song off the demo called
Manakin, because it is straight forward, no nonsense, and high
energy. I would have to say of all of our originals the most
controversy, if I can use that word, would be around the slowest
song on the demo called Appendix, I think as a whole is our least
favorite original, and yet I'd say out of all the songs we get the most
comments on that song being a good song as a whole and I think is
worth mentioning.
My favorite song is the new one Expecting Gills, it is an awesome
groove and I'm really into it right now.
Are you guys all single or is anyone married?
I am married and have a one year old little girl, she is the absolute
love of my life along with my wife. The two of them are the best
thing that has ever happened to me. I have a dog, he's my son, he is a
shar Pei (sp?) who is a year and half. So I have a full family (laughs).
Believe it or not a lot of people in the rock scene probably typically
shy away from being married and thinking that it would keep them
from as much participation or the crazy aspect of things or would
hinder their music writing in some way. I have only found it
completely inspirational, I really have only great things to say about
it. Two years ago I would have said the exact opposite about thing
marriage, two years ago I had no intentions on ever being married
with a child. Some things you don't predict in your life and some
things you don't know until happens so it could be the greatest thing
in your life.
So is true Kevin, do drummers get all of the chicks?
I have a beautiful, beautiful, beautiful girlfriend and would love to
marry her.
Garrett is single on Goddamn streak of being single for way to f'ing
long so if any chicks hear this, if any of you beautiful ladies in the
club tonight, Garrett needs loving (laughs).
What is the biggest challenge to being in a band and trying to make it
successful?
Right now its finding a permanent drummer. If you hear our CD and
think you can drum as well as Kevin, which you probably can't, I'll go
ahead and throw that out there, but if you think that you
can, by all means come out, we want you in our band. I
think Stone Lucy would quickly rising up the food chain if we had a
permanent drummer, I am pretty confident in our abilities.
We all have the drive and the spirit, even with busy schedules we
make the time, we all make sure to make the time.
I think we are organized, we know people, we are smart about the
way we do things and I think a lot of bands don't have that kind of
experience. We have all been in bands before, we know what it takes
it is just a matter of finding all of the right pieces at this point.
Do you guys have a CD out right now?
No, its a four song demo right now. The recording quality on it is top
notch, I could not be happier with it. If you don't like the music,
you have to be able to respect the recording quality, we would have
to thank Alex Keena for that.
And it was recorded at a practice space in a house here in the city,
using a portable studio.
Where do you hope to see the band in 5 years?
I hope to be laughing at people from my massive crib on the MTV show
cribs, and I will be wearing a diamond studded thong, and I will have
llamas all over my property for no apparently good reason.
In five years, I would love to be able to make a living off of something
that I am creating- music. Thats what I want to do: live a
comfortable life, have enough people to enjoy my music enough that
they will follow it and allow me to live off of it.
This may sound like a cop out but I'll be honest with you, I'm in it for
the ride, I have no expectations. I just want to see where it goes. It is
complete musical fulfillment for me right now. I couldn't be happier
playing in Stone Lucy. I'm along for the ride. I couldn't even tell you
what I am going to do this weekend much less something that is going
to happen five years from now or where a band could go. I couldn't
be happier where it is right now and how things are picking up. I hope
for the best for us, hope the people like what hey hear and ask to
listen for more and that we are able to keep giving it to them.
Scott Eicholtz
