Album: Pretty Monster by The Blue Stones (2022)
Genre: Rock
Record Label: MNRK Music
Format: Album

Description: The Blue Stones aren’t just a two-piece band—they’re actually more like two bands in one. On stage, Windsor, Ontario’s Tarek Jafar and Justin Tessier can erect a massive cinder block wall of noise with just their guitar and drums, handily earning a spot in the lineage of 21st-century blues-rock power duos. On record, however, The Blue Stones are a decidedly different beast. With 2021’s Hidden Gems, they revealed themselves to be pop omnivores as well, tricking out their tunes with vocal cadences, textural details and rhythmic tics informed by modern R&B and rap. That please-everyone approach has made them rock-radio fixtures on both sides of the border. But for their third album, “We thought we would do something that was accurate to the energy and the sound of our live show,” Jafar tells Apple Music. “Just a punchier, more in-your-face record.”

Mission accomplished. With veteran producer Joe Chiccarelli (The Strokes, The White Stripes) behind the boards, Pretty Monster doesn’t so much abandon the pop-oriented elements of The Blue Stones’ previous records as more seamlessly fuse them into their brawny grooves. It also amplifies the emotional qualities that have always made the duo more than just rowdy riff-mongers. As Tessier explains, “In the past, a lot of the songs were like, ‘OK, take this personal experience and extrapolate for other people to fill in the blanks with their experience.’ But on this one, we encouraged Tarek to sing about them as personal experiences. The specifics become more understandable, and you don’t have to fill in the blanks.” Here, Jafar and Tessier peel back the layers of Pretty Monster, track by track. 

“Healing”
Tarek Jafar: “This is a song that’s just about feeling content and feeling closure, and finally being able to push onwards. We were coming out of a pandemic where we were all stuck indoors, wondering what our next move was going to be. A lot of people were going through things on top of the pandemic as well. I was also going through a breakup, and this song was about getting to that point where you could finally look yourself in the mirror and be like, ‘You know what—you’re good. You’ve made it through, and you’re ready to take on what’s next.’”

“Don’t Miss”
TJ: “While I was writing the song, there was this short film playing in my mind of this guy who is at a bar, and he’s had a few too many drinks, and he’s got his shades on inside, and it’s last call, and everybody gets kicked out into the street. So, this song began as this drunken, stumbling musical as seen through the lens of this drunk idiot who thinks he’s the best thing in the world. But it’s really a song about feeling confident and feeling like no matter what you do, you win. It’s an anthem for those people who don’t really think that you’re worth the hype. This song is the little smirk that you give them when they think that.”

“Cards Are Down”
TJ: “This about putting everything on the line for something that you’re very passionate about. In this case, it’s our careers as musicians. There’s a lot of do-or-die moments in our career as artists: ‘How long are you going to do this until you decide maybe there’s something else out there that you want to pursue?’ You’re constantly questioning yourself. And we continue doing this because we love doing this. But I also wanted to shine a light on some of those doubtful feelings, and this is about finding the strength to be like, ‘I’m going to lay it all on the line. All my cards are down—you can see my entire hand.’”

“Good Ideas”
Justin Tessier: “This one was co-written by Drew Fulk [aka WZRD BLD] and Tarek. They did the bass track for this in LA, and when I got it, I was like, ‘OK, how do I expand on this and put my own spin on it?’ For me, that meant following the vocal cadence with kicks and snares. It already had this more electronic inspiration before I had really sunk my teeth into it, and I’ve really been getting into a lot more electronic music, so I’m happy to lend that dance vibe to things. I thought it needed that kind of push to keep things moving along and keep it exciting.”

“Stay With Me”
TJ: “This is the rocker. We leave a lot of the song-choice decisions to a committee of ourselves and our two managers, and this is one where [Justin and I] had to fight for it to stay on the album because we love it so much. And then we experimented with what would become this cool cyber-punky outro that we added to the song with 808s and a take of Justin improvising on the drums”

"What’s It Take to Be Happy"
TJ: “This song is in a major key, which is different for us. I took a whimsical approach to the lyrics and the composition of the song. It’s about this endless search for what’s going to make you happy. You’re told the grass is greener, and there’s a certain element of success that you need to achieve, and after a while, it’s just exhausting. The song is about that chase, and it’s also about that final moment where you give up on all that superficial stuff and just carve your own path.”

