2020 has been a horrible year for music fans. Here in Australia we’re still cut off from the rest of the world and whilst it means that we get no overseas artists paying us a visit, we do at least have local music back to a degree. Then along comes an album that is so fine, so well-put together and so brimful of great songs you know that your world will not be complete until you see it ‘live’ in all it’s glory. Black Stone Cherry have put out some great albums over the years and given us so many great memories, but ‘The Human Condition‘ may well just be the very best so far. We caught up with Ben Wells to talk all about it.
Ben: Hello Mark, how’s it going?
Mark: Hi Ben, it’s going well my friend. It’s always great to talk to Black Stone Cherry when there’s a new album on the way. I think the last time we spoke to you was about a year ago now and things were a little different out there then. How are you and the guys holding up?
Ben: We’re good man, we’re taking it day by day, just waiting to see when the touring front opens back you know (laughs). And now mainly with keeping ourselves busy with promoting the new album, at least that kind of feels normal!
Mark: And let’s hope it all gets back to normal soon! As you know The Rockpit has been a great supporter of the band since the beginning, we’ve seen you play live on four different continents, but I don’t think there’s been an album I’m more wanting to hear live than ‘The Human Condition’ – it’s a fantastic album and I actually think it’s your finest moment so far.
Ben: Thank you very much, I really appreciate that. We are super proud of this record for sure.
Mark: It sounds and feels like everything has come together in the perfect storm on this one. I loved the way you went back to your roots on albums like ‘Kentucky’ but this almost feels like the second wave of Black Stone Cherry. There’s not a song on there I don’t love.
Ben: Thank you. I think we worked really hard on putting these songs together. Each album we want to be different to the last, but this one, to people who have heard it, seems to be a great culmination of everything we’ve done so far, you know. And somewhat of a goal with this was to make sure we included some bits and pieces from each album that we were most proud of and we just put it all in to this one.
Mark: That’s a fantastic way of describing it I think. I just have to say before we look at some of the songs that the solo on ‘If Your Heart Had Wings’ is amazing, it just fits the song so beautifully.
Ben: Thank you, I have to give credit to Chris – that was actually Chris’ solo. Chris played it and I pitched in and was able to help him with some of the melody lines. A lot of times Chris and I will come up with different solos and we’ll kind of critique each other. He might look at me and say “What do you think about this?” and I might say “That’s cool but maybe do this or try that here?” But honestly I’m glad you brought that up because that is one of my favourite solos of his on the record.
Mark: I loved also reading about the wonderful ‘Ringin’ in My Head’ which is the current video, and the fact that it was a song that was previously passed over?
Ben: Yeah we wrote that in 2017, it was gonna be on our ‘Family Tree’ album. And we liked it but there were some parts that we knew we wanted to change, so when it came time to do this one we revisited it, we updated part of it and wrote a whole new second verse for it. And it’s weird because the lyrics that we did keep from the original ironically make so much sense about what’s happening in the world right now. So it’s one of those things where a song doesn’t end up on an album but comes back later and makes more sense when it does come back.
Mark: I’m so glad that made its way back, it’s a great song. I love the way the album is so balanced too. There’s some great rockers on there but also some of your very best slower numbers too. Of the Rockers I love that opener, I love ‘Again’ but ‘Push Down and Turn’ I think is my current pick of the heavier tunes, it has some wonderful lyrics too.
Ben: Thank you, that’s one of my favourites on the record too. We had music for that song in 2015, everything except for the bridge, the bridge we wrote in the studio this time around. But we all loved the music and Chris was inspired to write these lyrics – he’s been really outspoken about his troubles with Mental Health and he just came to the table with these great lyrics that say in a really cool and unique way “It’s OK to need help and to talk about it. It’s so cool and the title was taken off the top of one of his pill bottles. It’s a clever way of speaking about a subject that sometimes can be really, really hard to have a conversation about, and that’s just our way of talking about it.
Mark: Covid is affecting us all in different ways, I wondered if it had forced changes in the way the album came together – or was it situation normal getting all the band together and working on the songs?
Ben: Not really, normally we always do everything together. Some of the stuff was written you know, eight years ago, or on the back of a tour bus, so we just got in the studio and we put our heads together and we just create together. And that was the really fun thing about doing this album – we were in the studio during the start of the pandemic so we really used that as fuel to make what we wanted to be an incredible piece of work so at least we could have something to show for this year.
Mark: It’s hard isn’t it, to know what to do or how long this craziness will last. I saw that you had some things coming up. You’ve got the Beaver Creek show in about three days’ time. Is that still cool, still going ahead?
Ben: Yeah, at this point in time it’s going ahead. We’re super excited about that because it’s gonna be our first show back since February. But it’s going to be interesting, it’s a socially distanced show, we’re spreading people out. But we’re just excited to be finally doing something.
Mark: It is making bands more creative, I loved the concept of the pods of six, and the ‘bring your own’ food, it sounds like it’s going to be a real family day.
