Posts Tagged ‘Black Stone Cherry’
Interview – The Parlor Mob
November 6th, 2009 by RBR
Ruled By Rock’s Richard Heaven caught up with Dave from The Parlor Mob on their latest UK tour supporting Black Stone Cherry.
Is this your first UK tour?
Dave: We were here back in march last year for 12 days or so. This is about 5 weeks so it the longest we have done yet.
For our readers, can you give us a quick rundown about the band?
D: We all knew each other in high school and the general area so we where all friends. We got together in 2004 and have been playing together since. The line ups been the same and we’ve changed our name a couple of years ago and here we are.
That’s pretty stable.
D: We’ve been through some rough stuff. We where signed by Capital for a while and where dropped from there and we fired people, all that silly stuff. We been through the ringer a few times you know but we’re sticking with it.
So you released your debut album last year. How was that received in America?
Dave: It was good. It was a relatively small release. We put it out – there wasn’t an excessive amount of promotion – we just toured non stop. We’ve been touring for a few years now. That was the plan though, we didn’t want to rush for the overnight smash or anything. We just wanted to tour and tour and tour – Get in front of people and play!
It’s a great pairing, you and Black Stone Cherry. Two strong American rock bands. Given the last 9 years do you think there is a resurgence of interest in hard classic rock?
Dave: I don’t really think of us as a Classic Rock band. It’s kind of like, we’re all in our mid 20’s and we know damn well what year it is so we are trying to make music for now and the future and I mean, I think it’s just been a little wild since people have started to play instruments and become creative artists. Not technically good musicians but actually play, actually create sound in one way or another. The fact that we’re doing that… and if it seems to be something that hasn’t been heard in a while… that’s cool. We’re not trying to revive anything.
More Jimi Hendrix then Herman Li.
Dave: Sure.
Talking about your time with Capital, you got dropped and chose to release you EP for free. How has free download culture affected you?
Dave: I’m of the opinion that is it doesn’t matter how people get music. It’s very obvious to me that the whole concept of downloading music for free has crippled the music industry and record sales for that matter. But people are always willing to come and see bands live and in the long run I think it will probably be a good things as, if you can’t perform and pull it off in the live setting no one is going to care you know what I mean?
You can sit in your bedroom and make music on your computer, which is cool, but people buy records. What it comes to is if you’re an artist and can travel and do shows people will understand. I’m not too worried about that kind of stuff so that’s why we decided to give away that EP and anytime we can give stuff away we will. We’re about to start a whole campaign.
We’ve been recording a lot of shows so we’re going to start giving away a lot of live tracks so anytime we can give things away we’re going to because its just good. I think if people hear stuff they like for free they are more likely to come and see us live and that’s more important to me. We want to make good records and just get out there and play. We have to be able to pay rent and support ourselves but that’s going to come. I mean, we’re at a point now that we’re travelling and touring. It’s such a small scale but we can pay our rent and bills right now. Not comfortably but it beats the 9 to 5.
What about the gear on the first album?
Dave: We basically went into the studio in Ashville North Carolina, and we had drums, guitars and bass’s already in the live room. We recorded it live however many times it took to get it right and we went back into it later and added bits like keyboards. We used a Moog Voyager a lot which was pretty cool. We used Piano’s and Organs and all different stuff because we wanted to give it more of an atmosphere and I mean, we sort of achieved it but we’re looking to expand upon the whole aspect of sound more on our next record.
We have a whole bunch of stuff that we have been messing around with now that has been helping us out a lot in the live setting to give our material more of a sound you know. Yeah, the record was pretty simple. It was pretty straight forward – we have all these songs, lets just do them and get them on tape.
So how do you approach song writing?
Dave: One or two of us will come to the table with an idea but we never have a fully fledged song which the rest of the band learns. Someone has an idea and we all get together, work on it and labour over every little detail. Sometimes things happen in an hour, we sort of blast the song out but sometimes we’ll work on something for a few hours, forget about it for a few months and come back to it. It’s kind of different every time – each song has its own different story behind it.
Is their a particular song on the album which is your favourite?
Dave: I really like ‘My favourite heart to break’ and ‘When I was an orphan’ the most because…to me… those two, more so then the others, are bigger and darker and I think are a little more representative of where our next record is heading because it’s got a kind of vibe to it.
