FROM THE BACKWOODS TO THE MAIN STAGE: BLACK STONE CHERRY’S BEN
By Jeb Wright
Black Stone Cherry is a band of childhood friends from a
small town in Kentucky. BSC cut their teeth on the music their
parents, schooled them on, namely Blackfoot, Lynyrd Skynyrd,
Molly Hatchet, Marshall Tucker and other southern rock greats.
This group of twenty-something rockers mix classic southern
rock with modern day Nickelback, without becoming one of the
many Nickelback clones that are out there today. The numerous
guitar solos and the Redneck attitude give these boys something
special.
Classic Rock Revisited caught up with guitarist Ben Wells to
discuss the bands’ latest CD, Between the Devil & the Deep
Blue Sea, their hit song, “White Trash Millionaire” and
their remake of the Tucker classic “Can’t You See.”
Read on, and get turned on to one of the youngest bands out
there flying the flame for classic rock.
Jeb: I was at the Moondance Jam last year where you were
filmed for Direct TV.
Ben: That’s cool. We’ve gotten a lot of fans since we did
that. The cool thing about our band is that we can do a modern
rock festival one night, and get a whole bunch of different
fans, and then we can play a classic rock gig, like Moondance,
and we fit in there too.
Jeb: A lot of people think you are a brand new band but
you’ve been doing this a while.
Ben: Our debut album came out in 2006. We are now on our
third album.
Jeb: By sticking to your guns, have you hurt yourself,
commercially?
Ben: There is always a huge part of us that will always be
who we are. We are going to stick to our guns. We are also in
the modern music world, as well. We have to play ball a little
bit in order to do this. We have to keep it modern so we have
place to fit into this world but we can also be old school
enough where we can lie down and be happy at night and know that
our heroes would be proud of us.
Jeb: Did your parents introduce you to a lot of the music you
listen too?
Ben: A lot of it came from our parents. My biggest influence
is Elvis. In our practice house in Kentucky, the walls are
covered with posters of the Allman Brothers, the Beatles,
Mountain and Cream. You can’t help but be influenced by that
stuff. We kind of sheltered out the rest of world, concerning
the music that was out at the time. We went clear back to blues
and gospel. We took all of that in and tied it all together. All
we want to do is to write great songs. The band house I am
talking about was the same band house for the Kentucky
Headhunters. Our drummer, John Fred’s dad and uncle were in the
Headhunters.
Jeb: You really are trying to mix it all together and I like
it. I love the southern influence.
Ben: We try to have a little bit of that in there. We don’t
want to neglect that but we want to do it in a way that’s cool.
Jeb: How do you handle the record industry? How do you market
yourself?
Ben: You have to look beyond the record companies because
people are always going to download stuff. We have always tried
to make our live performance great. Live concerts are the last
thing standing. Rock bands only hope left is touring. A lot of
bands go out there and give half assed concerts. We know we have
to do a good show. We need people to want to come back and see
our music. We are always trying to find ways to up our game and
not rely, solely, on record sales.
Jeb: I have seen you live. You really get into your
performance.
Ben: We love it. We grew up being fans of bands that were
great live. We were inspired to go out there and give a great
show. I don’t even pretend to know what I am doing on stage. I
guess I have mastered the skill of jumping around. I try to keep
it within reason because it is most important to play the song
well and do the best we can.
Jeb: I was in the Direct TV booth and they were digging you
and the rest of the band. It is not canned. You are just
grooving.
Ben: We love it. I would hate for somebody to complain that I
just stood still. I just get up there and go for it. It is just
the way the music moves me.
Jeb: Do songs get scrutinized by the band? Do you try to
write modern or old school?
Ben: It is whatever song stands up the best. It is all about
writing a good song. I believe a good song is a good song no
matter what. We all grew up together and that is one advantage
we have over other bands. We love each other and we are in this
together.
We formed in 2001 and Chris [Robertson] and John Fred all
went to school together in Edmonton, Kentucky. I went to school
about fifteen minutes away from there. I met them through a
friend of ours and we all shared the same passion for music. All
four of us would practice every single day and the chemistry was
just ridiculous. We were fifteen years old then and it has
really been that way ever since.
Jeb: You opened for Nickelback.
Ben: We did, overseas. They are a great group and they are
very nice guys. When they started it wasn’t all paved roads for
them either. They think big time and they have thought that way
since they first started. We are the same way. No matter what
level of success we have we think of the next level. I think
that is what keeps us striving and what keeps us going.
Jeb: Talk about the song “White Trash Millionaire.”
Ben: We wrote that song last summer. We were just having a
good time with it. We just took a break and wrote a song with
fun lyrics that didn’t mean anything and, lo and behold, it
became our biggest single.
Jeb: Do you have a song that you think will be a big hit?
Ben: I hope that a lot of them will be [laughter]. There is
song called “Won’t Let Go” that always resonates with people. I
think that one will stick with people.
Jeb: Last one: Talk about the Marshall Tucker remake “Can’t
You See.” I love how you rocked it up.
Ben: We started playing that song live when we were in
Europe. We did it more traditional at first. The label heard it
and wanted us to put it on the album. We agreed but we wanted to
make it more of our own. I think it came out fantastic. A lot of
people are digging on it. It would be awesome if any of the
Tucker guys would hear it. I would love to know what they think.
