Stone Sour
Stone Sour is an American rock band formed in Des Moines, Iowa in 1992, performing for five years, before disbanding in 1997. They reunited in 2002 and since 2011, the group has consisted of Corey Taylor (lead vocals, guitar, piano) and Jim Root (guitar, keyboard) both of Slipknot, Josh Rand (guitar) and Roy Mayorga (drums, percussion). Original members Joel Ekman (drums, percussion) and Shawn Economaki (bass guitar) left the group in 2006 and 2011 respectively.
To date, Stone Sour have released five studio albums Stone Sour (2002); Come What(ever) May (2006); Audio Secrecy (2010); House of Gold & Bones - Part 1 (2012) and House of Gold & Bones - Part 2 (2013). They also released a digital live album, Live in Moscow, in 2007.
Stone Sour earned the group two Grammy Award nominations, both for Best Metal Performance, for the singles "Get Inside", in 2003, and "Inhale", in 2004. The album went on to become RIAA certified Gold. In 2006, following the release of Come What(ever) May, the group received another Grammy Award nomination for Best Metal Performance for the single "30/30-150".
Stone Sour has sold over four million albums worldwide.
Band history:
Formation and early years (1992-1997):
Stone Sour was founded by Corey Taylor, who eventually became the vocalist of Slipknot, and former drummer Joel Ekman. Taylor's longtime friend Shawn Economaki joined shortly after, and filled in as the bass player. During these formative years, Stone Sour recorded 2 demo tapes, in 1992 and 1994. Shortly after, in 1995, Jim Root, who is now also part of Slipknot with Taylor, joined the band. The group was complete, and in 1996, it recorded another demo tape, songs from which would later be used in 2002 on their self-titled debut album, Stone Sour. The band was named after an alcoholic drink that consists of one part whiskey, one part orange juice, with a splash of sour mix.
In 1997, the band went on hiatus, during which Taylor and Root spent most of their time with Slipknot, who were another up-and-coming act in Des Moines and would soon earn a record deal. Root actually did not join the band until over a year after Taylor, and Economaki went on to become Stage left guitar tech. Joel Ekman had originally parted ways with Stone Sour in 2006 to take care of his son, Isaac James Ekman who had been diagnosed with cancer.
Stone Sour and hiatus (2002-2004):
After Josh Rand joined the band, the band recorded their debut self-titled album in Cedar Falls. Upon release, the album charted at number 46 on the Billboard 200. The song "Bother", which was featured on the Spider-Man soundtrack (credited only to Taylor), peaked at number 2 on the Mainstream Rock Chart as well as number 4 on the Modern Rock Tracks and 56 on the Billboard Hot 100. The next single, "Inhale", peaked at 18 on the Mainstream Rock chart. The group received two Grammy Award nominations for Best Metal Performance for the singles "Get Inside" and "Inhale" in 2003 and 2004 respectively. The album went on to achieve Gold certification. The band toured for six months with label mates Sinch and Chevelle before going on a temporary hiatus as Taylor and Root went back to join Slipknot for another album and tour.
Come What(ever) May (2005-2007):
The band came back in 2006 to release their second studio album, Come What(ever) May. They parted ways with drummer Joel Ekman, currently drumming for Isaac James, who left to take care of his cancer-stricken son, and later recruited current drummer, Roy Mayorga (Soulfly, and later Amebix). The track "30/30-150" was recorded with Godsmack drummer Shannon Larkin. The album was released on August 1, 2006. It was met with positive reviews from critics, and sold 80,000 copies in the first week, allowing it to debut at number four on the Billboard 200. The band toured for the next year and a half, releasing the Live in Moscow album exclusively to iTunes on August 14, 2007.
The single "Sillyworld" peaked at number 2 on the Mainstream Rock charts in 2006. "Through Glass" proved to be successful peaking at number 1 on the Mainstream Rock Chart, 2 on the Modern Rock Tracks, 12 on the Adult Top 40 and 39 on the Billboard Hot 100 also in 2006. They released two more singles in 2007, "Made of Scars" and "Zzyzx Rd.", which managed to peak at numbers 21 and 29 on the Mainstream Rock charts respectively. In 2006 they received a Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance nomination for the single "30/30-150".