“Let Me Out”
TJ: “On any album that we put together, there’s a whole range of places that we tend to go. But the one thing that does tie it all together is our rock ’n’ roll roots, and ‘Let Me Out’ is another example of that influence coming out.”
JT: “When we were recording it, we didn’t have any cymbals set up. In the chorus, I’m riding on a double track that’s part cowbell and the other part of it is literally just a piece of 3/8-inch-thick sheet metal with a towel on it. We were noticing that so many people in hip-hop and pop were getting away from using cymbals, so we tried to follow that sort of philosophy.”

“No Angels”
TJ: “This was written in the summer, and you can probably tell I was very much vibing off of the weather—it’s got that funky groove. It’s always tough to take something that’s created and written in the box and give it an out-of-the-box treatment without losing the essence. But I think Joe helped us achieve this perfect balance of that pop-disco element and it still sounding like Tarek and Justin on the guitar and the drums.”

“Camera Roll”
TJ: "The process of getting over somebody is so long and disjointed. You might feel like you have closure after the first week, and then it hits you a month later. And now we have access to all these memories at our fingertips, and sometimes it’s hard to let go of them. So, for me, the moment when I was able to finally delete every photo off of my phone was my sign of closure and that I was ready to put a past relationship to bed.”

“Dreams on Me”
TJ: “On the early demo, I kept singing, ‘Put your drinks on me’ as the chorus. And when we took it to the studio to record, I just remember thinking, ‘Man, I don’t think we can write a song about somebody’s drink tab. Like, are we writing an anthem for douchebags?’ I actually asked a few of my close female friends, ‘How does this song make you feel? Is this a predatory song?’ They didn’t feel that was the case, but we both still felt we needed to change the message, and it actually ended up becoming something a lot more wholesome. It’s about how you feel in a relationship when you’re with somebody that you’re happy with. You want all of their dreams to be on you, and you want to help them achieve them.”

Artist Background: The Blue Stones are a Canadian blues rock duo based in Windsor, Ontario. Part of the Windsor, Ontario music scene. Emerged in the contemporary era. Associated with Blues movement.

Related Artists: Royal Blood, Black Pistol Fire, The Record Company, BRKN LOVE

Music Scene: Part of the Windsor, Ontario music scene. Emerged in the contemporary era. Associated with Blues movement.

Tags: Rock, 2020s, Album, MNRK Music

The Blue Stones aren’t just a two-piece band—they’re actually more like two bands in one. On stage, Windsor, Ontario’s Tarek Jafar and Justin Tessier can erect a massive cinder block wall of noise with just their guitar and drums, handily earning a spot in the lineage of 21st-century blues-rock power duos. On record, however, The Blue Stones are a decidedly different beast. With 2021’s Hidden Gems, they revealed themselves to be pop omnivores as well, tricking out their tunes with vocal cadences, textural details and rhythmic tics informed by modern R&B and rap. That please-everyone approach has made them rock-radio fixtures on both sides of the border. But for their third album, “We thought we would do something that was accurate to the energy and the sound of our live show,” Jafar tells Apple Music. “Just a punchier, more in-your-face record.”

Mission accomplished. With veteran producer Joe Chiccarelli (The Strokes, The White Stripes) behind the boards, Pretty Monster doesn’t so much abandon the pop-oriented elements of The Blue Stones’ previous records as more seamlessly fuse them into their brawny grooves. It also amplifies the emotional qualities that have always made the duo more than just rowdy riff-mongers. As Tessier explains, “In the past, a lot of the songs were like, ‘OK, take this personal experience and extrapolate for other people to fill in the blanks with their experience.’ But on this one, we encouraged Tarek to sing about them as personal experiences. The specifics become more understandable, and you don’t have to fill in the blanks.” Here, Jafar and Tessier peel back the layers of Pretty Monster, track by track. 

“Healing”
Tarek Jafar: “This is a song that’s just about feeling content and feeling closure, and finally being able to push onwards. We were coming out of a pandemic where we were all stuck indoors, wondering what our next move was going to be. A lot of people were going through things on top of the pandemic as well. I was also going through a breakup, and this song was about getting to that point where you could finally look yourself in the mirror and be like, ‘You know what—you’re good. You’ve made it through, and you’re ready to take on what’s next.’”

