Stone Sour - Biography
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2002-
Biography
Stone Sour was founded by Corey Taylor, who eventually became the vocalist of Slipknot, and former drummer Joel Ekman. Taylor's longtime friend Shawn Economaki joined shortly after, and filled in as the bass player. During these formative years, Stone Sour recorded 2 demo tapes, in 1992 and 1994. Shortly after, in 1995, Jim Root, who is now also part of Slipknot with Taylor, joined the band. The group was complete, and in 1996, it recorded another demo tape, songs from which would later be used in 2002 on their self-titled debut album, Stone Sour. The band was named after an alcoholic drink that consists of one part whiskey, one part orange juice, with a splash of sour mix.
In 1997, the band went on hiatus, during which Taylor and Root spent most of their time with Slipknot, who were another up-and-coming act in Des Moines and would soon earn a record deal. Root actually did not join the band until over a year after Taylor, and Economaki went on to become stage left guitar tech. Joel Ekman had originally parted ways with Stone Sour in 2006 to take care of his son, Isaac James Ekman who had been diagnosed with cancer.
After Josh Rand joined the band, the band recorded their debut self-titled album in Cedar Falls. Upon release, the album charted at number 46 on the Billboard 200. The song "Bother", which was featured on the Spider-Man soundtrack (credited only to Taylor), peaked at number 2 on the Mainstream Rock Chart as well as number 4 on the Modern Rock Tracks and 56 on the Billboard Hot 100. The album went on to achieve Gold certification. The band toured for six months with label mates Sinch and Chevelle before going on a temporary hiatus as Taylor and Root went back to join Slipknot for another album and tour.
The band came back in 2006 to release their second studio album, Come What(ever) May. They parted ways with drummer Joel Ekman, who left to take care of his cancer-stricken son, and later recruited current drummer, Roy Mayorga (Soulfly, and later Amebix). The track "30/30-150" was recorded with Godsmack drummer Shannon Larkin. The album was released on August 1, 2006. The band toured for the next year and a half, releasing the Live in Moscow album exclusively to iTunes on August 14, 2007.
The band's third album Audio Secrecy, was recorded at the Blackbird Studios in Nashville, Tennessee with producer Nick Raskulinecz, who was the producer for the band's second album Come What(ever) May. and released on September 7, 2010 . Taylor stated that "Audio Secrecy is the summation of everything we want, everything we crave and everything we fight for. The dimensions go further than anything we've ever tried before. It's metal, rock, slow, soft, hard, fast, bitter, beautiful and most importantly, it's real. You can't get an album like this out of a band that doesn't exist. We're throwing caution out the damn window."
Stone Sour played the first annual Rockstar Energy Drink Uproar Festival with Avenged Sevenfold and Hollywood Undead among others. Stone Sour set the release date of Audio Secrecy as September 7. Stone Sour were part of the Soundwave Festival in late February/early March in Australia 2011. Stone Sour headlined The Avalanche Tour, supported by Theory Of A Deadman, Skillet, Halestorm and Art Of Dying. It was also announced that a Stone Sour live DVD will be released, filmed at The Brighton Centre in the United Kingdom. The band toured with Avenged Sevenfold, New Medicine and Hollywood Undead on the Nightmare After Christmas Tour 2011.
On April 16, 2011, it was announced that bassist Shawn Economaki had left the tour for personal reasons. Filling in for the tour is bassist Jason Christopher, who has played with Corey Taylor previously during his solo performances and with the Junk Beer Kidnap Band. In May 2011, Stone Sour cancelled the remaining dates from their headline tour as drummer, Roy Mayorga suffered a minor stroke; he made a full recovery. The band played their last show of 2011 at the second day of the Rock in Rio IV festival, which took place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, between September 23 - October 2. Drummer Roy Mayorga was not present at the show as he was expecting his first child back home, and filling-in for him was ex-Dream Theater and current Adrenaline Mob drummer Mike Portnoy. Bassist Shawn Economaki was also absent from the performance.
