Recently, I've had some people ask me to describe what our music sounds like. It's really hard to say. It's all up in my head somewhere.
Stoneykirk isn't just "my" band, though. Our songs really are a group effort. With the constraints of our continuing education, though, it's really hard for us to spend a lot of time writing music together. So far, what we've done is take my songs and run them through the Stoneykirk filter. Trust me, they sound a lot different now than they did on my early demos. "Dust" wasn't anywhere near as fast and upbeat as it is now. Originally, it was more quirky, with a drunken tempo. After a few jams, though, it changed greatly.
Usually, I write songs "unplugged". I would say "acoustic", but I don't own an acoustic, just my electric (a Lyon by Washburn, for anyone who wants to know). To some degree, that makes me feel like they're more legitimate. I know that I can play any of my songs without any extra sound pedals and distortion, which is comforting. I guess a lot of that has to do with how much REM I listened to in high school. But, having listened to so much Nirvana, I like noise, too.
Nirvana is also an influence in the bass field as well. I've always enjoyed a more pronounced bassline - it makes the song "groove" a bit better. However, I found out really early (during EABD) that I don't scream as well as some do, so the songs take a more Pearl Jam-my stance when it comes to the vocals. The guitar sound is a pseudo Nirvana/Sugar combination. The guitars in Sugar have a nice stereo effect, which I wanted to capture.
Early on, I was concerned about not being able to play in a regular band. In January of 1995, though, I heard a tape of Dave Grohl's solo project, on which he played all of the instruments. I felt inspired to make that first demo after hearing how Dave sounded. I wouldn't consider myself much of a drummer, but without that DIY inspiration, I may not have ever bothered to finish all of those songs. I owe at least that, and probably more, to Foo Fighters.
What's odd to me is that, even with all of these influences, we really don't sound like any one band. I asked several friends to name bands that we sound like. Most responded, "you sound like an alternative band", which really doesn't say much. Maybe that's a good omen.
We'll see.
CSB