“Don’t Miss”
TJ: “While I was writing the song, there was this short film playing in my mind of this guy who is at a bar, and he’s had a few too many drinks, and he’s got his shades on inside, and it’s last call, and everybody gets kicked out into the street. So, this song began as this drunken, stumbling musical as seen through the lens of this drunk idiot who thinks he’s the best thing in the world. But it’s really a song about feeling confident and feeling like no matter what you do, you win. It’s an anthem for those people who don’t really think that you’re worth the hype. This song is the little smirk that you give them when they think that.”

“Cards Are Down”
TJ: “This about putting everything on the line for something that you’re very passionate about. In this case, it’s our careers as musicians. There’s a lot of do-or-die moments in our career as artists: ‘How long are you going to do this until you decide maybe there’s something else out there that you want to pursue?’ You’re constantly questioning yourself. And we continue doing this because we love doing this. But I also wanted to shine a light on some of those doubtful feelings, and this is about finding the strength to be like, ‘I’m going to lay it all on the line. All my cards are down—you can see my entire hand.’”

“Good Ideas”
Justin Tessier: “This one was co-written by Drew Fulk [aka WZRD BLD] and Tarek. They did the bass track for this in LA, and when I got it, I was like, ‘OK, how do I expand on this and put my own spin on it?’ For me, that meant following the vocal cadence with kicks and snares. It already had this more electronic inspiration before I had really sunk my teeth into it, and I’ve really been getting into a lot more electronic music, so I’m happy to lend that dance vibe to things. I thought it needed that kind of push to keep things moving along and keep it exciting.”

“Stay With Me”
TJ: “This is the rocker. We leave a lot of the song-choice decisions to a committee of ourselves and our two managers, and this is one where [Justin and I] had to fight for it to stay on the album because we love it so much. And then we experimented with what would become this cool cyber-punky outro that we added to the song with 808s and a take of Justin improvising on the drums”

"What’s It Take to Be Happy"
TJ: “This song is in a major key, which is different for us. I took a whimsical approach to the lyrics and the composition of the song. It’s about this endless search for what’s going to make you happy. You’re told the grass is greener, and there’s a certain element of success that you need to achieve, and after a while, it’s just exhausting. The song is about that chase, and it’s also about that final moment where you give up on all that superficial stuff and just carve your own path.”

“Let Me Out”
TJ: “On any album that we put together, there’s a whole range of places that we tend to go. But the one thing that does tie it all together is our rock ’n’ roll roots, and ‘Let Me Out’ is another example of that influence coming out.”
JT: “When we were recording it, we didn’t have any cymbals set up. In the chorus, I’m riding on a double track that’s part cowbell and the other part of it is literally just a piece of 3/8-inch-thick sheet metal with a towel on it. We were noticing that so many people in hip-hop and pop were getting away from using cymbals, so we tried to follow that sort of philosophy.”

“No Angels”
TJ: “This was written in the summer, and you can probably tell I was very much vibing off of the weather—it’s got that funky groove. It’s always tough to take something that’s created and written in the box and give it an out-of-the-box treatment without losing the essence. But I think Joe helped us achieve this perfect balance of that pop-disco element and it still sounding like Tarek and Justin on the guitar and the drums.”

“Camera Roll”
TJ: "The process of getting over somebody is so long and disjointed. You might feel like you have closure after the first week, and then it hits you a month later. And now we have access to all these memories at our fingertips, and sometimes it’s hard to let go of them. So, for me, the moment when I was able to finally delete every photo off of my phone was my sign of closure and that I was ready to put a past relationship to bed.”

“Dreams on Me”
TJ: “On the early demo, I kept singing, ‘Put your drinks on me’ as the chorus. And when we took it to the studio to record, I just remember thinking, ‘Man, I don’t think we can write a song about somebody’s drink tab. Like, are we writing an anthem for douchebags?’ I actually asked a few of my close female friends, ‘How does this song make you feel? Is this a predatory song?’ They didn’t feel that was the case, but we both still felt we needed to change the message, and it actually ended up becoming something a lot more wholesome. It’s about how you feel in a relationship when you’re with somebody that you’re happy with. You want all of their dreams to be on you, and you want to help them achieve them.”

