Getting to Know… Stone Robot | Interview 🎤

For the 190^th Q&A on The Musical Hype, we chat with all three members of the totally intriguing band, Stone Robot.

According to 🎙 Mr. Johnnie Walker (guitar, beats, synths, vocals – kind of, lyrics), “I think ‘left of center’ is a perfect way to describe 🎙 Stone Robot.” Fair enough! Of the band, another member, 🎙 B. Steels (vocals, lyrics, synths, and guitar – questionably) asserts, “We believe what sets us apart is the variety of sounds we emit from the speakers. Alt Rock, hip-hop, synth/pop, metal, post punk, industrial, we do a bit of all of it…” Oh, and let’s not leave out 🎙 Dr. JAMessiah Rockwell (bass, beats, synth, vocals, lyrics and guitar – somewhat), who states, “I feel like we primarily create for our own enjoyment – just play what stuff we like.” Honestly, that’s a great philosophy to have a musician – if you don’t enjoy what you are playing, that’s definitely an issue.  All three members of this intriguing collective provide some excellent, insightful answers to the 190^th interview in our Getting to Know… series, 🎤 Getting to Know… Stone Robot: Interview No. 190!

Starting things off, for those who may not be familiar with Stone Robot, what would you say makes your band distinct or unique? How do you rock the audience’s socks off? 

🎤 B. Steels: We ask them politely to remove their socks when they listen to our songs. I mean, who does that? No one. I jest of course, we believe what sets us apart is the variety of sounds we emit from the speakers. Alt Rock, hip-hop, synth/pop, metal, post punk, industrial, we do a bit of all of it, yet still produce a singular sonic blend unique to us.

🎤 JAMessiah Rockwell: Yeah, I’d say as much as we are genuinely grateful for anyone who listens and gives a sign of appreciation they share with us, our creative force is completely inward. I feel like we primarily create for our own enjoyment – just play what stuff we like. Speaking for myself, I don’t give so much as a thought to the consumer’s/audience’s opinion during the writing and recording stage. That said, I hope people dig our music!

🎤 Mr. Johnnie Walker, esq: I couldn’t agree more with what Steels and JAM said. As far as the audience is concerned, we wrote and recorded the album during a global pandemic, so we are still waiting on the chance to get out and see what reaction our music / performance will have on their footwear.

Okay, let’s explore some juicy backstories. How did your Stone Robot form and what were some of the goals or the visions you had as a band early on? 

🎤 Steels: I think delusions of grandeur are a part of every band’s vision when its members are young. And we were once young. JAM and I have been playing together since the early 2000’s when we used to rock in our parents’ basements. Johnnie Walker was introduced to us through a mutual friend a short while after. Together, our stylistic approaches to songwriting collided yet meshed so perfectly, we decided to keep writing together, come what may. That mutual friend that introduced us to JW, is actually going to be performing on an upcoming single, a rerelease of 🎵 “91IVOCation”. June 17th is the release date for that.

🎤 JAM: The juiciest stuff in our backstory is some of the antics and dealings our previous drummer was into. But seriously, we just have a fire to Consecrate – knowing there’s always the potential for something fierce to surface, but never quite knowing what direction it will take or how the finished product will sound. That blend of drive and mystery is all I need!

🎤 JW: I’ve secretly hoped that someday we might sell off our songs to younger / more attractive musicians who can bring the Stone Robot sound to the next generation.

Let’s talk more about goals.  Have your goals or your perspectives changed since first starting out? What do your aspirations or goals look like now? 

🎤 Steels: Well, as we’ve dabbled in a few musical iterations (some together some on our own) since those early days, we grew older and formed families. Now our goals are more to geared towards simply having a creative outlet. Of course, we believe this album to be fantastic and have been promoting it like crazy, but we just want people to hear it. We don’t need to be famous. 

🎤 JAM: We want to saturate the streaming and social media platforms as much as possible. Thanks to Steels’ savvy PR pushes and opportunities like these, hopefully we can garner some attention digitally, and then translate our stuff to the stage for a live audience.

🎤 JW: Or…we find some of those younger / better looking musicians I was talking about to Milli Vanilli our shit! Honestly, I just want to keep creating interesting music in the hopes that somebody we’ve never met enjoys it.

Everybody is influenced by somebody else. Who would you consider some of your biggest musical influences and how are they influential? 

🎤 Steels: That is way too long of a list. But if I must select a few it would start with The Doors and Pink Floyd. Then I would add some Wu-Tang Clan, Tool, Faith No More, Deftones, and round it off with maybe the Strokes and Broken Bells. My live performance was always Iggy Pop based, even before I knew much about the Stooges.

🎤 JAM: I’m influenced by my bandmates, and what they’re into, as well as other musicians I have befriended along my journey, as much as any established artist. But anything can be influential for me, including soundtracks, video game music, and old sitcom theme songs. Facts of Life, Perfect Strangers, Laverne and Shirley and Family Ties; those themes are catchy as hell!

