How 1,000 Musicians Collaborated on New Original Song With Black Stone Cherry Frontman
Collaborations happen in rock all the time, but too many voices in the room can often yield combustible results. That's why the new song featuring Black Stone Cherry frontman Chris Robertson is all the more impressive, as his partners on the song are the collective known as the Rockin' 1000. Together, they've just issued the new track "How We Roll."
For those who need a refresher, the Rockin' 1000 first came to prominence back in 2015 when they united to perform Foo Fighters' "Learn to Fly" in hopes of catching the band's attention to get them to play a concert in Cesena, Italy. It worked, as the video went viral, and Dave Grohl brought his band to the city to play a special performance.
From there, the Rockin' 1000 have put on special concerts and tours in the years since, and now they have their first original song, a track called "How We Roll" that features Black Stone Cherry's Chris Robertson on vocals.
So how did this all come together? Well, a call was put out via the "Mission S000ngwriting' challenge, where flyers were distributed throughout the streets of Milan, Rome, New York, Paris and Mexico City seeking songwriters with a phone number attached. In total, over 65,000 musician from around the world were invited to help create the biggest work of musical co-creation ever attempted. It would be the first song composed by 1,000 authors that would be performed by 1,000 musicians.
After a lengthy study, the team of experts led by Fabio Zaffagnini, formed by the Australian Nic Cester – singer-songwriter, guitarist, and frontman of Jet; the Italians Giulio Nenna – producer, musician, and composer and Andrea DB Debernardi, sound engineer, and producer, and the Brazilian Daniel Plentz of Selton, musician, music director, and producer – last October convened about 100 musicians (including vocals, guitars, basses and drums) at the Teatro Verdi in Cesena, Italy set up for the occasion as a recording studio. An extraordinary two days of rehearsals followed.
“After creating the first draft, which included a topline with guitar accompaniment, we asked the community to arrange it and write the lyrics. We collected over 1,000 proposals, in which there was everything: punk, folk, metal, and prog versions,” declares Fabio Zaffagnini, founder of Rockin’1000. ”Gathering materials from so many people and putting them together was long, demanding, and very interesting. Listening to hundreds of versions allowed us to understand what worked and what didn’t. The feature of Black Stone Cherry is, for us, a confirmation of the quality of the song. We are delighted. Such a result was not taken for granted when we started with this yet another crazy idea!”
As for Robertson, the singer was already aware of the Rockin' 1000 previous efforts and was excited to join in. “I’ve been a big fan of Rockin’ 1000 since the first video went viral, so to sing their first original song is a huge honor for me," said the vocalist. "I can’t wait for you all to check it out.”
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And to seal the deal on the new song, tomorrow (June 3) in Madrid, the song will be played for the first time by 1,000 musicians during the opening date of the HUMANS WORLD TOUR 2023. It will, after that, be performed in Rome (June 7) and Cesena (a charity event for the flood that hit Italy - date TBC), with more shows on the way.
Check out the Rockin' 1000's first original song below and if you like what you hear, the track is available via multiple platforms at this location.