Audio Secrecy (2009-2011):
The band's third album Audio Secrecy, was recorded at the Blackbird Studios in Nashville, Tennessee with producer Nick Raskulinecz, who was the producer for the band's second album Come What(ever) May. and released on September 7, 2010 . Taylor stated that "Audio Secrecy is the summation of everything we want, everything we crave and everything we fight for...The dimensions go further than anything we've ever tried before. It's metal, rock, slow, soft, hard, fast, bitter, beautiful and most importantly, it's real. You can't get an album like this out of a band that doesn't exist. We're throwing caution out the damn window."
Stone Sour played the first annual Rockstar Energy Drink Uproar Festival with Avenged Sevenfold and Hollywood Undead among others. Stone Sour set the release date of Audio Secrecy as September 7. Stone Sour were part of the Soundwave Festival in late February/early March in Australia 2011. Stone Sour headlined The Avalanche Tour, supported by Theory of a Deadman, SKILLET, Halestorm and Art of Dying. It was also announced that a Stone Sour live DVD will be released, filmed at The Brighton Centre in the United Kingdom. The band toured with Avenged Sevenfold, New Medicine and Hollywood Undead on the "Nightmare After Christmas Tour" 2011.
On April 16, 2011, it was announced that bassist Shawn Economaki had left the tour for personal reasons. Filling in for the tour is bassist Jason Christopher, who has played with Corey Taylor previously during his solo performances and with the Junk Beer Kidnap Band. In May 2011, Stone Sour canceled the remaining dates from their headline tour as drummer, Roy Mayorga suffered a minor stroke. He made a full recovery. The band played their last show of 2011 at the second day of the Rock in Rio IV festival, which took place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, between September 23 - October 2. Drummer Roy Mayorga was not present at the show as he was expecting his first child back home, and filling-in for him was ex-Dream Theater and current drummer of The Winery Dogs Mike Portnoy. Bassist Shawn Economaki was also absent from the performance.
House of Gold & Bones Parts 1 and 2 (2012-present):
Stone Sour started recording their fourth studio album in early 2012. Corey Taylor stated that the album is going to end up being a double album or concept album. Taylor has described that the album will be like Pink Floyd's The Wall meets Alice in Chains's Dirt.
Corey Taylor posted a tweet on March 20, 2012 that stated work had begun on the new Stone Sour album. The band released a song called "The Pessimist" as a free download on their Facebook page on March 27. The song was previously only available on the iTunes deluxe version of the soundtrack to Transformers: Dark of the Moon.
James Root posted via Instagram on May 3 that Shawn Economaki was no longer with the band, but is still on good terms with his former bandmates. His studio replacement is Rachel Bolan currently of Skid Row.
The band released their first DVD Live at Brighton in 2012, capturing their performance in November 7, 2010.
Corey released some information through his Twitter account about the album on June 11, 2012. The album, project titled House of Gold & Bones was released in two parts. The first part House of Gold & Bones - Part 1 hit stores on October 23 (Oct 22 in Europe), 2012 and the second part House of Gold & Bones - Part 2 was released April 9 (April 8 in Europe), 2013. The project also has a 4-part graphic novel series that accompanies the albums, telling the linear storyline featured in the twin albums lyrics. The first two songs from Part 1, "Gone Sovereign" and the first official single, "Absolute Zero" hit radios mid/late August 2012. In December 2012, Corey Taylor stated that the first single from House of Gold & Bones Part 2 is "Do Me a Favor". "Do Me a Favor" was released digitally on February 12. The first song of Part 2 is called "Red City".
