With their 6th studio album “Family Tree” well and truly out there for all to hear, Black Stone Cherry find themselves once again on the road, pumping out that great Southern sound with foot tapping precision. 13 more songs have been recorded for our listening pleasure and this means even more material to squeeze into an already jam-packed set full of energy packed guitar riffs and the odd classic cover here and there. The Rockpit managed to pin down guitarist Ben Wells just as he had come off stage in Mobile, Alabama, for a chat about last year’s hectic 4-date Australian Tour, song writing, time off and their forthcoming UK Download Festival appearance.
Sean: Hey Ben, how you doing?
Ben: I’m doin’ great man, thank you.
Sean: Thanks for talking to us so soon after coming off stage.
Ben: No problem at all.
Sean: Let’s start with the Australian Shows last year (2017). I was one of the lucky ones to catch the Perth gig at The Capitol and I have to say what a fantastic night it was. The energy levels you guys had were just amazing.
Ben: Thank you; we had a great time touring Australia. It’s always good to go to new places knowing that we have fans so many miles and hours away. It’s really humbling so that was a fun tour for us.
Sean: Talking of distance, it worked out you guys traveled around 4400kms between the shows in 4 days.
Ben: And that’s what it’s all about. When you only have a short time there you just have to really get down to it so I’m glad everyone had a good time.
Sean: It certainly left an impression as it was voted as the live performance of 2017 here at The Rockpit so well done for that.
Ben: Thank you very much.
Sean: You managed to play 4 or 5 covers including Bad to the Bone, Whole Lotta Love & Voodoo Child. How do you pick covers to fit in your set?
Ben: We try to mix it up but there are so many great songs we like to do and do our own version of. Each night, especially now on this new tour we’ve begun, we are trying to do a different set list every single night. That way every show is different & special and we can play as many songs as we want to. Whole Lotta Love is such a fun one to do too.
Sean: How does it feel going back to playing the smaller more intimate venues?
Ben: It’s fun for us because we still play venues like that all over the world. For us it’s about getting up on stage and playing music and making sure people are having a good time and they are feeling it. That’s all that matters. We’ve played in front of 1000’s of people before and they haven’t been as reactive as 150 people. It’s about the ones that are there that night and if they are having a good time then we’re happy.
Sean: So the new album release is “Family Tree”, how did the name come about?
Ben: We had the song written first and honestly, after we had written that song, the album named itself. We’re a very family orientated group of guys who are very close, our crew members are like family so it kinda just worked and we were all on the same page with it.
Sean: How long did the album take to put together from writing the first songs to getting them down in the studio?
Ben: We started writing at the end of our winter last year (March 2017) and continued to write while we were out on tour. We wrote a whole bunch of stuff in the summer which we kinda scrapped but after doing the Black to Blues EP we got re-influenced by that music that we had listened to, so we went back and started to write a bunch of songs again. The only one that made it from the original songs is “James Brown”. Then in September we hit the studio and it took around 28 days to record it all.
Sean: Once again the album has 13 tracks on it. How many did you have to select from?
Ben: This time we only recorded around 15 tracks (with a couple of covers) instead of recording 30 songs and picking from them. It made it so much easier for us because we became more focused and could give each song the time it deserved.
Sean: When you guys are song writing do you start with music first or lyrics?
Ben: 99.9% of the time it’s always the music first, which always revolves around a guitar riff and then after that it will become a melody – occasionally a melody first. This then sets the tone for what the song is gonna be.
Sean: Has it stayed the same way over the 6 albums as you as a band have matured?
Ben: I think that process as stayed the same with that formula but we’ve certainly matured as song writers both lyrically & melodically.
Sean: I see you’ve recorded with Warren Haynes (Allman Bros & Gov’t Mule) on the new album. How did that come about?
Ben: We met Warren years ago in New York City when we did a showcase for a record label; we saw Gov’t Mule last summer and talked to Warren after the show. We had the song Dancing in the Rain and thought that he would be perfect on that track – we could just hear his voice & guitar work on there. So we sent him the demo and asked if he wanted to be part of it, he loved it but was on tour at the time. So we had to send him the track and he recorded it in the studio at his home and sent it back to us – he did just a fabulous job.
