Stone River

O Stone River é um quinteto canadense formado no ano de 2006 por: Renan Yildizdogan (vocal/guitarra), Jeff Desilets (guitarra), Darren Flower (guitarra/vocal), Jay Macedo (baixo/vocal) e Sasha Siegel (bateria). George Marino os definiu como “The New Southern Rock of The North”, sim! Uma banda do norte do continente americano que faz um som tradicionalmente sulista, seguindo os passos The Allman Brothers, Lynyrd Skynyrd dentre outros…A inspiração dos caras do Led aos Black Crowes, que podemos colocar como uma das maiores influências.

No mesmo caminho dos conterrâneos do The Sheepdogs, o Stone River não tem o menor constrangimento em expor suas influências, mais do que isso, eles as deixam claras, trazem o rock sulista para o século 21. O primeiro álbum da banda “The Valley of The Butterflies” já havia nos dado uma amostra, o álbum soa como uma grande homenagem as bandas dos anos 70, uma celebração aos tempos áureos do rock’n'roll.

“Euphoria” é título do segundo trabalho da banda que traz um amadurecimento natural da banda, para este trabalho eles recrutaram o produtor Christopher Thorn (Blind Melon, Awolnation, Live) e o lendário engenheiro Nick Blagona (Deep Purple, The Tea Party, Alexisonfire), Christopher deu ênfase nos vocais trabalhando nas questões harmônicas e melódicas do álbum onde acabou dando um destaque maior ao vocalista Renan, deixando-o mais solto nas sessões de gravação.

O Stone River é basicamente uma banda que reproduz o que seus principais ídolos fizeram a 30 anos atrás, mas com uma roupagem e abordagem atual, com o revival do blues/rock vemos pipocar bandas por todos os lugares, Black Keys, Black Pistol Fire, Gary Clark Jr., só para citar alguns, que continue assim, quanto mais melhor. - musicexperience.com/br

If I was a good 30 years older, this album would bring me to tears. It would restore my faith in humanity and belief in God. It would break the viscious cycle of my alcohol-induced spiral into madness and depression. (Jeez, my future doesn’t sound that great.) It would bring me back to my childhood, when the sky was painted in a purple haze, and clothing was optional at concerts.

Hands down, my favourite track on the album is the crazy-fun-party number, “Can’t Help Loving Her.” The track starts off sounding like a boulder thundering downhill, the drums rolling uncontrollably. When the song kicks into high gear, it’s as if I’m watching my Saturday morning cartoons again and Tom is chasing Jerry back and forth across the piano. The keys continue to light up throughout the song, leading up to the explosive climax in the chorus, when Renan Yildizdogan yells out, “I can’t help but loving her!” I love the way the words flow with such haste, as he spits the words out without barely a second to take a breath. It’s almost sounds like he’s being chased by the thundering boulder.

The opening track, “Southern Feeling,” was the band’s big single, and I can see why. Like “Can’t Help Loving Her,” it also kicks off with some monstrous drumming, as well as some beastly guitar-playing that pops out at you like a shark out of water. Honestly, you’ll be drumming along to this song on your leg like an idiot while you ride the bus, just like me, and you’ll have no shame while doing it.

The guitar solo on the track is, in a word, pretty. Very, very pretty. Technically, that’s three words, I guess. Or is it two? Anyway, I’m personally a big fan of the dirty, bluesy guitar sound—hell, I worship the ground Jack White walks on—but there is something to be said about a clean, tight guitar solo delivered with complete precision.

One of my favourite things about the track “Cold Black River” is the use of the synth/keyboard; they just shoot up like momentary bursts of flame, and it never fails to make me smile. Like on all of the other tracks, the guitar takes impressive twists and turns with an ease that defies all scientific logic, like something out of a James Bond chase sceme. The chorus is extremely infectious, as the percussion barrels forward in time with Yildizdogan screaming, “I’m running out of time, this whole world keeps coming down on me, down on me,” just as the guitar licks rain down like crashing waves.

