Stoker mixing it up at No Fun in Troy
Local metal band pulls from members’ pasts, new set lists
No Fun in Troy is hosting a four-act hard rock/metal show on Thursday. On the bill is Stoker, an Albany-based amalgam of metal, prog and psychrock.
The four-piece ensemble officially formed in 2015 when singer-guitarist Kieran Robbins and drummer Eric Busta were looking to revive one of their prior projects, a band called Soaker. The creative chemistry wasn’t coming together as hoped, but rather than give up, Robbins and Busta recruited Scot Seguine, who has played with Busta in various projects for more than 20 years. After several of Robbins’ various, simultaneous projects fell apart, Adam Heggen was added on bass and the lineup was finalized.
The roster serves to the overlapping social circles the members have traveled in.
“Eric and (I) are technically still in The Vultures and have played together on and off since the ‘90s. Adam and Eric have been non-band friends since the early 2000s,” guitarist-singer Seguine wrote in an email on behalf of Stoker. “Kieran and Eric met around 2008. Eric is the glue that holds this whole thing together, the red thread that connects all the crime scenes. It’s Eric. It’s always been Eric.”
Playing in Stoker offers the members a chance to mix it up a bit. Their experiences are rooted in heavy, more straightforward metal and post-grunge bands. Stoker allows for more sonic variance and complex, off-kilter chord progressions. It also gives them the chance to record material that hadn’t fit in their other respective projects and play random covers they find intriguing.
“Eric and Kieran have prior experi
ence playing in tricky bands of this nature, but I’d call it a departure for Scot and Adam,” Seguine noted about the offbeat music arrangements. “There were a lot of songs ready to go because it was based on some previous projects. That made it relatively easy to hit the ground running, but the music is somewhat challenging and,” he joked, “one member of the band is not very good.
“Everyone has some history playing in local hard-core bands. Otherwise, we spend a lot of time giving each other blank stares about covers. I don’t understand how we have such little overlap. I think we all used to agree on Queen, but lately Kieran says he doesn’t like Queen, which might turn out to be a problem.”
The classic rock quibbles haven’t deterred Stoker from moving forward with its music.
The group was starting to get things in motion before being waylaid by the pandemic. Now, they’re looking to record new tunes and get back on stage, their ideal musical outlet. The show Thursday looks to be the start of an active and productive 2023. At the very least, a busy year of rock or bust will help pay the bills.
“We have a self-titled cassette release on Fuzz Records, which is also free on Bandcamp (and) released just at the beginning of the pandemic, which was cool timing,” Seguine said. “We have enough material for a new one, which is on the horizon. We will be recording it with our friend Matt from Endless Studios, who is a genius and drives a literal red-hot car.
“The pandemic effectively shut the band down entirely for several years, but we are back in a big way,” he said. “This is what we were born to do. There is no plan B. We have to leave that stage in burning splinters or we have failed. We spent so much money on these amps.”