🎤 JW: I love old school punk / hardcore music for the raw emotion and relative simplicity. Listening to bands like the Dead Kennedys, Agnostic Front, Sam Black Church, or Melvins was really formative early on. As I’ve gotten older, almost anything Ken Andrews has done helped me explore songwriting and sonic possibilities.

Ah, the fun stuff.  What’s your craziest tour story or the wackiest thing that’s happened during a performance?  Feel free to be creative. 

🎤 JAM: Wearing surgical masks exactly 10 years prior to the pandemic for our previous band’s opening show was pretty crazy. And following that up with a trip to play a packed Manhattan club on a school bus with 20 drunken friends was a fantastic follow-up.

🎤 Steels: You guys wore the surgical masks for that show, I went totally insane with cut off pajama bottoms, a Deftones tour shirt torn asunder, a Superman cape, and swim goggles. I wore that shit the entire day like a damn sociopath. Hardly anyone blinked. That was a fun show. The New York gig was killer too, tons of debauchery on that school bus and our first time being flashed on stage! Still, it was this tiny Connecticut dive bar that I remember the best. We were supposed to go on early, but the promoter noticed most of the fans there were ours, so he switched us to last up. We had already started drinking and couldn’t go back. I was dressed in a full Viking king outfit, and I believe my helmet still hangs on the wall there. We got hammered and the packed crowd loved us so much they wouldn’t let us off the stage! We closed the place down.

🎤 JW: I could tell you that I vividly remember that Connecticut show, but I would be lying. I don’t know if other musicians feel the same way, but if I get drunk then try to play, I am rubbish. If I get drunk while I’m playing, I can still make it happen. And I don’t mean that in like a “yeah, I’m shit-faced, but look how well I can dance” kinda way.

Up until this point in your career, what would you describe as your favorite song you’ve recorded or performed live? What makes that song special? 

🎤 JAM: I love them all like my children – none are illegitimate. I especially appreciate the contributions I’m able to make for an idea that JW or Steels initiates, something that pushes me beyond my comfort zone or perceived ability. When I have to stretch and feel the burn before finding my songwriting compass it usually results in genuinely collaborative creation that exceeds my original imagination.

🎤 Steels: A real “Sophie’s Choice” type question there. Well…less dire consequences, but still. I really can’t name one that goes above the rest. I think 🎵 “Vendetta” from our old, 💿 My New Shell days holds a special place for me. It evoked a lot of emotional rage. I broke like four microphones singing that song live. One club almost shut down our show because they were afraid, I’d do to their mic, what I had just done to my own.

🎤 JW: 🎵 “The Fallback” from our 💿 Independent Idiot days is always going to be special to me. On 💿 Planned Obsolescence, I’d have to say 🎵 “8645” is the one that was the most fun to create. It really is three distinct ideas, created independently by three musicians, in three different US states, perfectly formed into one righteous track.

Is there anything else awesome, cool, or left of center the world should know about you? Secret talents or surprising tidbits? 

🎤 JAM: I think it would be awesome and cool if the world knew a little more about our interviewer. Let’s splice in a little rapport here to take this interview out of the box. Who is the voice, the person behind the Musical Hype? What got you into music blogging? Based on responses, what’s been your favorite band interview so far?

🎤 Brent Faulkner (aka The Musical Hype): Um, well now…

🎤 Steels: I mean, it’s gotta be us, right?

🎤 JW: I think “left of center” is a perfect way to describe Stone Robot.

Closing things out, what is Stone Robot currently working on, promoting that you can share with us or want us to know about? We love secrets, but there’s no pressure.  

🎤 JAM: I’m feeling like a budding pyro finding his first book-o-matches with the idea of releasing different offshoots of the Stone Robot personalities (and potentially other artists) under our Stoner O-bot label. I’ve got some “solo” songs (most critically collaborated) that I’m looking forward to sharing with the world under this brand. I think it adds depth and helps us cast an even bigger net to expand our core audience. After all, Stone Robot has already begun writing new material.

🎤 Steels: I already alluded to the single coming out earlier. We have a YouTube channel. There is a DIY music video for the song 🎵 “After All” on there we made during the pandemic, plus an opportunity to be in our next MV for the song, 🎵 “8645.” People can send us video of themselves creatively destroying outdated technology using the hashtag #techtrashchallenge on TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter and tag us @stonerobotband on any of those platforms. In the meantime, new songs are already simmering in the crock pot.

🎤 JW: I’m well into about 6 tracks I hope will be on Stone Robot’s sophomore album, and I’m always interested in seeing what we can do to help other musicians through Stoner O-bot.

Thank you so much for sharing taking the time to answer these questions, and best of luck moving forward.  

Getting to Know… Stone Robot: Interview No. 190 🎤 [📷: Brent Faulkner, The Musical Hype, Stone Robot]