The album caps off with the title track, which has a bit of a Zeppelin “Black Mountain Side” thing going for it, and comes fully equipped with sitar and acoustic guitar. The tranquil song paints a breathtaking scene with a beautiful panoramic view:

Shadows of the mystic moon
Awake me as the sun goes down
Misty mountains pierce the sky
Underneath the distant stars
Lost in thoughts, lost in time
A warm summer breeze calms me down
It takes my worries away, away, away
Out over the blue

There’s no better ending for these epic rock heroes than sailing off into the sunset. Thankfully, they’ll be returning with new bounty to share with us all very shortly. - Uriel Mendoza / Toronto Rhapcity

Friday, August 22, 2008
Review -- STONE RIVER -- Self-Titled
STONE RIVER
Self-Titled
Independent
9-out-of-10
In a world where music seems increasingly fractionalized, with little sub genre categories popping up to be the next hot 10-week trend, it's comforting once in a while to find some good old rock 'n roll.
Stone River is an Ontario-based band which is doing just that. There aren't a bunch of musical gimmicks, and sub genre labels here.
Instead Jeff Desilets and Darren Flower power Stone River with hard driving guitars, while Renan Yildizdogan adds vocals. Jay Macedo on bass and Scott Larocque on drums round out the quintet. The overall result is a band from the mold of an Aerosmith.
The band has something of a retro feel, especially evident on a cut like Cold Black River. However, this is not a clone of the past of rock, but instead Stone River has simply chosen to keep things simple and straight forward.
You take hard driving rock, which stops well short of metal screamer bands, add a dash of blues, and come up with something akin to Lynyrd Skynyrd, at least in as much as there is the southern fried feel on cuts such as Come On, and the result is a wiinner.
Stone River can change it up too, with an AC/DC inspired cut like Can't Help Loving Her.
This band is hard enough to satisfy a metal head on a mellow day, soft enough to be accessible by a fan of a band like Nickelback, retro enough to please a fan of vintage Aerosmith, and good enough they should be on a major label.
The best cut on the album is likely the more laid back On These Turning Tides, a cut with compelling lyrics which Stone River allows to take the lead role here, as the guitars are toned down a bit.
That said, there really isn't a weak effort on this CD. This quintet rocks, plain, simple, and to the point, and in the end you don't need a gimmick if you are honest to the music like Stone River is. Buy this one and rock on.
Check them out at www.stonerivermusic.com
-- CALVIN DANIELS

-- Review first appeared in Yorkton This Week newspaper Aug. 20, 2008 - Yorkton, SK. Canada - Yorkton this week.

Do any of you remember the Cameron Crowe movie, Almost Famous? Of course you do, for some it probably ranks up there as one of your favorite rock and roll films. Now, in that movie, he features a young writer going out on tour and chronicling the rise of a hard rock, southern-tinged band, Stillwater. That band was purely made up for the film, but don't worry, I found the real guys. This is what Stillwater should've sounded like.

Coming at you with riffs and soul as big as the Great South itself, Stone River shoot out of the gates charging at you like the sole living heirs to the Godfathers of southern rock. Soaking in the southern rock gospel of their native land (Toronto?) the boys blast through this self-titled debut with nary a misstep.

I first popped this baby into the Ripple CD player as I was flying back from a meeting in Miami, Florida. Soaring through the clouds on approach to 35,000 feet, I need something with some deep groove, a heart full of soul and enough muscle in the mix to help me pass the next several hours of flying time. The boys responded beautifully. The first track alone," Southern Feeling," riding out on the back of a fierce drum intro before dropping down into that glorious, truly seventies, big-time southern riff, carried more soul than a whole church-full of Baptists praying for redemption. Bring in the heavenly accent of some gospel tinged female harmony vocals backing up the soaring, emotion-filled pipes of lead singer Renan Yildizodogan and this song is a touch of southern heaven. Forget the plane I was in, the soaring melodies and big hooks were enough to get me 35,000 feet off the ground. Fretmeisters Jeff Desilets and Darren Flowers know how to bring in intensely melodic leads and riffs without going overboard or showboating, just keeping that southern vibe of letting the music breathe for itself.

