HeadbangToday: Welcome to HeadbangToday and thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule for us. We here at HeabangToday feel honoured to have Stonedrive featured on our site. During our earlier conversation, you mentioned that you dig seeing metal heads in South Africa. I say, Oh yes we are metallers… quite a few of us here! We’ve blown bands like Metallica and Sepultura away with our crowds. Do you think South Africa will ever be on your tour map in the near future?

Stone Drive:
(Dave) We’d love to come and rock your socks off ! Maybe in 2010 …

HeadbangToday: Bring it! We’d love to see you here too! Your song BulletProof bones is a very energetic song, in my opinion, it has a Sevendust feel to it. Who are your musical influences?

Stone Drive:
(Dave) We’re huge fans of Sevendust. We just saw them live in Paris a week ago and they were amazing. They’re one of our biggest influences along with bands like Alter Bridge or Nickelback. I even met Lajon and Morgan (from Sevendust) at the end of the show. They’re really nice guys.
(Fab) Stonedrive’s music is a sort of mix of very different influences from metal to rock and even pop music. I’m more into trash metal myself. I’m a big fan of bands such as Hatebreed, Metallica, Sepultura … but I dig Sevendust as well.

HeadbangToday:
I would be starstruck mute if I had to meet Lajon and Morgan! What are your dreams and goals as a band?

Stone Drive:
(Dave) : Well …write and record a second album, sell millions of copies, go multiplatinum … sounds like a good plan, doesn’t it ?
(Fab) : Well playing as many gigs as we can around the world would be quite a good one. Opening for the bands we mentioned would be another great one.

HeadbangToday: Good plan indeed, Dave. And Fab, covering the practical side of it is a good start as well… Who writes your songs and what are they about in general?

Stone Drive:
(Dave) : The writing process has taken a long time for the first album. We just wanted it to be as perfect as it could be music and lyricwise. All the songs have been written by David (drums), Xav (guitar) and myself. As for the lyrics, I collaborated with a US lyricist (Kevin Tinbergen). Most of the songs talk about relationships and feelings. Some of them are quite personal. It’s about things everyone can relate to … good or bad.

HeadbangToday: Interesting. What inspires you to do what you do?

Stone Drive:
(Fab) I like beer, big amps and noise. I can have it all on stage, that’s why I signed in ! (laugh)
(Dave) : We live for music. I wouldn’t imagine a day without playing or writing music. It’s vital. It’s a sort of therapy. A band therapy.

HeadbangToday: If only we at here HeadbangToday could live for beer, big amps and music, not to mention making a living off it too! Name 3 bands you guys would love to play with someday?

Stone Drive:
(Dave) : Sevendust, Alter Bridge, Pearl Jam.
(Fab) : Metallica, Black Label Society, Alter Bridge.

HeadbangToday: Ah, awesome! What has been and what you believe will also be the biggest obstacles for Stonedrive?

Stone Drive:
(Dave) : Well, as you may have noticed, we’re French and it’s not easy for a French band to get recognition inside and outside France even if we sing in English. We don’t wear any berets or Eiffel tower T-shirts so maybe people won’t notice we’re French after all !
(Fab) : The music industry is collapsing and the whole music distribution system is changing. It’s pretty hard to make it big now or at least it takes a lot of time and perseverance. If you want to be heard, you gotta play hundreds of gigs, be on the road all year long … that’s the hardest part of it.

HeadbangToday: Speaking of the music industry collapsing…How do you feel about downloading music online?

Stone Drive:
(Dave) : Being on music platforms like ITunes or Napster has become absolutely necessary to exist as a band. We’re on ITunes worldwide and it helped us a lot to reach people around the world. It’s the good side of the music business globalization and the real benefit of internet for musicians.
(Fab) : If you mean illegal downloading, it’s part of the game, so to speak. People, mostly young generations, consider illegal downloading like something normal.
We don’t really care as long as people listen to our music. Selling CDs or MP3s doesn’t pay the rent anyway.

HeadbangToday: One of these days kids will photoshop counterfeit concert tickets too! Tell us about your upoming shows and what us South Africans will be missing out on.

Stone Drive:
(Dave) : We just did a bunch of gigs in France. We’re on vacation from now on ! We should have a list of gigs planned by September. We’ll play in France and maybe in other European countries.
(Fab) : Yep, check out the myspace page, guys !

(http://www.myspace.com/stonedrive) -Ed

HeadbangToday: What are the pros and cons about playing clubs?

Stone Drive:
(Dave) : Playing clubs is fun, you’re very close to the audience, people are enthusiastic. The bad side is that most of the time the soundcheck is just a joke and you barely hear yourself play or sing.
(Fab) : People are cool in clubs, they buy us drinks for autographs !

HeadbangToday: HA! Deal! What advice would you give to fellow bands?

Stone Drive:
(Dave) : Hang on to your music, sing twice louder if people don’t listen to your songs, write music with your heart.
(Fab) : practice and make your hands bleed. If it sounds like shit, it’s not the amp, it’s not the guitar, it’s your goddamn fingers !

HeadbangToday: Final question! Tell us a story about a day in your life.

Stone Drive:
(Dave) : Wake up, get up, have a huge cup of coffee, give a couple of phonecalls, take the guitar and try to find a killer riff, get dressed, have another cup of coffee, soundcheck, another cup of coffee, check how many people there are in the hall, plug the ear-monitor, have a last coffee, scream, jump, sing, yell, shout, take a shower, go to bed !
(Fab) : Wake up, get up, have a cup of coffee, pump some iron, get a band Tshirt I don’t have yet, soundcheck, tweak my gear, fiddle with the buttons, soundcheck again, have a couple of beers, have a vodka, stretch out for the gig, jump, strum the strings like hell, headbang, yell, shake people’s hands, have a couple of beers again, take a shower, go to bed !
Thank you Headbandtoday ! South Africa rawks !!

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