Picture this: you’re in a new, freshly invigorated rock band, including members that have appeared on stage at some of the worlds most prestigious music venues and festivals – and here you are, in a dingy changing room that smells of piss.
Not only that, but you’re the only member in the quartet that is a relative ‘unknown’, even though you’ve performed with some of Britain’s finest acts. With the media focussing around the former trio that made up defunct retro glam rockers The Darkness, what on earth do you think when you’re in the middle of the Netherlands with a room that smells like a makeshift urinal?
Fairly well, as it goes. As bassist Toby MacFarlaine recites the tale from Groningen, he chuckles along gleefully whilst also fighting back the odorous remnants within his mind:
“Oh lord, that was a fright that was! It was like playing in a squat. It was good fun though, a good fun gig!” And what does today’s dressing room smell of? “Bananas,” comes the reply. It almost comes as slight relief.
As he theatrically proclaims himself to be “The unknown soldier!” upon being asked about his back-story, he’s actually pretty accurate. As the only member to not have been taken from the rubble of Great Yarmouth’s best known export, there is a bit of catching up to be done.
Starting out in alt-rock band Thirteen:13 who were briefly signed to Polydor, MacFarlaine then moved on to play bass with Graham Coxon on his 2000 LP, The Golden D. From there, he toured with Irish indie rockers JJ72 around Europe, “my first European tour, so that was nice!” before briefly appearing with former Ash guitarist Charlotte Hatherley. He finished up with Tom Vek in the U.S last year:
“I’ve just been playing with friends, or friends of friends rather than being a session musician”, he says.
His instantly likeable persona and elaborate story telling style makes him an easy man to interview, coupled with his wicked sense of humour. Refreshingly, Toby also openly admits to enjoying interviews – is that really true?
He pipes up: “Oh yes, love ‘em, awesome fun! You get a chance to talk yourself up, it’s never a bad thing is it?! I mean a lot of people kind of get to a point where they complain about having to do interviews, but I think it’s all for the greater good. I think its kinda fun really!”
There must be another reason behind this enjoyment of the spoken word, and it’s not long before the truth comes out. Not only is the chief blog writer for the Stone Gods a dab hand with words, he’s actually, “a bit of a frustrated writer”.
After a mild chuckle, Toby adds: “I used to want to be a novelist when I was a kid, until I discovered songwriting. I never had the patience to write a whole novel, books are really long! You can get down what you want to say on a page on a song so I slipped into that. To have an outlet to get a bit overly wordy is always good!”
What would’ve been his forte? War stories from the frontline? Thunderbirds, perhaps?
In fact, Toby was into something different: “At the time I was into really bad horror - well, not necessarily bad - Stephen King and all of that kind of stuff. Not great literature, but good yarns! I probably would’ve ended up writing really bad horror stories that weren’t very scary. I could’ve been a writer for Goosebumps! [Laughs].”
One of the charms of the Stone Gods has been the continual tour updates from the keyboard of MacFarlaine. From tales of tour bus snoring, service station food and that dressing room, each anecdote paints not only a charming picture of a typically British band, but also of what a typical rock band get up to:
“When I was touring with Graham Coxon, I used to do a little blog and people seemed to like reading them. I just started doing them anyway and the rest of the lads read them and enjoyed them so we thought, ‘lets stick them on the site and the MySpace, and if people like it then that’s a bonus!
Toby adds: “I always enjoy reading tour diaries from other bands - I’ve always thought of it as an extra insight into what goes on really. Everyone does bits and bobs on it, but I think I’ve just decided that I should be the one who does the main ones, because I’m a bit betterer [sic] with words! [Laughs].”
As a touring regular, are there any tips when it comes to picking service stations to stop at on a lengthy journey?
“The best thing about service stations is that those Marks and Spencers things have turned up. You can sit on the back of the bus and have some Suki if you want; it’s awesome. It doesn’t have to be the Ginsters and horrible sandwiches route anymore!”
Everyone in Stone Gods has had success with other groups. Does this help when it comes to hecklers in the crowd and sceptical individuals?
“Yeah, to a point, ‘cause I think that with Graham there was a lot of that initially; especially with people shouting out for Blur songs and things like that. I saw how he dealt with that by saying [adopts mockney accent], ‘wrong fackin’ band mate!’
