Black Stone Cherry vocalist/guitarist Chris Robertson has revealed that if anyone decided to leave the band, the band would break up. He told the Aftershocks podcast, “I think through history, you've got us and ZZ TOP, and that's about it, man, that have never had a lineup change. 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. The friendship has always been before the band; we've always been a family before the band.”
He continued, “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.”
When asked if Black Stone Cherry could ever perform without one of the original members, 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.”
