by Deanne Deschatelets for Castanet.net

Somewhere between the raw hooks of The Foo Fighters, the urgency of Tool, and the epic/exotic tastes of Led Zeppelin, exists Stonecrow from Kelowna. Stonecrow is the stunning blend of captivating front man Tyler Smith’s soaring poetic vocals and bass line mixed with the band’s gritty, rock-solid rhythm section provided by John Ephrom and Chris Madill, and all backed with the unforgettable and heart-thundering drum beat of Rob Mulvihill. All band members come from a variety of musical influences and use that disparity to filter in the music that finds a common emotional grounding. “When we create our music it depends song to song what that process is. I write all the lyrics. I will write a song from start to finish mostly because I like to feel an emotional attachment to them,” says Smith. “Other times I will bring in a song and show the guys the parts, and what I was thinking. The band will then take it in a different direction which works. Sometimes we will have a particular riff and we will all sit together and jam and find something that works. At the end of the day you can go through hundreds of ideas and only five will work. Either way it is always important for us to connect with a song.” A band born out of a passion to create music that doesn’t hide behind a mask. With music that is genuine and ardently raw which helps this group stand out from the pack and appeal to a diverse audience. Heavy enough for the metal fans but diverse enough to appeal to all has placed themselves solidly in the Okanagan music scene.

Stonecrow is a rock band with a love for music and a hunger to excel at what they do. This hunger has helped them to achieve a third place finish at the 2006 Rock ‘n Ride battle of the bands at the OK Corral which saw local band competing for a spot to open for Colin James at the Bluff. They also received a nomination for the 2006 Okanagan Music Awards. “We didn’t even know we were nominated for about a month. I don’t think they had our contact information to let us know. When we did find out it was a shock. It was something we were not expecting at all,” says Smith. The last few months have seen Stonecrow absent from the local scene. They have spent that time building on their music and experimenting with their songs. Preparing for the upcoming summer season when they will have a full line up of new songs. “The last two months we took a breather and now we are back in the song writing mode and are getting stuff ready for our new album. Currently we just have out five song demo which we did in 2006. We want to do a full length album this time.”

There are a lot of talented musicians in the Okanagan, as with most local bands, finding venues to showcase their work is difficult. With only a select few that are really supportive and passionate about the local music scene. “Most venues in the Okanagan will usually only hire cover bands. To some extent it makes sense because you don’t want to trust a band to fill your venue unless you know what they are about. But it is a catch-22 because you have to prove yourself to get those shows but you can’t prove that unless you get shows,” says Smith. One of these venues, The Grateful Fed, will play host to Stonecrow Saturday night.

The show starts at 9 p.m. but get down early as the place fills up quickly. Closing Iris will also be playing and there is a $5 cover charge.

Link: Stonecrow MySpace SiteLink: The Grateful Fed MySpace Site