The members of Stonefield were all between 12 and 20 years old when they made their way onto the Australian rock scene.
In 2010, the psychedelic siblings won triple j’s Unearthed High competition with a track they’d recorded for a school project. Six years on, their second album, As Above, So Below, demonstrates their musical and personal growth.
With their flared jeans, faux fur and velvet jackets, piercings and winged eyeliner, Amy and Hannah Findlay radiate a serious kind of cool as they sit down with the BRAG. Their confidence is understated but palpable, and rightly so – they have achieved more in their young lives than most musicians even dream of, notably supporting Fleetwood Mac on their 2015 Australian tour.
The past three years have seen the Findlay sisters playing gigs ferociously, bringing their brand of rock to some of the world’s biggest stages, including Glastonbury, The Great Escape and South By Southwest. Now back home, they’re ready to share new material and a fresh perspective.
“We feel like we’ve developed our songwriting and grown as a band a lot in that time,” says vocalist and drummer Amy. “It’s exciting going into this new album cycle feeling like we’ve got a lot more to give.”
As Above, So Below is a departure for Stonefield, who have now officially ‘grown up’ after youngest member Holly turned 18 in January. The band’s coming of age has manifested in an updated sound. The two latest tracks to be released ahead of the album – ‘Stranger’ and ‘Changes’ – showcase both the swirling psych rock and the striking power of delivery that has catapulted the fiery Findlays from their parents’ shed to the world stage.
“It’s more mature, deeper and dynamic. I think we’ve taken the time to put a lot more care into thinking about those kind of things,” Amy says.
“As you grow older and develop as a person,” adds Hannah, “it’s natural that your songwriting improves and you learn different things.”
Stonefield’s origins as a band date back to the early childhood of the four Findlay sisters. Amy, Hannah, Sarah and Holly were raised on a property in rural Victoria to a soundtrack of their folks’ record collection, with the likes of Jimi Hendrix, Frank Zappa and Led Zeppelin influencing their musical identity. Eventually, their parents gave in to the sisters’ endless requests for a drum kit, and that one instrument changed everything.
Amy, the eldest sibling, took an instant liking to percussion, and her sisters followed suit. While the drummer took on lead vocals, Hannah picked up a guitar, Sarah found her way to the keys, and Holly handled bass. Holly was only seven years old at the time, but in that shed, the band that would become Stonefield was born.
Today, Stonefield attribute much of their strength to their sisterhood, the consequentially close bond between each band member, and the love and respect they share across the board. Whether musically or personality-wise, the siblings all seem to complement each other; Amy is softer-spoken than the confident Hannah, and the latter often finishes Amy’s sentiments with direct and sure answers.
“I feel extremely lucky to do this with my sisters,” says Hannah. “I don’t think I have a friendship with anyone else that matches… this sounds so lame,” she laughs, shaking her head and looking down, before turning to her sibling. “I could not imagine doing this with anybody else.”
“The challenges you have because you are sisters are nothing compared to the challenges that bands in general go through,” Amy adds.
With that in mind, any chance of Amy one day embarking on a solo project is remote. “It kind of feels like a solo project [already] because we have such a strong bond,” she says.
Stonefield did introduce one outside influence for their new album – namely Spiderbait drummer Kram. After hearing the girls support Dan Sultan in 2014, the veteran rocker organised to meet up with them the next morning. He loved the tracks they’d written for their second record, and was excited about their future. That breakfast led to Kram visiting the band’s trusty shed back home to collaborate.
“We just became really good friends – we just connected straight away,” Amy says. “It just made sense to continue to write with him.”
“Working with Kram helped us to realise that you don’t have to be confined to one genre or one sound,” adds Hannah. “So we’ve definitely pushed the songs a lot more, and haven’t been afraid if something is sounding a bit different to stick with it, if it’s something that we like. His attitude through the whole thing was to push boundaries, and get us outside of our comfort zone, and I think we did that.”
With the album set for release this week, Stonefield say they have “huge” tour plans in the works for later this year – and these will include Amy’s return to playing drums onstage, rather than hiring an extra pair of hands. “When I play drums it just feels right,” she says. “I like it more.”
Despite their clear talents and passion for self-direction, it comes as a disappointment in 2016 that Stonefield still face prejudice for being women in the male-dominated rock scene. Add in the fact that for a good portion of their live career, at least one of the band members has been underage, and some of the sexism they’ve experienced is borderline shocking.
“For some people it’s just kind of a subconscious mentality, that girls aren’t as good as men are in rock, that girls can’t play drums or guitar,” Amy sighs. “We kind of use it as a form of motivation.
“When we played in Alice Springs, in between songs a man yelled out, ‘Watch out girls or I might cum all over your face,’ or something along those lines,” she says.
Even back in their early days, Stonefield were forced to impose rules and dress codes upon themselves, in an attempt to dispel the vulgar comments hurled at them before and during sets.
“It’s absolute bullshit that we even have to think about that,” Hannah declares angrily. “That we’re not just worrying about the music and wearing what we feel comfortable in. Fuck that – now we wear whatever we want.”
Adversity has only made Stonefield stronger, however, and a clear sense of resolve and determination permeates their songs, whether in their powerful lyrics or their dense musicality. Any way you look at it, Stonefield are a force to be reckoned with.
“The main thing we have learned as a band is to really stick to our guns and do what we believe in,” Hannah says. “And I think believing in ourselves and our ability to write songs has been so important.
“Especially for a band like us that started so young and had a lot of outside influences trying to help us to grow, I think having the realisation that nobody knows you better than yourself is such an important lesson, and something that has affected everything dramatically.”
[Stonefield photo by Ian Laidlaw]
Stonefield’sAs Above, So Below is out Friday July 15 through Wunderkind/Mushroom.
