as well as, a Summer Festival run overseas. So getting in contact with John Fred was a little complicated and I had Rocklahoma and some other plans on the horizon myself, so I figured the interview would have to wait and it did.

   Then a few weeks ago I heard that Black Stone Cherry and Country Legends The Kentucky Headhunters where playing a two night benefit concert in Cave City, KY on Thanksgiving Weekend. I saw this as my chance to get that interview that I did not get at Rock On The Range. So I contacted Richard Young, guitarist for The Headhunters as well as father of John Fred of Black Stone Cherry. Richard had previously did an interview for me which you can view here. Anyway, when I emailed Richard, I told him about the Rock On The Range mishap and that I wanted to see about arranging an interview with both Black Stone Cherry and The Kentucky Headhunters at this event. Richard immediately called me back, apologized for the Rock On The Range confusion and told me to call him back on Thanksgiving Day and we would get things arranged for the show.

   Ok, here's where I need to explain a little bit about Richard Young. Richard is nothing but nice, but he is one of those people that always has something else he is supposed to be doing. In other words, he's always got "a million things going on". Plain and simple, he's a hard man to nail down. Almost to the point of being frustrating at times, but the fact is, I have nothing but RESPECT for Richard & The Headhunters and the man does have a lot going on. I mean, between The Headhunters, Black Stone Cherry, Animal Management (his management company) and whatever else he's involved in, he has a lot going on, I'm sure.

   Anyway, fast forward to day of show. We had mostly everything was worked out. We decided it was best for us all if I came on Saturday night instead of Friday night. Richard would supply me with two passes at the door. All I had to do is get there and I was going to get to check out both bands, the opening acts, get the interviews, including the Black Stone Cherry interview that had alluded me back in May, and just have an all around good night.

   Then, BAMMMM! On the way to the event we started experiencing serious vehicle problems. The kind where there's popping, humming, jerking, stalling an etc. It wasn't anything new, I mean within the last month or so there has been about $400-$500 dropped on this vehicle. It was supposed to be fixed and had been for about a week. That is until right at the moment we started on this trip, of course. Once again Foiled by Fate!!......or at least shotty mechanic work! (I'm not even gonna talk about the Louisville/UNLV basketball game that was winding down at the exact moment the vehicle troubles started! Damn you Rebels!)

   Things where definitely not going as planned..........
 

   One thing I did notice though was the line to get into the venue, which was wrapping around the parking lot. I knew I would have to wait in that line to get to my passes so I called Richard to let him know I had made it and that it would be a while before I got in because the line was a hella wait. When I called I didn't get any answer. So I wasn't sure what was gonna be going on and when it was gonna to be going on. It was close to 7:00 by then, which was when the show was supposed to start.

   There were two opening acts, Purpose and WillowShade. Then The Headhunters perform, with Black Stone Cherry closing the show before packing up and once again heading to Europe the next day. (This time Black Stone Cherry will be opening for Motorhead.) Since it was 'go time', I decided to block the vehicle issues out of my mind for a bit so I could focus on what needed to be done to get the interviews arranged.

   Next Step: get inside and find Richard.

   So we (Angela & myself) go inside and get our passes. So far…so good. We get the passes on, do some walk-a-rounds and check the venue out. I still haven't heard back from Richard, so I decide to give him another call. Still, there is no answer, just Richard's answering service. Now, here's where we get to a cool part of this story. It dawned on me that I needed to run back out to the Godforsaken Truck at this point.

   Why? Well, in the commotion of truck issue's and the long line, we had forgotten to bring in our canned goods.

   The reason we had canned goods for this Concert was because this show was the 3rd annual Charity Toys For Tots/Canned Food Drive for needy Ft Knox families put on by Black Stone Cherry & The Headhunters. Everyone attending was asked to bring canned goods for donation and that they definitely did. There where cans piling up behind the tables to the left when you walked in the front door, all in the spirit of helping somebody else. That was good to see and I think they where awesome to do that.

   Much respect deserved.

   Now back to the story, since I couldn't get a hold of Richard, I decided to just head to the backstage area and try to track him down. I looked in the "green room" and saw no signs of him. He shouldn't be hard to spot because of his hairstyle is pretty noticeable. I did see Ben Wells (Guitars/Backing Vocals Black Stone Cherry) and a bunch of people I didn't recognize, but no Richard. Then I asked the first guy I saw, that looked like he might know what was goin' on, if he had seen Richard.

