You might say Stone Iris’ new recording effort has been an illuminating one.
The Edmonton band, which blends rock, reggae, blues and funk, has released a new five-track EP, Illuminations, and launched a tour of Alberta and B.C. to support it.
On May 25, the seven-piece outfit rolls into Canmore in their motorhome to play the Canmore Hotel. On the tour, the band will play gigs new and familiar, with the ‘Ho being one of the familiar ones.
Stone Iris is founders Elliot (guitar, vocals) and Garret (guitar, vocals) Niven, Ryan Ast (bass), Juice E. Jensen (percussion, vocals), Eddy Molasses Robinson (keys), Kari James (MC, vocals) and Jeff Burwash (drums).
Last week, the band loaded up its ’91 Bounder motorhome (which has doubled as a studio for press photos, indie bands need to keep costs down) and trailer full of gear and headed on out.
“We’ve been looking forward to getting out on this tour with the new EP, said Garret Niven. “We’ve played the Hotel a few times and it’s always a good show there.”
Work began on Illuminations in 2011. The new EP follows The Boo Box and Serene Machine (2011), Silhouettes (2010) and the debut full-length Ezperanza (2008).
“We were in the studio in February for Illuminations,” said Niven. “The other EPs we did our ourselves in a basement jam studio. Illuminations is more polished and the sound is more dialled in. I think it’s a really good reflection of where we’re at as a band.”
That dialed-in sound includes a general reggae/island feel in songs like “Hide and Seek” and “Blood Clot Sunrise,” along with more of a rock feel with “New End.” Samples of hip hop are mixed in with “Hide and Seek.”
“These days,” said Niven, we’re getting comfortable with all the sounds we have and the way we’ve melted it into our sound. We’re still a little all over the place, but we’re happy with the direction we’re going and with all the things that are going on.
“I think what ties it all together is our style. We were a four-piece for a few years, but now as a seven-piece, everybody brings something different to the table. Getting bigger just sort of happened, but it’s working well.”
The band began in Calgary as Monzmeg, a basement project for the singing, songwriting Nivens brothers. Stone Iris didn’t take shape until Burwash joined after banging the skins with blues outfit Straight Jacket before he was legally allowed in bars.
Then came the move to Edmonton to attend Grant MacEwan’s music program and the addition of Regina-born and Grant Mac-trained bassist Ast (ex-Without an End), and Trail, B.C.-bred Jensen in early 2010. in 2011, Robinson and vocalist James joined the ranks.
Now, with plenty of inspirational input from band members, “one person usually comes up with a song idea that we toss around and jam out. It’s a collaborative process and from conception to finished product, it can be quite different from where a song started.
“The main thing is, it’s a big sound and that hasn’t hanged. With reggae influences, it’s a big, full sound.”
The band is also heading south of the border this summer for the first time, down to California and east to Florida, for a two-month tour – as long as the Bounder holds up.
“We’re pretty excited about that tour and we’re keeping up the maintenance on the motorhome so it’ll make it. We’re always working on new material, it never stops, and we’re thinking of doing another full-length.
“We’re getting better at what we do and playing live almost every night on a tour helps. We’re harnessing the energy and the big sound and our stage show has high emotion. It’s not a loud, in your face energy, but it’s a musical energy.”
“Everyone wants some kind of tag line, but I don’t think we’ve found an easy answer for that,” said Jensen. “We’re blues-rock, reggae – there are a lot of things in it, if you want to throw a lot of hyphens into it, but that’s what we are.”