“There’s only been a few occasions where people have called out for a Darkness song of some sort because we’ve all made it very clear that this is an entirely new band. If we were to do a Darkness song it would be like a cover version and we probably wouldn’t do it any justice really, I think they are just too different a band.”
Ever thought of a good comeback after coming off stage?
“Hindsight is always a thing, isn’t it? It’s the same with having arguments with people really, isn’t it? It’s always half an hour later when you go, ‘ahhh fuck! I could’ve sounded really cool then!’ when instead you look like a dickhead…”
Although the basis for the Stone Gods sound was already in place when Toby was bought into the group, he has had an effect on the output produced by the band. With his songwriting ability already proven, his varied musical styles came in handy too:
Talking about his inception, Toby recalls that, “There were definitely six songs that I was played initially to see if I wanted to join in the fun, and then it went off from there. The songwriting started in earnest. I seem to remember one day where we wrote and recorded up to three songs at one point! We were all quite chuffed!”
Dan (Hawkins, guitarist) has stated that he has added in a few negative elements that he has felt surrounding The Darkness during songwriting. What elements did you bring?
“I suppose it’s better to have a different influence in there just to see what happens. Initially it was to see if it could make it sound different, which of course it does, everyone’s got their own ideas. In some places my parts even add a punk kind of thing, in other places my McCartney-esque leanings tend to pop up!
“I think everyone was just pleased how we could all work together really quickly, and easily. It was never a case of ‘fucking hell, this isn’t going to work!’ It would be like, ‘bloody ‘ell, we’re ace!’”
Are there any particular lyrical or musical themes that the group are trying to portray?
“There isn’t a central message that we’re trying to get across, the songs that have turned up were all based on our real experiences - there’s a lot of love songs from my point of view!
“You Bought A Knife To A Gunfight is based around an incident that happened to a member of our management team years ago, so they’re direct stories that are interesting to us. Magdalene Street is about a story of a ghost from Norwich, which is all good fun.”
Are there any world issues covered, or is it all personal accounts?
“There’s no major political message or anything like that. I’ve always felt a bit awkward about politics in music, it always leaves a bit of a bad taste. It’s good if you are very politically minded, but I don’t really know enough about politics, so if I did start spouting out stuff I think I would look like a bit of a tit! Which is always best avoided…”
Country-blues tune Magdalene Street has had quite an effect live, hasn’t it?
“It was the first couple of shows, there were was this very strange dancing going on, it just seems to freak ladies out! They’re not hitting any beats, they’re just waving their arms around! It seems like interpretative dance! [Laughs] Maybe we should get a proper dance going to it, and have people doing it in clubs.”
Almost predictably, their live shows have been a ‘must-see’ fixture. Never leaving their stadium rock roots behind them, their debut E.P showed where their intentions lie, with Burn The Witch sounding set for main stage delectation and previously mentioned …Gun Fight providing a glorious chance to shout out “fuck you!” on a mass scale.
Toby is quick to praise their fans too, saying: “There are a few dedicated fans popping up, repeat offenders as it were! They’re great bunch. There’s a group of them who call themselves the Templers, they’ve set up their own website - we feel quite lucky to have a mental little family like that following us around!”
Anyone who is expecting Toby to ditch his bass and dive headfirst into the crowd may be a little disappointed though.
He explains that he’s, “never attempted to do a stagedive, I’m far too scared about breaking things, mainly my bones. Also, when I’ve gone to see a band the last thing I want is a big sweaty bloke landing on my head, I’m quite safely headbanging away on the stage. A few high fives and stuff like that; it’s all part of the fun isn’t it?
“Ritchie (Edwards, vocals, guitar) has been jumping out into the audience and playing guitar in there – actually playing guitar in the mosh pit and watching us out from the front, which has been a joy!”
Their persistence and on-stage prowess is certainly paying off too, as Toby himself has been given high praise by one of their youngest fans. In between a cocktail of laughter and pride, Toby tells all:
“He thought I was cooler than all of the Doctor Who’s! All of them, which is amazing really - even cooler than Tom Baker. Which Doctor Who would I want to be? It’s gotta be the Baker, hasn’t it? Those were the ones I remember hiding behind the sofa when I was watching. It’s gotta be done, hasn’t it? Although I like David Tennant; he’s ace!”
Cooler than ten time lords? What would the Daleks’ say?
Silver Spoons and Broken Bones LP is out July 7.
