The Third Eye

I first got into Stone Disciple after they messaged me on Instagram. I got into their music out of courtesy of a follow. It hit hard. It was stoner rock, doom metal, and thrash combined with spacey lyrics, which got to me in a big way. 

I asked them if they would do an interview for the Third Eye, and they agreed. I enjoyed our conversation and look forward to more conversations in the future. You’ll love their music and this conversation if you’re into thrash, doom, or spacey lyrics.

Interview with Stone Disciple

Bryan (Third Eye) – Did you still want to talk about your music?

Stone Disciple – Yeah!

Bryan – Okay. Where do you draw inspiration from? I hear a lot of grunge, but I also hear thrash. And what’s your favorite music to listen to?

Stone Disciple – Musically, I draw a lot of inspiration from all kinds of genres, but in Stone Disciple, we played what we each knew and combined it into a stoner, doom,  thrash, and heavy groove type thing. I played a lot of punk and thrash early on, and when we were a four-piece, the OG lead guitarist, Patrick, would weave power metal-type leads with weird time stops and tempo changes.

My favorite music leans towards the heavier extreme side of things. I really dig death metal and death doom, along with healthy doses of thrash, classic rock, and even old-school country.

Bryan – I love how it all comes together. Lyrically I hear the stoner rock. Who writes the lyrics?

Stone Disciple – In terms of Stone Disciple’s inspiration? As you can tell, we have a vibe, and our music is directly or heavily influenced by weed. Which I would say helps us lean towards and really get into the spacey and galactic themed stuff we write about. I write all the lyrics. This Jared!

Bryan – I love the spacey and galactic stuff I hear lyrically. Where do you get that from? It’s pretty badass.

Stone Disciple—I guess it’s a combination of things. I’ve always dug outer space, and the notion that it is endless and there is a lot of unknown makes it seem the perfect topic to write about. The Wanderer character is also a veteran of the Air Force under US Galactic Command, and I took that from my own personal experience as a firefighter in the Air Force. I’ll try to weave some little personal tidbits to make it more relatable or human.

I had the opportunity to see some cool stuff related to air and space. The funny thing is, I’m not the biggest sci-fi movie fan, haha.

Bryan – The album I actually really got into was The Wanderer. I could really get into its spacey vibes. It was badass. Would you say that the experimental aspect comes from integrating all these aspects of the music?

Stone Disciple – Right on thanks! Yes, definitely. Sonic Chasm is a good example. It’s thrash, then it breaks down into a weird power metal type harmonized riff and the super spacey outro. The drummer is also into thrash The Wanderer I wanted to give a spacey, shoegazey, western-type feel.

Bryan – I just listened to that. That song really hit hard.

Stone Disciple – Thanks! That one was a fun one to write and jam.

Bryan – Yeah I’d say you really got that down. It’s like a Western set in space.

Stone Disciple—Yes, sir! On the following track, the wormhole, I tried to do some subtle accents to give it a space western feel. Then, the galloping outro, which I totally envisioned The Wanderer galloping on his bio-mechanical steed attempting to jump onto a speeding spacecraft.

Bryan, Yeah, I love the ideas behind it. I love the concepts you work with. But what’s badass about your music is how you tie it all together and come up with something hard. How long have you been making music?

Stone Disciple – I’ve been making music for about 20 years now. Stone Disciple has been rocking out for about eight years, minus a few years during Covid. I learned on the bass and then moved to the guitar. I usually get stuck as the singer in all the bands I’ve been in, too.

Bryan – Cool, I love it when people keep it going. When did you find your love for music?

Stone Disciple – I’ve had that love for music since I can remember. I grew up in a super religious household, so I was raised on country and oldies and wasn’t permitted to listen to a lot of Stuff but once high school came around and I got a job, skateboarding and listening to music were my escapes. Once I turned 18 I moved out, I joined the Air Force, and taught myself bass since my parents would never let me get instruments. They were too worried about the music I would want to play. Music has helped us through a lot of stuff. I can’t think of anything better than music.

Bryan – I love that. Music has gotten me through a lot as well. What’s your favorite band?

Stone Disciple – I love The Clash, and they will always be my favorite band. But then, I also have different categories of favorite bands.

Bryan – Cool, The Clash is one of my favorite bands.

Stone Disciple – Thin Lizzy, Sabbath, Slayer. I could live off all of their records if I had to.

Bryan – Yeah, they’re pretty badass. I love Sabbath and Slayer. I’ve been listening to them since middle school. Well, your music is very original and very experimental. I’d mostly relate it to stoner rock with a heavy metal feel. I want to get into the process of it. 

What do you do to get into the mindset of an artist? Or are you always there?

Stone Disciple – That’s a good question. I think I’m always in that mindset. I do work a regular 40 hour job but I’m always trying to visualize or sound out riffs in my head or conceptualize Lyrics. When I really want to get down and dirty and write some dank riffs, I’ll get some “mota-vation” and start the process off with a few bog rips, hit record on my phone (so many stoned riffs I couldn’t recall), and let loose on a riff I was feeling in my head.

Bryan – Cool I like that. What’s your favorite type of weed?

Stone Disciple – And the ability to add delay, phase, wha, etc. makes it a fun process. I’m an indica guy—Old School with mostly flower. I like a good Kush. OG Kush, purple kush

Bryan – Cool, I love kush. You ever do concentrate?

Stone Disciple—Every once in a while. Maybe a bubble joint here or there. I found the concentrates raised my tolerance too much, haha.

Bryan – Yeah, it’s a nice treat for every once in a while. Do you use anything else? Like shrooms?

Stone Disciple – But I did have some badass candy joint things in San Francisco that had flower and concentrate in it and had it drizzled on the outside and rolled in keef dust. I haven’t done some shrooms in over 20 years actually. I’ll usually stick with weed and a beer or two here and there. But I wouldn’t mind trying shrooms and listening to The Wanderer.

Bryan – Damn that sounds good. I need to take a trip to SF. Cool anything else you want me to Know about you, your music or your band?

Stone Disciple – We just recorded a two-track EP a couple of weeks ago. AJ the drummer, did all the audio engineering, setup, and mixing, and he’ll master it too. It’s called the Stoner Thrash EP and is exactly what it sounds like. Two songs we wrote 8 years ago but never recorded. It’s as if you smoke a shit load of weed and then play a thrash song. That’s dropping Halloween! Our tape release show for The Wanderer is this Friday at the Squire Lounge in Denver.

We’re now working on songs for a new full-length next year. We have about four new songs with a mix of space and doom concepts, and we’re working on four more, haha. We’re trying to keep the momentum going. Everyone can but The Wanderer on tape and CD on our Bandcamp as well.

Bryan – Cool I’m excited to hear it, it sounds really badass. I’m looking forward to hearing anything from you or your band. I really like your style. Thanks for talking with me. Good luck on all your journeys.

Stone Disciple – Hey thanks for taking the time to chat about Stone Disciple! We’ll spread the word about Third Eye, and thanks again!

Check out The Wanderer by Stone Disciple on Bandcamp here.

Stone Disciple: Bandcamp | Instagram

This interview was conducted by Bryan Montijo, who primarily focuses on music, spirituality, and psychedelics. Bryan has written a few novels, which can be found at wattpad@CraftedTales. He also has his own blog, where he discusses everything he loves, from music to nature and writing. You can find it here at medium@bmontijo555.