You’ve been pushed by a few magazines as an amazing live band. Where do your live influences come from?
Dave: I think we where all big fans of At The Drive-In when we first started and Bad Brains. There where a lot of earlier punk bands we where into and even bands such as the MC5 which was Detroit Rock. Stuff like that was just rowdy you know, and to a bunch of us that came from Metal and Hardcore backgrounds we where also of the mindset of… We’re not a folk band, we’re not going to stand there and gently give you what we have. Like it or not we’re going to give it everything we have.
I think it’s kind of weird as we started playing festivals and stuff with more indie bands. We where so much heavier then them. It was cool as a lot of kids who like softer music still enjoy us for musical integrity but come to see us and it’s like a big smash in the face. I don’t think they expect it but that’s how we all came up and it’s how we all play together.
Lastly, what is your ipod top five?
Dave: For me personally… Lets think… I just got the new Muse record which I like a lot… God there’s a lot of stuff. The funny thing is we did a big six week tour is the US and we got home to New Jersey and our van got broken into. Our ipods got stolen so I don’t have an ipod anymore to listen to.
But I just got the new Arctic Monkey’s record Humbug which I really like a lot. I like Josh Hommes from Queens of the Stone Age and he produced the album so I think it was a great, great record. I also got the Dead Weather’s record. I was kind of so-so on that record, kind of ‘Ok that’s cool’ but then I got the chance to see them live at the Austin City Limits and they blew me away. I’m really into that right now.
Words: Richard Heaven
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.
Black Stone Cherry, Hammersmith Apollo, London
October 23rd, 2009 by Sophie
Words: Richard Heaven
Photo: Sophie Egboh
The scene tonight is the HMV Hammersmith Apollo. Fans have already been queuing for hours to be first at the barrier when doors open in preparation for tonight’s headliners: Black Stone Cherry.
Unfortunately this seemed, to me, to be a little bit of a fruitless endeavour as it was no problem finding a place against the metal for those willing to ignore the merchandise stall and bar.
The first band on is New Jersey’s The Parlor Mob. It is easy to see where the ‘essential live band’ tag comes from as they storm through a set of hard hitting Blues Rock, with front man Mark Melicia bearing more then a passing resemblance to Pearl Jam’s Eddie Vedder in both appearance and stage presence. Bassist Nick Villapiano and Drummer Sam Bey kept themselves to the back of stage while holding down a rock solid rhythm section. However captivating Mark’s performance was, you couldn’t help but watch the onstage chemistry between Guitarists David Rosen and Paul Ritchie – regularly playing up to each others stage moves and trading licks caused them to create a sound which was both entertaining and refreshing.
Next up is a true living legend. Duff McKagen’s Loaded is a band that I have been interested in for quite a while now but never got around to seeing – until tonight. Fronted by the bassist for both Guns N Roses and Velvet Revolver as well as containing members of Black Flag, Plexi and The Reverend Horton Heat it is clear to see Duff’s original Punk influences within the band.
Playing through a set mainly featuring ‘Sick’ era material it is clear that the band have won a few more fans tonight. This was probably helped by their covers of Misfits ‘Attitude’ and GNR’s ‘So Fine’ but it would be unfair to say that this is a band surviving off former glories. Song’s such as ‘Sleaze Factory’ and ‘Sick’ are really suited to live performances while ‘Flatline’ becomes the perfect sing-along. But the best is still to come.
Introduced as ‘a man who speaks the truth’, it is a real shock when Duff brings on Manic Street Preachers front man James Dean Bradfield to finish the set with a cover of ‘It’s So Easy’. An excellent way to finish a solid set of hard rock.
But now there is only one more band to go: Black Stone Cherry. As the backdrop falls and the lights dim the atmosphere becomes almost electric. Opening with the modern day classic ‘Rain Wizard’ and going on to rip into the best from their two albums, it is clear that Black Stone Cherry have become an extremely tight unit from their years on the road. Highlight’s include their cover of ‘Sweet Home Alabama’ and the incredibly moving anthem ‘Peace Is Free’. They end the night with the promise of thanking each and every fan by the merch table after the show and an impressive cover of Jimi Hendrix’s ‘Voodoo Child (Slight Return)’. An excellent end to a brilliant night of down to earth, bluesy hard rock.