   He jokingly said "no” that he's "trying not to".

   Then he mentioned that I should try the loading area behind the stage. I took his advice and we journeyed to that loading area just a few steps behind him. When we went through the door, the guy yelled, "There's Richard" and looked toward me.

   That's when I noticed Richard about to rush on by and I spoke up, "Hey Richard, I'm Luie from SplatterTribe!"

   I had talked to Richard several times, but this was the first time I met him. It's funny because he actually looked like he sounds on the phone. He was walking at a quick pace and looking in several directions at once, like he had "a million things going on."

   After he turned and heard me speak, Richard came straight over, shook my hand, was nothing but polite and then asked If I was going to interview all the bands. I told him that would be awesome. If we could get it done, I would do it. So he immediately took me over and introduced the opening act Purpose, that had just left the stage, to me and told them I was gonna do an interview with them. The guys immediately gathered together and Richard led us into the green room where we could do the interview and then left us. He said to get back to him after this interview and we'd get together for the next band WillowShade, who was on stage at the time.

   So I set down with Purpose and we conducted the interview. I haven't had a chance, as I write this, to review the interview yet and make sure it came out ok. I know there was a lot of background noise and the guys in the band talked pretty low at times, but it was a pretty good interview. Purpose is a young Christian Rock band that is less than a year old. Good kids. That interview will be up in one form or the other very soon.

   Well, I got that interview done and made my way back to the loading/staging area to find Richard or Willowshade, whoever came first.......

   Well, Willowshade came first. I didn't see Richard anywhere, so after Willowshade came off stage, I got them together and told'm I wanted to do an interview with them. I remember at this moment I thought, for a moment, about the truck setting out in the cold parking lot just waiting for the chance to screw up more, but I shook it off and once WillowShade was ready, we went out toward the green room to do the interview. This is when I had a brilliant moment and decided we should do the interview in the hallway between the green room and the loading area because it was quiet and the green room wasn't.

   Well, we started the interview and then that was when I realized there was no quiet area because once we got into the interview, the door started slamming beside us because people where going in and out getting set for the Kentucky Headhunters to take the stage. I have not reviewed this video yet, as of this writing, to see how it came out either, but I will do that very soon, as well.

   Now around this time, I hear the Headhunters taking the stage. Unfortunately due to all the running around, I had not got to check out much of Purpose or Willowshade's sets, but I did not want to miss any of the Headhunters. Now, that is no smack toward Purpose or Willowshade, but the Headhunters have been around like 40 years and I had never seen them play. So when the WillowShade interview ended, Angela and I rushed to the back/loading area so we could check The Headhunters out from the back. After checking them out for a few minutes I noticed that John Fred Young

   So I stopped John Fred and told him who I was and I wanted to get together and try and get this interview done. That is when I noticed that John Fred was a lot like his dad. He's nothing but polite and you know how I said Richard always has "a million things going on" and how he was looking in several directions at once, well that is exactly how John Fred appears while talking to him. I mean, don't get me wrong, he'll look you in the eyes, but you can tell his mind is in a million places. If you have ever saw Black Stone Cherry perform then that would be no surprise to you because John Fred is Crazy-Energetic behind the drums.....and on the drums.....etc, etc. Anyway, I asked John if there was any way to get the interview arranged. He said he remembered us talking about the interview at ROTR and seemed game for the interview and then right at that moment I realized he was not really wanting to do this interview right now. I could tell it wasn't gonna happen at this moment......and I'll tell you why, because as we were talking over The Headhunters performance, John Fred shook my hand like 5 times in 2 minutes.

   Note to whoever is reading this, if someone shakes your hand 5 times in two minutes while looking in every direction; they are trying to get away from you!

   The thing was though, honestly I wanted to check The Headhunters out myself, so it didn't bother me a whole lot that John Fred was trying to ditch me. It was sinking in that the interview thing was gonna be a bit complicated though. Plus, there was still the fact that I didn't even know if we where gonna be able to make it home, because of the truck outside that was sounding like it was about to blow up, but I digress.

   Anyway, after John Fred made his way to side stage, Angela and I made our way out to the floor to check The Headhunters out in action. Walking around in the crowd, I thought it was kind of cool how there was every age group possible in this crowd; from kids, to old timers, to everything in between. This show was definitely an all age’s affair.

