BLACK STONE CHERRY vocalist/guitarist Chris Robertson spoke to the “Aftershocks” podcast about the fact that his band has not undergone any lineup changes in the two decades that the Kentucky-based act has been together.
“I think through history, you’ve got us and ZZ TOP, and that’s about it, man, that have never had a lineup change,” Chris said (see video below).
“I think it all goes back to the fact that we were all friends. And as tight as we are as a band, we are even deeper friends than that,” he explained. “The friendship has always been before the band; we’ve always been a family before the band.
“We’re just very fortunate that all four of us see eye-to-eye on the way to run our business. And we’re all four equal members, man. You split a dollar up, you get four quarters with BLACK STONE CHERRY. Every dollar we’ve ever made we split four ways; everything we’ve ever done we split four ways. It’s the four of us. You take one away and it’s not BLACK STONE CHERRY anymore.”
Asked if BLACK STONE CHERRY could ever perform without one of the original members or carry on if one of them left the band, Chris said: “I think it would have to [depend on the circumstances]. I think the only way that we could go play and go any shows as BLACK STONE CHERRY with one guy potentially [not being there]… Say I broke my arm, and we get somebody to come play guitar while I sing. Or, God forbid, Ben [Wells, guitar] or John [Fred Young, drums] broke a limb, [we could] get someone to fill in. But as far as a full-time replacement, I would say if one guy ever had to walk away for whatever reasons, the friendship would remain first and foremost, because, to me, that’s worth more than the band. And then secondly, I would say that would be it for BLACK STONE CHERRY.”
He continued: “If, God forbid, any of us walked away, I would have to still be happy with the fact that, over however many years it would be, that we’ve done what we’ve done. I mean, who would have ever thought four kids from B.F.E., Kentucky would have been around putting out records for the last 14 years now, when there’s been a hundred and fifty bands come and go in that timeframe that sold more records than we did and they sold out tours, but now they’re not even heard of anymore. And here we are — we’re still chugging along. The few and the furious is what I like to say with our fans, man. No matter how many of them are there every night, we’re gonna have a good time, and they’re there for the right reasons.”
BLACK STONE CHERRY released its seventh studio album, “The Human Condition”, on October 30 via Mascot Label Group.
