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Friday Rock Recs: StoneRider – "Hologram"

by Brian Shea on Jul 01, 2016 at 10:01 AM

For this week's Friday Rock Rec, I want to look at a great rock band out of Atlanta, Georgia. I first learned of this band through a show that I went to in 2008. The headliner was Airbourne, a rock group out of Australia. While they were a lot of fun and put on a fantastic show, it was the first opening act, StoneRider, that caught my attention.

Born from an adrenaline-fueled thrash rock group called Fight Paris, StoneRider's first album, 2008's Three Legs of Trouble, leaned heavily on a classic hard rock sound. Songs like "Rush Hour, Baby" and "Shut My Mouth" deliver that down and dirty rock sound that I absolutely love. After picking up their 2008 debut and playing it constantly, I couldn't wait for the follow-up. Sadly, the band kept me waiting for four years, but in 2012 I finally received the sophomore effort I was anticipating.

Fountains Left to Wake caught me off guard the first time I listened to it. Gone was the heavier sound that I loved from the debut LP, but in its place was something I liked better. Instead of the hard hitting tunes that harkened back to the '70s and '80s, Fountains Left to Wake took things even further into the past with a psychedelic sound that would feel right at home in the '60s. I loved "When I Was Young," "Say I Won't," and "Don't Forget To Breathe," but the whole album is fantastic. In fact, Fountains Left to Wake ended up being my favorite album of 2012. I still yearn for StoneRider to return to the harder rock sound, but I'm thoroughly enjoying their current dive into psychedelia.

StoneRider continued that dive four years later with this year's Hologram. It's a difficult album to nail down to one specific genre, but it's a great listen from start to finish. Check out the title track off that album below.