the Stone Merchants

John Armstrong, Al Brant, Kelly Pikula and Tom Roschkov have been performing and recording together since the early 1990's. Although the Stone Merchants took a break from performing in 2005, the guys have been working on new material throughout 2008 and the band is sounding better than ever..

In addition to hopped up original material from their back catalogues (drawing from Stone Merchants, SMAC and individual members' solo projects), the band has been moving towards a much heavier, power trio-with-vocalist format and have been re-interpretting cover songs by the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Ian Moore, Nine Inch Nails, Incubus, Audioslave and more...

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Stone Merchants' History

The three original members of the Stone Merchants (Al, John & Kelly) first played together as the Al Brant Band, with Eddie Patterson on lead guitar. After the release of the album, “Let it Fly” in 1991, Eddie left the band and returned to Ontario, where he taught guitar and played for the next 7 years.  When Stuart Eiriksson joined as the new guitarist, the band's name was changed to The Stone Merchants.   In 1994, Al Brant left the band to focus on his solo career. John, Kelly and Stuart formed Naked Ape and spent the next few years playing in the bars of small town Alberta.

In the spring of 1998, John and Tom Roschkov were hosting the 3rd annual Old Strathcona Singer / Songwriter Competition and Al was booked in as a special guest on the evening of the grand finals. On short notice, the original Stone Merchants had two quick rehearsals with Tom on lead guitar. The reunion performance on May 17th was received so well that the band continued to perform sporadically  throughout 1998 and 1999.

Original guitarist, Eddie Patterson returned to Edmonton in July of 1999 and rejoined the Stone Merchants to make the band a five piece.  In 2000, the Stone Merchants released "Live in the Living Room" and a self-titled collection of various studio sessions from the '90's.  The Stone Merchants CD, "have another blue juice, mister," was recorded and released in 2001.

Eddie returned to Ontario in August of 2002.   The band continued but changed their name to SMAC (Stone Merchants Ancestors Collective).  Eddie flew back to Edmonton to record two more CDs with SMAC at Barry Allen's Homestead Recorders: 2004's "Yigi Yigi" & 2005's "vox populi."  SMAC went on hiatus after the Summer of 2005.
 

The Stone Merchants may contacted through Brass Monkey
john@brassmonkeyproductions.com

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