“We wanted to do things at a certain speed, but the label didn’t. They let us go”: Meet STONE, the Liverpool alt-rockers who quit their major label, wowed Yungblud’s fans and wrote their new album on a Gibson missing a string

STONE frontman Fin Power, guitarist Elliot Gill, bassist Sarah Surrage and drummer Alex Smith grabbed attention with the release of 2024 debut album Fear Life For A Lifetime, packed with soaring vocals, grand guitars and even bigger choruses.

The Liverpudlian quartet have returned freer than ever with AUTONOMY – and some of that freeness can be found in the fact that each of the album’s 13 tracks were written with a snapped high E-string.

The release comes after the “rough but relieving” decision to cut ties with major label Polydor. “We wanted to do things at a certain speed, but they didn’t,” says Power.

“We didn’t storm into the office and rip up the contract – that’s impossible! – but I told my manager, ‘If they don’t wanna take up an option of another album right now, then we’ll go.’ I didn’t wanna wait six months for a decision, or just put out another single. They let us go.”

Surrage adds: “We’ve taken our power back. ‘Autonomy’ perfectly sums up the new album.”

STONE’s commitment to authenticity and the desire to create music that truly reflects each member paved the way for AUTONOMY, which packs a much heavier punch than their debut.

It’s just plain loud, and it explores themes of independence, resilience, and togetherness – themes they feel were lacking on the earlier record.

“We thought there was loads of stuff we didn’t hit properly in Fear Life For a Lifetime,” Gill says. “We weren’t totally satisfied and needed to get straight to it. We thought: ‘Let’s do it our way for the second album.’”

Power – who no longer plays guitar on stage – started jamming on his Gibson SG Firebrand with five strings, and admired the “tired and muddy” sound he heard, which sparked the title track. “Then I used that guitar for the whole album,” he says.

That was quite the shock to their live second guitarist, who was handed the instrument minutes before a show. “He started panicking because neither of my guitars had a high E string,” Power says. “He was like: ‘What are we gonna do?’ Then he put one on.”

STONE have had their share of opening slots with the likes of DMA’s, Sam Fender, The Wombats, The Kooks and Inhaler. But their most interactive to date was a tour with Yungblud straight after Covid.

“Yungblud fans were crazy,” Power says. “We were put in front of everyone who wanted to discover us. It helped us skip 10 levels of graft.”

Some crowds weren’t as receptive – notably when the band supported One Direction star Louis Tomlinson in Spain. “That was not our scene and not our fanbase,” Power explains. “We were playing to a soccer stadium to people waving torches to our music.”

Power has had the same gear since he was 16: a Vox AC15 alongside his Gibson SG Firebrand (normally with six strings), and a Gibson ES-339. His rig consists of a mere two pedals – a 1981 Inventions DRV and an MXR Carbon Copy for a small delay.

Gill plays a 2018 Fender Elite Stratocaster with all the “bells and whistles,” including a Passing Lane and a humbucker in the bridge.

His ’board contains a wah, tuner, SoundLad’s The Scran for distortion, a Strymon Deco 2 for the “gorgeous George Harrison-y overdub stuff,” an OCD, Space Echo, a Boss DD-7 and Walrus Audio’s Juliana, all plugged into Blackstar’s St. James EL34.

“The amp is very loud, it’s very light and easy to pack,” Gill says. “I’m using less spacey reverbs, but every song has to have a little bit of something from each pedal.”

• AUTONOMY is out now. STONE tour the UK and EU starting April 2.