Medusa Stone

Medusa Stone
Origin	Wilmington, North Carolina, USA
Genres	Hard rock Blues rock
Years active	2004–present
Website	Official website
Members
Justin Fox Jeremy Summers Dave Morse

Medusa Stone is a three-piece American rock band from Wilmington, North Carolina. Medusa Stone's members are Justin Fox on guitar and vocals, Jeremy Summers on drums and backing vocals, and Dave Morse on bass and backing vocals. They are often compared to The Black Crowes however recently they have been shedding that resemblance with the release of their latest album "Shaking Hands" on Right Hook Records.

History

Medusa Stone started out as a band called Catfish Lane in 2002 while Justin Fox was just 16 years old. His father Terry Fox played bass while his cousin Jeremy Summers drove two hours once a week to practice with them doing mostly blues covers and a few original songs. At this time the line-up consisted of Justin Fox, Jeremy Summers and Justin's father Terry Fox. In early 2002 the band was asked to move to Wilmington, North Carolina by Strategic Artists, a management company started by Bruce Henderson and Mark Schulman that had started working with the band. Henderson wanted the band to be closer to his office and also felt that Wilmington's music scene was perfect for the young band. After a few local shows a "buzz" about the trio started to surface. Most of the "buzz" however was about Justin's young age and this created much tension for him. "I feel like I am more of a spectacle than an artist. I wish our audience could look past my age and listen to the band as a whole" said Justin in a 2002 interview with Rock 104.5. They toured well into 2003 mainly on the east coast with a relentless schedule, sometimes doing five "bar" gigs in a row playing from 10 pm to 2 am. Sometime in 2003 they recorded a ten-track demo called "Pocket Change" with six original songs and four live covers. Once again the fan response was biased, only wanting to hear covers of Stevie Ray Vaughan and Jimi Hendrix. Tension began to mount between Henderson and the band; Justin was frustrated with his reputation and wanted to change his entire image. He felt that Henderson played too heavily on his age when representing the band. Jeremy was also becoming agitated with Henderson's management and the two often argued over the direction of the band. All the while Terry's home life was suffering due to his touring schedule; he left the band in late 2003 to spend more time with his wife and younger son. Shortly after Dave Morse was offered Terry's position and opted to leave Redwood, his band at the time. Soon after Dave's entry into the band they nullified their contract with Bruce Henderson. While on tour in the U.S. Virgin Islands playing many venues and even opening for Hubert Sumlin music promoter and radio personality Bryan Hollenbaugh put the band in contact with Damon Johnson (of Brother Cane, Whiskey Falls) who had started a recording studio in his Alabama home. Shortly after the band traveled to Alabama and recorded what would become Medusa Stone's debut album.

Medusa Stone begins

The band recorded their debut album in just ten days. The songs were compiled from a collection of some thirty songs written by Justin over the past two years. With Damon Johnson not only recording but also producing and mixing the entire project, he also found time to co-write "Whisper to Me" with Justin during the recording. They returned home to North Carolina with a new album and a new attitude; naturally a name change was needed. Justin had become bitter about Catfish Lane's reputation around town and the band did not play blues for some time. Justin later stated that he never stopped loving playing the blues, they just had to erase all ties to Catfish Lane. The trio settled on the name Medusa Stone and began marketing their new image and album. There was only one problem: they were broke. Dave and Justin were living in a house in downtown Wilmington where they reportedly lived off of ramen noodles and hot dogs. Oftentimes they were so broke that the two would throw huge parties just to drink for free and collect all of the cigarette butts the next day so Dave could roll the unsmoked tobacco into cigarettes. At this time it is said that Jeremy pushed Dave and Justin to work harder and book the gigs that they needed. With a renewed work ethic the trio hit the road once again to promote the new album and toured the east coast. They also had the chance to open up for Sonny Landreth, David Lee Roth, Mother's Finest and Damon Johnson's band at the time Slave to the System, ending the tour with another stop in the U.S. Virgin Islands where the new album was very well received and even enjoyed nominal airplay. The band returned home with renewed spirits and entered the studio once again in late 2005 to record a six song EP titled "Ghosts".

Ghosts Era

This was a solid time for Medusa Stone. They were touring consistently and building a solid fan base. The band had enjoyed two well received appearances at Wheeliefest: a Rowland, PA festival dedicated to grass roots music and true music lovers. They had the opportunity to open for Vince Neil and Blackfoot. They also made a side stage appearance at Alltel pavilion, opening for Three Doors Down, Shooter Jennings, and Lynyrd Skynyrd. In the midst of all this touring the band was still trying to secure a record deal. They had been in contact with many labels over the past few years going back as far as the Catfish Lane days. Sony Records recruited Jack Osbourne to check out the band in 2003 only to report that the style of music was not "marketable". Justin has often stated that Jack was right; this was before the name change and the band was playing primarily blues. Other connections were made with Arista Records, however things once again fell through. With almost two years of on and off touring the band decided to take a small break to write and record a full length album. They entered the studio in January 2007 to record "Shaking Hands".

Shaking Hands and Right Hook Records

Medusa Stone recorded "Shaking Hands" over a period of four months at Audio Genesis in Wilmington, NC with long time friend and fellow musician Tommy Brothers. Brothers recorded the band, helped with pre-production, and co-wrote "Loaded Gun" with Justin. He also plays rhythm guitar on the album and provides many backing vocals. Medusa Stone and Tommy Brothers share production credit for the album. Damon Johnson provided production consultation for the band from the road. During the mixing Tommy and Justin seemed to live in the studio, sometimes not leaving until 3am. Around the time of the album's completion the band was contacted by Right Hook Records, an independent label out of Greensboro, NC. The label showed interest in releasing the album and sent the final mixes to Atlanta, GA to have them mastered by Glenn Schick. The ending result would be what is now titled "Shaking Hands". The album was released on July 24, 2008. The band starts touring in support of it in August 2008.

Discography

• Medusa Stone 2004
• Ghosts 2006
• Shaking Hands 2008

References

• Medusa Stone "http://www.medusastoneband.com"
• CDbaby "http://www.CDbaby.com"
• Damon Johnson "http://www.damonjohnson.com"
• Tucker, Brian "http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=77417209". Retrieved on July 19, 2008.
• Maultsby,Lauren "http://media.www.theseahawk.org/media/storage/paper287/news/2006/11/02/Lifestyles/Keeping.Rock.n.Roll.Alive.Medusa.Stone-2433060.shtml". Retrieved on July 19, 2008.
• Maready, Alan "http://www.ilyaimy.com/press/EncoreArticle.html". Retrieved on July 19, 2008.

External links

• Medusa Stone's Official Site
• Medusa Stone on myspace