Tyler Stone’s journey to becoming one of LA’s most magnetic indie-pop acts didn’t start under the spotlight. it started in a garage, on a drum kit gifted by a dad who couldn’t resist handing over the noise problem to Tyler’s mom and stepdad. “Best part was, I was living with my mom at the time,” Stone laughs. “So my dad got to give his kid, who couldn’t really play yet, a drum set, and keep his own garage nice and quiet.”
Music was always in the air. His “Pops” surrounded him with friends like Perry Farrell and Stephen Perkins from Jane’s Addiction before Tyler even knew those names meant rock royalty. By the time he was singing over cover songs at high-school hangouts, the seed was planted: this was the life. “I always knew I’d be playing in front of thousands. It was just a matter of when.”
The day after graduation, Stone went straight to Hollywood, landing a session at the legendary Village Studios in Santa Monica. Fate stepped in when bassist Troy Spino, moonlighting with the band Wicker, recruited him. Before long, they were signed, flirting with Sony and Universal, doing mini-tours, and even starring in a Canadian reality show. But, like many promising acts, the spark fizzled.
What followed was the darker part of the story, the “drinking and being a loser” era, as Stone puts it with disarming bluntness. A few run-ins with the law, a creative drought, and the tragic motorcycle accident that took his stepfather, a legendary Hollywood stuntman who had raised him since he was three, left him gutted. “It wrecked part of our family,” Stone says. “But I cherish the 30 years I had with him. He gave me the strength to never give up.”
Two and a half years ago, Stone decided it was now or never. He flew to North Carolina, started recording a country-pop project, and immediately felt the momentum shift. Back in LA, he linked up with childhood friend Andrew Haas. the producer behind artists like Teddy Swims, Thomas Rhett, and P!nk. Together, they crafted Stone’s debut single Southern California and an EP that’s about to drop, complete with a music video and a string of future releases in the works.
If you ask Stone, music isn’t just a career. It’s an obsession. A calling. The thing he’d be doing whether it made him millions or cost him every dime he had. His purpose is twofold: to be a devoted father to Nova, Boston, and Beau, and to move audiences the way music has moved him through every high, low, and messy middle.
Now, with spins on The SoCal Sound (88.5 FM), collaborations with heavy-hitting producers, and a hustle that doesn’t quit, Tyler Stone is ready for the leap from local favorite to stadium headliner. “I’m just at the beginning,” he grins. “And that’s what really excites me. I will be one of your future favorites.”
As Stone puts it, “God is great all the time. All the time, God is great.”