Even though that was only the first track, the songwriting craft was so strong, I immediately knew I was in good hands for this flight, and lest I ever began to doubt myself, "Cold Black River," roared out next, even more soulful and groovy than its predecessor. Riding a searing guitar intro, the boys drop down into the chugging riff, flavored with some good old fashioned Hammond organ tones coming from Jesse O'Brian's Wurlitzer. This is fully charged southern rock, intense with melody and big, beefy, serve-em-up on a Bar-b-Q riffs. Throw in some heaping helpings of an intense bottom end and clashing drums, serve hot over some red beans and rice, throw in some grits with butter, and we got ourselves a freaking southern smorgasbord of flavors and sounds. The boys even know how to play with dynamics, breaking it all down in the middle for some smooth Allman Brother's styled guitar fills.

Go ahead and choose your favorite southern rock reference, Skynard, The Allmans, Point Blank, heck, it doesn't matter, they're all here. But don't go thinking these boys are purely retro-seventies rockers, living for days that passed while they were all probably still in diapers. Toss in a great big nod to The Black Crowes at their most urgent and you'll begin to see your picture of Stone River develop. This is big, arena-sized, backward looking rock with enough muscle and adrenaline to keep it anchored in the present and enough chops and skills to have us looking toward the future. Anyone who's a fan of the new rock coming from such bands as The Answer should give this disc a spin. You wont' be disappointed.

"Come on," brings in another flavor, one that actually rides across the album like a fine touch of spice. Complex guitar parts and supercharging riffs a la the first Blind Melon disc. This is clearest to me on the fierce rocker "Divine Child," which bears such a strong "Tones of Home," feel that it could be a homage. In fact, it was around this time that I finally nailed down who Renan's voice most reminded me of, because I wasn't hearing any Ronnie Van Zandt or even any Chris Cornell like the press release hinted at. No to me, Renan is infused with the passion and tone of Shannon Hoon at his most accessible. A smooth and emotive voice, capable of carrying the massive rockers or the Alabama-sized ballads like, "On These Turning Tides," a lighter waving number if I've ever heard one.

In the end, everything Stone River does is intimately familiar in all the best ways, yet infused with enough passion and honesty to never be derivative. It's all as energetic and fresh as that big 'ol Southern Gulf wind, blowing in off the water, hitting you smack in the face as you hunker down with a cold brew, some good chow and your best buddies. Now all I gotta do is find a way to get these guys to ask me to out on tour with them, because this is real rock-and-roll music, baby, and I'm sure we got a movie better than Almost Famous brewing here somewhere.

--Racer - The Ripple Effect

Rock Hard Magazine (8/10)

"...deeply rooted in the Classic Rock of the 60s and 70s...true songwriting,highlights...musical-wise and songwriting-wise absolutely at the highest stage" - Rock Hard Magazine

Metal Hammer 5/7

"...Stone River reminds us of a clean, not so stoned reissue of the Black Crowes. The sound is very organic, more lightly than thick with lots of space to breathe. Nine songs provide classic Rock fun and the atmospheric acoustic The Valley Of The Butterflies, could have fit on Led Zeppelin's IV." - Metal Hammer

Rock Tribune (78/100):

"This debut album contains compact flowing rock 'n roll with a passion for everything that swings...'Stone River' is a debut that won't go unnoticed."
- Rock Tribune

While AlexIsOnFire have been boarding the worlds riverboats and national rivers to cast off new audio currents, another band has been ascending up from the watery depths of the region with a hard stony sound described as 'the deep south of the North' . Their own raging under currents are rocking the boats of the music world with not 'Screamo' but with classic, progressively mastered rock n roll. Even though their 'deep south' description actually refers to to southern borders of Canada as opposed to 'Dixieland', their actual sound probably better refers to an even deeper south, as despite their own unique edge there is a subtle musical inflection of the deep south of Australia in their midst with strong creative overtones and nicely rendered echoes of the early, Bonn Scott fronted, AC/DC.

The band has sought out the authenticity of the early seventies Prog-rock and rock 'n' roll and has also tried to capture some of the innocence, musical and social idealism of the time too. 'The Valley of the Butterflies' is the name of their 2008 debut album, which also captures even more of the creativity of the era with eight pages of unique 'Stone River' artwork also included in the CD release of their debut album.The Stone River sound can be discovered refreshing and revitalizing rock here.... - Martin Ryan and Mairtin O'Riain