From postponed festivals, to postponed tours Rich Moss of Stone Broken discusses it all with Mark Bestford at the Download Pilot Festival. Topics also include his avid passion for gaming, horror movies, and a certain chess based drama. You won’t need Netflix to find out their next move though.
Usually we introduce the band, but we know who Stone Broken are. You’re back at Download, how many times have you been here now?
“This is only the second time. It feels like there should be many more. And I think that’s because of all the moves and restrictions. I think we’ve been announced, sort of like three times, but it’s only the second time that we are playing.”
Because last time I was interviewing you it was the infamous cupcakes.
“Yes. Everyone still mentions those cupcakes.”
It gets you remembered. Everyone likes a freebie, but we can’t do anything this year. So how are you finding it so far?
“Surreal, I think is the main thing that I’m feeling right now. 18 months of not playing shows, festivals, tours, everything like that. It just feels like a bit strange if I’m honest, like sort of being here and it still feels exactly the same. Obviously, we’ve got other things that we need to do now. wristbands to say that we haven’t got COVID and stuff like that. But other than that, it’s still the same amazing vibe It’s still super relaxed backstage. Everyone’s having a great time. So yeah, so far, so good.”
One thing I’ve been asked to do, I normally do a thing called Apocalypse Playlist. What would you put on the car radio for the end of the world? This year we’re doing it slightly different. What would you put in your playlist for Download?
“To download?”
On your way to Download. Okay, what’s going on that playlist?
“You know, I’ve got such a mixed bag right now. I would probably say there will be some Bring Me The Horizon on there. There’ll be some Bullet For My Valentine on there. There would be some Bad Wolves on there.“
Any song in particular?
“Yeah, I mean, Teardrops is my favourite Bring Me The Horizon song right now. Anything off the last Bullet For My Valentine record. And yeah, Bad Wolves I’ll probably say Let’s Walk Again.”
We’ve all been in lockdown for the last 18 months. For some people it’s been harder than for others. How’s it been for you guys?
“It’s been strange. Just not being out on the road, we live for the road, and playing shows and stuff like that. But what we’ve managed to do is we managed to focus on getting the next record, recorded, written and recorded, and ready for when things start going back to normal again.“
Are all the songs already sorted out?
“It’s all been recorded. It’s all effectively finished now.”
So just final production and out the door?
“That’s it. All that said, we’re still gonna do things like, we’re gonna shoot videos, photo shoots, and we’re still doing some like bonus content, and that sort of stuff. But other than that the main core album is ready to go.”
A lot of bands have had to postpone things obviously. Have you had any tour postponements yourself?
“Oh, yeah, they we’ve got a tour in 2022 at the beginning, so like late January. And that’s the third time that we’ve announced it for different dates. So technically, the new record should be out already and we should have already toured it. But because COVID hit right in the middle of when we were in the studio, so we had to break for a while and then go back and finish it off. So the whole thing is just, it’s obviously delayed the record, but we wouldn’t have been able to go out and tour it anyway.”
A lot of people have been catching up on their boxsets on TV as they haven’t been able to go out and do anything else. Anything good catch your eye?
“So I watched the Queen’s Gambit that was that was cool, really enjoyed that.”
That’s the chess one?
“The chess one, yeah, I thought it was really good. What else have I watched? You know what, to be fair I’ve been more getting into gaming than watching Netflix. I’ve been playing a lot of Call Of Duty and that sort of stuff. And yeah, so I’ll probably say that the main one that sticks out for Netflix is Queen’s Gambit.”
We’ve got the new consoles coming out, the PS 5 and XBox.
“Oh dude, I still haven’t managed to get one, the waiting list is unreal.”
Which one are you aiming for?
“PS5.”
Any particular reason?
“I’ve just been PlayStation like pretty much my whole life. I’ve owned one Xbox, but like the rest of them I’ve had every other gen PlayStation so.”
I’m waiting for Stray. It’s the one where you play as a little cat.
“Oh yeah, I did see that, yeah. That looks wicked.”
Favourite film and why?
“So, it’s difficult to pick one. I’m like, huge into horror. That’s my genre of film that I love. I think probably the original Insidious, I think, because the way that it was shot was beautiful. The jumpscares happen in just the right place. And it felt exciting to watch. Even now I know exactly what’s going to happen, but I still get that kind of nervous failing when I’m watching. So yeah, that’s probably my favourite film.”
There are quite a lot of horror movies coming out recently.
“Yeah, I mean, that’s been Spiral, which is the new Saw film. There’s a new Conjuring that’s just come out as well. I haven’t managed to get to a cinema yet to go watch them. But yeah, I’m pretty sure after we’ve done Download, we’ll manage to get to a cinema and watch them because, again, that’s another thing that I’ve missed is not been able to catch the latest horror films in the cinema where there’s great sound, and you know, you get the atmosphere.”
Sit down, turn everything off.
“Exactly. And just focus on the film.”
Any plans for next year?
“So…”
You’ve got the tour and the album
“We’re gonna tour. Yeah, that’s coming out. Yeah.”
When’s the album actually coming out then?
“We haven’t got a definitive date at the moment. But we would assume at this point that it’s going to be fairly close to the tour. So probably the beginning of next year, although we’re definitely going to release music this year. But not the full album, if that makes sense. So we’re getting singles this year.”
So a couple of singles?
“Exactly.”
So when’s the start of the tour?
“You know, I was asked this earlier, and I can’t remember the actual dates, all I know is it’s the end of January when it all kicks off. And it runs through into February.”
Describe the songwriting process
“I can do it in one word, difficult.”
The last year, you’ve had plenty of time to do it.
“Yeah, we have plenty time. But sometimes that can offer more problems than solutions, because you’ve got time to go back and rewrite and rewrite and really get things perfect. And you’ve not really got an excuse not to get it right, when you’ve had this long term to write a record. So we ended up writing the record, we worked with a guy called Dan Weller, who’s produced the record and, and he kind of came in at the writing period of time. And we sat down in a rehearsal studio, and really hashed out the songs and there was ups and downs and, and backwards and forwards. And it was, it was a bit of a gruelling process, but well worth it.”
Have you found writing the album quite good mentally? A lot of people have struggled this year.
“You know what, it has been a bit of a mental strain doing it because usually you’re out on the road and you’re doing what you love, and when it’s kind of taken away from you, you write from a different place. And I would say this next record that we’ve got coming out, it’s a bit darker than usual, and it probably is a side effect of, you know, where we are currently. But the main factor that we wanted to concentrate on was just writing good songs, and maintaining what Stone Broken do, you know, and that’s connecting with fans, and having huge singalong choruses, massive riffs. But what we want, what we did with this record is we’ve just like taken it to the next level. And everyone who’s listened to it so far, I mean internally within the record label, they all love it. So we just hope that the fans feel exactly the same this week because we’re absolutely super proud of the next record. And we just hope that everyone you know, has the same vibe where the listen to it.”
Who would you like to be endorsed by and why?
“That one’s easy, Pepsi Max. Because we drink so much of it. It’d be a shame if we didn’t have some kind of partnership with them. In terms of instruments I’ve got all of mine, so ESP electric guitars, and bass acoustic guitars and that’s all I need, you know they’re great companies, great products. So yeah, I think we need to start moving over to beverages and Pepsi Max and Yorkshire tea I think are the two that the band would benefit from the most.”
Yorkshire Tea? Something to chill out on when not trying to get the caffeine off the Pepsi.
“Exactly.”