Interview

/b>It’s in the Hard Rock Coffee in Paris where I’ve met Jon Lawhon and John Fred Young from BLACK STONE CHERRY

Hello guys, how are you ?

John F : - Tired ! Last night (9 February) we’ve been out. We were at Oui FM, the radio station. After the concert and we’ve done some stuffs. It’s hard, it’s pretty hard. This is the punition for pleasure ! (laugh)

My first question is, why have you called your album Kentucky ?

Jon : To answer we have to go a little in past, in January 2015.
We have made our previous album with Roadrunner and then we were like ok what’s next ? How we are going to do ? So, we’ve been talking with different label, we’ve talk them about our ideas to make all on our own. And after seen all this opportunities, etc., and after a long list of different label and opportunities, options and all that. We decides to sign with the label Mascot. After that we’ve been writing some songs and we were like ok this is a new label. We have full control, we’re gone produce the records on our own, on our way. They gave us an opportunity, we can’t go back and we have to see the way we’ve done things and made this in other way. Because we’ve learned so much with our previous producer and the experiences of our touring all around the world you see. We are going to this studio in Glasgow, Kentucky and do things on our way in that Old School mentality but with a new mindset about it. It just make perfect sense for us to do the record the way that we did and to call it Kentucky. Our manager is actually the guy who suggest us the tittle ! When he said it we were like “we’re idiots!”

John : Yeah it was really really simple when you think about it !

Jon : Yeah, it’s the things that make perfect sense that you’re always shut over !

Why have you choose the song “In our dreams” as single ?

Jon : To be honest, I don’t care which song we should use as a single. A heavy song you know. Our main isn’t to show a heavy song and then another quiet one. We prefer to show rock songs as people can see we are rock band. And anybody who wants to share a soft song or anything else that’s fine, doesn’t matter but we don’t put songs in the album because ok we should take this one or this one as a single, we are not necessarily a radio band, we just made songs and put them in the album. We don’t register songs with the objective to put them on radio, because we’re not a radio band. So whatever is the single’s song.

Compare to you previous album Magic mountain, the cover of the album is darker. Are you in a other mood compare to MM ?

Jon – That’s me who made the cover of both albums. And the only difference, well, no there’s two difference actually that’s the picture of us on MM, the band, it’s a picture of a photographer that we’ve met in Texas, he lives in Kentucky now, anyway. So he took this photo of the band and I took the picture of the mountain actually. And put it all together. Each time I take a picture for our work I try to made this with a larger spirit but not that much because I try to not orientate the picture to a different direction of the real representation. So the picture of the new album is my picture and the house in there is where we practice, here we’ve writes 99% of our songs. This house is here since the beginning of the band, that house is on our veins you see, that’s why we would put it in particularly in the cover of this album called Kentucky. It’s in west of Kentucky. Because musically, we all grown up in this house! When I’ve take this picture, it was raining so the sky was really dark, was great. There was colors but not that much because of the sky, there was no sunlight but it was warm. And this makes sense because the album is warm, the album is heavy ! That’s exactly the way we wanted to be and we are a grown up rock band.

In the album, you’ve covered the song WAR of Edwin STARR, why this choice ? This song had a special meaning for you ?

Jon : Wow, finally, you’re the first who asks the question with good interpret. (they laugh) So, yeah, we were looking for a song we can cover on an original way, who surprise people. Something that people know yes but in a different way, because yes it’s a cover ! This isn’t your song so why do not cover and show people something different to show what the band is. And this song is a song we do feel, you know, and with all the things recently it makes sense, we’ve been really sad and we would people to think in another way.

Who writes and who composed the songs of this album ?

Jon : Well, all together !

Which song is your favorite? The one you can’t wait to play on stage ?

Jon : Rescue me, because I totally don’t know how we’re going to play this song on stage. This is the first time we made a song with that much harmonies and the way that the song comes out wasn’t the one we’re expected to do it. And it’s a song I can’t wait to play, I have good feelings. Hum, Soul Machine is a song I want to play too, it’s pretty soul and funk, what we’ve already had before but we wasn’t able to do it. You see because we had producers and they said “you are un rock band!” Yes we are but we are also a funk band and a soul band and a country band, everything we wants to be !

John : This album is great because we have full control, on everything we wanted to do and we made what we wanted to made for years but we didn’t made because you know we had this green lines. So there we had men who played saxophone, trumpets and full of instruments, I mean this album is different.

Jon : This song just come up like this and it makes sense !

So why not to make a concert with an orchestra and chorus ?

Jon : Yes, could be great !

John : Well, we have a dvd, out in October, live in United Kingdom that we made last year. I think that’s a thing we’re going to made a lot because there are so many good place! I mean last night at Cabaret this was so loud to see all this people comes to our show, you know. Especially after what happened here, I mean, it means a lot for us. I think we’re going to make a DVD here, could be really cool !

Jon : I think we’re going to make a lot of DVD !

If there is one artist you would make a duet who will be ? Or just work with.

Jon : I would like.. Massive Attack, Bruce Springsteen, Lady gaga !

John : Adèle of course !

Jon : Yeeees, so many!

John : We would rather work with somebody who made no sense. Like Lady gaga! Something which will be so far remove from the hard rock world. That will absolutely made no sense at all.

Jon : What was cool, is that the last tour we made in United Kingd. Our singer Chris had Lzzy Hale from Alesorm, they were playing with us in the same tour. And she come up on stage to sing with Chris and she’s so talented. This was great. But I don’t know I mean I like when, you know there is rock band with rock band so It’s great but it’s fine to make something different. I think it could be cool if we make something with somebody who is totally non rock. I think I would like if a DJ remix one of our songs, could be like *doumdoumdoug*, could be fun ! We’ve played with Wiz Khalifa, LL Cool Jay, with country bands, we played with extremely heavy metal bands, you know. I don’t have just one answer for you, that’s hard, really hard !

You have recently changed your label, Roadrunner for Mascot, why ?

Jon : Honestly, I think we are the only band in history that played a tour with RR, almost sold out, at 99%, a very successful tour and mainline in Europe, and go home and leave the label two months later ! There mentality is American radio, everything’s sounds the same, kind of generic it’s what it is. And it’s not what we would make. We want to be unique and different. We don’t really understand the game for a band like us. They didn’t get us so we had to ended up the situation. Now we didn’t have to worry about the contracts and try to feed this particular thing they want us to feed in. We just do what we want to do and we play for our fans.

Another dates in France soon ?

Jon : We hope hopefully to come back soon but we have to see how everything goes. But we always try to come at least twice a year. We won’t be doing festival this summer. Because we have dates in America and Australia for the first time !

Something’s to say to French fans and readers of SDM ?

John and Jon : Thanks, for everything ! Thank you everybody who’s coming to our shows and supported us over ! And we really appreciate being accepted in the rock community here in Paris !