Ben: I hope so, I think people are just excited to be able to do something and we’re excited about being able to bring it to them.
Mark: And you have more up your sleeves Ben – tell us about ‘Live From the Sky’ that’s something I’m really looking forward to. That’s gonna be fantastic.
Ben: Yeah a lot of bands now are doing ‘live streaming’ events and this is essentially our version of that. It’s not gonna be live, but we filmed it last week and it’s being edited now. We’re calling it a ‘broadcast concert’ – a show we were able to film safely in a great theatre and people can buy tickets to it and enjoy it from the comfort of their own house.
Mark: It’s a great idea, getting us who are starved of it, a fix of that ‘live’ experience. For me and I’m sure for you Ben one of the hardest things has been the lack of live concerts. Since I was a kid I’ve been to at least one show a week but it all dried up in March. Still there are lots of bands doing things to keep us all entertained and I must admit out of all the bands out there doing things whilst we’re locked away, you guys have done some great stuff – I’ve really enjoyed the Cherry Chats!
Ben: Yeah, those were fun to do because again we wanted to do something that was not only engaging for us, but also engaging for our fans. And we thought that it would be a fun thing to do to get some bands that we were friends with and get them on the computer and just talk and hang out! I think everyone really enjoyed that because again we all need something to keep ourselves happy and excited and we’ve just been trying to do our part.
Mark: You have you’ve given us some great entertainment!
Mark: Listening through the album again just before we spoke it’s hard to single out songs because we really could talk about them all they are so fantastic. But ‘In Love with the Pain’ is another stand out –that’s the sort of song that modern day Aerosmith would kill for?
Ben: Well thank you for saying that, I’m a huge Aerosmith fan.
Mark: As am I Ben, so it’s a huge compliment!
Ben: We wrote that song initially to pitch to a Country artist maybe, but our version ended up totally different, but we always loved the melody and thought it was a cool Pop Rock song. So we took it to the studio and we did it, and again it just came out so good that it became one of my real favourites on the album.
Mark: There’s plenty of messages on the album but maybe none as timely as the closer ‘Keep on Keeping on’ it’s very inspirational lyrically and what a way to close? Was that one of the last that came together?
Ben: No, again we’d had that for a few years too. It didn’t make it on the last album, but we worked on it and this time it made it for the right reason and it makes more sense lyrically this year and that’s why we wanted it to be the last track on the album – we wanted to leave people with a good positive message.
Mark: It certainly does that and Black Stone Cherry has always been well-known for picking an inspired cover that you always make your own. This time it’s an ELO classic ‘Don’t Bring Me Down’ – who’s the ELO fan in the band?
Ben: Honestly we all are, we love Jeff Lynne, we love all of his work especially ELO and Travelling Willburys, he’s just amazing. So that song was a no-brainer for us to do. At first we were gonna make it just a bonus track or something, but once we got done recording it and it was mixed we thought this is just such a cool song it deserves to be on the album. And it fits great on the album too – it’s a change of pace and it’s a familiar song and it brings a different atmosphere to everything else.
Mark: It does and it’s a great song and you always bring something of your own style to any cover that you do, but very few people cover ELO very well but you guys just nailed it.
Ben: Thank you.
Mark: It’s a great album, and in the absence of live music it’s a record that has raised a huge smile for me in isolation.
Ben: Thank you, I appreciate you saying that Mark.
Mark: And who knows when touring will resume, I hope it’s by 2021 when I see you guys have a UK Tour in waiting. Those guys are having it pretty tough at the moment over there. What’s it like back home in Kentucky? We hear about the States but it’s all about the West and East coasts or Florida.
Ben: I think Kentucky is OK, we did a pretty good job of containing it. Case numbers go up and down all the time. It can be maddening trying to keep up with it. But everyone just has to do their part the best they can and get this over with. You know, do our part and let’s get back to normal.
Mark: Crazy times indeed.
Mark: It’s been an absolute pleasure to talk to you this morning Ben, I wish I was in different times. Last time we spoke you’d just come off stage and let’s hope that every time we talk from now that the same is true.
Ben: Absolutely, hopefully we’ll catch up again very soon.
Mark: And I have to ask for the local fans, when all this craziness blows over are there plans to come back to see us Down-under?
Ben: Oh, we would love to. I believe we are talking about that right now, we’re just trying to line up the dates. So hopefully we’ll announce that before long.
Mark: Now that would make my year! Stay safe Ben, all of us down here in Australia are sending our love and our prayers to you and your families. Hope to see you soon.
Ben: Thank you so much Mark, great to talk to you again and see you soon.
Mark: Just before we go Ben, just one last thought – 2021 is Blackstone Cherry’s twentieth birthday, what birthday wish do you have for the band?
Ben: That we can be back out on the road again playing for the fans.
Mark: That’s all we wanted to hear! Thank you so much for your time Ben, stay safe and see you soon.
