Empty Music Vessels: An Interview with Druid Stone
By Eli Duncan-High
Photo Credits: Maisey Hayne
As I continue discovering exciting and musically refreshing bands, I wanted to explore closer to home and find a band that has continued to stay true to its mission of expressing themselves authentically and creatively through music. I talked to my sister, who is closely connected with the NOVA music scene, about local bands she’s enjoyed. She told me about a noise rock band that happens to be transgender and has been playing in the area. They established themselves as one of Virginia’s most refreshing artists who have continued to evolve artistically and whose reputation is well known in the local scene. Druid Stone is a three-piece band comprised of Demeter (vocals and guitar), Carrie (bass), and Emy (drums). The band is, by far, one of the friendliest and most engaging bands I’ve interviewed, and their stories of comradery, acceptance, and support give you a clear understanding of why they are so loved in the local scene. There was a lot of content to sort through, and I believe and hope that I gave the band a proper representation of who they are as musicians and people.
Eli: I have to start with the basic question: who are your biggest influences?
Carrie: Nirvana got me into creating music for myself because I was 13 or 14, and I thought Kurt Cobain was cool. I got into many of my current favorite bands from that early influence, such as my favorite band of all time, Sonic Youth, of whom Kurt Cobain was a big fan, and they toured together. I also like Swans, Dinosaur Jr., and Unwound. I probably have the wildest music taste in the band, but I have phases where I’m really into a specific genre. Right now, I’m in an industrial metal phase and have recently been into the band Coil. I’ve also been into Drone and Slowcore, reflecting my current feelings.
Emy: I grew up on the internet and found my influences there. One of my biggest influences is J-Rock (Japanese rock), specifically The Pillows, who I’ve listened to since elementary school and are by far my biggest influence. I also have a big progressive rock influence, like The Mars Volta and In The Presence of Wolves, but J-Rock, specifically The Pillows, is my biggest influence.
Eli: How would you describe the sound of The Pillows and the sound of J-Rock in general?
Emy: Many people will argue about the definition of J-Rock, whether it’s a movement or a genre. I always say it’s a lot of seven chords with the foundation more aligned with jazz than American rock, which has a foundation in blues. Although J-Rock still has a lot of influence from American rock.
Demeter: I’m the old person in the band, and when I was going into high school, I started to get into underground music and punk music. I was lucky to have some friends in Herndon (Virginia), where I grew up, who were playing in punk bands, which exposed me to counterculture, and of course, I started smoking weed and taking acid. My first favorite band, which certainly isn’t underground or punk, is The Smiths. They greatly influence me, particularly with Johnny Marr and Andy Rourke (guitarist and bassist for The Smiths) and the instrumentation on the first few albums. The way The Smiths interacted and their melodic playing style was very influential.
Black Sabbath was also an early influence when I played in bands when I was 15 and 16 years old, specifically their bootlegs from the early 70s, which was reflected in Druid Stone’s music then. Artists and genres that have influenced me more recently are noise rock bands. I’m also a big Rocky Erickson fan, and I like new wave music a lot, like Depeche Mode and Echo & The Bunnymen.
Eli: Druid Stone has continued to evolve its sound in unique ways. With a new line-up fully situated, have you reached the sound you set out to achieve, or is there still more to discover?
Demeter: Druid Stone has always been an idea that is best represented live. My intention for the music to be best represented live is in its optimal version, which is an orgy-estic experience that allows us to become our musical ideas as a human form. That’s what I like about the band Les Rallizes Denudes because their name, mixed with French and Japanese slang, kind of translates to empty vessels, which the band represented. Every member was an empty vessel for the sound traveling through them. I like to think of what we are doing as similar but with our own twist, which is that it’s extremely heavy and loud and a noise rock experience. What people get live from the three of us is the most accurate representation of what I imagined for the band in its early beginnings.
