Rock on Purpose writer Jessica Walker and Toby Durlin (son of lead contributor Matt Durlin) met up with the guys from Stonewall Static after their show at Chains Unchained Festival to get to know more about the band. They talked about everything from their music and mission to their unique merch table (we’re not kidding: Mario Kart is involved). Read the full interview below!
Where are you guys from?
We are from San Antonio, Texas!
How long have you been a band?
We’ve been active as a band— playing live shows— for about 2 years. We started writing and recording our debut album Transistor about 3 years ago.
What got you into music?
2 of us were born into it! Our dad was a touring musician all throughout his adult life, and he got us into it.
Tell us about your new single that came out this summer!
“Get This Kid a Medal” is a song that encapsulates the Bible verse ”whatever is set before you, do it with all your strength.”
If God has equipped us with these gifts that He wants us to go out into the world and use, and we are being lazy about it, and we get complacent and just expect to be given rewards for just sitting around when we could be out there doing the Lords work…that’s not right!
The twist at the end of the song is that it goes from a sarcastic ”get this kid a medal” to a good turnaround that explains how you shouldn’t miss out on getting out there and getting work done and feeling that reward when all of that pays off.
Your merch table is definitely different; it stands out. What inspired you to set it up like that?
We want people to show up and get the best possible experience they can. That’s also for the festival’s sake as a whole. We want people to show up and get more than they expected to get.
We have the “glow stick lounge” set up where people can sit down, get drinks, and play Mario Kart with us. All of that stuff is honestly a form of ministry for us, because we get to give people a great time that they didn’t expect, and maybe in making them feel comfortable and welcome that way it’ll open up more gospel conversations.
If everyone could leave your concert with one verse in their minds, what would it be?
“Wretched Man that I am, who can deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to our Lord Jesus Christ.” [Romans 7:24]
That’s what I want them to come away from the show with. We’re nothing good; the message of our show is that through Christ, life can get better. But it doesn’t get better because of us or anything we do, it gets better because of what was done at the cross of Jesus.
What does it feel like to be up on stage influencing all these people?
Stressful. Don’t know why we chose to do this… we didn’t choose! We were just kind of called to be here. It’s humbling. It’s a responsibility, for sure.
When you are writing a new song, there is a weight to it. Coming off of our first record and realizing there are people listening now, there’s definitely a responsibility to say what you want to say correctly and clearly and make sure people know the points we are trying to get across, without lines getting blurred. The last thing we want to do is have people infer the wrong message off of a lyric; the last thing we want is for our lyrics to be unclear. We don’t want people to take the message that God has called us to give and look at it in any other way except through Jesus.
For instance, we don’t want people to take away a 12 step program to personal happiness. No. You need Jesus. Jesus loves you, and Jesus died for you. So as Christians, we have to make sure that that gospel message is not missed. We even have to craft or show in a way that people don’t miss Jesus.
What was your journey like to get to where you are today?
It was very hard, first of all. It was a good while before we were even getting booked for shows. The first show that we ever had was a livestream show that we put on ourselves… and this was before livestream shows were a big thing (before COVID).
After we did that, people started seeing that livestream show. That helped get our foot in the door to play some small shows, to play some festivals. After that, the exposure began to come from word of mouth. And the more people who saw it and told their friends, who then told their friends, the more people showed up to shows!
You can get to know Stonewall Static better by following them on Facebook and Instagram. Stream their music on Spotify and Apple Music.
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