This interview is with a band that caught my attention right away. Their music is seriously impressive, they work well as a group, but it’s the brotherhood between them that solidifies the foundation of this band. I would like to introduce everyone to SevenStones.
Abraham Montalvo (lead guitar), Drew Elliott (vocals, rhythm guitar), Rich Aycock (bass), and Jacob Clines (drums) are from the Chattanooga, TN area and have been together since 2016. Drew and Abraham were very close friends in school and in 2016 had re-united after not seeing each other for nearly 10 years. “He was just showing me ideas of different songs that he’d be writing,” Abraham recalled, “And I didn’t know that he’d be writing music because when I met him he was just into sports. And he showed me what are now two of our songs from our debut album. One of them being “(The) Dying Kind” and the other being “All In Due Time”. And it was just cool how I became a believer of the music that he was writing. It was like, what is, the starting point to what is SevenStones.” Drew said, “My goal was not exactly to be in a band. I was just writing music because, hell, why not try it.” Abraham had given up playing guitar and hadn’t touched it in about 6 years until he re-connected with Drew. After hearing his music, Abraham felt re-inspired to pick up his guitar again.
Rich joined the band in November 2016, never having playing bass at all. “I have never played a stringed instrument before in my life. But, I knew rhythm and I knew timing…I could do a little something just as long as the timing was there.” He was introduced to Abraham and Drew from the original drummer and one practice they were trying to figure out a progression in the music and Rich suggested trying something, which they liked. They asked if he was interesting in joining as a bass player, and he figured he’d give it a shot. “It’s one of the best ‘Screw it!’ moments I ever had.” He continued, “That’s what I’m very grateful for. I have a good core group of guys that not only help me, but I can help them as well, and it’s just the way we mesh and the way everything flows together and the end product is something we’re always happy with. And happy to delivery to everybody.”
For having such a Jacob joined the band in 2019. He was introduced to the three from a mutual friend whenever they needed a drummer. He auditioned and was brought into SevenStones. “We just had really good chemistry from the get-go. They’ve been my family to me since,” Jacob said. “And thankfully, he joined on, and we flowed so well,” Drew said, “because if not he’d probably be in my buddy’s band to this day.” Drew explained further about the audition, “He listened to our album for two weeks, walks in, sets it [drum kit] up, and the first two notes I got cold chills. I was like, ‘We don’t have to go through this anymore. He already has the timing down.'” “He already knew our music the moment he sat his kit down and we played the opening notes to “Hellbent” and played “Soulless” right after,” Abraham added.
SevenStones is an independent artist and have released one studio album titled A Hope For Tomorrow that was released in 2019 and two singles. The goal is to perform their music full time. The band ranges on hard rock to metal and sometimes even a twinge of southern rock. “Our new music that we’re working on is heavier than anything prior that you’ve heard,” Abraham said, “I’m excited as well as the guys for the next music that we’re putting out because it’s very in your face.” The change over to a heavier style comes for a variety of reasons. Drew explained it’s just what the band feels. Abraham added they wanted to experiment more. With a smile on his face Jacob threw in, “And that’s what I’m used to playing. So whenever we write music it flows better when we go a little harder.” To which Drew quickly followed, “He drives it to be heavier.” Rich also added, “For me it’s the energy. Whenever I’m playing the heavier stuff on stage, I’m everywhere. And seeing a crowd reaction, like that bounce and that jump, or the headbanging…it’s something that I feed off of to keep writing stuff like that.” “People love it too,” Abraham chimed in, “When they hear the heavy they’re like, ‘Where’s this been?'” Drew said a lot of his musical influence comes from Seether and Creed. His heavier inspirations come from Lamb of God.
I always ask what are the favorite singles band members each enjoy playing. Abraham called out “Save The Day” because the song captures who they are right now. Drew said “Take Me Home” because he plays and sings at the same time and it’s a heavier song through the chorus. Jacob also likes “Save The Day” because it’s a heavier song. Rich also agreed with Abraham and Jacob because of the energy he can bring out during the song. But, he also selected “Into The Dark” saying it was “ballardy” and emotion driven song. He also has a close personal relationship with the meaning of the song from things in his past. Drew has the same for “Take Me Home” as it refers to, in his words, “dumb decisions” where he made a bad scene at a bar and felt so bad for it the song just wrote itself.
As you can see for yourself, this is a brotherhood. The way they praise and support each other is the same reason why they work so well together. And it’s this brotherhood and is making huge strides in their musical career. They hang out with each other regularly outside of the band. “We’re all best of friends,” Abraham said with a smile, “The brotherhood that we have within this group is very rare that you see in a lot of bands…they have a cool tight union on stage, but off stage they’re two different lives. Us four, even though we have our own separate lives, we all keep in constant communication and we’re always tight knit.” He’s absolutely right. The mannerisms you can see in the video shows how close they are. The way they joke with each other, side conversations and laughs, these are friend till the end. Jacob lives in Alabama and drives one and half hours one way just to hang out with his brotherhood.
SevenStones will be keeping themselves quite busy in 2021. They’ll be performing at a festival called Valley Vibes in Wildwood, Georgia over Labor Day weekend. Then they play Blue Ridge Rock Festival the following weekend. And then they’ll be releasing a new single right after. They’re also planning to gear up for tour in November.
Outside of the music, Rich has gotten into building computers, which he truly enjoys learning more as he goes. But, of course, he likes playing music even for fun, especially something blues. Jacob loves working on and riding motorcycles. And his two year old daughter is his best friend. Drew likes playing stuff on his acoustic guitar and spending time with his girlfriend watching cooking shows and murder documentaries. Abraham loves socializing with people because his job is very high stress prepping surgical instruments for the hospital.
And the trend continues as the Drew, Abraham, Rich are video game players. Abraham added that their manager, Scotty, Rich‘s brother, is also a video game player and they consider him “official part of us”. Drew said the very first time he spoke to Rich ever was on an XBox party chat playing Call of Duty and cussing at each other. Abraham enjoys Apex: Legends, Rocket League, Sea of Thieves, the Batman Arkham series of games, and the new Avengers game. Drew plays Rocket League, MLB: The Show, and Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla. Rich enjoys Rising Storm 2, the Doom series, Halo games, and the Battlefield series.
SevenStones will be performing on Friday, September 10th at the Blue Ridge Rock Festival. Go over and check out their set that day, check out their website, buy their album, merchandise, and if you see them during the festival, go over and say hello. This is a great group of guys, such close friends, and fantastic musicians.
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