From jamming in their Dad’s shed in the tiny village of Darraweit Guim, country Victoria, the Findlay sisters have come a long way in a relatively short amount of time. In June of this year they awoke in dreamland to find themselves playing alongside the likes of U2, Beyonce, Paul Simon and Don McLean at Glastonbury Festival.
From there the psych-rock revivalists were invited to soak up the vibes of the greats at the Sunset Strip music festival in LA – joining the ranks of such bands as Motley Crüe and the Red Hot Chili Peppers.
With these achievements under their size 8 belts, Amy, Hannah, Sarah, and Holly have had a sharp return to earth (and for two of the girls, school homework), to begin the first leg of their debut Australian tour.
It was in this context that the prodigious foursome filed onto the stage of the East Brunswick Club on Friday night, exuding an air of carefree confidence. The crowd was buzzing, having been expertly prepared by the funky sounds of Animaux, a super-tight group of talented Gleeks who look like they just stepped out of the school Jazz Band, and King Gizzard And The Lizard Wizard, a seven-piece psychedelic bombardment reminiscent of King Crimson or The Mars Volta.
By the time Stonefield launched into their first song, the room was packed with sweating adolescents, some screaming “I love you!” then looking over their shoulder as if expecting Mr Findlay to pick them up by the scruff of the neck or drag them out by the ear.
The stage presence of the band was well practiced, the music heavy and encapsulating, though the sound quality left a lot to be desired. It seems that no matter how many qualifications TAFE churns out, it is near impossible to come across decent sound technicians these days. The beautiful Hammond organ and Sarah’s massive Marshall stack went unnoticed amid the crash of the amplified drum kit, and the only discernible vocals were during their covers of ‘Whole Lotta Love’ and ‘Magic Carpet Ride’ when the audience sang along.
While their originals are undeniably brilliant songs, particularly singles ‘Black Water Rising’ and ‘Through the Clover’, due to the engineering it was more like listening to a bulldozer trying to escape from a WWII u-boat than four talented teenagers from country Victoria playing the greatest genre of music in creation – Rock and Roll.
The aura created by Stonefield, in their feathered and tasselled clothing, their artwork and their choice of covers, is unmistakably a tribute to 60’s-70’s blues-rock greats such as Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple and The Doors. However this humble reviewer challenges those who have actually compared the girls to the likes of supergroup Led Zep – and many have – to dust off their record collection and spin a couple of tracks from any Zeppelin masterpiece from Led Zeppelin (1969) to Coda (1982) and perhaps consider taming any more wild comparisons in future.
Four girls from country Victoria have come a long way in the five years since picking up their instruments, and perhaps in another five they will be the next Rock and Roll supergroup, but they’ve had their baptism of fire and played bigger venues than most other bands will in their lifetime. Some members may still be kids, but as a band, Stonefield are ready to be taken seriously, for better or worse.
– Jake Vitasovich
