Countrymusic recently sat down with London based Country/Soul/Pop band Stone Jets. Stone Jets are Given Nkanyane and Manfred Klose, both from South Africa. They moved to the UK in 2019. They played Black Deer in 2024 and the Pilton Stage at Glastonbury.
What inspired the formation of Stone Jets, and how did you meet?
For us, the driving force behind the band has always been the pursuit of human connection. This inspiration continues to be at the heart of everything we do. I recall a particularly poignant moment that solidified this vision.
I had written a few songs and hadn’t shared the stories behind them with anyone. When I first met Manfred in the studio, he was working as a session guitarist. As he began playing to those songs, it felt like he had been there with me during the writing process. The intensity of that connection struck me profoundly.
In that instant, I realized that any thoughts I had of pursuing a solo career were overshadowed by the unique bond we had formed. Such a deep and rare connection is a once-in-a-lifetime occurrence, and I knew I had to seize the opportunity to continue making music together. We only have one life, so why not make the most of it?
Given
How did the name ‘Stone Jets’ come about?
We wanted a name that was quite unique but also something that resembles who we are. The stone in Stone Jets means it’s the part that keeps us grounded as humans, to be aware of our surroundings and people around us. The jets is to remind us to take off and do crazy things and do things we dream of and that’s how Stone Jets comes together. It is our true north in the world if we ever get lost.
Manfred
Why did you choose music as a career?
I come from a very normal non musical family so when I picked up a guitar my world just changed and I discovered all these bands and all this music. The day I picked up a guitar I knew I was going be a musician.
Manfred
I did not know I wanted to do music until music was the only thing that I could do that made me feel like I’m human and I belong. I believe that it’s the purest form of expression that unabashedly shares who I am with people and makes me makes my existence count for something.
Given

Please tell us about your influences.
I love classical music, opera. Composers like Mozart, Donizetti, Bellini to Guiseppe Verdi. And rock, I love Queen and Boston and Journey. On the contempory side from Amy Winehouse to Lauryn Hill, to Musique-Soul Child to Ella Fitzgerald, it’s a wide range. I think music has always been part of my life but not in a analytical or in a way to be studied but more of “oh, my life is brown now, so a little bit of Sam Cook”, or “today I’m feeling green, that would include a little bit of Sarah Vaughan, a little bit of Amy Winehouse or Jamie Cullum”. It’s just like a scale of colours.
Given
How about South African influences?
It’s quite strange to think about home as an influence but Miriam Makeba, Jonas Gwangwa. We grew up listening to a wide range of music at home and so Mbaqanga is a style of music that was around me. There are groups like Malaika in in South Africa which were an Afro pop band that also were part of my childhood. All these artists brought a lot of colour into my life.
Given
I grew up listening to a lot of classic rock music and then through my teen years I discovered a lot of bands in South Africa that made some influential music around through the 80s and 90s, and I mixed that with a lot of West African music that was listening to at the time. When I started playing I was blending that South African sound to make my own guitar identity.
Manfred

What have been your most memorable moments playing as a band together?
I think playing to the backdrop of Table Mountain in Kirstenbosch Gardens just before we moved over to London, when we did the show with James Morrison. It was the last big gig in South Africa before we moved over to London.
Manfred
Glastonbury was a real eye opener in that people people convene for music. It’s brilliant because we’ve been to festivals and people come there for the festival experience as a whole, but in Glastonbury it felt like this constant current and tide of people who are consciously tapped into the music.
Given
Is there any any advice you could give to aspiring musicians in the UK or abroad?
I would say believe in what you do and work very hard in your dream. It’s gonna be tough but you just need to fight through the tough times and just always be prepared and always be ready for your moment.
Manfred
Just believe in yourself and work as hard as you can. Eventually it will come together. People will get used to what you’re doing, people will get used to your sound and your ideas and eventually people will start coming to your gigs and it’ll grow.
I would just say tap into who you are and keep it that way. Everything else changes, everything else is in other people’s hands, but you’ve got your own life in your hands. Your own ideas, your own existence and anything that helps you sustain that and keeps it moving then do that. There are so many people and things that can distract you from it, but being who you are and keeping true to that is the most important thing.
Given
What are your goals for this year?
I think the biggest goal is to is to continue on the True North. I think we open ourselves up to so much, we go to gigs and when we meet people we just don’t do it and say oh that’s work and then switch off. We keep connecting with people all the time. What we do is not just for fun or for fame or for whatever, but it’s to make sure that we’re pulling towards coming together and connecting as a human race.
Given

Stone Jets
Formed in 2013 by Given Nkanyane and Manfred Klose, the band blends feel-good vibes with rhythmic soul and sincerity.
Drop into their socials to keep up to date:
And keep an eye on countrymusic.co.uk for upcoming live gigs.