   Cave City is a dry city, so there was no alcohol at the event, which (to my knowledge) was the first show that I have been to, featuring a national act, which did not have alcohol. To add to it, I recently quit smoking cigarettes, so I can honestly say that it was a little odd to not smoke or have a beer during a concert. That's a whole other story though!

   Back to The Headhunters......Man, The Kentucky Headhunters kick ass. That is all I can say about those guys. You’re talking about a band that has been together 40 years. October of this year marked the 20th anniversary of their debut 'Pickin' On Nashville' album, but if you check out my interview I did with Richard Young earlier in the year (check it out here), you'll read a history that dates back to 1968. The current lineup dates back at least 25 years and is 4/5 of the line-up from their debut album. The only person missing is former lead vocalist Ricky Lee Phelps (brother of bassist and current vocalist Doug Phelps).

   You know, when it comes to a good band nothing beats time and experience. The Headhunters are as tight a band as you get and each member throws their own punches to make one tight, badass Southern Rock/Country band.

   Back to the story though, when I watch a band I like walking around and checking the show out from every spot I can get to and on this night, I could get to almost any spot I wanted. So we decided to journey back to the backstage area again and check things out, besides I was starting to get concerned that my interviews where falling through, again.
 

So we got to the green room area only to see John Fred once again rushing by. He greeted us once again and shook my hand again as he power walked to the back saying something to the effect that he was trying to find his mom. Six John Fred handshakes into the evening, I knew it was gonna be hard to nail this dude down for an interview. So I went back out and checked The Headhunters out for a couple more songs before journeying to the back once again.

   This time around, the first people I saw where Black Stone Cherry lead vocalist/rhythm guitarist Chris Robertson, his girl and lead guitarist/background vocalist Ben Wells. Chris and his girl walked off after speaking to Ben (and right before I walked up). I decided since I couldn't nail John Fred down that I would talk to Ben about the interview. Ben, like John Fred and Richard, was nothing but polite but said he didn't know where everyone else was and that bassist Jon Lawhon was not even there yet. He walked off saying he would see what he could do. The fact was though, The Headhunters only had a few more songs and then it was time for Black Stone Cherry to perform. So I knew this wasn't gonna be happening before their set.

   The Headhunters finished up (BTW, Fred Young did an awesome "Go Fred Go" drum solo that I got to witness from side stage. He's a quiet, little ole dude, but is a monster on the drums.....A Monster! Rock On Fred!) And still no BSC interview. Now onto Black Stone Cherry's set.

   As I said, I saw BSC open up Rock on the Range earlier this year and all I remember was ENERGY. That is what I got once again. The funny thing about watching BSC play in a smaller convention center venue like this was, the fact that they are used to playing in front of massive crowds. They are not the biggest band is the US right now, but they are huge in Europe, which is where they have spent most of the year playing the biggest festivals in the world as well as, opening for one of the biggest bands in Nickelback. The fact is though, the list of bands BSC has opened for or played with is an amazing Who's Who of Rock & Metal. I mean, it really is. It blows my mind to see this list. Back to my point though, the thing is when a band plays in front of massive crowds they have to move BIG so people can see them. They jump higher. They sway wider. Every movement is big. You want the people in the back to be able to see you moving on stage, you know. Well, that is how Black Stone Cherry is on stage. They have played all of these massive shows and even when they are playing a smaller venue they move BIG which pumps up the energy and gets the crowd into it. The fact is, if brand new bands would move BIG, they could get crowds on their side a lot quicker. Once again that is a whole other story though.

   Black Stone Cherry put on an awesome show for their home state crowd and they let out so much energy that it's hard for any building to contain it. This convention center included. John Fred is one of the most lunatic drummer's (along with his uncle Fred) that I have ever seen play. He's standing more than he's setting. As I said though, the whole band puts on a BIG show no matter where they play.

   Somewhere during the BSC set I ran into Richard again and talked to him about the interviews. He said he wanted me to get one done with BSC since I had issues last time and also said he could go ahead and do one with me for the Headhunters if I wanted.

   This is the point where I asked him if he could sign The Headhunters shirt Angela had purchased. We didn't have a sharpie, so before when we had bought the shirt, she asked the merch people if they had one. A guy let her borrow one but told her he really, really needed it back when she was done.
 

