WITH prestigious festival dates at Download and Isle of Wight confirmed, and a pre-album release UK tour booked, the last thing rockers Stone Gods needed was to lose their drummer. But when sticksman Ed Graham injured his back and suffered hip problems there were fears that all dates, including tomorrow's at Birmingham Carling Academy, would have to be cancelled. "Ed was advised by doctors not to tour so we had a choice - pull the tour or get someone else on board," reveals Lichfield-born frontman Richie Edwards. "By some miracle we were able to recruit ex-Bush drummer Robin Goodridge who's an old friend of ours. On the Monday he'd never heard a note of our music - and we were due to play at Download on the Friday. "There were three days of intensive rehearsals and Robin was awesome. I don't know how he managed to learn everything. I forget some of the stuff, and I wrote it! We were very lucky to get him on board." Richie is living a charmed life with his bands - plucked from obscurity to play bass with The Darkness, he completed just one tour before singer Justin Hawkins announced he was quitting. Richie feared his music career was over but the remaining members, Ed Graham and Justin's brother Dan, regrouped as Stone Gods, recruited bassist Toby MacFarlaine and invited Richie to be their singer and rhythm guitarist. Two people particularly happy that the band made it to Download at Donington Park are Richie's mum and dad, Jackie and Len. "They live in Lichfield and come to all our local shows," Richie says. "They asked me to get them tickets for Download and they had a great day, watching us, then checking out some of the other bands. Stone Gods' debut album, Silver Spoons & Broken Bones, is released on July 7. It's a diverse collection of tracks with a Classic Rock backbone. "There was no conscious decision to go in a particular direction. We just threw everything into the pot - but there's no getting away with the fact that myself and Dan's influences are the likes of Led Zeppelin, AC/DC and Queen." There's no bad feeling about Justin jumping ship from The Darkness. "Dan speaks to him regularly," Richie says. "He's in the process of getting a new band up and running, and I've heard it's massively different to what we're doing. I believe his material is based on an 80s pop vibe - I'm looking forward to hearing what he's done." * Ticket info Stone Gods play at Carling Academy 2, Birmingham tomorrow. Tickets: 0844 477 2000. | 
