We had the pleasure of sitting down with Ronnie and Darrell of the awesome Preacher Stone last week to chat about their latest album and upcoming UK tour. Check it out below!
I heard the album release show went well the other day?
Darrell: Absolutely, it went great!
I always get curious, how do you guys decide what to play off a new album? Is there any magic to choosing when the audience aren’t as familiar with it?
Ronnie: We played the whole thing! Played the whole album, not back to back, but spread out over the set.
How do we choose? It’s usually a lot of good spirited arguments. We’ve got six records worth of material, somethings going to get left out. God bless them but there’s always some fan that personal messages us like ‘can you play this song?’. I’m the only guy that’s been in the band since the beginning anymore. There are songs off some of them earlier records that if you threatened me at gun point I couldn’t sing. I’d have to go back and listen. There were a few that we recorded that we maybe played live once or twice but not regularly, and they’re usually some of the more elaborate pieces, and you can’t just pull them out of the hate last minute. It would be a disaster!
It’s been nearly three years since we last chatted. How’s the last three years been?
Ronnie: It’s been rough. Best of times, worst of times. It’s been great with the success that we’ve had and the name has grown and more people have come on board. But we went through a period of loss, we lost two band members, that’s been tough. But the bright thing is Darrell’s in the band now, it’s like he’s always been here, it was a great fit. We’ve been busy, and doing a lot of things that people don’t see.
The last album was V after a fair bit of time off. What prompted you to return with another album just a year later?
Ronnie: We absolutely couldn’t have another long stretch without a record! We also really needed to make a statement that we were still swinging the bat. With the loss of a founding member and the keyboard player, a lot of people were looking at us like ‘what’re they gonna do?’. None of us have ever been good at backing down from a challenge. We HAD to put out a record. And this record had to be damn good, we couldn’t just put one out to put out a record. There was a lot of pressure, but it was good for us. It pulled us together and made us closer as a unit. We rose to the challenge!
Was it all written by the current lineup, or is there stuff that’s been hanging around a while?
Ronnie: We had one that had been hanging around, and a couple of songs that Ben had worked on. ‘Think yen Now’ was somewhat formulated. It was everyone throw your ideas in a pile and let’s use the ones when we play them that speak to everybody.
Darrell: Outside of that it’s all new material. ‘Blessing and a Curse’ was sent to Ronnie by Marty’s wife. Luckily they had it recorded so I got to hear what he played and use that as my foundation. Everything else was written pretty fresh since I joined the band!
It sounds like a pretty healthy way of working together. Have you [Darrell] worked with many of the other members in the past?
Ronnie: Other than Daryl this lineups been together over 10 years. The earlier method was Marty would bring his ideas, and if you had an idea and it was as good as the other idea then we all worked on it and became a song. It’s still a pretty similar method, but ‘Saddled and Rode’ and ‘Old Joe’ were Daryl’s ideas. But anyone can take an idea and go their own way with it. I hope you don’t get your feelings hurt! It’s a wonderful thing if you can deal with that.
Darrell: Everyone in the band seems really healthy about not getting their feelings hurt by it. It’s good to have a fresh set of ears on it. If I bring a song and get Ronnie’s take on it, more often than not I like what he’s done. It may not be what you started with, but it comes out being a much better listen in the end.
Ronnie: It’s never really finished until it’s mixed and mastered! It’s one of the most fun parts of being in a band for me; everyone bringing their ideas and trying to create the best song you possibly can! Then we take it into the studio and our producer goes ‘try this’. One of the last steps, after it’s all recorded, Jim and I get across the table from each other with the lyric sheet in front of us and the song playing and Jim takes a marker and edits it all.
You guys are touring over here soon, right?
Ronnie: We’re coming in January! Late January, early February.
You’ve been here a fair bit over the last few years or so, are there any comparisons you can make between her and back home?
Ronnie: Our show Sunday night was a lot like a UK show. It’s a supreme compliment to the audience for being so supportive because we’re treated so well in the UK. It’s starting to feel like home. Southern Rock is not as big a deal in America as it is in the UK. In the UK we’re authentically Southern Rock, in America we’re five guys from America that play Southern Rock. We’re authentic, we’re all about as authentically Southern as you can get. I think anything I sing is gonna be Southern because I’m Southern. Ours comes in a little on the heavier side, we have a lot of classic rock influence too. And I’m an enormous Thin Lizzy fan. We had a review that compared us to Black Star Riders, I was like ‘I’ll take that!’.
What can we expect from the tour? I can’t imagine we’ll get the album in full every night but some will be there, I imagine!
Ronnie: We might! There are certain songs we have to play, songs that if we didn’t play we’d be in trouble. But we’ll mix it up, there’ll be something for everybody. And Daryl always comes up with songs that he wants to play. We want to play them all. If we played everything for everybody every night, our set would be 3.5 hours long and I don’t think anybody wants that!
Darrell: I think we should do a five hour set every night!
Ronnie: What do you want to play, Daryl? It’s his first time over in the UK. We’re excited about showing him the food and the culture and screaming like a little girl like I did when you’re driving on the wrong side of the road.
Darrell: I’ve been to the Bahamas so I’m ready for that! I’d stand up there all night and play these songs, they’re fresh to me! But whatever the fans want to hear and Ronnie wants to sing, I’ll play it! And that’s the reason we’re there, is for the people!
Ronnie: We’ll play the songs people request if we can. But sometimes on a tour you’re one place then the next night you’re somewhere else and it doesn’t leave you a whole lot of time to work up anything.