If you live in northeast Ohio and haven’t heard of Stone Slinger, you must have been hiding in a cave for ten years — the Canton natives have played nearly every bar in the area. If that’s the case, come out of that hole and allow us to catch you up to speed. Stone Slinger consists of Todd “Wolf” Williams on vocals, Andy “Riffman” Masalko and Mike “Stone” Fisher on guitar, Neal “Beard” Franklin on bass and Kevan “Mountain” Phares rounding out the band on drums. Buzzbin caught up with the band over enough cheap beers and cigarettes to feed a village in Africa. After sighting a dump truck labeled Stone Slinger, the band members, who are all old friends, knew they had the name for their new band even though the actual music part had yet to come. “We talked about and promoted it but never played a show for like a year,” explained Williams. Parked in an abandoned schoolhouse, the band would get drunk and write a few songs — until one day they finally played a show. “We just walked in and kicked my brother’s band off the stage, playing in front of people eating dinner and then just left and that was our first show,” said Masalko. Stone Slinger was a four-piece for a few years until joining forces with Phares. After a once-in-a-lifetime gig playing drums for Warrant at sold-out arenas, Phares returned home and became a permanent part of Stone Slinger, who were just getting back on track after a brief hiatus. At that time, the band entered Immortal Studios in Canal Fulton to lay down a handful of tracks for their first EP, “Desert Dreams.” A second recording took nearly a year to complete but was never released. In 2007, Stone Slinger recorded five more songs in Pittsburgh, releasing limited copies and later putting it up on iTunes. Fisher left the band the same year to concentrate more on work. The band continued on without him but things never felt the same. “I had been out of Stone Slinger for almost four years,” Fisher said. “Andy and I would play some acoustic stuff but it just wasn’t the same.” After firing four or five bass players in two years, the band reformed with all original members this past year to work on what would be considered the best reincarnation of the band yet. “We had one practice and did 16 songs as if it was like riding a bike. We played the first show in quite some time at Sadie Rene’s to a packed house. It was a two-hour set of 20 songs with no breaks,” he said. “It was hotter than hell but everyone stayed.” Williams knew even as a child that he was destined to be a musician when he grew up. “My dad is the reason I play music. My earliest memories of childhood was being sat down in his practice space and that was how I was baby-sat,” Williams remembered. “He said, ‘You listen to Cream. You listen to Lynryd Skynrd. You play riffs.’” Bands and artists such as Crowbar, Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, Clutch, Fu Manchu, Soundgarden, The Stooges, Sir Lord Baltimore and Bad Brains are among Stone Slinger’s major influences, though their hearts are set on creating music that is original and doesn’t fit a specific genre. “There are so many bands in Canton that all play the same shit and follow the same pattern,” Phares said. “I think we are one of the few bands that said ‘Fuck that,’ and did our own thing.” The band is also not afraid to admit that each member has suffered tough times, whether it be with drug and alcohol abuse or relationship problems; however, they all feel that it is the best time than ever before to move on. “We have had a lot of demons personally and now is the time because we have our shit together,” Masalko said. “When you are able to ditch all that you can move on and do what is important.” Stone Slinger has half a dozen new tracks they plan to unleash to the masses at their next few shows. Always known for their incredibly entertaining and wild shows, all the band really wants is for the audience to have as much fun as they are having. “We want the crowd to have the same experience as we are having onstage,” Phares said. “It is our favorite thing in the fucking world to do.” Whether they ever make it to the big time or not, the members of Stone Slinger are in it for the long haul. “To us, music is like an incurable disease,” Masalko said. “We will be doing it until we die.”