Singer/guitarist Tarek Jafar and drummer Justin Tessier might have polished their sound for November LP Pretty Monster, but The Blue Stones don’t want listeners to think they’ve lost their edge.
“It might look shiny, well-produced and the image is tight, but when it gets down to the nitty gritty of our music, we still have a lot of energy, a lot of beast-like emotion when we go up on stage and perform,” Jafar tells the Weekly. “That pretty monster, in a way, is our project. That’s how I see us.”
Where the Canadian blues-rock duo’s 2021 LP Hidden Gems “had more of an emphasis on ambiance, ethereal sounds, tones and a lot of reverb,” in Jafar’s words, Pretty Monster moves in a dancier direction. “This album is really reined-in tight, punchy. There’s nothing being hidden or drowned out in reverb or any kind of delay. It’s all in your face.”
The Blue Stones, who’ll make their Las Vegas debut June 10 at 24 Oxford, worked with Grammy-winning producer Joe Chiccarelli (The White Stripes, Alanis Morissette) to draw the grooves into Pretty Monster. “He’s, to put it in the nicest words possible, a tone freak,” Jafar laughs. “We would spend maybe three hours trying to dial in the sound of a snare. Because we worked with somebody who was so meticulous about that, we ended up coming out with an album that was very focused on tones.”
The Blue Stones are also applying a meticulous approach to their live show, which Jafar says is shaping into something more theatrical. “I want you to feel like the main character in a movie, at all times, when you’re listening to our music. I want you to watch us perform and think, ‘That was one of the best live shows I’ve ever seen in my life’.
“That’s what influenced us early on as musicians,” he continues. “We would watch The Black Keys or Mutemath, and we would think to ourselves, ‘I can’t believe how amazing that show was.’ That’s something I want to give people.”
Tessier and Jafar’s friendship dates back to their pre-teens, when they played on the same youth hockey team in Canada. They’ve since grown up together, released three LPs, toured the world and learned many lessons. “For Justin and I, as ambitious individuals, there really is no point where we can be like, ‘Oh, we’ve achieved exactly what we want to achieve, and there’s nothing left,’”Jafar says. “There’s always going to be that next step that you can take.”
The Blue Stones explore that pursuit on the song “What’s It Take to Be Happy?” But these days, a lot of Jafar’s joy comes from motivating the fanbase and offering them “some confidence and a feeling of swagger in their everyday lives.”
Jafar says the 24 Oxford gig has been selling better than expected—“We didn’t even know if we had a fanbase in Las Vegas,” he laughs—and that The Blue Stones plan to approach the city differently than the average tourist.
“The team that I was following got kicked out of the playoffs, so I’m kind of a [Golden] Knights guy right now,” he laughs. “I would love for the Knights to be in the finals when we’re in Las Vegas. That would be awesome.”
The Blue Stones With The Velveteers. June 10, 7 p.m., $22-$47. 24 Oxford, etix.com.
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