Jade Like The Stone collaboration Kickstarter campaign

Sometime last year we’ve met Welch vocalist Jade Like The Stone for the first time. We’ve cut two Masterlink Session videos with her (‘Happiness’ and ‘Heavy’). We really enjoyed her enigmatic and unique vocal style as well as her songs. Although her overall style is a few steps removed from our customary instrumental Jazz Funk – we all relished in the fact that we could re-connect to our rockier side of playing.

After all Mike Sturgis drummed for bands like Psycho Motel (formed by Iron Maiden guitarist Adrian Smith), Wishbone Ash, Asia and 21 Guns, etc.), Tony Remy was in Jack Bruce’s band (Cream) over a decade and I’ve played in a heavy rock band with Bush drummer Robin Goodridge recording with Mötley Crüe and Rob Zombie producer Scott Humphries in LA at his Chop Shop not that long ago. Last but not least – the three plus Karl Vanden Bossche have been in the engine room of The Staks Rock’n’Roll band as long as I can think of.

When Jade sings her songs she is taken you on a journey – you want to listen and you can feel the emotional truth in her stories and I find her – for lack of better description – ‘real’, rootsy and connected to the earth – almost spiritual. I don’t think we have invited many artists back to do a Masterlink Session but we extended the invitation to Jade during lock-down. As C19 restrictions meant we couldn’t record inside the Masterlink studio we simply set up in the Courtyard and started filming. A combination of rain and neighbors stopped us in the end but not before we captured two outstanding videos. One of them being ‘Blackbirds’ – to us a magical performance – there is a gritty yet magical realism in the performance combined with a brilliant sound recording and absolute stellar filmography. (James and Leo were rocking it large capturing Jade, Mike, Tony, Ross and myself).

After we listened back to ‘Blackbirds’ we all started to feel that we should aim at a larger collection of songs with Jade to be able to release an album.

Streaming is a great way to enjoy music and also to discover new exciting artists – the downfall is that the revenue streams for indie artists are minute. However, physical products like CDs or vinyl can not only help to pay for production costs but also help the artists to be able to keep on creating music.

With this in mind the idea of a Kickstarter campaign was born. Jade is currently pledging for £2,500 – all of which could be used to print limited edition CDs and vinyl to share our collection of songs which will be called: ‘7 Roads’ (Live at Masterlink)

If you want to support Jade and this collaboration project CLICK HERE and pick your pledge – it seems like there is a band for everyone who enjoys sincere and sincerely rocking music with a soaring and enigmatic voice too booth.

About Jade Like The Stone

Jade Danielle Williams – aka Jade Like the Stone – is a uniquely talented emerging artist with a particularly interesting backstory; one that encompasses a life changing scholarship to Wells Cathedral School, at the age of 15, from her Welsh valley working class roots, alongside a rich cultural and artistic family background, amidst her own particular interest in Celtic history and folklore.  

By dint of hard work and obvious talent Jade has, despite very limited financial resources, built an enviable reputation as an elite and unique vocalist – and songwriter/poet and storyteller, indeed – winning not only a growing band of committed of followers and supporters but also industry champions, including BBC Radio Wales, Led Zeppelin legend Jimmy Page, the blues/rock community and now, most recently, Redtenbachers Funkestra, a multi national band comprising of some of the most heavily CV’d musicians around (think Elton, Bowie, Annie Lennox, Jack Bruce etc) who were so impressed by her that they invited her to record an album with them.

Jade now wishes to build upon her rising profile and emerging opportunities to progress in an industry which has been particularly badly hit by the COVID pandemic. Namely, she has already recorded (and filmed) a collaborative album with Redtenbacher’s Funkestra, one of Europe’s most respected studio house band’s around, and is now looking for extra help and support to both promote and market the release properly and also to manufacture physical product – vinyl, CD and DVD – to offer her growing fanbase. We do hope you are able to support her at this critical point of her journey – her first. album ‘proper’, a collaboration with some of the finest and most respected musicians in the business.

“You have a superstar voice. Your voice sounds like a logo – like Jennifer Hudson’s voice is a logo, like Beyonce’s voice is a logo, Kate Bush’s voice is a logo. You have that uniqueness to your voice !” – Will.i.am