Stolen Babies Drummer Gil Sharone Talks Touring, Latest Album ‘Naught’ + More

Avante-garde rock act Stolen Babies bring a unique concert experience wherever they go. They have been making waves with their latest album ‘Naught’ and they kicked off 2013 by touring with Lacuna Coil, Sevendust and Coal Chamber.

During their time in New York City, we had the chance to speak with drummer Gil Sharone, who expressed his enthusiasm for Stolen Babies' future and talked about touring, their latest album and plans for upcoming material.

You guys are on tour a whole lot lately and I’ve gotten to see Stolen Babies a bunch of times as you've hit New York a few times.

It’s so funny because when we took a hiatus some people were like, “Hey where are you, you do one off shows on the West Coast when you coming to the East Coast?” Ever since we started touring again last year, we’ve been to New York like five times already but they’ve been really good and different bills and kinds of packages. That just shows that we know we can win over different audiences, we don’t even consider ourselves a metal band. There’s that influence and of course there’s very heavy elements of our music but some of it might not even come from the metal world. It’s just cool, we’re just blessed to have this opportunity.

Not many bands at our level, which is still that baby band level, that’s starting to break – get a second chance and I always knew we were going to do s--- and it’s not like I stopped believing in us or had doubts and did all this other stuff. We just needed our own internal break to do other things and life gets in the way but now we’re just more focused than ever, we’re not going to take forever in between records, we keep getting offered killer tours so the momentum is back.

As much fun as touring can be, it can be stressful so how do you turn the stresses of touring into a creative tool?

One thing that keeps morale up is how well we’re doing so right away that’s helpful. If we were out there, pounding the pavement and working our asses off and not getting anywhere, not getting good responses or doing s----y merch numbers every night then that would take a toll – it would just hit a bands morale. Luckily that’s not the case with us, it’s really starting to pay off and that’s the morale booster so if we have a grueling drive and it’s f---ing stressful on our bodies and minds and we need whatever at the end of the day what keeps us pumped is that we’re doing well and that there’s light at the end of the tunnel. Everytime we go out we keep moving up a notch.

Creatively, we’re just influenced by everything around us anyways so whether we feel a struggle or a victory it’s all very inspiring in general and we all like to stay healthy mentally and physically and do our thing. It takes a toll, a lot of people think like it’s this glamorous thing but it’s a lot of work so you just have to find your outlets and your quiet zones to help balance it out. Of course I miss being home, I have a two and a half year old boy that I miss.

It’s about balance, everyone has a good relationship with each other in the band, we all get along it’s not like we hate each other and we’re trying to throw this fake dream together. We love each other, we’re a family.

What band would you love to go on tour with that you haven’t toured with yet?

Do they have to be together? [Laughs] Well Faith No More would be nice and we love Depeche Mode – it would be awesome to play with them. There’s that side of our band that would cater to that audience just like we could do a metal audience, we can crossover. Maybe we wouldn’t play some of our heavier, thrashier songs but we have other songs.

‘Naught’ has been had a great reception from fans and critics; what does that reaction mean to you?

To me personally, I am nothing but appreciative – this album almost didn’t even get made, we were just in this space where we were just dealing with life and it’s not like the band didn’t want to do it, we were just being pulled in all these different directions. So for ‘Naught’ to get such a great response, we’re happy because it just documents where we  were in our lives to get that album done and it was kind of pieced together over different session and spread out over time where we’ll never do a record like that again. To see the reception we’re getting live, to us we’re staying true to who we are and it’s working.

Any plans in the works for new material?

Oh yeah. We can’t wait to get our new material out. The plan is to get stuff done when we have some time off, as far as recording we already have a concept of what the next album will be, it will probably be an EP and then the next one after that will be a full length but it will be quick. We’re not going to take years and years in between records from now on.

We also still feel like ‘Naught’ is still fresh and people are finding out about the band, we’re not trying to push it out of the way to get something new out but we’re also anxious to get new stuff out which will show even more the evolution of the band and also mixing a lot of our roots and where we came from.

What is one thing you must bring on tour with you?

[Laughs] A drum key? Drummers would appreciate that one. Wow no electronics – I’m stumped.  I know as soon as we’re done with the interview I’m going to be like “Oh I should have said that.” I can’t say Marijuana.