Now, this is the point where she hands Richard the sharpie to sign the shirt. Well, Richard obliged us with signing the shirt. Then someone from a distance yelled for him. Now mind you, this was right after Richard had said he would do the interview and right after he signed the shirt.    He then proceeded to stick the sharpie in his front pocket and walk off talking to whoever it was yelling for him.

    I was like, "Damn, there goes that interview" and Angela was like, "Damn there goes the sharpie!"

   No, actually when he walked off, I looked over at Angela and she had this weird, smiley type expression on her face. I thought she was reacting to the fact that he took off after saying he would do the interview, but that was not the case.

   She was like, "He just put my sharpie right in his front pocket!"

   Then, as he rushed by us while talking and walking with someone, I noticed the sharpie right there bouncing around in his front pocket. She was eyeballing his pocket saying over and over, "See, there it is, right there."

   Richard done stole our Sharpie!

   Angela is the type of person that if she tells someone she is going to do something, it bothers her if she don't and now that Richard Young was running around with the sharpie she had borrowed and promised to return, that is all she was thinking about.

   Me, I was like, "I'm bothering the dude enough, right now, about this interview, I'm not gonna go up and ask for a sharpie back", you know?

   I found this whole situation a bit humorous but since Richard had disappeared with the sharpie by now, we decided to check out the rest of the Black Stone Cherry show. A couple of times Richard did walk by talking business like with some people and each time I turned to Angela only to see her eyes as big as quarters and a grin on her face, as she eyeballed his pocket.

   Black Stone Cherry finished their set, bringing the show to an end and at this time I was having a dilemma. I had to figure out the vehicle situation that had been looming over my head all-night, plus I had been unable to nail the Black Stone Cherry or The Kentucky Headhunters down long enough to get my interviews. Angela, of course, was still having serious sharpie issues.
 

had happened!

   This was later confirmed when about 20 minutes later he walked by and had even more sharpies in his pocket!

   No, that part (the 20 minutes later) actually didn't happen, but the rest is true. He did have about 4 sharpies in his pocket, I believe. Actually, there was a point where he took his shirt off (it was an over-shirt shirt) and sat it down in a chair. I thought Angela was gonna do the ole military crawl over to it, grab her sharpie and run, but luckily cooler heads prevailed.

   Anyway, to make this long story shorter than it could be, I ended up seeing drummer Fred Young and asked him if he would do an interview with me (to which he immediately replied, "No, No, but my brother will" before agreeing to actually do it). As I said before, Fred is really a cool ole dude. He's quiet and normally doesn't do interviews, but he is such a fist pounding monster on drums (and has the most badass sideburns you will ever see in your life!). As Fred and I were walking into the green room to do the interview, he asked guitarist Greg Martin to join us.

   I was like, "Awesome, I'm finally getting the interview!"

   We sat down and started, then lead vocalist/bassist Doug Phelps walked in and Fred & Greg asked him to join. Now I was setting and interviewing the other 3/4 of The Headhunters that I had yet to interview when.....BAMM!! They had to get up and go take pictures with all the canned goods that the fans had brought to the show.

   I mean, like feeding needy families is more important than my interview or something!

   No, actually it was an awesome amount of canned goods and feeding needy families is way more important than my interview. So we ended the short interview and I followed the guys to the where the canned goods had been stacked. This is when I ran back into John Fred Young of Black Stone Cherry once again. John Fred apologized for not hooking up yet and said if I could wait till after the meet and greet the band was doing than he would give me that interview. He also did not shake my hand, by the way.

   Unfortunately, about 30 minutes later, the line at the meet and greet was still long and the night had gotten long itself. I had no choice but to get out to the parking lot, address the truck situation and end my quest for interviews. The show was awesome and I'm glad I got to see it. The cause was awesome and I'm glad I got to a part of it. Everything did not go as planned, but I now have a goal, which is to nail down some or all of the members of The Kentucky Headhunters & Black Stone Cherry for a decent period of time and do some interviews. It may take months or even years, but I'm going to get this done.

Kentucky home though. So maybe I'm going to have to head to eastern Kentucky and corner them on their home turf. There is a legendary practice house in those parts that I would like to see. So who knows?

   Oh, BTW a hose was leaking antifreeze down into a spark plug on the truck. It was an easy fix, but man did it make some scary sounds. I also want to add that I'm sorry if this story rambled at times but this is just how things went down!