This Thursday, In Loving Memory will make its Stony Brook University-debut, opening for Back to the Brook.
The band’s vocalist, Naveed Stone, is an engineering science major in his junior year. Tom Diognardi plays the drums. He majors in studio production at SUNY Purchase College. The two guitarists, Jon Conway and Vito Racanelli, work full-time.
Dignardi, Conway and Racanelli were originally in a band together for two years before finding Stone through YouTube. When they met the summer of 2014, it was love at first sight.
“It sounded like we were all playing together for so long,” Stone said, “All my guys are the best at their instrument out of anybody I’ve ever met. I’m really fortunate to have them and they always inspire me to become a better vocalist and just a better songwriter in general.”
Stone compared their sound to that of Pierce the Veil, Issues and Avenged Sevenfold.
“When you tell somebody you’re a metal band, people have a misconstrued idea of what that means,” Stone said. “People think you scream and yell and, I don’t know, sing about Satan, but that’s definitely not what we’re about. I feel like the metal scene now is growing a lot because bands are taking on a direction to make themselves more accessible and rock is making a comeback. I can only hope that we find our place in that whole wave.”
Because of their locations and schedules, meeting to practice is difficult. However, this does not slow them down. They operate almost entirely online, recording on their own and then sending content and ideas back and forth. They currently handle everything themselves: promoting, producing, filming and recording is all done without management.
“One of my personal challenges, being in the band, is trying to live a double life being a student and being a musician,” Stone said.
He recalled that one night, he had a show in Brooklyn as well as a thermodynamics test the next day. He studied during the car ride, and then struggled to block out his surroundings to continue studying at the bar.
When songwriting, Stone often takes inspiration from his personal life. He revealed that their song “With or Without You” was his way of expressing that with or without his parents’ support, he will still pursue music.
Despite being a newly formed band, In Loving Memory has already gained recognition. One week before this semester started, the band played at Webster Hall, the biggest nightclub in New York City.
“That was by far the best show that we’ve played,” Stone said.
Now, he is excited for their next gig at Stony Brook University.
“I’m thrilled because I get to bring something different to the table. I think that’s incredibly important for a campus with a student body as diverse as ours,” Stone said.
The members of In Loving Memory said they hope to change the common perception of what metal music is as they open for Back to the Brook and as they make a name for themselves in the music industry.
