Sonic Stew is the result of an idea of Patrick Butler to create a "stew" of music. "I started each Stew by laying down the first chord structures - like a base broth - then each member adds their own part, stacking flavor after flavor," says Butler. The heads were composed afterwards. "I didn't want to give too much guidance to the players," comments Butler, "This allowed the musicians to freely contribute musical ideas to the Stew recipes."
By choosing to play rhythm guitar over lead guitar on the Stew tracks, Butler controls from behind the scenes. If listeners are expecting a lot of hot shot guitar solos, they may be disappointed! By layering electric and acoustic bass with two percussionists, the Stews have a bold sound.
Butler concludes "I had no idea what this finished product was going to sound like when I started, this was the opposite approach from my previous releases."