Josh Rand confirmed in an interview with O2 Academy that the last track of House of Gold & Bones - Part 2 will be the title track of both albums. He also confirmed that the missing track on Part 1 was an instrumental song which was deemed 'not up to par' by the band. The song will probably be released in the future after James Root and Josh Rand do 'some stuff to it guitar-wise'
Stone Sour played Soundwave Festival 2013 in Australia. On December 10, Corey Taylor confirmed during a show in Brixton that Stone Sour will be playing on the Sunday at Download Festival 2013. On October 5, Josh announced via Stone Sour Facebook page, that Johny Chow of Fireball Ministry and Cavalera Conspiracy will be playing bass guitar with the band on the House of Gold & Bones Parts 1 and 2 tour cycle.
On 3 December 2013, Corey Taylor confirmed that the band's guitarist James Root would not be touring with Stone Sour in the winter of 2013, as he had to take a brief hiatus from the group to work on the upcoming Slipknot album. He posted in a statement on the band's official Facebook page, "With an impending Slipknot album on the horizon, Jim will not be touring with Stone Sour this winter. Everyone involved is okay with the decision and our mutual friend Christian Martucci will be filling in on guitar. It was a difficult decision, but as the fans have wanted another Stone Sour tour and Jim had responsibilities to the writing process with Slipknot, we feel this is the best decision where everyone wins."
Musical style:
Throughout the band's career, their musical style has been described as alternative metal, heavy metal, hard rock and post-grunge. Their music features double bass drum patterns, heavy guitar riffs, dual guitar harmonies and vocally combining both screaming along with singing.
Guitarist Josh Rand stated in an interview, that he tries to bring metal aspect and elements of thrash metal in their music. He also stated that his writing style is different than compared to Slipknot's writing style.
Stone Sour's House of Gold & Bones - Part 1 and House of Gold & Bones - Part 2 are mainly known as their concept album. When asked about that they are not concept album kind of band, Josh Rand stated: "I don't think so, because I still think it's us. We never said that we would be Genesis or Dream Theater or Yes or any of those types of bands. We're not a prog band. We said we're going to adopt the ideas of those stories and stuff, but it's still going to be a Stone Sour record, where you can still pull those individual songs. We just wanted to offer something more - in a world where it's all about singles, we just wanted to do something different. We've always evolved from record to record, if you listen to our entire catalog." Both parts of their albums have been critically acclaimed.
Band members:
Current members:
To date, Stone Sour have released five studio albums Stone Sour (2002); Come What(ever) May (2006); Audio Secrecy (2010); House of Gold & Bones - Part 1 (2012) and House of Gold & Bones - Part 2 (2013). They also released a digital live album, Live in Moscow, in 2007.
Stone Sour earned the group two Grammy Award nominations, both for Best Metal Performance, for the singles "Get Inside", in 2003, and "Inhale", in 2004. The album went on to become RIAA certified Gold. In 2006, following the release of Come What(ever) May, the group received another Grammy Award nomination for Best Metal Performance for the single "30/30-150".
Stone Sour has sold over four million albums worldwide.
Band history:
Formation and early years (1992-1997):
Stone Sour was founded by Corey Taylor, who eventually became the vocalist of Slipknot, and former drummer Joel Ekman. Taylor's longtime friend Shawn Economaki joined shortly after, and filled in as the bass player. During these formative years, Stone Sour recorded 2 demo tapes, in 1992 and 1994. Shortly after, in 1995, Jim Root, who is now also part of Slipknot with Taylor, joined the band. The group was complete, and in 1996, it recorded another demo tape, songs from which would later be used in 2002 on their self-titled debut album, Stone Sour. The band was named after an alcoholic drink that consists of one part whiskey, one part orange juice, with a splash of sour mix.
In 1997, the band went on hiatus, during which Taylor and Root spent most of their time with Slipknot, who were another up-and-coming act in Des Moines and would soon earn a record deal. Root actually did not join the band until over a year after Taylor, and Economaki went on to become Stage left guitar tech. Joel Ekman had originally parted ways with Stone Sour in 2006 to take care of his son, Isaac James Ekman who had been diagnosed with cancer.