Album: How's That Sound? by The Blue Stones (2012)
Record Label: The Blue Stones
Format: Album

Artist Background: The Blue Stones are a Canadian blues rock duo based in Windsor, Ontario. Part of the Windsor, Ontario music scene. Emerged in the contemporary era. Associated with Blues movement.

Related Artists: Royal Blood, Black Pistol Fire, The Record Company, BRKN LOVE

Music Scene: Part of the Windsor, Ontario music scene. Emerged in the contemporary era. Associated with Blues movement.

Tags: 2010s, Album, The Blue Stones


Album: Hidden Gems by The Blue Stones (2021)
Genre: Rock
Record Label: eOne Music Canada
Format: Album

Description: When The Blue Stones dropped their Canadian rock chart-topping single “Shakin’ Off the Rust” in 2019, it had already been a good four years since the Windsor, Ontario, duo had first unveiled their DIY debut, Black Holes. That record was revived when it was picked up for a 2018 major-label rerelease that thrust the group onto the Billboard charts on both sides of the border, landed them international tours and earned singer/guitarist Tarek Jafar and drummer Justin Tessier a Juno nomination for Breakthrough Group of the Year. But as it turns out, “Shakin’ Off the Rust” represented not just the sound of a band itching to move on to its next chapter, but one eager to rewrite its entire playbook. 
The group’s long-awaited second album, Hidden Gems, hardly skimps on the bluesy Black Keys-style crunch that turned The Blue Stones into one of Canada’s most promising exports, but the record doesn’t so much look to rock’s past as pop’s future. With producer Paul Meany of MUTEMATH at the helm, the group’s sound opens up to absorb influences from old-school hip-hop, modern R&B and atmospheric indie with remarkable fluidity, redefining the sonic possibilities of the power-duo format. “When you have a producer come on board, you kind of hope that they take your sound and don't change it too much—they just sort of enhance it,” Jafar tells Apple Music. “And I feel like Paul did exactly that. What's cool about this album is that whether you are a pop music listener or an alternative-rock music listener or a hard-rock listener, there's something in it for you.” Here, Jafar presents a track-by-track treasure map to guide you through Hidden Gems. 
Lights On
“I think this song is a good palate cleanser for people who have seen us as a rock band from the Black Holes days and have been following our journey to how we've expanded our range of music. When I wrote this, it was more of a straight-up alternative rock song, and then we had these ideas of adding the echo effects and the breaks that make it a really awesome, subtly dynamic song versus 'here's another rock song for you'. It's a testament to what Paul can do. Lyrically, it's about not being ashamed of who you are, demons and all, and being okay with the spotlight being on you, even if it's possibly showing the ugly sides of you.” 
Shakin’ Off the Rust
“This song was born out of a time where I was just freaking out about writing the second album—Black Holes did relatively well for us, and obviously, your management, your label and all your fans are looking to you to produce something just as good, if not better than the first album. And this song was the first I had written in this batch of demos where I was finally like, 'You know what? We can do this!’ A lot of our songs tend to follow this formula of just building and building and building. But on this one, it was nice to have that quiet pre-chorus with the acoustic guitars—it almost calms you down before you get to another crescendo of a loud, distorted chorus.” 
One by One
“On this album, I wrote a little bit more from personal experience. Paul really refocused my priorities on making the lyrics something special and meaningful. Before, admittedly, I thought lyrics were kind of like an afterthought—I was always focused on having good music and a good beat. But this time around, Paul was like, 'No, the lyrics are the last piece of the puzzle that will take your song from being a good song to a great song that somebody falls in love with and connects with.' So I drew from personal experiences on this one. It was a tough one to record, honestly—it just dredges up all these old emotions. But I was definitely happy with how it came out.” 
Careless