Stone Sour started recording their fourth studio album in early 2012. Corey Taylor stated that the album is going to end up being a double album or concept album. Taylor has described that the album will be like Pink Floyd's The Wall meets [band]Alice In Chains[band]' Dirt.
Corey Taylor posted a tweet on March 20, 2012 that stated work had begun on the new Stone Sour album. The band released a song called "The Pessimist" as a free download on their Facebook page on March 27. The song was previously only available on the iTunes deluxe version of the soundtrack to Transformers: Dark of the Moon.
James Root posted via Instagram on May 3 that Shawn Economaki was no longer with the band, but is still on good terms with his former bandmates. His studio replacement is Rachel Bolan currently of Skid Row.
The band released their first DVD Live at Brighton in 2012, capturing their performance in November 7, 2010.
Corey released some information through his Twitter account about the album on June 11, 2012. The album is titled House of Gold & Bones and will be released in two parts. The first part House of Gold & Bones - Part 1 is set to be released on October 23, 2012 and the second part House of Gold & Bones - Part 2 will be released April 9, 2013. Each disc will feature 12 songs making a total of 24 across both. The album is also set to have a comic book released as a tie in to the story of the albums. The first two songs of the album, "Gone Sovereign" and the first single "Absolute Zero" hit radios mid/late August. In December 2012, Corey Taylor stated that the first single from House of Gold & Bones Part 2 will be titled "Do Me a Favor". "Do Me a Favor" will be released digitally on February 12. The first song of Part 2 is called "Red City".
Josh Rand confirmed in an interview with O2 Academy that the last track of House of Gold & Bones - Part 2 will be the title track of both albums. He also confirmed that the missing track on Part 1 was an instrumental song which was deemed 'not up to par' by the band. The song will probably be released in the future after James Root and Josh Rand do "some stuff to it guitar-wise".
Stone Sour have been confirmed to be playing Soundwave Festival 2013 in Australia. On December 10, Corey Taylor confirmed during a show in Brixton that Stone Sour will be playing on the Sunday at Download Festival 2013. On October 5, Josh Announced via Stone Sour Facebook page, that Johny Chow of Fireball Ministry and Cavalera Conspiracy will be playing bass guitar with the band on the House of Gold & Bones Parts 1 and 2 tour cycle.
In 1997, the band went on hiatus, during which Taylor and Root spent most of their time with Slipknot, who were another up-and-coming act in Des Moines and would soon earn a record deal. Root actually did not join the band until over a year after Taylor, and Economaki went on to become stage left guitar tech. Joel Ekman had originally parted ways with Stone Sour in 2006 to take care of his son, Isaac James Ekman who had been diagnosed with cancer.
After Josh Rand joined the band, the band recorded their debut self-titled album in Cedar Falls. Upon release, the album charted at number 46 on the Billboard 200. The song "Bother", which was featured on the Spider-Man soundtrack (credited only to Taylor), peaked at number 2 on the Mainstream Rock Chart as well as number 4 on the Modern Rock Tracks and 56 on the Billboard Hot 100. The album went on to achieve Gold certification. The band toured for six months with label mates Sinch and Chevelle before going on a temporary hiatus as Taylor and Root went back to join Slipknot for another album and tour.
The band came back in 2006 to release their second studio album, Come What(ever) May. They parted ways with drummer Joel Ekman, who left to take care of his cancer-stricken son, and later recruited current drummer, Roy Mayorga (Soulfly, and later Amebix). The track "30/30-150" was recorded with Godsmack drummer Shannon Larkin. The album was released on August 1, 2006. The band toured for the next year and a half, releasing the Live in Moscow album exclusively to iTunes on August 14, 2007.
