WATCH: Stone Broken wax lyrical about their ‘incredible’ past year
Ahead of their headline slot at Winter’s End, Stone Broken’s Rich Moss and Robyn Haycock caught up with Paul Anthony in a ball pool backstage.
Exactly 12 months ago at the inaugural Winter’s End in 2017, the Walsall quartet played one of the shows of the entire weekend – in fact, such was the reaction of the crowd at that gig, Rich said it paved the way for the triumphant year that ensued.
“It blew our mind,” singer Rich explains to Paul. “We’d just finished our tour with Glenn Hughes so we literally came straight from the Netherlands to here and y’know after being on the road for six weeks you just think – ok we’ve got to put our all into this last show.
“But when we got up there (at Winter’s End 2017) and we saw the crowd and the atmosphere was electric, all that went away. All the aches and pains of touring just went. We had a blast and the reaction was incredible and I think that in itself helped the (successful) year that followed.”
Indicative of their meteoric rise, on the opening night of their UK tour on Thursday night (22nd February) at The Haunt in Brighton, Stone Broken played a completely sold out show – a far cry from their gig in the same city in 2016.
“We played Brighton two years ago when we first brought out (2016’s debut album) ‘All In Time’ and we sold 30 tickets,” says Rich. “We played there last night and we did like 300 tickets (sold out show at The Haunt) and that in itself just shows the journey that we’ve been on.
“We were testing out new production for the live shows, new tracks that again no one has heard, as the album isn’t out yet, and it went phenomenally well. The first show is meant to be when you get all these snagging issues and stuff but it was perfect.”
Explaining why they’ve decided to incorporate eight songs into their set, Robyn said: “People are wanting to hear new songs. We’ve been gigging ‘All In Time’ for two years now and it’s nice for us to play something different and get them new tracks road-tested and to see whether people are going to like the new album! (laughs)”
Rich adds: “It’s strange because you play a song that people know and they’re all having a great time and their arms are in the air.
“And then you pull out a new one and they’re not just watching you – they’re listening intently to the track and all the little things and when you finish the track you think ‘ok, this is the moment of truth. Did they like it or not? And their reaction has been incredible for every single song.”
You can watch the full interview right here:
Check out photos of the action on Friday and our roundup of all the performances below:
PHOTO GALLERY: FRIDAY AT WINTER'S END