As I stand on a peak hour tram, more squished than a tinned oily sardine in a supermarket clearance trolley, I impatiently flick through the 1200 or so song choices on the old iPod. Fellow commuters grip poles and clutch handbags and briefcases. Noise is minimal, with the occasional jingle of a mobile or the odd chattering of teeth as the tram door flies open, slowly freeing up faded seats. I soon find myself (rather loudly) humming along to the ‘Recently Added’ playlist. I look up from the land of ‘pod to see several death stares shot my way.
One listen to Triple J’s Unearthed High 2010 winning single and the temptation to coo along with the ‘ooohs’ of the main chorus are far too great.
The four sisters that make up Stonefield hail from Gisborne, a little country town an hour’s drive from Melbourne that forms the gateway to Victoria’s stunning Macedon Ranges region.
Amy, Hannah, Sarah and Holly Findlay have a unique sound. Unlike any other young female band, Stonefield’s down to earth style toys between genres of indie, folk and jazz, with a pinch of soul and a sprinkle of rock.
Surely my fellow commuters would agree with the rest of Australia when they say that Stonefield are destined for big things.
Stonefield’s winning single, ‘Foreign Lover’ is currently on high rotation, on not only Triple J’s playlist, but also my own and soon yours.
I recently spoke with lead singer Amy Findlay to find out what’s next for the winners of Triple J’s Unearthed High 2010 Competition.
Triple J Unearthed High 2010 winners Stonefield.
Big congratulations on winning Triple J’s Unearthed High 2010 competition! How does it feel to be considered Australia’s newest darlings of Indie?
Thanks! It feels very exciting. So much is happening for us and it’s still unbelievable to think that people all over the country are hearing our music on their radios. At the same time, parts of the whole experience have been a little overwhelming because it all happened so fast. However nothing to take over the happiness and excitement of it all!
Stonefield was up against some other great unsigned talent, what motivated you to enter the competition?
We certainly were up against some great talent. To be honest, our mum was the one who told us to enter the competition. We didn’t think we had much of a chance because of the amount of outstanding music that comes out of Australia – a lot of it being from young people.
We actually recorded ‘Foreign Lover’ the day before the competition closed. We uploaded it that night, then pretty much forgot about it. A couple of weeks later it was being played on the radio. It was an absolute shock.
Most kids only get to rock out in their dreams, but as winners of Unearthed high, Stonefield won the chance to play alongside British India in an exclusive lunchtime gig at your local high school – Gisborne Secondary College. How was that experience for you as a band?
It was definitely something different from any normal school lunchtime! It was one of the best experiences we have had so far. Everything really sunk in once we started playing our first song to the audience. British India was awesome and everyone really enjoyed it.
You entered the Unearthed High competition as ‘Iotah’, but recently changed the band name to ‘Stonefield’. Where did the inspiration for ‘Stonefield’ come from? How did the band feel about changing the name?
We live on land that was covered in stone, and when we first moved to Gisborne, our dad built our house out of that stone. So we came up with ‘Stonefield’.
At first it felt pretty daunting, as we had already had a name change a few years before this one, and we know how hard it is to come up with a decent band name.
We realise now that it was a good change and we think we did it at the best possible time, with the release of our single ‘Through the Clover’. Stonefield works better for us than ‘Iotah’ did anyway.
In August Stonefield are supporting The Cat Empire at the Prince of Wales - Are you excited to perform to such a big crowd? Is there any ruling out of backstage ‘rock-star’ like antics?
We are very excited to be supporting such a successful band that we have a lot of respect for. If by ‘typical rock-star antics’ you mean drinking, smoking, and what not... I think we will all be grounded if we don’t rule them out!
Your musical influences are old school legends including Frank Zappa, Jimi Hendrix and Led Zeppelin. Are there any other bands on a personal level that you rate?
Where to begin...Hannah and I love Perth band Tame Impala. They have a really cool sound that is inspired by the same sort of era as us. We also like Lady of the Sunshine – Angus Stones’ solo project. Sarah loves Coldplay for the piano orientated music they have, and Holly just can’t get enough of Frank Zappa.
We didn’t buy our own music until recent years because our parents have their own mini music library going on at home with plenty of goodies! Growing up our favourite albums were Led Zeppelin II, Prince’s ‘Diamonds & Pearls’, anything Santana, Frank Zappa’s ‘One Size Fits All’ and ‘Joes Garage’.
“You can pick your friends, but you can’t pick your family” – Four sisters in a band; has there been any arguments or tiffs?
We can’t help but have arguments sometimes. It’s easier to say whatever is on your mind when you’re talking to your sisters, but at the same time we get over it pretty quick and move along with what we are doing. It works as an advantage really, because there’s no beating around the bush in our rehearsals. Majority of the time we get along and have a lot of fun together.
The exposure from Triple J and local music gigs has created a fantastic launch pad for a career in music – have you been approached by any labels or record companies? What are the band’s plans for the future?
The exposure has been incredible, and yes we have had a lot of interest from all sorts of people. At the moment we are taking things slow, sussing it all out and not signing anything just yet! We realise the importance of not rushing into anything and making sure we make the decisions that are right for our band. We are independently releasing an EP later this year and we are also going to focus a lot on writing new material and playing lots of gigs.
Stonefield’s singles ‘Foreign Lover ‘and ‘Through the Clover’ can be downloaded free here
Visit Stonefield’s page here