“'Careless' was actually written as an instrumental song. It was sitting on my Google Drive for a few years, but for whatever reason, I thought it was worth it for Paul and Justin to listen to it and see what they thought, and they really, really liked it. Paul was like, ‘Why don't you throw on some lyrics to this?’ And it just ended up being this sort of R&B-infused track that, to be completely honest, Justin and I were pretty afraid of releasing. But this is part of our musical DNA—I listen to a lot of hip-hop and R&B. We just weren't sure if our fans were going to respond well to it, because obviously, it doesn't sound anything like Black Holes. But at the end of the day, I love the fact that we did it, because truly, it is part of who we are. I'm glad we took a little bit of a leap to show our versatility.” 
Grim
“'Grim' is one of those songs where if somebody were to ask me, ‘What do you sound like?' this would be the answer. To me, it's the most quintessential to the new era of where we are. It's got that hip-hop-infused beat, with just this simple but slick guitar riff. I just kind of let loose on those lyrics—I mean, there's times in the song where I'm rapping. It's all about confidence and swagger and not giving a shit if you're the bad guy sometimes.” 
Let It Ride
“We love vinyl, and we still approach building an album through the lens of vinyl. We wanted this album to have a Side A and Side B, so we were thinking about what happens when the person walks over to the record player and flips the vinyl over to play Side B, and 'Let It Ride' was just the perfect sort of opener to Act Two of whatever this album is. It's a straight-up rock song—it was written after Justin and I went to our friend's bachelor party in Vegas, so I was a little bit juiced up from that and I just wanted to write a fun-in-the-sun kind of rock song.” 
L.A. Afterlife
“This is where Paul really lends a lot of his input, because he's such a big fan of that '90s era of hip-hop and the boom-bap beats. But the funny thing about this song is that the bass track was actually recorded at a sound check we were doing before a show in Brussels. The acoustics in the room were so amazing, and I had my phone recording and we were just messing around on a riff, and it ending up becoming the demo for 'L.A. Afterlife', and it worked so well off the iPhone recording that we just included that track in the actual song. Lyrically, it's like a fever dream. I remember listening to '’03 Bonnie & Clyde' from JAY-Z's Blueprint 2, and he had this cool new spin on what Bonnie and Clyde were like as a couple, and I kind of wanted to write my own little Bonnie and Clyde song.” 
Spirit
“‘It's very quintessential modern rock, and I just love all the tones that came out of the studio for that one. Lyrically, it's about times where I felt like I was kind of on autopilot and really thinking about what I was doing and whether it was against my moral code or not. Sometimes, I just feel like I'm somebody else—when I look in the mirror, I don't even know who's there. The song itself has this aggressive undertone to it, and I just felt like the lyrics fit that. It also talks about wanting to be isolated. I think people hear the word 'isolation' and they kind of get chills, especially after this past year. I'm a pretty social person to begin with, but I sometimes need to isolate myself. The whole second verse is just about shutting your blinds, locking your phone, turning off everything and just being alone and letting your own spirit come out. That was something that was very important to me in the last year.” 
Make This Easy
“This one, to me, is most similar to a song that we had in our debut called 'Magic'. It's definitely more of a relaxed and more of a vibey sort of rock-ballad setting. 'Make This Easy' is like the driving song of Hidden Gems. It's in the same vein as 'Careless' or 'One by One', but a little bit closer to what an alternative-rock band would do.” 
Oceans
“I feel like we do have this sort of interesting play on what a rock band is nowadays. And sometimes we do border on whatever the genre of pop is, and I feel like 'Ocean' does have that in its DNA—with an outro, which is always nice to have. Again, we are album fans, and we like to add in album treats, like interludes, preludes or outros. We definitely want to make the album experience apparent, and 'Oceans' is a nice way to cap off what the album is.”

