Lookin’ at the Upside: An Interview with Allen Stone

Small-town hero Allen Stone is a man of principles.

These principles could perhaps be attributed to the mere fact that he was raised in that small-town, the son of the local preacher. Indeed, Stone admits that his days in a heavily religious family have had a clear influence on his musical career. But since parting ways with religion, Stone’s ethics have shone through even more brightly. The man who, just 12 months ago, was reaping the benefits of a major label contract with Capitol records, is scathingly critical of the record industry. “I want to make the best music possible. Stuff that’s timeless, that lives on with people who really, truly love art,” Stone says, something he feels his ventures with Capitol could not provide. So he left. After releasing an internationally acclaimed major-label debut, Stone returned to ATO Records, the label that had put out his second album in 2012.

Whilst this decision may have dumb-founded some, Stone insists that it was the simple fact of having different ideas about music. But then just as he’s not the typical slave to the record industry, Allen Stone isn’t the typical soul musician either. It’s easy now, with three albums under his belt and a global fanbase, for Stone to laugh at the fact that a nerdy-looking kid from Washington like himself could find success as a soul musician. In keeping with his focus on the music, Stone made the somewhat unsual decision to re-release his third album, Radius in March this year, less than 12 months after it had been put out by Capitol. The deluxe edition, which features seven new tracks, speaks to exactly what Stone is about: musical integrity and heralding that down-to-earth aesthetic.

When I called Allen Stone to chat, he informed me that he was on the road, driving to his cabin somewhere in remote Washington state. Knowing his story, his morals, and his music, nothing seemed like it could typify the singer any better. So it was as he ventured into the wilds that PopMatters chatted with Allen Stone about record labels, songwriting, and the soul aesthetic.

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You grew up in a religious family, what influence have your days singing in church had on your career as a recording artist?

Well I think it’s had the biggest influence so far, simply because I don’t think I would be a musician if it wasn’t for being raised around music and singing in the church. I sang a lot with my folks and my family as a kid. I really grew to love the songs and music at an early age and that’s kind of what inspired me to even get into music or even have a taste for music at all.

You’ve described yourself as a “hippie with soul.” How do you go about reconciling that organic, hippie vibe with the soul music you grew up loving?

It’s funny, I don’t know how that term stuck because I’ve never called myself that before, [laughs] but I think that maybe the meaning behind that phrase is that it’s really just who I am. I don’t look like your typical soul singer, I don’t look like Justin Timberlake, I don’t wear a suit and tie … I’m from Packwood, eastern Washington state. I think it’s helped and it’s hindered in both ways. It’s helped because I stick out like a saw thumb for sure but I think people are used to seeing specific types of music done by people who look like the rest of the people that have done it, if that makes sense. Acts like St. Paul and The Broken Bones or Leon Bridges — these acts that look like they’re jumping out of a Time Magazine from 1952, people seem to digest that music because they’ve seen it before. So I think a weird-looking, nerdy kid from Washington maybe just doesn’t seem like the person who would sing Soul and R&B and funk music.

You’ve re-released a deluxe edition of Radius under a year after it was first put out, and it’s got seven bonus tracks on it. What was it about those tracks that you were so eager to share with your listeners?

When I first released the record, there was quite a bit of pushback from the label about including songs on the record that I didn’t feel belonged on the record but they felt had radio merit. And so I was luckily able to get out of that contract with Capitol and get back on [ATO Records], and have the opportunity to re-release the record with the songs that I originally thought should have been on the record. There’s a couple of songs on the original record that are just … you know, “Freedom”, “Guardian Angel”, “Barbed Wire” – they don’t fit the context or the aesthetic of the record. Songs on the bonus, like “The Weekend” or “Voodoo”, those were the original songs that should have been on the record, so I really wanted my fanbase to get to hear what the record should’ve been. I was extremely grateful that ATO gave me the opportunity to do that.

It’s interesting you mention “Freedom”, because there’s an alternate version of that track on the deluxe edition. What specifically about that version appeals to you more than the original?

The one that’s on the deluxe copy?

Yeah

Well I mean it’s real music. It sounds like a real song. The one that the label forced me to put on the original record, it just sounds like a fucking cotton-candy pop song. Just the texture of it. They put auto-processing on my voice. It sounds fucking retarded. Unfortunately though, when you’re in a partnership with a multi-million dollar partnership with a company, they have the weight and the dollars to throw that around, and force artists to put songs on the record that maybe they don’t really like, or they feel don’t represent them very well. Because the label cares about what’s going to sell or what they believe is going to sell.

The version on the deluxe record was … I would never have recorded that song, I would never have put that on a record at all. But because [“Freedom”] got released to the world, I was like “I have to re-record this song, at least in a way that sounds like a real song,” like a real recording of a real musician playing real instruments, instead of loops and samples and the shit that the label wanted me to put on there.

I mean it’s tough because if your ideal is to make bullshit music, then get the fuck out of the music industry. The best advice I can give to people attempting to try and sign to a major label is “don’t”. Because my experience with the label was so terrible. It really depends on who you sign with. When I signed with Capitol, I signed with two guys that were really into my music, they were really into what I stood for. There were fans of my live shows. They courted me for about two years and then after I signed with the label and I made the entire record and I thought it was perfect, and they were stoked about it, they both quit Capitol Records and went to Warner Bros.

And so an entire new team of A&Rs took over my project, and they forced my hand to put songs on my record that, to me, were just terrible. Which is tough to say, because you feel responsible for your fans, to say, “No, I’m not going to let anything on my record [that I don’t like].” And it’s tough because once you sign with a big label, there’s a lot of money involved, people’s livelihoods are involved … the end goal is for you to sell as many records as possible. Not to make the best record possible, but to sell as many copies as possible. The biggest selling artists are not the greatest artists of all time, in my personal opinion. And I think that that’s the dilemma that I had to deal with [at Capitol]. I want to make the best music possible. Stuff that’s timeless, that lives on with people who really, truly love art and major labels, they don’t give a shit, they just want to meet their quota. That’s generalising an entire industry, which I don’t like to do. There are some really good people inside the major label system, but the few A&Rs I dealt with at Capitol — that was not their ideal.

I know you’ve been quite intent on having a message behind your lyrics, does that mean your songwriting process is very much lyrics-focused or does that vary from song to song?

It kind of does depend on the song really. Some songs are very lyrics based, other songs are more melody based, other songs are more riff-based or musical-based, groove-based. But yeah I always want my songs to be clever and to say something that means something. I just can’t write pop or club songs, like songs about the club or sex songs. I want the music to say something thought-provoking.

Considering that you do value that songwriting process, is it difficult to set time aside to write, seeing as how you’re known for your hectic live show schedules?

Yeah it’s super hard. I don’t write too well on the road. I come up with ideas on the road but actually having time to sit down and pen out a song on the road is a little bit more difficult for me.

You’ve worked on some of that recent stuff at Bear Creek Studios. What was that place like as a recording venue?

It was cool, man. We did some live videos there that will soon be released. Any time when you get to step foot into a place where some many great songs have been recorded, there’s always an energy and a vibe in there that is very powerful. It’s powerful, it’s exciting, it’s refreshing. You try not to take it for granted and you try to make the art stand up to the rest of the art that’s been through there.