Stone Sour and hiatus (2002-2004):
After Josh Rand joined the band, the band recorded their debut self-titled album in Cedar Falls. Upon release, the album charted at number 46 on the Billboard 200. The song "Bother", which was featured on the Spider-Man soundtrack (credited only to Taylor), peaked at number 2 on the Mainstream Rock Chart as well as number 4 on the Modern Rock Tracks and 56 on the Billboard Hot 100. The next single, "Inhale", peaked at 18 on the Mainstream Rock chart. The group received two Grammy Award nominations for Best Metal Performance for the singles "Get Inside" and "Inhale" in 2003 and 2004 respectively. The album went on to achieve Gold certification. The band toured for six months with label mates Sinch and Chevelle before going on a temporary hiatus as Taylor and Root went back to join Slipknot for another album and tour.
Come What(ever) May (2005-2007):
The band came back in 2006 to release their second studio album, Come What(ever) May. They parted ways with drummer Joel Ekman, currently drumming for Isaac James, who left to take care of his cancer-stricken son, and later recruited current drummer, Roy Mayorga (Soulfly, and later Amebix). The track "30/30-150" was recorded with Godsmack drummer Shannon Larkin. The album was released on August 1, 2006. It was met with positive reviews from critics, and sold 80,000 copies in the first week, allowing it to debut at number four on the Billboard 200. The band toured for the next year and a half, releasing the Live in Moscow album exclusively to iTunes on August 14, 2007.
The single "Sillyworld" peaked at number 2 on the Mainstream Rock charts in 2006. "Through Glass" proved to be successful peaking at number 1 on the Mainstream Rock Chart, 2 on the Modern Rock Tracks, 12 on the Adult Top 40 and 39 on the Billboard Hot 100 also in 2006. They released two more singles in 2007, "Made of Scars" and "Zzyzx Rd.", which managed to peak at numbers 21 and 29 on the Mainstream Rock charts respectively. In 2006 they received a Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance nomination for the single "30/30-150".
Audio Secrecy (2009-2011):
The band's third album Audio Secrecy, was recorded at the Blackbird Studios in Nashville, Tennessee with producer Nick Raskulinecz, who was the producer for the band's second album Come What(ever) May. and released on September 7, 2010 . Taylor stated that "Audio Secrecy is the summation of everything we want, everything we crave and everything we fight for...The dimensions go further than anything we've ever tried before. It's metal, rock, slow, soft, hard, fast, bitter, beautiful and most importantly, it's real. You can't get an album like this out of a band that doesn't exist. We're throwing caution out the damn window."
Stone Sour played the first annual Rockstar Energy Drink Uproar Festival with Avenged Sevenfold and Hollywood Undead among others. Stone Sour set the release date of Audio Secrecy as September 7. Stone Sour were part of the Soundwave Festival in late February/early March in Australia 2011. Stone Sour headlined The Avalanche Tour, supported by Theory of a Deadman, SKILLET, Halestorm and Art of Dying. It was also announced that a Stone Sour live DVD will be released, filmed at The Brighton Centre in the United Kingdom. The band toured with Avenged Sevenfold, New Medicine and Hollywood Undead on the "Nightmare After Christmas Tour" 2011.
On April 16, 2011, it was announced that bassist Shawn Economaki had left the tour for personal reasons. Filling in for the tour is bassist Jason Christopher, who has played with Corey Taylor previously during his solo performances and with the Junk Beer Kidnap Band. In May 2011, Stone Sour canceled the remaining dates from their headline tour as drummer, Roy Mayorga suffered a minor stroke. He made a full recovery. The band played their last show of 2011 at the second day of the Rock in Rio IV festival, which took place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, between September 23 - October 2. Drummer Roy Mayorga was not present at the show as he was expecting his first child back home, and filling-in for him was ex-Dream Theater and current drummer of The Winery Dogs Mike Portnoy. Bassist Shawn Economaki was also absent from the performance.