Carrie: I don’t know if there is an ideal sound in my head. I’ve only been in the band for a few months, and I’ve always been happy to be a part of it and be able to contribute, and any idea I have is either accepted or at least considered. I like how things are going and don’t think there needs to be a push and pull. I feel we’re working pretty well together. I just like playing loud, and that’s happening.
Emy: I agree that things are just happening, and I’m happy. I played drums my entire life and eventually had a drum burnout. However, joining Druid Stone got me back to playing and caring about drums again, and I’m happy that I’m allowed to do any crazy stuff I want. As long as I keep the tempo, I can fit as many notes in a fill as I wish.
Eli: As an openly trans band, how has the local music scene treated you? Has there been overwhelming support, or has there been both support and opposition?
Demeter: There is a range of answers to that question. I don’t want this to be a discount or trivialization of the love people show for us in the area, but I think, generally, with all of our close friends out of the picture, we are a novelty. This is something that makes me feel like we have it at an edge because people expect us to behave more extravagantly or to be hypersexual or something very unrealistic. I like to play on those expectations. Before we play, I like to say things like, “We’re all transexual; if you get too close to us, you’ll catch our disease,” or “Your firstborn children will be gay.” I love it because people expect us to be socially lawless when we’re not; we’re just dumb girls; we’re just like everyone else. I think it’s just generational; the younger generation sees us as mentors, which means the world to me. When people DM me, I’m very responsive, and that’s an unconditional practice, especially if someone is trans because I want them to feel empowered.
Carrie: I think that, in general, the younger people we meet are more open to what we have to offer and our identity. I believe that there are exceptions, and it’s not super cut and dry, and it’s hard to anticipate how people will react to us. On a personal level, as someone who goes to shows, the vibe that I get a lot of the time is that people don’t interact with a lot of trans people, and they don’t know precisely how to act; people overthink and also underthink it. The most comfortable interactions for me are with people who are trans or are young and open to learning about other people. At least when I’m in this band, it clarifies things to people because when I’m going to a show, especially before I joined the band, people would act ambiguously.
Emy: I usually interact with many younger people in the scene, and I don’t have much experience with people who are much older except for one guy. It all seems accepting, but I wouldn’t know how it is past that. I also stick around this area, Northern Virginia, Maryland, and D.C., which are accepting areas. From my experience, people tend to be very accepting.
Eli: Virginia, specifically Northern Virginia and Richmond, have thriving punk and metal scenes. Druid Stone is one of the few bands in the area that uses a noise rock sound. How would you describe Druid Stone’s sound and how the band fits in Virgnia’s music scene?
Carrie: Even before I was a part of the band, it felt like the band had a sound that I never heard. It doesn’t fit into a specific category; Demeter’s songwriting style, plus the sound that comes from just having down-tuned instruments and loud amps, feels like a completely different approach and comes out the way it comes out. Going back to what Demeter said, we are just empty vessels.
Emy: I have almost zero metal influence except for Black Sabbath and early Metallica. The way I see Druid Stone and the music that Demeter writes, I don’t see it as metal. A lot of people will categorize it as metal, but to me, it’s noise pop.
Demeter: I agree with that very much; I love to surprise people with the type of music I listen to because people expect me to say I only listen to “Crowbar” and “Electric Wizard,” but I listen to pop music. I’m interested in writing pop music. The simplest way I would describe my songwriting style is that I write pop music, but I write it in a very nihilistic way. I love catchy music, and the most attractive part about music is hearing something that gets stuck in your head. I also love to sing, and I’m grateful I get to do it a lot more, especially in this lineup. We’re more focused on melodic singing instead of screaming, although I love to scream. I think pop music in the ’90s and 2000s was really interesting, and I think pop music now is generally made in board room meetings and not so much people’s ideas. I feel like, generally, the early 2000s was a really good era for original pop music that was still being produced in a cookie-cutter way, but the songs were good. I think pop music unites people.
Eli: When the band isn’t jamming or onstage, what is the everyday life of a Druid Stone member?
