A CONVERSATION WITH... BLACK STONE CHERRY
We caught up with Black Stone Cherry’s John Fred Young to talk about the past, present and future of the band.
Having spent most of their career honing a refreshing sound that elevated their southern rock roots to anthemic hard-rock heights, Black Stone Cherry were sown together over two decades ago. With a population of around 2,000, Edmonton is a small town deep in the US State of Kentucky and it was near here, out in a cabin in the woods, that southern rock legends formed.
Barely out of their teens, the band signed a record deal in 2005 and since then, have counted a coup on a series of albums from their first self-titled debut to their most recent, The Human Condition, flew around the world with their heroes and became famed for their fiery live shows.
Fast forward to the present; the quartet, now in their 30s, have achieved more than most bands would have in a lifetime, including gaining a loyal multi-generational following that continues to grow twenty years later, while remaining delightfully grounded and still living in their hometowns.
“The math on our anniversary is actually off,” drummer John Fred Young points out. “Twenty years sounds cool but it’s actually going on 23 now,” he continues. “It’s our fault. We did a live-stream event from Nashville last year when the anniversary was in 2021 but who’s counting?” he jokes. “It was great though. We played on a rooftop downtown and it was freezing,” he reminisces. “We had a great turnout, it was packed. We even got to do a sit-down interview with our good pal Lzzy from Halestorm. We’ve had a wonderful journey so far.”
As Young takes us on a trip down memory lane, he shares how the band spent the real date of their anniversary. “Thinking back, we started the band on 4th June 2001, which is actually our singer Chris’ birthday, so I know we were in the states somewhere,” he begins. “I’m pretty sure we had an off day from the tour that day and we had a parking lot party somewhere in a mall,” he recalls. “We do that a lot on our off days in America. Parking lot parties are super common with us,” he states. “We will do shows, have an off day, and park up at some big parking lot and just spend time together. We normally don’t get hotels on tour because we have a bus with a shower so it’s kind of senseless to spend money getting hotel rooms for ourselves. We get one for our driver but the rest of us just set up some lawn chairs and a Bluetooth speaker,” he elaborates. “Usually, we blast music when the parking lots are empty and sometimes security come over in their little security cars. Luckily we’ve only ever been removed from one parking lot,” he laughs. “It wasn’t for anything bad. They honestly just wanted the place completely empty. Most of the time the security we’ve encountered have all been pretty rad and some have even come and hung out with us.”
Spending time chatting with Young, you can experience the sense of determination they have, a constant theme in their lives from hailing from such a small town. “One thing we all swear by is striving for the best,” proclaims Young. “We’re a band of overachievers. We know not to take the easy way out on things,” he continues. “I always say we were destined to do this because I don’t know if we’d be good at anything else,” he admits. “We’ve found what works for us and we have made sure to make it work.”
A band of sheer determination, they talk not only of hard work but of manifestation. “We’ve always spoken to the universe about what we wanted,” begins Young. “I know everybody’s seen motivational talks on Instagram or whatever by now but they’re true,” he exclaims. “I truly think if you believe in the ideas you’re talking about strongly enough on top of believing in yourself then it’s going to happen. You just have to keep reaffirming yourself and working hard,” he says. “It may be a hard road, there’s no denying that, especially if you’re doing something that’s not the most popular thing, but if you believe in it, keep working at it because you never fail unless you give up.”
Whether you put it down to talent, hard work or manifestation, there’s no denying that Black Stone Cherry deserve their success. Two decades in and seven albums later, the Kentucky hard rockers show no signs of stopping. “Our new record is totally fresh,” shares Young. “We wrote it on the back of the bus last year whilst we were on the road and I think people are going to dig it,” he hopefully notes. “The recording process was kind of wild this time round though,” he tells us. “We rented this old theatre in our hometown, which is where we normally do our biannual home shows, and recorded the drums in there. We got some amazing sounds from that. It made it sound massive,” he gushes. “Everything else we did back at my house. All the vocals and guitars et cetera,” he points out. “It’s been great though. We actually finished up with our last song recently, which nobody knows yet, but yeah, we’re done, we’ve ticked everything off,” he exclaims. “It’s currently with our sound engineer Mr. John Westfall and we’ll see where it goes from there. We don’t have a release date right now but, hopefully, we can tease a song or two on our tour with The Darkness.”
For a band that thrives living the classic rock and roll lifestyle, not being able to tour due to the pandemic has led to an immense appreciation for the small things in life. “I can probably speak for all bands out there based on the fact we all went through that shit of being locked up at home but I think we’re just happy to be playing anywhere,” emphasises Young. “We’re making up for lost time and we will be for years but it’s that enthusiasm, energy and passion that kept us going,” he openly admits. “I think, for a lot of people, you have this muscle memory where you have set routines and always know what you’re doing so when everything stopped, it shook that foundation,” he notes. “Now that we’re back though, we’re going full throttle. We can’t wait to be back on the road,” he gushes at the thought. “All that time away just makes you appreciate going out and being able to see the fans that have supported you for years. Having it stripped away from us was like taking a dolphin out of the water.”
Excited about the latter, Young shares how much of a dream their current tour is. “The Darkness are a band we’ve wanted to tour with for many years now,” he begins. “We were constantly clashing schedules so it’s taken a while to get here but it’s going to be worth it,” he continues. “Looking at where those guys are now is crazy because I remember when they first got together in 2003,” he states. “I think I was 19 years old and I remember watching them on MTV at my parent’s house.”
Reminiscing on their support acts humble beginnings, Young calls back to his somewhat fanboy days. “I saw them play in Nashville the year after that when the Wildhearts supported them,” he tells us. “We all piled in a truck to go down and see them. We even hung around backstage to try and meet them,” he laughs. “It was a great show. We’ve always been big fans of their stuff so getting to tour with them now is insane,” he states. “I think we’ll make many memories. They’re great guys, great musicians and we get along really well which is important in this industry,” he says. “It makes things ten times better when everyone touring together gets along. You’d be surprised how many bands out there become close friends on tour because, when you put a magnifying glass on it, the touring world is actually quite small.”
The upcoming year promises to be a good one for the band if their future plans consist of finalising a release date for what will be their eighth album. Until then, Black Stone Cherry are going where the wind takes them. “I don’t know what the rest of the year has for us and I say that in all honesty,” Young admits. “I know that right now, we’re doing this tour with The Darkness and it’s going to be amazing but after that, I really don’t know,” he says sincerely. “I know we have things that are coming through the pipeline for some headline shows in the States but I’m not really sure when we’re going to make a release date for the full-length album,” he continues. “Common sense says it will be sometime this year but I really couldn’t tell. We’re just looking forward to everything that comes.”