House of Gold & Bones Parts 1 and 2 (2012-present):
Stone Sour started recording their fourth studio album in early 2012. Corey Taylor stated that the album is going to end up being a double album or concept album. Taylor has described that the album will be like Pink Floyd's The Wall meets Alice in Chains's Dirt.
Corey Taylor posted a tweet on March 20, 2012 that stated work had begun on the new Stone Sour album. The band released a song called "The Pessimist" as a free download on their Facebook page on March 27. The song was previously only available on the iTunes deluxe version of the soundtrack to Transformers: Dark of the Moon.
James Root posted via Instagram on May 3 that Shawn Economaki was no longer with the band, but is still on good terms with his former bandmates. His studio replacement is Rachel Bolan currently of Skid Row.
The band released their first DVD Live at Brighton in 2012, capturing their performance in November 7, 2010.
Corey released some information through his Twitter account about the album on June 11, 2012. The album, project titled House of Gold & Bones was released in two parts. The first part House of Gold & Bones - Part 1 hit stores on October 23 (Oct 22 in Europe), 2012 and the second part House of Gold & Bones - Part 2 was released April 9 (April 8 in Europe), 2013. The project also has a 4-part graphic novel series that accompanies the albums, telling the linear storyline featured in the twin albums lyrics. The first two songs from Part 1, "Gone Sovereign" and the first official single, "Absolute Zero" hit radios mid/late August 2012. In December 2012, Corey Taylor stated that the first single from House of Gold & Bones Part 2 is "Do Me a Favor". "Do Me a Favor" was released digitally on February 12. The first song of Part 2 is called "Red City".
Josh Rand confirmed in an interview with O2 Academy that the last track of House of Gold & Bones - Part 2 will be the title track of both albums. He also confirmed that the missing track on Part 1 was an instrumental song which was deemed 'not up to par' by the band. The song will probably be released in the future after James Root and Josh Rand do 'some stuff to it guitar-wise'
Stone Sour played Soundwave Festival 2013 in Australia. On December 10, Corey Taylor confirmed during a show in Brixton that Stone Sour will be playing on the Sunday at Download Festival 2013. On October 5, Josh announced via Stone Sour Facebook page, that Johny Chow of Fireball Ministry and Cavalera Conspiracy will be playing bass guitar with the band on the House of Gold & Bones Parts 1 and 2 tour cycle.
On 3 December 2013, Corey Taylor confirmed that the band's guitarist James Root would not be touring with Stone Sour in the winter of 2013, as he had to take a brief hiatus from the group to work on the upcoming Slipknot album. He posted in a statement on the band's official Facebook page, "With an impending Slipknot album on the horizon, Jim will not be touring with Stone Sour this winter. Everyone involved is okay with the decision and our mutual friend Christian Martucci will be filling in on guitar. It was a difficult decision, but as the fans have wanted another Stone Sour tour and Jim had responsibilities to the writing process with Slipknot, we feel this is the best decision where everyone wins."
Musical style:
Throughout the band's career, their musical style has been described as alternative metal, heavy metal, hard rock and post-grunge. Their music features double bass drum patterns, heavy guitar riffs, dual guitar harmonies and vocally combining both screaming along with singing.
Guitarist Josh Rand stated in an interview, that he tries to bring metal aspect and elements of thrash metal in their music. He also stated that his writing style is different than compared to Slipknot's writing style.
Stone Sour's House of Gold & Bones - Part 1 and House of Gold & Bones - Part 2 are mainly known as their concept album. When asked about that they are not concept album kind of band, Josh Rand stated: "I don't think so, because I still think it's us. We never said that we would be Genesis or Dream Theater or Yes or any of those types of bands. We're not a prog band. We said we're going to adopt the ideas of those stories and stuff, but it's still going to be a Stone Sour record, where you can still pull those individual songs. We just wanted to offer something more - in a world where it's all about singles, we just wanted to do something different. We've always evolved from record to record, if you listen to our entire catalog." Both parts of their albums have been critically acclaimed.
Band members:
Current members:
