Indie label COP International Records has announced the signing of the newest artist to its label roster, Stoneburner. The post-industrial music and art project is the latest from prolific multimedia creative Steven Archer, also known for co-founding the darkwave gothic rock duo Ego Likeness (Metropolis Records) with Donna Lynch that formed in 1999 and has successfully released several albums and completed several tours in Europe. Stoneburner’s new album Apex Predator will arrive in 2021, and have production from industrial music legend John Fryer (Depeche Mode, Nine Inch Nails, Love & Rockets, Stabbing Westward).
Stoneburner is steeped in sci-fi themes and is inspired by many of the otherworldly fiction Archer likes to read and the accompanying videos for each song that Archer self-produces are mired in these themes as well. The project’s name is taken from a weapon from the science fiction novel Dune; Archer’s once guiding light for the project was seeking to answer the question, “What would dance music on Dune planet Arrakis sound like?”
Archer comments: “For this album, I decided to write music that I feel addresses the ways modern industrial music falls short. Focusing not on dance floors and clubs but writing songs with intelligent lyrics that speak to the human condition, both in general and based on my own personal experience.”
Apex Predator is set to be released by COP International Records in 2021 and will be produced by the lauded John Fryer whose production credits include Depeche Mode, Nine Inch Nails and Love & Rockets. Fryer also acts as COP International’s A&R agent. The album will be a follow-up to Stoneburner’s last self-released LP Technology Implies Belligerence. Says Archer of that release, “It was the industrial record that I have been promising myself I would make for my entire life.”
In the past year, the inexhaustible creative has produced 3 EPs, a mini full-length of original Stoneburner material, two records of instrumental soundscape tracks, and three EPs of covers, along with 15 videos—and looks forward to bringing this same level of creative output to his new relationship with COP International.
In addition to his music works, Archer has also made a career in fine art and commission works as well as writing, including crafting an illustrated version of Edgar Allen Poe’s “Masque of the Red Death,” which is on the preliminary ballot for the Stoker Award category for Excellence in a Graphic Novel. As well, he wrote a children’s book called Luna Maris and can be found selling his artwork at shows when on tour..”
Follow Stoneburner/Steven Archer/Cop International:
https://www.stoneburnerband.com
https://www.facebook.com/stoneburnerofficial
https://stoneburnerofficial.bandcamp.com/
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZ6tS625H1HKv-e4A00QDdg