Artist Background: The Blue Stones are a Canadian blues rock duo based in Windsor, Ontario. Part of the Windsor, Ontario music scene. Emerged in the contemporary era. Associated with Blues movement.

Related Artists: Royal Blood, Black Pistol Fire, The Record Company, BRKN LOVE

Music Scene: Part of the Windsor, Ontario music scene. Emerged in the contemporary era. Associated with Blues movement.

Tags: Rock, 2020s, Album, eOne Music Canada

When The Blue Stones dropped their Canadian rock chart-topping single “Shakin’ Off the Rust” in 2019, it had already been a good four years since the Windsor, Ontario, duo had first unveiled their DIY debut, Black Holes. That record was revived when it was picked up for a 2018 major-label rerelease that thrust the group onto the Billboard charts on both sides of the border, landed them international tours and earned singer/guitarist Tarek Jafar and drummer Justin Tessier a Juno nomination for Breakthrough Group of the Year. But as it turns out, “Shakin’ Off the Rust” represented not just the sound of a band itching to move on to its next chapter, but one eager to rewrite its entire playbook. 
The group’s long-awaited second album, Hidden Gems, hardly skimps on the bluesy Black Keys-style crunch that turned The Blue Stones into one of Canada’s most promising exports, but the record doesn’t so much look to rock’s past as pop’s future. With producer Paul Meany of MUTEMATH at the helm, the group’s sound opens up to absorb influences from old-school hip-hop, modern R&B and atmospheric indie with remarkable fluidity, redefining the sonic possibilities of the power-duo format. “When you have a producer come on board, you kind of hope that they take your sound and don't change it too much—they just sort of enhance it,” Jafar tells Apple Music. “And I feel like Paul did exactly that. What's cool about this album is that whether you are a pop music listener or an alternative-rock music listener or a hard-rock listener, there's something in it for you.” Here, Jafar presents a track-by-track treasure map to guide you through Hidden Gems. 
Lights On
“I think this song is a good palate cleanser for people who have seen us as a rock band from the Black Holes days and have been following our journey to how we've expanded our range of music. When I wrote this, it was more of a straight-up alternative rock song, and then we had these ideas of adding the echo effects and the breaks that make it a really awesome, subtly dynamic song versus 'here's another rock song for you'. It's a testament to what Paul can do. Lyrically, it's about not being ashamed of who you are, demons and all, and being okay with the spotlight being on you, even if it's possibly showing the ugly sides of you.” 
Shakin’ Off the Rust
“This song was born out of a time where I was just freaking out about writing the second album—Black Holes did relatively well for us, and obviously, your management, your label and all your fans are looking to you to produce something just as good, if not better than the first album. And this song was the first I had written in this batch of demos where I was finally like, 'You know what? We can do this!’ A lot of our songs tend to follow this formula of just building and building and building. But on this one, it was nice to have that quiet pre-chorus with the acoustic guitars—it almost calms you down before you get to another crescendo of a loud, distorted chorus.” 
One by One
“On this album, I wrote a little bit more from personal experience. Paul really refocused my priorities on making the lyrics something special and meaningful. Before, admittedly, I thought lyrics were kind of like an afterthought—I was always focused on having good music and a good beat. But this time around, Paul was like, 'No, the lyrics are the last piece of the puzzle that will take your song from being a good song to a great song that somebody falls in love with and connects with.' So I drew from personal experiences on this one. It was a tough one to record, honestly—it just dredges up all these old emotions. But I was definitely happy with how it came out.” 
Careless
“'Careless' was actually written as an instrumental song. It was sitting on my Google Drive for a few years, but for whatever reason, I thought it was worth it for Paul and Justin to listen to it and see what they thought, and they really, really liked it. Paul was like, ‘Why don't you throw on some lyrics to this?’ And it just ended up being this sort of R&B-infused track that, to be completely honest, Justin and I were pretty afraid of releasing. But this is part of our musical DNA—I listen to a lot of hip-hop and R&B. We just weren't sure if our fans were going to respond well to it, because obviously, it doesn't sound anything like Black Holes. But at the end of the day, I love the fact that we did it, because truly, it is part of who we are. I'm glad we took a little bit of a leap to show our versatility.” 
Grim
“'Grim' is one of those songs where if somebody were to ask me, ‘What do you sound like?' this would be the answer. To me, it's the most quintessential to the new era of where we are. It's got that hip-hop-infused beat, with just this simple but slick guitar riff. I just kind of let loose on those lyrics—I mean, there's times in the song where I'm rapping. It's all about confidence and swagger and not giving a shit if you're the bad guy sometimes.” 
Let It Ride
“We love vinyl, and we still approach building an album through the lens of vinyl. We wanted this album to have a Side A and Side B, so we were thinking about what happens when the person walks over to the record player and flips the vinyl over to play Side B, and 'Let It Ride' was just the perfect sort of opener to Act Two of whatever this album is. It's a straight-up rock song—it was written after Justin and I went to our friend's bachelor party in Vegas, so I was a little bit juiced up from that and I just wanted to write a fun-in-the-sun kind of rock song.” 
L.A. Afterlife
“This is where Paul really lends a lot of his input, because he's such a big fan of that '90s era of hip-hop and the boom-bap beats. But the funny thing about this song is that the bass track was actually recorded at a sound check we were doing before a show in Brussels. The acoustics in the room were so amazing, and I had my phone recording and we were just messing around on a riff, and it ending up becoming the demo for 'L.A. Afterlife', and it worked so well off the iPhone recording that we just included that track in the actual song. Lyrically, it's like a fever dream. I remember listening to '’03 Bonnie & Clyde' from JAY-Z's Blueprint 2, and he had this cool new spin on what Bonnie and Clyde were like as a couple, and I kind of wanted to write my own little Bonnie and Clyde song.” 
Spirit
“‘It's very quintessential modern rock, and I just love all the tones that came out of the studio for that one. Lyrically, it's about times where I felt like I was kind of on autopilot and really thinking about what I was doing and whether it was against my moral code or not. Sometimes, I just feel like I'm somebody else—when I look in the mirror, I don't even know who's there. The song itself has this aggressive undertone to it, and I just felt like the lyrics fit that. It also talks about wanting to be isolated. I think people hear the word 'isolation' and they kind of get chills, especially after this past year. I'm a pretty social person to begin with, but I sometimes need to isolate myself. The whole second verse is just about shutting your blinds, locking your phone, turning off everything and just being alone and letting your own spirit come out. That was something that was very important to me in the last year.” 
Make This Easy
“This one, to me, is most similar to a song that we had in our debut called 'Magic'. It's definitely more of a relaxed and more of a vibey sort of rock-ballad setting. 'Make This Easy' is like the driving song of Hidden Gems. It's in the same vein as 'Careless' or 'One by One', but a little bit closer to what an alternative-rock band would do.” 
Oceans
“I feel like we do have this sort of interesting play on what a rock band is nowadays. And sometimes we do border on whatever the genre of pop is, and I feel like 'Ocean' does have that in its DNA—with an outro, which is always nice to have. Again, we are album fans, and we like to add in album treats, like interludes, preludes or outros. We definitely want to make the album experience apparent, and 'Oceans' is a nice way to cap off what the album is.”

