‘GREAT TIME’
Stone Sour enjoying opening slot on Ozzy Osbourne’s tour
The brotherhood of Stone Sour is what keeps its members inspired not only to write but perform together night after night and raise the bar.
The tightness, closeness and musical chemistry among the members of Stone Sour are what have kept drummer Roy Mayorga part of the band for 13 years.
“The stars aligned at the right time, and we met each other at the right time,” he said. “We have a mutual respect for one another, too. What I am trying to say is we all found each other and have stuck with each other. We recognize and acknowledge and love each other.”
Without that bond, there would be no point in being part of the band, Mayorga said.
“It’s hard enough being on the road,” he said. “It’s nice to know we have that family unity in the band when we are away from family.”
Stone Sour is on tour in support of Ozzy Osbourne’s “No More Tours 2” tour.
“All the shows have had great crowds welcoming us, like amazingly,” Mayorga said. “It’s been great, you know. The crews are great; the bands are great. We’ve having a great time.”
Stone Sour covers all the bases on its set list, with heavier rock songs from its most recent album, “Hyrdograd,” intertwined with mellower favorites such as “Bother.”
The band recently released a deluxe edition of “Hydrograd,” which features unreleased covers, B-sides, live recordings and alternate versions of songs from the album.
“We got into writing a lot of music for ‘Hydrograd’ that we put on the shelf,” Mayorga said. “… We wrote, like, 27 songs and could only put out so many at a time. We picked the best for ‘Hydrograd.’ Now we’re able to put (the songs) out there, and they see the light of day.”
Stone Sour will take a break in 2019, which will allow for frontman Corey Taylor to tour with his other band, Slipknot. It also will allow Mayorga to focus on his solo work. Mayorga, who has done soundtracks for films, is now focusing on a synthesizer-driven album. He said the sound was inspired from listening to bands such as Tangerine Dream and avantgarde musician Michael Hoenig.
“It’s going to be way different,” Mayorga said of his upcoming solo album. “It’s more synthesizer driven. Some people know and some people don’t know, analog modular synthesizer, I’ve been dabbling with that. Now I have a facility and time to do that.”