Walsall Rockers STONE BROKEN Talk About Reissuing their Debut Album ‘All In Time’

While some bands are happy to leave their early recordings locked in their vaults as their career and sound grows, this isn’t the case with British rockers Stone Broken. Originally released back in January 2016, All In Time was the Walsall quartet’s debut release and, since then, has been a sought after item for fans of the band.

So, last month, having revamped the album and thrown in a few bonus songs for good measure, the band reissued the album to fans who’ve been asking for its release. Following the release, we spoke to the band about the thought process behind re-issuing the album and what they think of it three years later.

Here’s a taster of the album in the form of Stone Broken’s video for “Wait For You”:

1. You’ve decided to revamp and re-release your All In Time album, what was the thought process behind doing that?
Stone Broken: When we originally released our debut, it was a fully independent release which meant that it was on a really limited scale because we could only do so much on our own. Now that we are signed we have a label who can push it further than we ever could have, so now it is available worldwide. The fans that we gained on our second record have also struggled to get their hands on a copy, so bringing it back in physical format has allowed them to own the physical CD.

2. What was it like listening to the recordings again?
Stone Broken: Well, we still play a lot of the songs from that record live so it’s cool to have a listen back to them every now and again because you notice how playing the songs live has changed the feel of the song but also there are songs that we don’t play live anymore like “Save Tomorrow” and “Another Day” which are cool to listen back to because every single song from that record put us where we are today.

3. Going back to the original recording sessions, what do you remember about it?
Stone Broken: We recorded the album in two separate sessions about a year apart, so when we went to do the first session we were all kind of nervous and excited to be in a professional studio with an awesome producer because, up until that point, we had never really experienced it. Going back for the second session, we were relaxed and knew what to expect, don’t get me wrong, we were still super excited (as we are for every record), but we felt like we knew what we were doing second time around. Whilst we were recording the album, we all lived together in an apartment, which was cool and also something that we had never done before either. The whole experience made us all bond a little bit more.

4. When you listened to the recordings, was there anything that you wanted to change?
Stone Broken: I don’t think we would change anything, the album is a snap shot in time and defines who we are / were when they were recorded. When we play them live however…we have the scope to mix things up a bit, maybe add a different lead line, breakdown… whatever we want, but I don’t think that we would change how they are recorded.

5. What’s your favourite track from the album?
Stone Broken: Oh man, this is always the question that I dread because we don’t really have an answer, they are all great songs for different reasons. It’s like choosing a favourite child, you just can’t. BUT, what I will say is that in our live shows, we have never taken “Stay All Night”, “Not Your Enemy” or “Wait For You” out.

And here’s a video clip of “Stay All Night” one of the staples of the Stone Broken live set:

6. The album originally sold out in a few hours, what has been the feedback from fans since then especially new fans who haven’t been able to get hold of a copy?
Stone Broken: We had messages upon messages from fans every single day of the year asking where they could get the debut album from, and the answer was always “it’s not currently available” which was always kind of hard to say, because as a band we never want to let the fans down, so it was such a relief to finally re-issue it and the fans are really happy to finally get their hands on a copy.

7. How do you feel you’ve changed as a band to the band that recorded All In Time originally?
Stone Broken: I think we all have a lot more experience now, in the studio, on the road, just generally being in a band… we are all better at doing it now. We have learnt a lot over the years and have become “road musicians”, it’s completely different to being a band who are just starting out…you have to do way more than play shows and write songs, there is a whole other world of things you have to do to…but that’s why we love it…we are always learning new things seeing different places and experiencing exciting things.

8. What are your thoughts on making the album available digitally to fans who haven’t heard the album? Would you agree that it takes off some of the excitement of buying a CD that has been unavailable for so long?
Stone Broken: I think there are two different stands to this answer, mainly because we now live in a world where there are two different kinds of consumer, people who stream and people who buy CD’s and sometimes they cross over, but generally this is how it works these days. I think the people who like to have a physical product will always be excited by a new CD, but people who stream will check it out first before thinking of buying anything physical. I mean, the main difference is that you can’t sign / autograph a stream or download, but you can sign a CD, so people usually just want them for their collections…so I don’t think it makes it any less exciting, just two different lifestyles I guess.

9. Finally, what are your plans to promote the record?
Stone Broken: We recorded a new version of “Wait For You” with an orchestra and filmed a video of the process. This was a very cool thing for us to have the opportunity to do, it’s a take on the live version of the song and how we tend to perform it live, but with the additional strings. We also went on tour with the guys in Black Star Riders around the UK and Ireland to promote the record. It’s always great to be out on the road promoting a record and this is the second time we have been able to do it on this album… but years apart!

All In Time is out now and you can pick up your copy through Stone Broken’s online store.