Ben Wells, 23 years old, guitar player in Black Stone Cherry, also known as “the looks of the band,” appears behind the PR ready to be grilled by Altsounds. His charismatic stage personality, so dominant and explosive, lies with his guitar in its case, waiting to be unleashed in all its power. What sits next to me now is an exquisite young lad, pleasantly shy, looking forward to get over and done with this to get out there and say it all in the language he knows and loves better: music.
Altsounds: Hello Ben, welcome to Altsounds!
Ben Wells: Thank you!
Altsounds: Our aim is to spread the word when we hear something good! So, if we want to reach all those who still haven’t heard Black Stone Cherry, how would you describe your music?
Ben Wells: It’s one of the hardest questions as we don’t really want to put a signature on our sound, although it is a signature sound, we wouldn’t really classify it as anything in particular. We’re definitely rock, we’re definitely southern, we’re blues and metal, a little country..... I think we were influenced by so many different sounds growing up, Motown, bluegrass, classic rock. I loved Elvis, fifties music, forties music, we put all of that together and made up our own sound I guess, but if I had to describe it any way it would be just real, you know what I mean? It comes from the heart and it is what it is.
Altsounds: What would you say are your main influences?
Ben Wells: My main personal influence is Elvis, and then Aerosmith, CCR, Allman Brothers, Stray Cats, I like all kind of sets to listen to and as a band collectively our influences are different but they’re all the same in some respect.
Altsounds: Reading your biography I was struck by your sensational Kentuckian beginnings, particularly that gig in your hometown gym after recording your first songs that attracted 1,500 people... Is that true, and how did you attract such a crowd? Free booze?
Ben Wells: It was hot that night! That was one of my first home-town shows since we had a record deal and it was incredible, since then every year we try to do home-town shows. We don’t do them in a gym anymore though! We do them in a big convention centre. That means a lot to us and the people back home, for us to go home and put on a big concert, and we always do it for charity, it’s good to give back to our community.
Altsounds: You’re still very close to your community then?
Ben Wells: Oh, absolutely! We still live in the same place we did when we first started.
Altsounds: How did you get noticed by Roadrunner?
Ben Wells: We first signed a management deal, we had a demo and Roadrunner heard it, we went to New York and played a show for them and we hit it off.
Altsounds: Your self-titled debut album was welcomed by a unanimous standing ovation from the public and the critics; did you expect it to go that well? I mean, I couldn’t find a single bad review about that album...
Ben Wells: You never know what to expect. We knew we thought it was great and we wanted everyone to think it was great, so I think the fact it had good reviews means that people understood every word and that was something we were afraid of, that maybe the new music world wouldn’t really accept it because it was totally different from what may have been popular at the time. But we never let that get in the way, we just wanted to be who we are and whoever liked us would like it.
Altsounds: Not long after that you released your first live record. Why so early?
Ben Wells: Well, it wasn’t actually a proper live record, we did a show in London the first time we toured the UK, at the Astoria, and a company I can’t remember the name of came to the show and they had like a truck, and they recorded the show and made a thousand copies and then they sold them at the end of the night.
Altsounds: So it was more like a limited edition collector’s item?
Ben Wells: Yes, just a thousand copies, it wasn’t like an official live album.
Altsounds: Your second full length release, “Folklore and superstition”, focuses on history and heritage rather than stereotypical sex, drugs, rock’n’roll and broken hearts, but you’re all quite young. How come you’re so passionate about these topics?
Ben Wells: I think our interests are more than the whole cliché rock’n’roll thing, you know, sex drugs and rock’n’roll. You may take off the drugs and everything else is all right, but we’re more about history, our local history, where we’re from in Kentucky, and I think the fans appreciate that too, because there are enough bands already that sing about girls, girlfriends... We sing about something else.
Altsounds: How important are lyrics for you?
Ben Wells: Very important. Obviously people connect with our music, but if you don’t have lyrics that mean something what’s the point in writing a song? We had some lyrics on this album that really touched people and that means a lot to us, it’s the ultimate pay off.
Altsounds: What come first, the lyrics or the music?
Ben Wells: Usually it is the music that comes first, but sometimes someone has an idea for the lyrics and then you have to kind of write around it. Definitely you want the two to match.
