We got the privilege to meet and chat with Ben and John Fred from Black Stone Cherry, discuss about their new album, check it out!
Hey guys how are you?
Ben Wells (guitar): Good!
John Fred Young (drums): Really good!
Reading the presskit “we hit a creative spark and tapped into a spirit we hadn’t before”. What happened? Was this during the jams/writing? How do you explain this sentence? What did you make feel this way?
Ben: We did an EP lasy year called “Back To Blues” (2017) where we covered six of our favorite blues songs and I think that’s where we got the rejuvenation in the band creatively ’cause we grew up listening to blues music and practicing blues and playing it together when we first started. When it came time to dig in that music again and record those songs I think it just reinspired us ’cause it’s always been there, it just shook us a little bit “this is who you are”. So when it came time to write and record the new album I think that spirit from that old music just spilled over and gave us a new spirit to go by.
Weren’t you a bit concerned if this could affect your whole music?
John Fred: Yeah we were having girlfriends. (laughs) No I don’t think we were. Every time you go to a record, the pressure is on the make a great album but for us the sound of this record wasn’t foreign for us because we had grown up with all those great classic influences. It’s not that we tried something new on this record, it’s just that we actually sorted playing songs in the fashion of how we really can as a band. Obviously if you read about us and the band’s history, there was a time where we were with the previous label and got released. It was absolutely one of the best things that happened to us because we were able to have a moment where we were free from any kind of control and we started writing songs, find a new great label Mascot, and they really understood the band a lot more and how to let us be ourselves. That’s why you’re seeing things like “Kentucky” (2016) better exposing our true roots. We’re proud of it, it’s definitely another mental piece that we got.
“Family Tree” is pretty unique considering your discography. The vibe and mood are bit different here, do you agree?
Ben and John Fred: Oh yes!
Do you think people will be surprised?
Ben: I think that they’ll be pleasently surprised and just by judging the reactions so far, everybody is loving it. Plus during interviews, everyone talks about the organic sound and the rock n’roll! I think that’s what people want from us and what we want from us too. We’re just very happy and this album isn’t overthought, overproduced, it’s just us in a room playing some music and I think that’s what we do best.
What about the process? We read that you didn’t rehearse that much before recording. Keeping space for spontenous things. Why/how this way of work? Any examples of what you did considering this space for immediate ideas.
Ben: Yes we made the decision collectively even if we knew the songs before hitting the studio. The thing was to leave space to spontaneity and to mistakes because sometimes mistakes can make great things and spur the moment. We also wanted to capture the energy because sometimes you can over rehearse and over write and overthink songs. We were live and just plugged and played the songs.
John Fred: On this album we had the organ on some tracks, female backing vocals once again like on “Kentucky” and we also have horns on this record. We always look and listen to band like the Stones, the Beatles how had all those kind of sounds on their records so.
Ben: It’s just another step forward in this musical journey.
Was it an easy album to record? Did you have fun? Because sometimes bands are like “oh it was hard etc.”
Ben: I think it was a lot of fun. The four of us a really hands-on and involved and the guy that owns the studio David Barrick he works with us really really well. We have a great chemistry together so yes every time we go to the studio we try and keep a good vibe. You might get frustrated or what but we all want the same result and the best thing. It’s a much better atmosphere for us since we took control on what we do.
What’s the whole meaning of “Family Tree”? How do the songs interact between them?
John Fred: Obviously it came from the song and it’s just a song going out in the world, living the life always connected to where you’re from. And that’s been one of the core modos in our band and family is extremely important for us. Picking up a title with all those songs is always hard but in this case it was a no brainer “Family Tree man”. Recording at home with David that’s just us.
Ben: It’s not a concept album but we always try to pick a title that defines the overall essence of the album and the band. “Family Tree” stood out for us so we didn’t look for any other idea.
A word about “Southern Fried Friday Night”. What’s that about? Looks like a fun topic.
John Fred: It is! It’s about having a party and for us it’s kind of how we got around when we were kids. 16/17 years old at the practice house. And it’s still what we do on Friday nights but everybody can have a “southern fried friday night” anywhere on Earth. It’s a good hang out party song.
We noticed you’re a fan of the talkbox pedal, Ben. What do you find cool about it?
Ben: It’s kind of a lost art anymore in new music. Some people still ask me what kind of effect that is but they’re not familiar with it. But you don’t hear it anymore nowdays so for us it’s kind of fun even if we don’t want to over use it because it can be very easy to do. But we try to find spots for it at least once an album. It’s just a really cool effect.
John Fred: Ben has a made the talkbox his signature instrument besides his guitar. It’s been a great addition to the band’s sound, we’re glad to have it.
By the way are you guys gear geeks?
John Fred: Yeah just a touch. (laughs)
Ben: It’s always fun to acquire a new stuff, pedal or something. Any musician is a gear freak because…
John Fred: Those are your swords man. Then you’ll try to figure out some space for that stuff because you don’t know what to do with all of those. (laughs)
You have two guests on the album: Warren Haynes and Chris’ kid. Can you tell us more about it? How did it happen?
Ben: With Warren, we met him years and years ago in NY and Chris and I got to see Gov’t Mule last year and we talked to Warren after the show and said “hey man someday we’ll record an album and we’d love to have you on it” and he said “sure I’d like that”. So when we got in the studio recording the album, we always knew that song “Dancing In The Rain” kind of had the spirit of Gov’t Mule and we sent him the track and said he’d love to be a part of it. We were freakin’ out (laughs) and he just nailed it. It’s a complete honor to have him associated with us.
And Chris’ son, it was a very spontanious thing. Chris’ wife stopped by with their son and he heard the demo of the song “You Got The Blues” and he was singing it at home. “Lets put a microphone on him” and just like that we deciced to put it on the record. It was pretty cool the way it worked out. It just kind of happen.
Aren’t we discovering another layer from your band? It’s still very rock, blusier, less heavy and way more midtempo and a lot more melodic. Are we getting it?
Ben: I think that’s fair assessment. We want the songs to have a good melody. It can be a soft song or a heavy one, melody is important. We wanted the songs to have some weight on it so people can sing too. Of course it’s always about having a good message too lyrically and melodically. On this one, we just wrote songs. We weren’t looking to write heavy songs because we needed to or soft songs because we needed soft songs. There’s only one ballad on the album. Again it just came out very natural but melody is always a big part because all four of us write with different influences. The music’s mixture feels good to us with good messages behind it and has good melody.
Finally, we are “RockUrLife” so what rock Ben and John Fred’s lives from Black Stone Cherry?
Ben: John Fred rocks my life. (laughs)
John Fred: Ben rocks my life (laughs)
Ben: I don’t know man. We’re so lucky doing what we do, work very hard. It’s still tricked to come over and speak to people like you all over Europe. We started as teenagers so it’s pretty cool to be able to do it. That’s pretty rockin’. We try to take anything for granted.
John Fred: It’s crazy to be able to tour the world and see people who love your music and us as people. We get to do this, see the world, make music and we get to affect people we even don’t know sometimes. It’s a win/win, we’re very fortunate people.
Website: blackstonecherry.com
