The Stow recently won the MEmusic and Nissan QASHQAI’s Online and Ontour competition. Part of their prize is to tour with singer VV Brown. The tour runs from 4 November to 23 November.
Okay, who’s in the band and what do they do in it?
Haydn Corrodus – Vocals, song writer/arranger & force of nature…
Shiama (Shi) Young – Vocals, song writer & privileged lone female in the band…
Will Brown – Drums & resident comedian…
Matt Money – Guitar, graphic design & chick magnet…
Dave Payne – Bass & all round good guy…
That’s a great band name, where did it come from?
I would love to tell you a great story of where we got it from, but the truth is that that band were based in Walthamstow, London and Haydn was walking with a friend one day who suggested it as a possibility when we couldn’t think of anything and we just ran with it….I think we’re gonna have to think of as better story than that…lol!
How long have you been going as band now?
Well it seems like forever, but only since February this year. We’ve done a lot in a short space of time. Plus it helps that we all get on really well and can have a laugh together.
Who are your influences?
As a band, I couldn’t say that we have any specific influences. As individuals we all like such a diverse range of music that it shouldn’t really work, but we bring the ideas to the table and for some reason they songs just work. How would you describe your sound? A true cross-pollination of musical genres…we like that one! That description is here to stay. We kinda mix-up all genres, it depends on what we’re feeling at the time. There’s a bit of pop, indie, hip-hop, soul, jazz, ska…whatever really. We bring a lot of energy to our music and performances alike.
Do you have a particular method of writing songs?
It depends on the mood we’re in. It’s all about the hook and the melody for us, which can come to us in the strangest places. Once that’s in place, everything else such as the rest of the lyrics and musical structure is worked on until we have a solid song.
You’re getting well known on the live gig circuit, where have you played?
We’ve performed at Rough Trade East, Barfly Camden, I Luv Live, 93 Feet East, Embassy London, North by West Festival in Blackpool and Earls Court Festival and Hoxton Pony. Our Waltham Forest Festival performance got us dubbed as "the highlight of the festival" by the organisers in the local press (The Waltham Forest Guardian 16/7/09). We also run our own night of live music (A Night With The Stow), in Arch Angel, High St. Kensington which we use as a platform to showcase other unsigned bands, as well as ourselves. The next one is January 10th.
What’s been your favourite gig so far?
I think the whole band is in agreement when we say the Barfly gig for the competition. The crowd reception was amazing…we felt like rock stars for a second. Another that comes close is our Rough Trade East gig though. How did you come to enter The MEmusic and Nissan QASHQAI's Online and Ontour competition? Haydn saw it advertised in the Metro and felt that we would compliment VV Brown well, so maybe had a shot at winning. Plus we had a few people telling us to go for it, so we made it happen…and the rest is history as they say!
Apart from the prizes, what do you want to gain from the experience?
Groupies!!!! Lol!! Matt has a few on Myspace already, so we need some for the whole band! We don’t want this to be the highlight of our career. We’re gonna be recording the digital single for Island soon and we’re actively seeking management and publishing now…any offers are very welcome ;-). We wanna elevate our profile even more and take things to the next level. We wanna be doing the festival circuit next year as well…that a big one for us.
Are you looking forward to the VV Brown Tour?
Yeah definitely….it’s over two weeks off work!! Nah, in all seriousness, it’s a great opportunity and we’re really grateful for the support we received to get us into this position. VV Brown is a great artist and we get to leave our regular lives for a bit and experience what we wanna be doing as a band for a long time to come. Chas ‘n’ Dave or East 17? ‘None of the Above’…that’s a little plug of one of our new songs by the way…lol!!
Our EPK - http://www.mattmoney.co.uk/thestow/epk/
www.myspace.com/thestow
www.facebook.com/thestowmusic
www.twitter.com/thestow
www.youtube.com/thestowmusic
thestowmusic@yahoo.com
Okay, who’s in the band and what do they do in it?
Haydn Corrodus – Vocals, song writer/arranger & force of nature…
Shiama (Shi) Young – Vocals, song writer & privileged lone female in the band…
Will Brown – Drums & resident comedian…
Matt Money – Guitar, graphic design & chick magnet…
Dave Payne – Bass & all round good guy…
That’s a great band name, where did it come from?
I would love to tell you a great story of where we got it from, but the truth is that that band were based in Walthamstow, London and Haydn was walking with a friend one day who suggested it as a possibility when we couldn’t think of anything and we just ran with it….I think we’re gonna have to think of as better story than that…lol!
How long have you been going as band now?
Well it seems like forever, but only since February this year. We’ve done a lot in a short space of time. Plus it helps that we all get on really well and can have a laugh together.
Who are your influences?
As a band, I couldn’t say that we have any specific influences. As individuals we all like such a diverse range of music that it shouldn’t really work, but we bring the ideas to the table and for some reason they songs just work. How would you describe your sound? A true cross-pollination of musical genres…we like that one! That description is here to stay. We kinda mix-up all genres, it depends on what we’re feeling at the time. There’s a bit of pop, indie, hip-hop, soul, jazz, ska…whatever really. We bring a lot of energy to our music and performances alike.
Do you have a particular method of writing songs?
It depends on the mood we’re in. It’s all about the hook and the melody for us, which can come to us in the strangest places. Once that’s in place, everything else such as the rest of the lyrics and musical structure is worked on until we have a solid song.
You’re getting well known on the live gig circuit, where have you played?
We’ve performed at Rough Trade East, Barfly Camden, I Luv Live, 93 Feet East, Embassy London, North by West Festival in Blackpool and Earls Court Festival and Hoxton Pony. Our Waltham Forest Festival performance got us dubbed as "the highlight of the festival" by the organisers in the local press (The Waltham Forest Guardian 16/7/09). We also run our own night of live music (A Night With The Stow), in Arch Angel, High St. Kensington which we use as a platform to showcase other unsigned bands, as well as ourselves. The next one is January 10th.
What’s been your favourite gig so far?
I think the whole band is in agreement when we say the Barfly gig for the competition. The crowd reception was amazing…we felt like rock stars for a second. Another that comes close is our Rough Trade East gig though. How did you come to enter The MEmusic and Nissan QASHQAI's Online and Ontour competition? Haydn saw it advertised in the Metro and felt that we would compliment VV Brown well, so maybe had a shot at winning. Plus we had a few people telling us to go for it, so we made it happen…and the rest is history as they say!
Apart from the prizes, what do you want to gain from the experience?
Groupies!!!! Lol!! Matt has a few on Myspace already, so we need some for the whole band! We don’t want this to be the highlight of our career. We’re gonna be recording the digital single for Island soon and we’re actively seeking management and publishing now…any offers are very welcome ;-). We wanna elevate our profile even more and take things to the next level. We wanna be doing the festival circuit next year as well…that a big one for us.
Are you looking forward to the VV Brown Tour?
Yeah definitely….it’s over two weeks off work!! Nah, in all seriousness, it’s a great opportunity and we’re really grateful for the support we received to get us into this position. VV Brown is a great artist and we get to leave our regular lives for a bit and experience what we wanna be doing as a band for a long time to come. Chas ‘n’ Dave or East 17? ‘None of the Above’…that’s a little plug of one of our new songs by the way…lol!!
Our EPK - http://www.mattmoney.co.uk/thestow/epk/
www.myspace.com/thestow
www.facebook.com/thestowmusic
www.twitter.com/thestow
www.youtube.com/thestowmusic
thestowmusic@yahoo.com