The band's third album Audio Secrecy, was recorded at the Blackbird Studios in Nashville, Tennessee with producer Nick Raskulinecz, who was the producer for the band's second album Come What(ever) May. and released on September 7, 2010 . Taylor stated that "Audio Secrecy is the summation of everything we want, everything we crave and everything we fight for. The dimensions go further than anything we've ever tried before. It's metal, rock, slow, soft, hard, fast, bitter, beautiful and most importantly, it's real. You can't get an album like this out of a band that doesn't exist. We're throwing caution out the damn window."
Stone Sour played the first annual Rockstar Energy Drink Uproar Festival with Avenged Sevenfold and Hollywood Undead among others. Stone Sour set the release date of Audio Secrecy as September 7. Stone Sour were part of the Soundwave Festival in late February/early March in Australia 2011. Stone Sour headlined The Avalanche Tour, supported by Theory Of A Deadman, Skillet, Halestorm and Art Of Dying. It was also announced that a Stone Sour live DVD will be released, filmed at The Brighton Centre in the United Kingdom. The band toured with Avenged Sevenfold, New Medicine and Hollywood Undead on the Nightmare After Christmas Tour 2011.
On April 16, 2011, it was announced that bassist Shawn Economaki had left the tour for personal reasons. Filling in for the tour is bassist Jason Christopher, who has played with Corey Taylor previously during his solo performances and with the Junk Beer Kidnap Band. In May 2011, Stone Sour cancelled the remaining dates from their headline tour as drummer, Roy Mayorga suffered a minor stroke; he made a full recovery. The band played their last show of 2011 at the second day of the Rock in Rio IV festival, which took place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, between September 23 - October 2. Drummer Roy Mayorga was not present at the show as he was expecting his first child back home, and filling-in for him was ex-Dream Theater and current Adrenaline Mob drummer Mike Portnoy. Bassist Shawn Economaki was also absent from the performance.
Stone Sour started recording their fourth studio album in early 2012. Corey Taylor stated that the album is going to end up being a double album or concept album. Taylor has described that the album will be like Pink Floyd's The Wall meets [band]Alice In Chains[band]' Dirt.
Corey Taylor posted a tweet on March 20, 2012 that stated work had begun on the new Stone Sour album. The band released a song called "The Pessimist" as a free download on their Facebook page on March 27. The song was previously only available on the iTunes deluxe version of the soundtrack to Transformers: Dark of the Moon.
James Root posted via Instagram on May 3 that Shawn Economaki was no longer with the band, but is still on good terms with his former bandmates. His studio replacement is Rachel Bolan currently of Skid Row.
The band released their first DVD Live at Brighton in 2012, capturing their performance in November 7, 2010.
Corey released some information through his Twitter account about the album on June 11, 2012. The album is titled House of Gold & Bones and will be released in two parts. The first part House of Gold & Bones - Part 1 is set to be released on October 23, 2012 and the second part House of Gold & Bones - Part 2 will be released April 9, 2013. Each disc will feature 12 songs making a total of 24 across both. The album is also set to have a comic book released as a tie in to the story of the albums. The first two songs of the album, "Gone Sovereign" and the first single "Absolute Zero" hit radios mid/late August. In December 2012, Corey Taylor stated that the first single from House of Gold & Bones Part 2 will be titled "Do Me a Favor". "Do Me a Favor" will be released digitally on February 12. The first song of Part 2 is called "Red City".
Josh Rand confirmed in an interview with O2 Academy that the last track of House of Gold & Bones - Part 2 will be the title track of both albums. He also confirmed that the missing track on Part 1 was an instrumental song which was deemed 'not up to par' by the band. The song will probably be released in the future after James Root and Josh Rand do "some stuff to it guitar-wise".
Stone Sour have been confirmed to be playing Soundwave Festival 2013 in Australia. On December 10, Corey Taylor confirmed during a show in Brixton that Stone Sour will be playing on the Sunday at Download Festival 2013. On October 5, Josh Announced via Stone Sour Facebook page, that Johny Chow of Fireball Ministry and Cavalera Conspiracy will be playing bass guitar with the band on the House of Gold & Bones Parts 1 and 2 tour cycle.