The Stone Foxes – Twelve Spells

The Stone Foxes are currently celebrating the physical release of their fourth studio album entitled Twelve Spells, which was officially released on Friday 18th March in the UK. The album is a compilation of thirteen tracks, made up from fan favourites, new material, and recently publicised singles.

In the climate of today’s music industry, musicians face real challenges more than ever to get their name across to those who want to listen. While it’s reassuring when an artist can finally receive a strong fan base they’ve fought for, it’s even more impressive when that band has managed to get to a point of notoriety without any assistance from record labels.

This is exactly what The Stone Foxes have managed to do across all four of their studio albums, and it’s safe to say it’s worked in their favour. Their songs have been featured in hit TV shows such as Sons Of Anarchy and Shameless, and advertising campaigns from the likes of Jack Daniels and BMW.

Achieving a lasting recognition from the public eye is a true task, but by using the right exposure to match the fan base they wish to tap in to, The Stone Foxes have definitely been noticed.

To a degree, yes, we are touching on what is most commonly considered ‘indie’ rock, which I can be quite fast to turn my nose up at. The Stone Foxes definitely bring influences from this genre of music, but their latest album also carries a fusion of modern and diverse tones evolving from blues and straight-up rock ’n’ roll, which make it a real breath of fresh air.

The opening track on the album, Eye of Love has to be my favourite track, and pushes you straight into the deep end of this bands’ potential. The track opens with an eerie focus on the vocals and subtle electric chords, before pouncing into action with strong, driven drum beats, and a lingering heartbeat guitar riff.

I Want To Be You has a great energy, and follows a very similar styling to a song you’d expect to hear from The Black Keys, based mainly on its lyrical story telling, and the sludgy guitar riffs. What gives the song its extra power is the vocal involvement provided by four of the six band members. For a band with such a busy presence, every track is really well-built, and flows terrifically.

This Town and Dying Star both hold an upbeat vibe with fast-paced melodies, which I automatically associate with generic indie rock, and don’t have much patience for. I implore you to still give these tracks some well-deserved attention, but from my perspective, I just didn’t get any sense of depth from them.

Saying that, Jericho is yet another track that proves the variations this band can build into a single release, and holds elements of soul and bellowing vocal range. This works alongside the welcome addition of the harmonica and delicate keys to produce a track with really intimate components alongside dominating vocals.

Greasin’ Up The Doorman is a unique and funky combination of modern rock combined with great blues rock, which reminded me a lot of tracks like Why Don’t We Do It In The Road, written by The Beatles in their experimental years.

Locomotion is a really cool fast-paced punk rock, which reminded me a lot of Motorhead by Motorhead. Couple with distorted harmonica and tinny vocals, it’s a really rough-and-ready track that I definitely didn’t expect to hear on an album like this, but I gotta say I loved it.

If you have an appreciation for the modern work of independent rock, these guys are definitely leading the pack, and diversifying the genre to be less of a definition of sound, and more a definition of talent and modern-infused rock.

Recommended Track – “Eye of Love”

As previously mentioned, this track holds the key to what I love about this bands style. It comes across as a style heavily influenced by the likes of The Black Keys, but with a new twist. At the end of the day, these guys have a lot more firepower at their fingertips, they just need to utilise it, and continue to produce these hard-hitting, beat-driven blues tracks.

Track Listing:

Eye For Love
I Want To Be You
This Town
Cold Like Killer
She Said riot
Dying Star
It Ain’t Nothing
N.Y.T. (New York Talk)
Jericho
My Place
Greasin’ Up The Doorman
Locomotion
Count Me As One

Band members:

Shannon Koehler – Drums, Harmonica, Vocals
Spence Koehler – Guitar, Vocals
Vince Dewald – Bass, Vocals
Ben Andrews – Guitar, Violin
Brian Bakalian – Drums
Elliott Peltzman – Keys, Vocals

thestonefoxes.com
facebook.com/thestonefoxes
twitter.com/thestonefoxes