Stone Gods biography
Stone Gods were a British hard rock / heavy metal band formed by ex-members of the then defunct UK hard rock band The Darkness. Their debut album, titled Silver Spoons & Broken Bones, was released on 7 July 2008, with the first single "Knight of the Living Dead" being released on 23 June 2008. On 9 December 2010 they officially went on hiatus.
History
Formation
When Justin Hawkins decided to leave The Darkness in October 2006, it meant the end of the band. However, guitarist, songwriter and brother of the lead singer Dan Hawkins, contacted bassist Richie Edwards within thirty minutes of finding out his brother was leaving, and asked him if he would be interested in taking up lead vocals in a new band with the remaining members. Richie had previously sung lead vocals when The Darkness had covered AC/DC songs live, and he and Dan immediately started to think about a new musical direction. A new band was to be formed and Richie Edwards indeed made the move from bass guitar to centre stage as lead vocalist/rhythm guitarist. The line up was completed by drummer Ed Graham (also of the Darkness) and bassist Toby MacFarlaine (who was a long time friend of Dan Hawkins). The band spent the later part of 2006 and early 2007 writing and rehearsing new material and commenced recording their debut album soon after. No official announcement was made, the band's name was not revealed and the existence of the new band was only confirmed through postings on the band members personal MySpace sites during the period of the recordings. This was the only information available publicly for almost a year after the band had first formed.
Early activity and first EP (Burn the Witch)
In October 2007 the website of the UK music magazine
Classic Rock leaked a news piece saying that a new band called Stone Gods had been added as a support act on the upcoming UK tour by Thin Lizzy, it was also stated in this news piece that this band was made up of ex-members of The Darkness. Then, on 9 November 2007, the website of the student union from the University of East Anglia announced a live date by a band that they claimed was the new band of former The Darkness guitarist Dan Hawkins and that the name of the band was Stone Gods. This news was confirmed by the launch of an official website a few days later and a string of support dates was announced for November and December 2007. These dates were unfortunately curtailed when firstly Richie Edwards succumbed to a throat infection after only three gigs had been performed and then, in a bizarre twist, dates with the Finnish classical/metal band Apocalyptica were cancelled due to 'lack of stage space'.
In January 2008 Stone Gods headlined their first proper tour in the UK and it was announced that a limited edition EP called Burn The Witch was to be released by independent label PIAS on 25 February 2008. The EP contained two tracks from the upcoming debut album - "Burn The Witch" and "You Brought A Knife To A Gunfight" as well as two non-album b-sides "Breakdown" and "Heartburn", and only 1000 copies would be made. It was revealed on the band's official website that EP sold out on the first day of sale, and despite being released four weeks after the tour had ended the EP still picked up radio play and reached number 2 in the BBC Radio 1 Rock charts.
Biography from 
, the free encyclopedia.
It may not have been reviewed by a professional editor, and recent changes may not show up straight away. See the latest version of this article. Used under licence. Subject to disclaimers.