Black Holes" by The Blue Stones delivers a gritty blend of blues rock and garage rock, characterized by raw guitar riffs and dynamic drum patterns. The production captures a live, unpolished energy, allowing the instrumentation to shine through with a punchy clarity. Tracks like "Airlock" and "The Drop" feature driving tempos that evoke a sense of urgency, while "Black Holes (Solid Ground)" introduces a more atmospheric texture, balancing heaviness with melodic hooks. The album's sonic landscape is layered with gritty vocals and resonant bass lines, creating an engaging contrast between the energetic and the introspective. This distinctive soundscape makes for an immersive listening experience that resonates with fans of modern rock.

Album: Black Holes by The Blue Stones (2018)
Genre: Rock
Record Label: eOne Music Canada
Format: Album

Artist Background: The Blue Stones are a Canadian blues rock duo based in Windsor, Ontario. Part of the Windsor, Ontario music scene. Emerged in the contemporary era. Associated with Blues movement.

Related Artists: Royal Blood, Black Pistol Fire, The Record Company, BRKN LOVE

Music Scene: Part of the Windsor, Ontario music scene. Emerged in the contemporary era. Associated with Blues movement.

Tags: Rock, 2010s, Album, eOne Music Canada


Metro" by The Blue Stones delivers a gritty alternative rock experience characterized by a blend of blues rock and garage rock influences. The album features raw, powerful guitar riffs and punchy rhythms that drive each track, creating an energetic atmosphere. The production is polished yet retains a live, organic feel, allowing the dynamic interplay between instruments to shine. Tracks like "Metro 47" and "Scared of the Dark" showcase a mix of driving tempos and slower, more introspective moments, adding depth to the listening experience. Textures range from gritty and distorted to smooth and melodic, making "Metro" a distinctive entry in the contemporary rock landscape.

Album: Metro by The Blue Stones (2025)
Genre: alternative rock
Record Label: New Weapon Records
Format: CD

Artist Background: The Blue Stones are a Canadian blues rock duo based in Windsor, Ontario. Part of the Windsor, Ontario music scene. Emerged in the contemporary era. Associated with Blues movement.

Related Artists: Royal Blood, Black Pistol Fire, The Record Company, BRKN LOVE

Music Scene: Part of the Windsor, Ontario music scene. Emerged in the contemporary era. Associated with Blues movement.

Tags: alternative rock, 2020s, CD, New Weapon Records


The Blue Stones

Biography

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Discography