Stonefield shake off their adolescence to stake their claim in Australia’s psych-rock revival

THE all-sisters group Stonefield, which won Triple J Unearthed High in 2010, are on a national tour with a second album and determined to succeed.

Stonefield are bringing girl power to Australia’s psychedelic rock renaissance. Picture: Yuri Kouzmin.

STONEFIELD have done their growing up in public.

The Findlay sisters — Amy, Hannah, Sarah and Holly — landed on the Australian rock scene when they won Triple J’s Unearthed High competition in 2010 as teenagers.

Hailing from the small rural Victorian tale of Darraweit Guim, Stonefield played and played and played, serving their apprenticeship on stages from Melbourne pubs to the world-famous Glastonbury festival in the UK with their assured psychedelic rock.

The self-titled debut album in 2013 made good on their early promise, peaking at No. 21 on the ARIA chart.

But this year’s second record As Above, So Below raises the bar as Australian psych-rock enjoys a global renaissance kickstarted by Tame Impala with King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, Love Of Diagrams, Pond, Lowtide, the Laurels and The Murlocs also on the radar.

Like all young people shaking off adolescence for young adulthood, Stonefield have had their battles to build confidence and be taken seriously.

The Findlay sisters have taken control of their career with their second album. Picture: Yuri Kouzmin.

Drummer, singer and oldest sister Amy said after the whirlwind of their early years and all that touring, the band took time out to work on songwriting and reclaim control of what kind of band they want to be.

“We were just going with it, trying to please people and we didn’t really have time to stop and say ‘This is our band and this is the way we want things to be done’,” Amy says.

Growing up on Australia’s often unforgiving pub and festival stages will build a thick skin or destroy you.

Amy is proud to say they are match fit rather than battle-weary. But she admits they did have it tougher because they are a female rock band.

She recalls making wardrobe rules after being ogled by a pub patron during soundcheck on a stifling hot day, insisting they cover up to avoid “causing people to make inappropriate comments and making us feel uncomfortable.”

The drummer says they quickly shifted that mindset, deciding “screw that, we will wear what we want to wear.”

“I would say we haven’t had too much (sexual harassment) but it is this underlying thing that’s always there,” she says.

“Obviously we have played gigs and had awful things yelled out, really disturbing things.

“It was a real big thing for me to pull myself up and stop that voice that’s hardwired into your brain saying ‘I’m not powerful enough to do this’ especially when it comes to managing a band.

“There’s a lot of men who, even without realising it, will talk down to you and treat you like you are some little girl.

“All that stuff, you use it as fuel to the fire; we are determined to be successful.”

Stonefield got match fit with hundreds of gigs. Picture: Peter Ristevski.

Amy laughs when asked if they have replaced one gimmick with another with the second record.

They have outlasted the novelty value of being sisters only to define As Above, So Below with its one-word titled songs.

“We had a lot of working titles that were just one word but then we decided to keep them because it was a strong way of making a point that each song had its own vibe, was its own world,” she says.

Stonefield received the blessing of their audience for shifting their dynamics from straight-ahead, four-on-the-floor blues rock to a more psychedelic flavour by road-testing the new material before they recorded the album.

Amy remembers how weird it felt the first time they introduced the single Changes into their set.

“It took a bit of convincing for us and I think a lot of rock bands go through that after you have been hiding behind this wall of sound. It can scare you to do things that are a little different but we embraced the weird and people were still moving in the mosh so it’s OK,” she says.

“I like now that we have a more dynamic set which has raw moments that are a bit more stripped back.”

One thing that hasn’t changed is Stonefield introducing a much-loved cover into the set. Amy revealed this one will be Venus.

“Absolutely doing it the Shocking Blue way; it will not be Bananarama.”

SEE: Stonefield, Yours and Owls Festival Wollongong, Saturday; Small Ballroom, Newcastle, October 6; The Imperial Sydney, October 8; Oztix and stonefield.com.au

SEE: Stonefield are touring across regional Victoria including Sooki Lounge, Belgrave, October 16; Karova Lounge, Ballarat, October 21; The Wool Exchange, Geelong October 22; Howler, Brunswick, October 29 and more. Oztix and stonefield.com.au

SEE: Stonefield, Sol Bar, Sunshine Coast, November 4; The Foundry, Brsbane, November 5; Miami Marketta, Gold Coast, October 6.

Originally published as Stonefield shake off their adolescence to stake their claim in Australia’s psych-rock revival