Altsounds: Compared to “Black Stone Cherry”, “Folklore and superstition” had a mixed welcome: some said it was amazing, some dismissed it as “gone soft.” What were you trying to achieve when writing it, and do you think you succeeded?
Oh yeah, definitely we succeeded. We weren’t trying to re-create the first album, we were trying to take a different step and show progression, show growth and I think the songs ‘Things my father said’ and ‘Peace is free’ got us enough attention from fans and that’s what the album was written for.
Altsounds: You're happy with that then!
Ben Wells: Absolutely!
Altsounds: You recently re-released “Folklore and superstition” with some new tracks and some acoustic versions of out-takes from the first album. Why did you go down this path rather than keeping those songs for your next full length?
Ben Wells: Well, those extra tracks, we wanted them to be on the original album, but for whatever reason they were not put there. When the time came to do a special edition, we had some unreleased songs and some acoustic tracks, so I think the cool thing to do was to put them back in.
Altsounds: So they were already written for that album really...
Ben Wells: Yeah, we could have saved them for another album but they were kind of songs written for this album, I think they fit right there.
Altsounds: This is your Altsounds free advertising space: why should anyone buy “Folklore and superstition” rather than a couple of JDs at the pub?
Ben Wells: Well, hopefully you can take something away out of “Folklore and superstition,” then if you want to have a drink at the pub that’s fine. But I think there’s going to be at least one song in there everybody is going to connect with, music is a powerful thing so I think there are some songs on this album that may really help people. It’s an album I’m proud of and I think you may enjoy it.
Altsounds: I’ve read wonders about your live shows and I’m about to verify. Do you think I’m going to be disappointed or join your street team afterwards?
Ben Wells: Hopefully join the street team! We try to put on a good live show, this is what it’s all about for us, our live shows, we take a lot of pride and respect for people who pay to get in, so we tend to entertain.
Altsounds: Is it fair to say you were born as a live band?
Ben Wells: Absolutely, hands down!
Altsounds: How important is your relationship with your fan base, and how do communicate with them?
Ben Wells: The internet and personally, every night after the show we do meet & greets. We go out and meet the fans and it means a lot to us, ‘cause these are the people who give us the possibility to do this, do you know what I mean? They buy our music, wear our t-shirts, buy our concert tickets. The least we can do is go out, shake their hands and say thank you.
Altsounds: Altsounds is an online music website with a higher ranking than Kerrang! and growing fast...
Ben Wells: Awesome!
Altsounds: Do you think online journalism is on its way to replace traditional press?
Ben Wells: I hope not in some respect, as there are some great hard press magazines out there, but then there are some garbage magazines out there as well, so I think hard press and visual press, whether it be on the internet or not, are both great things and maybe they can find a way to work together. But I would say without internet technology this world would be lost, especially bands ‘cause they rely a lot on it.
Altsounds: If you were to organise your own festival and headline it, what would be your dream line up?
Ben Wells: Hard question...
Altsounds: Dead or alive!
Ben Wells: Ah, ok! Definitely Elvis. Then Allman Brothers, original Creedance Clearwater Revival, The Beatles...
Altsounds: If “Folklore & Superstition” was the soundtrack to a movie, what movie would it be?
Ben Wells: That’s a great question, I never thought about it... I guess it would have to be the band’s autobiographic movie, because it’s very personal music.
Altsounds: Year 2009 is about to end. What has been your favourite new album this year?
Ben Wells: I thought John Fogerty’s new album was fantastic...
Altsounds: Any old classic you re-discovered or listened to more than others?
Ben Wells: I always listen to a lot of classics, from Aerosmith to Muddy Waters to Killswitch Engage, all kinds of different stuff.
Altsounds: This is your free Altsounds space, say whatever you like and remember the whole world is listening!
Ben Wells: I appreciate everyone who listens to our band, and if you haven’t yet I urge you to go check us out on MySpace, our website or come to the show. We’re just four normal guys playing music, we play it for the people and play it for ourselves and I think people understand that. We’re not rockstars, just four normal guys!
Altsounds: Thanks Ben, we’re done!
Ben Wells: Thank you and hope you enjoy the show!
A few quick pictures and it’s time to set Ben free. Watching him later on stage, looking like a seven foot tall Viking God ruling Hammersmith Apollo will be a positively traumatic experience. The power of music really has no limits.
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