Classic Rock Revisited is proud to introduce our readers to a great new band called the Stone Chiefs, who are making a name for themselves in their home state of North Carolina. The band have a strong work ethic, a gang-like mentality and can write songs with rich melodies, strong hooks and a good guitar solo. While this may seem rare in this day and age when the music on stage comes from a DJ booth or a has a strong chance of being mimed, this band are 100% dedicated to their craft.

We caught up with guitarist, and founding member, David Arrn, who gave us the scoop on the history of the band, their new album and their plans for the future. We hear a lot of new bands at www.classicrockrevisited.com who claim they are the ‘next big thing’ but these guys may actually be it. Be sure to read this interview then head over to the band’s website at www.thestonechiefs.com.

David: The only new part about it is that it’s being put out now. It still has three, or four chords, and a lot of guitar solos. It also has a little bit of a southern accent.

David: I appreciate you saying that. We all kind of grew up on the same stuff. I guess it just comes out that way. We listened to the Stones and all of those bands and it just all mixed together the way it did.

David: We’ve been together about three years. Aaron Wiig, was my college roommate at Chapel Hill. I played bass in Jazz band but when I got to college, he had a guitar and his amp and it really started from that. BT [Torrence], the other guitar and bass player in the band, was also in school there. We’ve all been friends since 1991 but we weren’t in bands then, but we were jamming. A few years later, I’m in a cover band and I go on Craig’s List and I find another cover band looking for a guitar player. I go and audition and I get the job. Dallas Perry is the singer of this cover band. He’s the best singer I’ve ever heard in my life. A few months later and I’ve talked him into doing original stuff and leaving his band. I went back to Aaron and BT, who pretty much taught me how to play. About a year and a half later, we found Twig [Neece], the drummer and we couldn’t have asked for a better drummer; he’s a real drummer.

David: We fight like cats and dogs. If we weren’t friends then we wouldn’t be together. We are just like a gang -- that’s the way I like to look at it. No matter what, we hang together. We will call each other out on stuff but there is a mutual respect within the band because everyone contributes.

David: I helped Dallas a little bit on “Vices” but Dallas is a real talent. He writes most of our lyrics and probably fifty percent of our music. We’re shooting to get the younger crowd. I know how it was when I was young and you looked around and found your niche in music. Even though we’re playing music that 50 year olds can identify with, here in the South, kids in high school still listen to Led Zeppelin and Lynyrd Skynyrd, not everybody’s all on pop.

David: So far, we’ve done everything ourselves. We played cover gigs to pay for our album. We have spent fifteen thousand dollars recording, producing and mastering our album. Nobody had to come up with anything out of pocket and we didn’t have to sign with any label. We have our own label that is a separate entity. We have done it ourselves and its just kept building. We are not just saying, “Let’s hit the road” but hopefully we are going to make it happen. It is a gray area for the band because we have never been on a tour. Now, with this album we have a product to sell. Our gigs are getting bigger and bigger so things are going in the right direction.

David: Our previous entity as a band was called Swagger, which was a terrible name. We recorded an album with John Custer, who co-wrote some songs for Corrosion of Conformity and he produced them. He was nominated for a Grammy and he’s a Raleigh guy; he’s kind of a big deal around here. In talking to him, he said music was cyclical and that people get tired of stuff and a new thing comes in and fills a need and then after a while the other stuff comes back around. I think if you tell a good story in a good voice, and rip a guitar solo , it will never go away. It may change forms but it won’t go away.

David: We do as much off the album as we can. We didn’t overdub so many parts on the album that we can recreate it live. Dallas is one of the best front men I’ve ever seen. He sweats like a pig on stage. We feel the music and you can see it. We are head bobbing or our eyes or closed. It’s a living and breathing thing. I don’t’ want to toot our own horn too much but I think we do alright.

David: I’m satisfied with the ripping we have going on in this band. The Swagger album we did got some radio play but they cut out thirty seconds of guitar solos. What are you going to do? I guess you can’t play it too long.

David: Honestly, the getting ripped off is out of our hands. If somebody wants to listen to our music then we just want them to hear it. We will give out our music to people who are interested in our band. Every two or three people you do that to, one of them will go and buy it on iTunes.

David: [laughter] We have college degrees and we’re not dummies. We all have day jobs and, in fact, I help run a business in my day job. If the music can pay better than the day job, then I think we will all be ready to get on the tour.

David: Yes sir, we’ve hauled too many PA speakers and went home with no money after sweating for four hours. We’re all in this together and if it goes, then we will all go.

David: With the song you like a lot, “Vices,” Dallas came to the band with that song and he was singing it in the key C. I switched it to the key of A, which fits his register better. Aaron threw some licks over it and BT came up with a cool bass line and it was a band effort. There is a song we have called “Mountain” that Aaron came to us with the song totally written. I co-wrote five songs and Dallas co-wrote nine of them. There is enough respect between all of us that we are not afraid to speak up.

David: We’ve been playing dive bars, motorcycle bars and oyster bars for a long, long time. After you hear, “You’re the best band we’ve ever seen play here,” then you start thinking that you need to start playing venues where you’re not the best band to have ever played there. Maybe we need some bigger venues. To be honest, it makes me physically sick to play cover songs. Hopefully, we’re past that now. Most of the gigs we’ve been booking now have been bigger where we play our own music. We played a minor league stadium gig and we have a Raleigh Amphitheater gig with Better Than Ezra coming up. These are the biggest stages we have been on. We’ve got the support of the local radio station here and I really think we are at the tipping point and we’re going to keep rolling. Hopefully, we are going to make a living doing this really soon. We’ve done it all ourselves and we have not skipped any parts. We are what we are and we are a pretty good band. To me, if you want to be on a stage and entertain people, then you’ve got to have a bit of an ego and not be afraid to go for it.

David: We’ve got a limited amount of guitar tones and the drummer has a limited amount of things he can hit but given that, we go for a different sound. Most people who listen to a song are not as worried about the guitar player’s tone as much as the guitarist is. They are listening to the singer, and that is just how it goes. Nothing is forced in the band. If it has to be forced then we don’t do it because we have enough stuff that we love. It’s not hard once it’s there, and when it’s there, it’s one of the best feelings that you can ever have.

David: I can remember being in sixth grade and Jimi Hendrix was on some music show on TV and it was the first time I had visually seen him. I knew right then that was what I wanted to do with my life. I will never be a guitar god but I can still feel what he felt playing guitar. I love Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin and ZZ Top. I also like the Marshall Tucker Band. Just so you know, when I was in high school, I only listened to U2; I was a total freak. Some of BT’s solos sound like The Edge, to me. Maybe having that mixed in with the Southern stuff helps us sound unique.

www.thestonechiefs.com