Biography
Stonefield emerged early in the 2010s as a quartet of sisters from rural Australia who channeled the swaggering force of classic 1970s hard rock, complete with swirling organ lines and extended guitar solos. The band first reached a wider regional audience in 2013 when their second long-player, As Above, So Below, climbed to number 19 on the Australian Albums chart. Later releases such as Far from Earth in 2018 and Bent in 2019 kept drawing on the same well of psychedelic and vintage rock influences.
The four Findlay sisters spent their childhood in the small Victorian town of Darraweit Guim. Their parents kept the family stereo stocked with Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, Fleetwood Mac, and Frank Zappa, while the isolation of country life encouraged the siblings to create their own entertainment. In 2006 they formed a band, with Amy Findlay on drums and lead vocals, Hannah Findlay on guitar, Sarah Findlay on keyboards, and Holly Findlay on bass. A neighbor who taught music supplied instrumental guidance, and the sisters began performing locally under the name Iotah, collecting several victories in regional Battle of the Bands contests.
Their profile rose sharply in 2010 after they submitted the song “Foreign Lover” to the Triple J Unearthed competition. When the group reached the finals that October, Amy, then twenty, was the eldest and Holly, at twelve, the youngest; Iotah nevertheless claimed the top prize. Shortly afterward they learned that another Australian act already used the name iOTA, prompting the change to Stonefield. In November 2010 the newly renamed band issued its debut EP, Through the Clover, on the independent Shock Records imprint and appeared at Perth’s One Movement Festival, an engagement that secured a slot at Glastonbury the following year. Just before the EP’s release they had declined a New Zealand tour because it conflicted with Hannah’s final music-performance assessment.
By May 2012, when Stonefield delivered the follow-up EP Bad Reality through Wunderkind Records, the sisters had already completed multiple circuits of Australia and the United Kingdom and had shared stages with the Foo Fighters, the Kaiser Chiefs, and additional headliners. Their first full-length album, the eponymous Stonefield, arrived in October 2013. The subsequent release of As Above, So Below later that year marked their entry onto the ARIA Top 20. In 2017 the group signed with Flightless Records and unveiled the single “Delusion,” which was included on the 2018 album Far from Earth. Recorded live in the studio across five intense days, the 2019 album Bent was produced with assistance from Joe Walker and Stu Mackenzie of King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard.
The four Findlay sisters spent their childhood in the small Victorian town of Darraweit Guim. Their parents kept the family stereo stocked with Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, Fleetwood Mac, and Frank Zappa, while the isolation of country life encouraged the siblings to create their own entertainment. In 2006 they formed a band, with Amy Findlay on drums and lead vocals, Hannah Findlay on guitar, Sarah Findlay on keyboards, and Holly Findlay on bass. A neighbor who taught music supplied instrumental guidance, and the sisters began performing locally under the name Iotah, collecting several victories in regional Battle of the Bands contests.
Their profile rose sharply in 2010 after they submitted the song “Foreign Lover” to the Triple J Unearthed competition. When the group reached the finals that October, Amy, then twenty, was the eldest and Holly, at twelve, the youngest; Iotah nevertheless claimed the top prize. Shortly afterward they learned that another Australian act already used the name iOTA, prompting the change to Stonefield. In November 2010 the newly renamed band issued its debut EP, Through the Clover, on the independent Shock Records imprint and appeared at Perth’s One Movement Festival, an engagement that secured a slot at Glastonbury the following year. Just before the EP’s release they had declined a New Zealand tour because it conflicted with Hannah’s final music-performance assessment.
By May 2012, when Stonefield delivered the follow-up EP Bad Reality through Wunderkind Records, the sisters had already completed multiple circuits of Australia and the United Kingdom and had shared stages with the Foo Fighters, the Kaiser Chiefs, and additional headliners. Their first full-length album, the eponymous Stonefield, arrived in October 2013. The subsequent release of As Above, So Below later that year marked their entry onto the ARIA Top 20. In 2017 the group signed with Flightless Records and unveiled the single “Delusion,” which was included on the 2018 album Far from Earth. Recorded live in the studio across five intense days, the 2019 album Bent was produced with assistance from Joe Walker and Stu Mackenzie of King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard.
Albums
Singles
