Full Frontal Assault:
Sam called up his long-time friend, Zen drummer Pat Rideuax, and in December, 2000 the two bands
booked their first of several shows together at a local bar called The Stagger Inn. This would soon become the
venue the band would use to first present newer material and work on various experiments in their live shows, which quickly
became quite regular.
Between Sam's connection with Zen, Mike's connection with Vagrant, and Rowland's non-stop
phone calls, StoneBlue were soon a major force on the local Long Beach music scene and it's surrounding areas,
eventually playing forty-one shows with nearly two dozen other bands. With Sam's wife Chrystal as their primary photographer,
and a web-site built by Rowland's Kelsung Productions, these shows were chronicalled in great detail.
The rapid evolution of the band's sound quickly built a strong local fan-base. They released a three-song EP in
June, and over the course of the Summer of 2001, they played fourteen shows in twelve weeks at ten different venues.
Although working with a few opening acts, most of these shows were multiple-set all-nighters. Wanting to avoid burn-out,
they took October off to fully enjoy one of Rowland's annual gigantic Halloween parties.
The band's catalog of material grew considerably, pulling out their own take on various covers ranging from
60's to 90's rock and metal, as well as adding a well-crafted new original every few months. They went back into the
recording studio and quickly released a second EP in December to make available some of the newer live favorites.
Throughout early 2002 they kept building upon their fan-base with each new show, but the Summer would bring a slow-down...
