Interview – Black Stone Cherry
October 26th, 2009 by RBR
Words: Richard Heaven
So this is your third or forth tour over here in the UK. Feel good to be back?
Ben (Guitar/Vocals): Yeah definitely. I think this is our sixth time now. We love it over here.
The artwork of Folklore and Superstition featured a lot of British influences. Was this a nod to Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, British rock in general?
Ben: Kind of. I mean, obviously we love Zeppelin and Sabbath but we love the New Orleans vibe and the Blues thing. The title of the album and the artistic direction was kind of Folk art and New Orleans where we shot a lot of the covers and stuff. We just felt that it fitted the vibe of the songs we where putting on the album.
It did have a lot more of a Blusier feel to it compared to the first album. Can you tell us about the writing procedure for Black Stone Cherry?
Ben: It’s usually all four of us in a room together. One of us might come in with an idea and we’ll start jamming it and we’ll all add something and it becomes a Black Stone Cherry song.
You have been going for eight years. In eight years you have achieved one hell of a lot.
Ben: We started in 2001 when we where all still in high school so to think that we landed here from there is pretty amazing. I’m looking forwards to all the places we will be going to.
Especially considering you just came off the Nickleback ‘Dark Horse’ tour.
Ben: That was a great tour. It really helped us out over here and their great guys too.
At the moment you are touring with ‘The Parlour Mob’ and ‘Duff McKagen’s Loaded’. How has touring been with the living legend that is Duff?
Ben: Their both great bands. Their band is great and Duff is definitely an legendary bass player so it’s pretty awesome to have someone like that on the road. But the bill we have at the moment – if you bought a ticket to the show, you won’t be disappointed.
Talking about support bands – do you generally have a large say in the band’s you tour with?
Ben: We had some say in this one actually but it’s usually an agreement from both parties.
It has been about two years since Folklore was released. Has work began on the third album?
Ben: We’ve had a few ideas and messed around with some pieces here and there but we’ll probably start working on a new album sometime late this year. Nothing real serious yet as we’re on the road and focussed on the live show and stuff like. Then we’ll switch into writing mode.
I remember reading about the ‘Deliverance’ experience in America…
Ben: Oh yeah! That was in Jackson Mississippi, where the Mayer thought we where shooting at him when we where just setting off fireworks. Still had to play ‘Deliverance’ to calm him down.
Anything like that happened over in the UK at all?
Ben: No we haven’t had to play ‘Deliverence’ in the UK yet although I’m sure some of the fans would appreciate it. Over here we’re still not trying to get run over by the busses in the street.
So you are, along with Wolfmother and Airbourne, one of the leaders in bringing good honest Hard Rock back into the public eye. Have you noticed a cultural change in the last few years due to this?
Ben: Oh definitely you know. The cool thing about it is that our audience ranges from little kids to parents. People that maybe saw Deep Purple here at some point so it’s cool to have that age range you know. I think people are starting to catch on to the Rock playing now – it’s about time – but with each tour you do you see a little change.
Talking about Deep Purple, who would you still like to support?
Ben: We’d love to go out with Aerosmith for a while but we’ve been lucky enough to play a festival with those guys and to support Lynard Skynard, We’ve been lucky enough to play with some awesome bands. There’s plenty more out there, I mean Zepplin would be great and CCR! I’d love to play with the original CCR.
There are rumours of Sabbath reuniting for one show next year as it’s been 40 years now…
Ben: We did a show with Heaven and Hell in France. Good times.
On a lot of your artwork is the ‘Cherry Bomb’ design. How did that come to be?
Ben: We had the concept and we knew what we wanted but none of us are that talented. None of us can draw what we where imagining so a friend of ours who is a tattoo artist mocked it up for us and the first one we ever done got printed on the bass drum. It’s evolved since then so now it has a top hat but now it’s become kind of our stamp.
You all come from a very musical background. Do you think that this influenced your learning in a way that… a kid picking up a guitar and playing along to your records will lack?
Ben: Of course. I mean… when I was growing up I listened to Elvis and there aren’t many kids at five years old who where jamming out to Elvis you know. It happened with everyone else’s families as well with country music and bluegrass. It’s all been passed on down to each individual.
‘Things My Father Said’ was a very emotional song as well as a much slower track for Black Stone Cherry. Where you surprised by the responses it got?
Ben: Definitely. Everyone can or will relate to that song at some point in time. To hear people sing it at our shows is amazing. It is definitely a change of pace to what we normally do but it is very worth it as it has touched to many peoples lives. That’s why we wrote it.
A while back you released the Astoria show (limiting it to one thousand copies(. Any plans to make this available as a commercial release?
Ben: Maybe. I mean, we would like to do a live DVD on this tour but the time just wasn’t right but we really appreciate the technological advances and what it can do for us.
OK, would it be filmed in the UK or America, or maybe another country?
Ben: Probably the UK right now because we have some wild crazy fans. We love it over here.
Have their been any stand out moments on this tour so far?
Ben: Every night has been stand out. I know that sounds crazy but when you get thousands of people in front of you singing your songs and wearing your shirts… that’s pretty incredible.