Sean: With so many good songs on the album my favourites keep changing. Dancing in the Rain, My Last Breath & Southern Fried Friday Night all stand out for me. Loving it.
Ben: Thank you so much. I appreciate that.
Sean: This is the fourth time you’ve recorded at David Barrick’s Recording Studio. Tell me what so special for you guys about that place.
Ben: It’s our hometown studio and David (Barrick) who owns it is just such a great person to work with. The four of us are really hands on in the studio. We like to produce it and be fully involved. But David who is an engineer is almost like a ghost member – he manages to pull things out of us without crossing the line or telling us what we need to do. We had a great working relationship with him since before we were even signed. He understands the band, where we are coming from and always gets a great sound.
Sean: The album cover is pretty striking. The obvious connection to the Family Tree but can you tell me anymore about the artwork?
Ben: You know that tree is actually on our drummer John Fred Young’s farm and he took the photo and did the artwork for it. But we really wanted to find the right tree too. It’s a stand-alone tree in the woods and it just was perfect. He did a fantastic job with it and it’s probably my most favourite album cover so far.
Sean: So outside of the studio and off tour how does Ben Wells unwind?
Ben: Me and the wife kinda hang out together and we have two dogs, beagles. We just hang out with them. We are pretty low key. I like to play golf in my spare time otherwise we’re pretty chilled. All the guys are the same – grocery shopping, just normal stuff that everyone likes to do – from music on the road to being husbands & dads.
Sean: So again when away from it all, what happens with the guitars at home? Do you have time without picking them up or is it an everyday thing to play?
Ben: No, I have guitars all over the house so I always have to pick ‘em up and play. I’m not one to come off the road and stop playing because music is a part of who we are and I love to play or practice. It just feels good to have a guitar in your hand. So I’ve always got that going on.
Sean: So the US tour is well underway now. How’s the new material playing live?
Ben: It’s going great live. The fans are loving it; we are doing new songs each night. Everything is going real good. The fans are being really receptive and singing along. It feels really good.
Sean: And once the US tour finishes it’s off to Germany & Ireland and a place you can almost call your second home, The UK Download Festival.
Ben: Yeah that’s gonna be a big show for us. We’ll be spending most of June overseas with some festivals but Download is the biggest by far for sure. Super excited by that and good to get over there, because we haven’t been over there for more than a year. So it will be great to see all those people and play all our new songs to them.
Sean: Second on the bill to Guns n Roses this year. Have you met the guys before?
Ben: No I haven’t. But we met Duff when he opened for us in 2009 overseas and that was a good time. So we’ll see.
Sean: Very jealous that I’ll be in Australia instead of at one of my favourite rock venues, Donington Park.
Ben: It should be an awesome show.
Sean: And the set list? Will it differ much to what you’re doing on this tour?
Ben: It will be a mixture again. We will play the songs everyone is familiar with as well as get the new songs out there too. We just want it to keep fresh not only for us but for the audience too.
Sean: “Things my Father Said” still brings a tear to my eye when I hear it live – Great song.
Ben: Thank you very much. It’s such a good song. A lot of people love that song.
Sean: Difficult one now, if you had the chance to be credited with writing any song ever produced what would it be?
Ben: Wow that’s a hard question – but a good one. I’m a huge fan of gospel music and one of my favourite gospel songs is an old one called “How Great Thou Art”. I would love to have been involved with that song. Or anything by Elvis Presley.
Sean: The one thing the Australia BSC fans want to know is when are you guys back here to see us again?
Ben: We’re trying trust me. We’re beating up our booking agent every day to try get us over there. I know it’s in the plans so hopefully sometime early next year.
Sean: Great news. It just leaves me to say a huge thank you and send all the guys our best wishes on the success of the new album & tour. Thanks Ben and hope to see you in 2019.
Ben: Cool thank you buddy. I appreciate you time.
INTERVIEW by SEAN BENNETT