Demeter: Our very good friend, Sarah, we like to say she is the fourth member of Druid Stone, and she could provide a very funny answer. Well, in my life, I just work odd jobs in retail and
food delivery to make ends meet. Of course, I hate working, and I hate corporations that require me to work on their behalf. I used to have substance problems in the past, and I’ve been sober for four years now, so I no longer drink and do drugs. As a reflection of my sobriety, I try to go to bed early and wake up early so I can exercise. I also like to read when I walk or at home and listen to music when I run. I have a cat at home who I love to spend time with, and I research bands in my spare time. I’m a vegetarian, so I love to cook big meals and eat a lot. I also like hanging out with my parents; I’m kind of just a broken autistic girl, and they care for me and let me stay at their place. Of course, I like getting together with Carrie and Emy. Generally, I live a pretty simple life.
Eli: What bands are you currently researching?
Demeter: I’m a bootleg collector and generator for Druid Stone. So, a lot of the research that I do is based around finding bootlegs and alternate recordings of songs I haven’t heard before. A lot of the bands I’ve listened to I’ve been listening to for the past 15 years. Les Rallizes Denudes is a newer band I’m still researching and discovering alternate versions of my favorite songs, so they are the heaviest research topic. I also like to produce Druid Stone bootlegs so our fans everywhere can experience the epitome of the band’s noisy live performances.
Emy: I wake up at 2:00 pm and drink an entire pot of black coffee, which takes me about an hour and a half to finish, and it’s the best way for me to relax every day. On days when I don’t have my coffee, I’m way more on edge. I usually work once every week or two, and I like school when I’m not lazy, which is less and less often. Most of my day consists of playing JRPGs (Japanese role-playing games) with a guitar in my lap, or I’ll read visual novels for lyric inspiration for my other band, Aminori. I have a whole Google Doc of quotes from video games, books, movies, and visual novels, and I use them for lyrics while messing around on the guitar and trying to find something interesting. I’ll often listen to music while playing videos with a guitar in my lap, and sometimes, if there’s something in a game soundtrack I like, I’ll alter it and turn it into a song. At various points during the week, I’ll schedule a band rehearsal or go to a concert later in the week.
Demeter: Carrie is an ornithologist and goes to the Canary Islands.
Carrie: That’s true. I commute every day. I don’t have a daily routine other than just the obvious stuff of drinking coffee, brushing my teeth, and showering. I’ll take a long walk if it’s a nice day out. I enjoy going around D.C. near the Metro to go wherever my little heart desires, usually to museums or finding my little spot. My favorite museum is the Hirshhorn Museum because it’s the most noise rock art museum in D.C., so I naturally gravitate towards that. I visited once, and they played Animal Collective, my second favorite band. The museum is a great place to decompress, and the building is nice. They have stuff that is always very intriguing and inspiring to me. I like to take inspiration from visuals of a certain painting to where I’ll get lyrics popping in my head, or I get a sound. I’m also in another band called Renocera, which has taken a backseat for the past few months because I’ve been a little overwhelmed, but I think we will return soon.
Eli: What would happen if someone spent a day hanging out with Druid Stone?
Demeter: (laughs) They would go crazy, and we are pretty unhinged. The people who like us are fanatical about it, but those who dislike us usually have their repressed internal turmoil transformed from a quite babbling spring to a volcano about to erupt. In reality, we are really silly people. We are just really goofy, and someone like Sarah is very similar to us. We would just go on silly adventures and come back and laugh, but it’s so over the top that people can get overwhelmed by our personalities. In reality, we are just shy, socially awkward people and very timid and compensating. We just like to get some food, maybe a little pizza, and watch comedy skits like I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson.
Carrie: I love that show, and it’s been a big part of forming my personality and sense of humor. I’ve introduced both of my bandmates. We are friendly people, and we like company.
Eli: What does your playlist look like when traveling to shows?
