Reporting live from Neopia Circulation: 180,456,195 Issue: 449 | 25th day of Relaxing, Y12
Home | Archives Articles | Editorial | Short Stories | Comics | New Series | Continued Series
 

Inside the Minds of Sticks N' Stones


by _beastmaster728_

--------

Imagine the Tyrannian Plateau. Other than the giant omelette, the first thing you notice is the coliseum structure that serves as the Tyrannian Concert Hall. Every day, a couple thousand privileged Neopians can buy a ticket to go hear one of the fantastic bands that plays there all day on certain days each month, sometimes just once a month! These band are our Neopian celebrities. Tons of young Neopets want to form the next Twisted Roses or Yes Boy Ice-Cream. I, through my secret string of sources, managed to set up an interview with one of these bands: Sticks N' Stones! After the first few moments of the customary fandom freakout (I am a fan of all things Tyrannian concert hall), we set down to a very serious interview.

First, some information about the band. Sticks N' Stones made their first concert hall appearance on March 29, 2001. The band consists of four members: Blumaroo Axle Roo on vocals, Nimmo Sludge on lead guitar, Lupe Gruff on bass guitar, and Grarrl Grizley on drums. These four together make up Sticks N' Stones! Here is an account of how our interview went.

What made you guys want to start a band?

Axle: One time, when Sludge and I were in Tyrannia for some omelette, we decided to chip in to buy some tickets for the two of us to go see a double concert: 2 Gallon Hatz opening for the Blue Kacheek Group. That was when we decided that starting a band was something we wanted to do.

Gruff: Grizley and I were back at the Neolodge room we were all sharing. Those two came back about ten, told us about what they wanted to do, and we jumped on board right away. Voila! There's our band.

How did you guys decide on the name Sticks N' Stones?

Sludge: It's a funny story actually. The day we decided to start a band, Axle and I got these two hatemail letters from some people we beat at a game of golf. I know, overreactors, right? Anyways, you know that saying 'Sticks and stones can break my bones but words will never hurt me'? Well, the letters made us think of that, and we thought it was a good name for a band.

How did you guys get to perform in the concert hall?

Grizley; Well, about a month or two after we created the band, we decided to go to Tyrannian concerts regularly to see what we had to do to get a gig at the concert hall. March 29 we went to see a Moehawk concert. They had this thing where they asked if anybody in the audience was thinking about ever doing a band. The four of us jumped up, waving our hands around, and they called us up on stage to play. Then, they started to call us back to do more performances.

You guys have been playing for about nine years now. What has been your favorite memory?

Axle: Mine was the first night we played. There's nothing really like that feeling. You get up on the stage for the first time. Thousands of people watching you, you're just playing your heart out, and you have all these people cheering for you. It's great.

Gruff: There was this one time we did a Valentine's Day series. About a year ago. We perform on the 10th and 17th of each month, so we did one show before and after. I thought it was really special to be able to do that.

Sludge: Well, I'm thinking this interview. We're finally going to be in the Neopian Times! I mean, people know all about us because of the whole band thing, but we've never made newspapers before. This is great!

Grizley: I liked our most recent concert. We did a specialty gig before it, and all the other bands came to watch us. M*YNCI, The Hikalakas, Gruundo, all those guys. We got a standing ovation from them. It was so incredible. To have a bunch of other popular bands looking up to us and giving us that kind of applause. It was incredible!

What group do you admire most?

Axle: Oh, I'm a die-hard Twisted Roses fan. I mean, those girls are completely in sync, all the time, even with the way they dress! In case you couldn't tell, we don't exactly have that kind of synchronization. We just play together and let our own personalities slip through, you know what I mean? It works for us, but I just really admire those girls.

Gruff: Well, of course I think our band's the best. That's a given. But, out of all the others, I probably like Blue Kacheek Group. We got a chance to hang out after one of their concerts once, and those guys are cool. I mean, just looking at them, you can't hardly tell them apart, but personality wise they're all so different. One of them is a genius, but not like the socially awkward kind. The kind that knows he is a genius and is comfortable with it. Another one is a comedic genius. We didn't go three minutes without busting up laughing. The last one is pretty quiet. He didn't talk much, but when he did, he had the greatest ideas.

Sludge: For me, I really like Moehawk. I mean, they have great music. I just really get into it when I'm listening to them. Plus, they're really crowd personal. Every show I've ever seen them do they've called a fan up onstage and autographed some piece of memorabilia. I've brought up doing something like that with Axle before, and I hope we could start doing that.

Grizley: Call me old-fashioned, but I'm a big supporter of the Neopian Philharmonic. I just love the sound of classical music, and those five just nail it. Plus, I love how it shoes another side of a Grarrl. Everybody sees us as big and mean, and I guess my drumming kind of supports that, but to see one playing the flute, it just shows that there is a sensitive side to us. Plus, it's just such a neat arrangement of instruments. I listen to every song all the way through over and over just to hear the cool little triangle note at the end of each piece. I love it!

If you could give one piece of advice to Neopians wanting to start a band, what would it be?

Sludge: I would say, write fanmail to a group you love and ask for advice. We always write personal responses to Neomails, and we love it! If you get advice from a band that made their dream a reality, that's a great source to go with.

Gruff: I agree with Sludge. Also, be sure to go to a lot of concerts, then be sure to analyze them with your future bandmates afterwards. Pick up little tips and tricks that will help you. That's why we hit the concert hall so much when we were forming Sticks N' Stones.

Grizley: I say practice. Practice long, practice hard, and make sure you get at least one good song down as a specialty.when you're auditioning for shows.

Axle: Play what you love to play! Don't do hard rock or disco if you're more into the soft stuff, you know? You'll stand more chance of success if you love what you're doing. Thanks again for coming!

Well, there you have it! An inside look at the goings on of Sticks N' Stones. Now if you'll excuse me, I have some souvenir items to collect, and a concert to hit!

If you're reading this, 2nd time in the NT! Yes!

 
Search the Neopian Times




Great stories!


---------

Hoopla: Chia
UGLY.

by _pokemon12_63

---------

Mynci Shirts
They're rainbow! They're fabulous! They're...

by leetmango

---------

Chokatotic
What do you mean use a calendar?!?!

by lilbluespoons

---------

Crazy Techo Syndrome
Broken voice box; an athletic injury?

by thegreenspark



Submit your stories, articles, and comics using the new submission form.