STILLWELL

On their debut album, Dirtbag, StillWell rile up the mosh pits and the hood. The pairing of legendary multi-platinum, Grammy Award winning Korn bassist Reggie "Fieldy" Arvizu on guitar, P.O.D. drummer Wuv, singer and MC Q-Unique of Arsonists and Rock Steady Crew, and newcomer Pablo "Spider" Silva behind the bass resounds like a shotgun blast through the landscapes of heavy music. The album's lead-off single, "You Can't Stop Me," bobs and weaves with an urban groove and metal grit. Riffs meander into rhymes as StillWell deliver propulsive, powerful, and positive hard rock. Funked-out bass lines and intricate drum patterns create a colorful backdrop for crunching guitars and undeniable hooks during the opening cut, "On & Poppin'," while "Surrounded By Liars" morphs from subtle psychedelica into a cathartic explosion of raw emotion. Idiosyncratic lines bring "Mr. Yellow #5" to life, and there's an intricacy a la classic rock mixed with pure street posture. When Dirtbag drops this spring on Fieldy's own Nu Day Records distributed via The End Records, listeners will be able to draw music and so much more from StillWell.
StillWell crank out the jams on Dirtbag, wielding a raw, real, and rugged sound. Fieldy describes it best, "It's bluesy metal with a street edge. It's a little dirtier and heavier than your average rock band is."
"It's adrenaline music," adds Q. "I want to feed people's adrenaline, and I want them to be pumped when they hear this album."
Fans will undoubtedly be pumped up when they hear Dirtbag's first single, "You Can't Stop Me." The song sees StillWell properly bridging the gap between funk and metal, while preserving the attitudes of both styles in one focused assault. Written in 2007, the single proves to be the perfect gateway to Dirtbag. "That song started it all," reveals Fieldy. "I wrote the riff on an acoustic guitar and played it for Q over the phone. Then we sent the files to Wuv. Everybody put the icing on the cake, and that song covers everything that StillWell does. Working together as a band made this album what it is."
However, for Q, like all of StillWell's songs, "You Can't Stop Me" reaches deeper. "It has a lot of meanings," he recalls. "I hope people feel like they're unstoppable in whatever their challenges are when they listen to it. I want them to feel like they can take on anything. We're all in tune with our spirituality so it also has a very spiritual side to it as well. It's like a coach saying, 'Let's go after this as a team'."
StillWell decided to go after it together when Fieldy and Q were introduced by a mutual friend in 2005. The two of them instantly clicked and, in between their respective "day jobs," they'd write songs via email, Face Time, phone, and sporadically in person. Their efforts yielded a viral track called "Killing Myself To Live" that quickly piqued interest in the band. In 2007, they ran into Wuv at a party and the foundation was solidified. Q hit the road with Korn that year, and he and Fieldy collaborated on the tracks that would become Dirtbag everywhere from boats bound for Finland to hotel rooms outside of the Eiffel Tower.
Fieldy's known for his haunting, hypnotic signature bass lines, but he approached StillWell with fresh ears and eyes. About branching out musically, he explains, "Playing guitar is completely different from playing bass. We wrote in standard tuning, which is what everybody used back in the day. In that tuning, the notes really pop out and are extremely clear. You can hear every nuance of the riffs."
StillWell is all about balance. There's a balance between hip hop and rock, a balance between aggressive music and uplifting lyrics, and a balance between darkness and light. That duality comes down to the band's very name for Q.
The frontman explains, "StillWell is an avenue in Brooklyn where I'm from, and it leads to Coney Island. When I was a kid, there was a section of StillWell where the avenue separated the classes of people. One side of the street was rugged, hood, and dangerous. The other side was residential suburban, clean-cut, and safe. The road literally separated two worlds. Similarly, this band is a balance between genres, emotions, and styles."
The quintet truly shines on their raucous, "gangsta" cover of Led Zeppelin's "Whole Lotta Love." They infuse their personal stamp on the song, fueling it with a fire all their own. "If Led Zeppelin was from the hood, this is what it would sound like," laughs Fieldy. He's not kidding either…
In the end, Dirtbag is just what hard rock could use more of these days. Fieldy concludes, "I'd like to give people music that lifts them up because this world is so rough. This is music that can pump you up and let you have a good time. We're doing it full-on street vibe, selling CDs out of the back of our trunks, and having fun with it. We want to get something out there just so we can start working on another album."
Q echoes that sentiment, "We didn't use any blueprint when we created Dirtbag. There are little pages, but there's no exact blueprint. For me, this is life changing. I want fans to hear the message and feel it. I'm just a messenger. I hope the music makes everybody want to be one big mosh pit, lose it and go crazy!"
Everywhere StillWell plays, it'll be "On & Poppin'" forever. — Rick Florino, March 2011