12 Stones
Mandeville, Louisiana8 reviews across 2 releases
12 Stones is a hard rock band formed in 2000 in Mandeville, Louisiana. After roughly a dozen live shows, the young quartet played an industry showcase in New York and signed with Wind-up Records within 15 months. The 2002 debut, 12 Stones, placed them in the post-grunge modern-rock field, with heavy distorted choruses, cleanly picked verses, blues-influenced guitar solos and occasional background screams. Paul McCoy's baritone singing carried lyrics about loneliness, rejection, guilt and turning toward God. The band was repeatedly compared to Creed, though "Eric's Song" connected the same formula to Southern blues-rock. Their second album, Potter's Field, kept the loud verse-chorus structure while offering more polished songwriting; several reviews still found the sound too close to its radio-rock competition.
In 2004, bassist Kevin Dorr left, beginning a period of repeated personnel changes around McCoy and guitarist Eric Weaver. The band released Anthem for the Underdog in 2007, then issued the EP The Only Easy Day Was Yesterday in 2010 after leaving Wind-up for Executive Music Group. The fourth album, Beneath the Scars, followed in 2012, after a delay that stretched the gap between full-length releases to five years. 12 Stones later signed with Cleopatra Records and released Picture Perfect in 2017, followed by the Smoke and Mirrors, Volume 1 EP in 2020. The group remains active under McCoy's leadership.
2 releases reviewed
Potter's Field