Stick To Your Guns: Keeping True To Their Roots
It takes a lot for a band in the hardcore and metalcore scene to make a name for themselves, and even more to remain relevant for a prolonged period of time. STICK TO YOUR GUNS are one of those bands. Since the inception of the group more than two decades ago, the Orange County outfit have kept true to their roots and have ridden the waves of countless trends and fashions to remain one of the most important acts in the scene. With their eighth full-length album, Keep Planting Flowers, in the chamber and ready to go, we spoke with guitarist Josh James to discuss the release and how things are looking for the band.
The production for the new album was handled by Beau Burchell, a name that the band are familiar with through frontman Jesse Barnett’s other act WAYS AWAY. “It’s a funny story actually,” tells James. “When we came to record Disobedient, we whittled down the prospective producers to Beau or John Feldman, and it was damn close. The only reason we opted for John was because he was much more in our face and direct about what he wanted to do for the album, and it suited us at the time.”
However, down the line Barnett would go on to write and record the WAYS AWAY material with him, growing a professional and personal relationship that would spread into the STICK TO YOUR GUNS camp. And the rest is history. It goes without saying that the decision of what producer to go with is a massive one for every band, and this is even more so the point when it comes to STICK TO YOUR GUNS, a point which James was more than happy to explain. “It has always been important for us to feel comfortable with whomever is going to be doing the record, especially for Jesse. When you’re the singer and you’re opening yourself up to record your personal lyrics you have to be as relaxed as possible.” The results, it has to be said are undeniable. This is one of the finest vocal performances of Barnett’s career.
The album itself appears to be a return to the sound that made the band a household name in the 2010s. With the emphasis appearing to be a more stripped back, raw sound that gets straight to the point and delivers direct, passionate hardcore songs that are as heavy emotively as they are sonically. “I feel like this album should have been the follow up to Diamond,” concedes James (the band’s beloved 2012 fourth studio album). “What makes it cool is that it feels like we are going back to our roots without rehashing and repeating what we have done before. Rather we have taken what we have learned in the years since and have added it to the old formula to create something even better. It’s something that is new and fresh, yet still feels familiar.”
It is safe to say that STICK TO YOUR GUNS have found a formula that works for them creatively. The band discovered early on in their career that they had a penchant for writing heavy, hardcore riffs, colossal breakdowns, and a melodic chorus that could rival some of the best pop acts in the business. However, it didn’t stop them from trying to branch out every now and again creatively to prevent things getting too stale. The difficult part of this is trying to find the perfect balance between the traditional and the adventurous. “We have a couple of different blueprints that we start with, and we work from there. You have some like Disobedient which are straight forward heavy albums, and then you have Spectre which was definitely us trying to think outside the box,” explains James. “So, with the new album there was definitely a decision to go for a more straight-forward album, and not to venture too far outside of the box. Rather to stick to what we know and what we do well.”
With regards to 2025, the mission statement for the band is the same as it has ever been. Get the album out and hit the road, play as many shows to as many faces as possible and remind everyone just how powerful STICK TO YOUR GUNS are as a live act. “We’ve always thought of ourselves as an old-school working-class touring band,” states James. “First up we are flying out to Europe to do a run of shows including some record store release shows. Then on to North America, before heading back to Europe for festival season, and hopefully a UK tour in the summer!”
It’s safe to say that the band are showing no signs of slowing down any time soon. When they are laying down albums at the same kind of high standard of Keep Planting Flowers, whilst continuously being one of the best and hardworking live bands on the planet, long may it continue.
Keep Planting Flowers is out now via SharpTone Records.
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