US rockers Black Stone Cherry recently celebrated 20 years as a band with a Beatles-esque rooftop gig in Nashville. Now, their return to the UK – a co-headline jaunt with The Darkness – starts in Cardiff. Chris Andrews caught up with drummer John Fred for a chat.

It was only a year or so ago that Gene Simmons of Kiss declared “rock is dead”. But with their last album The Human Condition making it six straight mainstream chart hits in a row, Black Stone Cherry may offer an argument to Simmons’ statement. The UK has certainly seen an upsurge in the popularity of ‘classic’-styled rock but is this something that the Kentucky band’s skin-thumper John Fred is seeing worldwide?

“I tell you what, to me, rock’n’roll is an always evolving genre, you know? Guys like Johnny Cash were doing the outlaw country thing and they started introducing other elements, grabbing pieces here and there and vice versa. Then-country guys in the last 10-15 years like Jason Aldean are all rockers, or big fans of rock – but rock, and southern rock, is definitely growing. That’s something I’m seeing. As far as the UK goes, there’s always been a massive rock audience. The first time we played Download, we walked on stage to 90,000 people. It was terrifying.”

Twenty years in the music business is no mean feat and the band celebrated in style last month with a rooftop bar gig in Nashville – dubbed No Ceiling, and streamed live. Such a celebration must have been quite reflective for the guys?

“Yeah…” Fred agrees, in his strong Kentucky drawl, “but you know what? The math was a little off for that one. We formed in 2001 – we were all in high school together – so 2021 was actually the anniversary. It probably should have been called Legal To Drink!” he laughs. “It was a great gig and we had a lot of fun – a lot of people from home came out to see us and our musician buddies from Nashville came down.”

Welsh fans of the band will remember the band playing Caerphilly Castle in 2019 – surely the only time they’ve played a castle, right? “The closest thing we ever played to being a castle was probably [US burger chain] White Castle’s parking lot! I remember getting to [Caerphilly] castle the night before and I just couldn’t sleep, so I just sat outside the bus looking at it until the sun came up. I felt like I was on the set of Game Of Thrones.

“Two of the guys walked into town that day, came back and said there were so many people here wearing Black Stone Cherry shirts. It was like we had the key to the city that day. That’s one gig that will go down in history for a long time!”

Regarding their soon-to-be touring partners, it was interesting to find out that Black Stone Cherry’s relationship with UK rockers The Darkness began much like any other fan of Justin Hawkins’ crew. “I can remember the exact moment when they came out on MTV – we were all just hooked. We thought they were really something special, so we drove down to Nashville to see them play at the Municipal Auditorium. That would have been 2004, and they had The Wildhearts opening up for them. We were 19/20 and trying to get backstage – it was Almost Famous type stuff, just trying to meet them!

“We’ve been fans for a long time”, Fred continues, “so when we started touring the UK, we actually did some shows with [Darkness guitarist Dan Hawkins’ other band] Stone Gods in 2008, and then we did a show with The Darkness in 2012. We never really got to hang out until last summer when we did some promo stuff for our show at the Royal Albert Hall in London, so we are looking forward to that. I think it’s going to be a great tour – one to look back and put up there on the mantle.”

A quick look at their discography will tell you that Black Stone Cherry are a band that likes to keep busy, so when can we expect some new material? “We are grinding away, getting it done. We’re probably not too far away from releasing a new single, and I would think that we’ll have a new record out early summer.”

Whilst it won’t be as scenic as Caerphilly Castle, you can bet that it will be just as much fun when Black Stone Cherry and The Darkness hit Cardiff International Arena on the last weekend of January.

Black Stone Cherry + The Darkness, Cardiff International Arena, Sat 28 Jan.

Tickets: £46.60. Info: here

words CHRIS ANDREWS