Stone Broken are a 4-piece hard rock band from Walsall, UK. Formed in late 2013 from the fragments of 2 local bands, Rich, Kieron, Chris & Robyn, have formed a dynamic outfit that delivers a BIG chunky rock sound with huge choruses. Antihero Magazine‘s senior journalist, Mark Dean, had the opportunity to have a quick chat with frontman, Rich Moss, about the band’s album and upcoming plans.
AH: You toured the UK recently with rock legend Glenn Hughes. Did you get the opportunity to talk to him? What advice or guidance did he offer to you which would benefit Stone Broken moving forward?
Rich Moss: We got to speak with Glenn quite a few times throughout the tour. A lot of the time he just used to ask how we were and made sure everything was ok, but there was one night quite early on the tour when Glenn came off stage and just before he went back on for his encore he turned to us and said “Kids (this is what he called us the whole tour), you guys sound great, keep doing what you are doing, don’t change your sound and keep away from the drugs”. I think just to have a legend like Glenn Hughes turn around and tell us that we are doing great gives you the motivation to keep doing what we are doing.
AH: The band won a Planet Rock Award in 2016. What direct impact has that had on your career?
Rich Moss: It had a massive impact on the band, obviously, it was great knowing that people voted for us, but it also elevated the profile of the band immensely. We were booked for gigs in cities we had never played before directly off the back of the result, so it was great in more ways than one.
As we speak we have just heard that we are nominated for 2 Planet Rock Awards in 2017 – Best British Album & Best British Band! It’s crazy to see us mentioned in the same breath as Sabbath, Maiden, Thunder & The Rolling Stones… very humbling but very exciting.
AH: The band’s star has been on the rise since you hooked up with a management/PR company. What input and role do they play in the development of the band’s career? What are the different areas of responsibility that they have in comparison to what roles the band members actually perform themselves?
Rich Moss: They have a huge role to play in the development of the band, everything from new releases to social media campaigns and liaising with promoters, booking agents and the label; they all fall within the remit of our Manager. Even though we have management, we are still very much a hands-on band, with Robyn sorting the majority of the paperwork and looking after the merchandise orders, and Rich will design the majority of the imagery that goes out, like posters, merchandise etc…
AH: The band’s album was released in 2016. Fans are always demanding new music. What steps have the band taken in terms of writing and recording new songs? Do you write on the road/a studio or at rehearsals?
Rich Moss: Our writing process is constantly changing these days, not because we like to switch things up, but because we are finding ourselves in situations that we haven’t been in before, such as being on the road for over 5 weeks at a time. We have recently been using downtime on the road and sound checks to write new material, when we get back home we will be going straight in to our studio to lay down the demos and finish the songs off. Rich will usually get the ideas for the songs and then we will put them altogether when we can, this is the only part that hasn’t changed.
AH: A band’s debut generally sees it finding its feet in terms of a sound and the studio process, therefore will your follow-up see a sound that will be more representative of how Stone Broken sound?
Rich Moss: We spent the first year or so really fine-tuning and developing our sound, so I don’t think there will be a huge change on the follow up, other than we are always going to go bigger and push ourselves to write even better songs. We know what works for us now and we will make the best parts of our sound even bigger and better.
AH: Pros and cons of trying to earn a living as a working band in 2017?
Rich Moss: I’ve got to be honest, it’s tough, but we do what we need to survive. In the earlier days of Stone Broken some of the guys had 3 jobs so that we could invest in the best gear, shoot great videos and record in awesome studios. We are quite lucky now that we don’t have to put our hands in our pockets quite so much to run the band as it has now become pretty much self-sufficient…but we don’t take a penny from it at the moment.
AH: What lies ahead this year for the band?
Rich Moss: This year is looking great so far, we are writing the follow up to All In Time and have the studio booked for the spring. We then move into festival season and we get to play some stages that a couple of years ago, we could only dream of… one of these being Download Festival! But we are playing Steelhouse Festival, Summer in The City (Swansea), and we’ve just played Planet Rock’s Winter’s End. We are also planning some headline shows… maybe a tour, who knows! We just know that it’s going to be a very busy year for us.
AH: What hopes/dreams and realistic goals do you have individually for Stone Broken?
Rich Moss: I think we all have the same main goal, and that is to be able to survive just going out playing shows and creating great music. Hopefully putting some smiles on a few faces. If we get to tick off some of our bucket list items along the way, they will all be a bonus. 
