STONE are about to release their much-anticipated debut album, 'Fear Life For A Lifetime', but it's a record they've been crafting for years. If it comes to it, they're even willing to fight an alligator. Read and listen with our latest Hype playlist cover feature.

Words: Steven Loftin.
Photos: Claudia Legge.

If you're going to face your fears, what better reason than for your debut album's artwork? STONE frontman Fin Power found himself doing this in the name of 'Fear Life For A Lifetime'. But before taking the now-immortalised leap, the band had to throw themselves into making the actual record.

Recorded in verdant Vermont while housed in the woods, miles from a city and only a small town for reality (and a college town they'd occasionally visit for a night out), STONE discovered a newfound perspective and pride blossoming for the world they cemented on 'Fear Life'. Vignettes of the cold hard truths that come with growing ('Never Gonna Die', 'My Thoughts Go'), living ('Jump Up'), loving ('Queen'), losing ('Love Sick Disaster'), and witnessing ('Train') in their hometown of Liverpool. But being thrust into the spotlight as the Brit out-of-towners meant the four-piece fell in love with the mundane and inane that, at that moment, felt a world away.

"We felt our identity stronger than ever," Fin remembers, "because that was the only identity within a square 100 miles; that was the only piece of home… All we had was each other and our own thoughts. So I felt like when we got in the room, we pushed our own identity, and being with an American producer and American crew, they had their ways of doing things I quite liked."

It wasn't just the crew they teamed up with; the local wildlife also gave STONE pause to reflect on how far they've come. Excitedly recalling a list of creatures they'd see out on their regular walks in the woods, including bears, porcupines ("They're fucking huge!"), and snakes, "And then I'd go in and sing about being in Liverpool," Fin laughs. "So I think if anything, I probably performed more proud than I performed it with nostalgia."