Demeter: We haven’t toured extensively together, yet we’ve played several shows in different areas. When one of us is stressed, we give them space and talk if we need to talk. Otherwise, we just return to being goofy and listen to Sonic Youth. Carrie is the tallest, so I usually drive, and she sits next to me and is in charge of the aux. She has the most knowledge of noise rock. So we listen to a lot of noise rock, primarily Carrie, either picking recommendations of Sonic Youth or Japanese noise rock bands that range from songs from the 70s, 80s, and 90s. We listen to The Smiths a lot, and whenever I have a song I’m interested in hearing to get myself settled into a mood before the show, the two artists I want to hear are either something by Neil Young or Witchfinder General, which is an 80s proto-doom metal band. Maybe another band that we’ll play is Ummagumma era Pink Floyd.
Carrie: I think the album we listen to the most is Daydream Nation by Sonic Youth. Goo is the album that got the most mainstream attraction, but Daydream Nation is the one that people usually agree is their magnum opus. That album is fantastic, and I could never get tired of listening to it. The album is very fitting for driving at night because it has a unique and dreamlike quality. Part of that comes down to the tunings they used because they would tune them in completely unconventional ways and make sounds that people hadn’t tried to make before. There was a period, which is still kind of ongoing, where we would listen to black metal as well, and sometimes I like to play a song or two by Can, a German prog rock band. Can comes from a scene inspired by a lot of world music while also being so far removed from anything that came before. It’s so different, but comes back to being in our realm. It’s very jammy and improvisation-based.
Eli: Have local bands, artists, or people helped you along your journey?
Carrie: Meeting Emy sparked a significant change in my life in general. We were friends before joining Druid Stone, and she is the reason why I fully incorporated myself into the local scene. She brought me to my first show in the area this past summer, so I’m very thankful to her and all
of the members of Aminori, who are some of my best friends. Everyone in this scene I’ve had the pleasure of getting to know personally is very kind and genuine.
Emy: I’m thinking of one band: The Knuckleheads. Demian and Jaden are two of my best friends, and if it weren’t for them, I would not have continued going to shows in the scene, or at least I would not have as many friends as I do now. Demian has helped me with personal stuff, and he’s producing the first Aminori album. And Jaden is the lead guitarist for Aminori. I also say Demeter is someone I have looked up to ever since I started going to shows in the scene, and when she said, “Do you want to play drums in Druid Stone in a couple of months?” I was like, “What! Yeah, of course.” When Druid Stone started doing more shows, I would go to as many as possible. Also Heroes For Ghosts, who Demian is the bassist for, and their whole crew are some of the most supportive people I know.
Demeter: As far as local bands that impressed me, Heroes For Ghosts of course, Aminori, The Knuckleheads, and Potosi are my personal favorites. Anyone who’s trans and starts a band, I appreciate all of them, and I hope I can do whatever I can to support their creative ambitions. I do a lot of community organizing and go to the town council in my town of Herndon to support transgender people and spaces that allow musical performances for marginalized groups. I’m like a supportive aunt now.
Eli: So what is Druid Stone’s plan going forward?
Carrie: I’m not sure. Only time will tell, but I’ll be happy with whatever direction it takes because I’m sure it will authentically reflect how we want the band to be or how we want to express ourselves.
Demeter: I’d like us to do a full-length as a group because every full-length album and virtually every Druid Stone release has been a conception of myself in the studio playing all the instruments and composing all the parts, particularly live bootlegs before this lineup. With the advent of this lineup, we started to record multi-track demos as a group. This is something that I’ve never done for Druid Stone, and it wasn’t an intuitive approach because we were having fun. I’d like to record a full-length album that unapologetically represents the three of us as musicians. It should be recorded entirely live or in one session, as we feel most at home when performing.
Eli: You want to close the interview, Emy?
Emy: (long silence and quote from the movie Oldboy) Even though I’m no better than a beast, don’t I have a right to live?
