OUR STORY
You'll hear me say, "Eat B.B.Q. Live Forever" a lot.
At first, it was a funny joke I had with myself because it felt simultaneously kick-ass and a little off-kilter because it wasn’t possible. An eyebrow raiser for sure, and I need little inside jokes (and you jokers) in my life so I just ran with it. But you know what, as I got to know the BBQ community, that statement became real.
As a kid, BBQ brought my friends together in the backyard to build smokers, cook food, and party on Mountain Dew.
Boring, bonkers (this is our way), silly (also our way), standard (after 10pm, this is our way), safe (also post 10pm) or daring (catch me before 7am on that coffee and I’m daring as shit) -- whatever, as long as it feels good.
That was the discovery that made Eat B.B.Q. Live Forever an honest one. BBQ connects me to something outside myself -- people, places, stories, and gatherings. And those things truly do live forever.
I want to bring as many people into this wonderful community as possible.
That's Why Rolling Bones Barbecue Exists. To help you to crush some cooks, provide some laughs, help you live forever, and as a reminder to “go for it,” or as we say: “roll the bones”.
WE BELIEVE IN:
SHARING THE 'WHY' BEHIND OUR COOKS
LIFTING UP THE BARBECUE COMMUNITY
KEEPING IT SUSTAINABLE WHEN YOU CAN
SHOWING UP NATURAL AND STAYING FREE
BRINGING VALUE TO THE PEOPLE
GOING ALL THE WAY, EVEN WHEN IT'S HARD
PUTTING AN END TO THE PERFORMATIVE EXPERT BULL$#!+
THE BEGINNING
Here's how it all got started.
November 2022
VEGGIE MAN BACK ON THE MEATS
A few years back, someone [my mom] convinced this 6-year vegetarian to smoke a brisket for Thanksgiving. From there it was blast-off and I was back on the meats, chugging Chuds videos on YouTube.
I got a Weber Smoky Mountain and modified the door to fit more sticks and started a welding class to build my own smoker. Virginia started to worry...
May 2023
THE MILL SCALE 94
I started taking things more seriously, and was convinced I needed to burn wood. So I bought an expensive offset smoker and opened an LLC for it so I could tell my wife I was "financially responsible.”
I started building Rolling Bones into a business as my hail mary to escape the corporate world.
November 2024
THE PIN SIGNS
Virginia created a menu for a private event at the end of 2024, using a collection of pins from festivals and places we've visited. It stuck, and now every in-person event we do has a pin sign to give some personality to our menus.
THE YIN AND YANG OF COOKING:
“It’s just food. You eat it, and then it’s gone.”
...but also...
“Why half-ass a cook when you can whole-ass it?”
What We're Up To
Where we're at and where we're headed.
December 2024
TIME FOR A TRAILER RIG
At the end of 2024, Virginia and I decided to roll the bones and go all in. We bought a trailer rig from the folks at Mill Scale and jumped into BBQ full time — broadening from content creation to events and education. Will was anxious because he did not know how to backup a trailer.
July 2025
OUR FIRST PITMASTER PLAYBOOK
We started stringing it all together for people in what we call "playbooks": guides that put your shopping list, timeline, recipes, and service plan in one handy-dandy PDF.
So when it's your time to put it all together for a full BBQ, we're there to help you see it through.
Beyond
THREE YEARS INTO THE JOURNEY...
...and we're taking the next big step to help the people: an online hub with structured learning paths so we can share everything we make in the most helpful way. (Scroll down just a bit to join the club.)
It's more than recipes and more than just guides. Now we're developing albums on top of those hit singles, ya know?
Looking forward, we’re focused on going deeper in BBQ, strengthening our community and our relationships, and expanding into hunting and fishing through a sustainable cooking lens.
Roll the bones.
Be one of the first 50 people to join the "Really Good" community — our community where we give you all the skills and smoker cheat codes.
The Complete, Unabridged History of Rolling Bones Barbecue
A VEGETARIAN GETS BACK ON THE MEATS
November 24, 2022 — Someone [my mom] convinced this 6-year vegetarian to smoke a brisket for Thanksgiving… it was blast off and I was back on the meats and chugging Chuds videos on YouTube.
I bought a Weber Smoky Mountain and modified the door to fit more sticks and started a welding class to build my own smoker. Virginia started to worry.
THE VERY FIRST POST
March 16, 2023 — Sent Rolling Bones into the world with an “Eat our meat, live forever” post and a Blink 182 soundtrack. The plan was to document my new obsession with cooking on a smoker.
There was a bit in my early videos where I named a vegetarian recipe and then dropped a character on-screen I called “Billy Bones” [also my pirate name…] saying “I smoked worse” wearing tie dye. I wanted to take a crack at introducing hardcore smoke roasted veggie dishes to the world of BBQ. Why? Well because I love the outdoors and the reason I was vegetarian was a way to lessen my environmental impact. Took the Leroy and Lewis BBQ class and locked in on learning BBQ.
LOCKED ON TO "THAT'S GOOD, REALLY GOOD!"
May 7, 2023 — I tried to do the cheffy thing of describing the flavor pallet of my dishes, and always found myself stumbling and just saying “that’s good, really good” when my brain short circuited with all the thoughts. Turns out, all people want to know is if it’s good or bad, so it worked. Kept putting in work.
ENTER THE MILL SCALE 94
May 14, 2023 — I was convinced I needed to burn wood, and bought an expensive offset smoker… I opened an LLC and put the smoker in it so I could tell my wife “I was financially responsible.” I started building Rolling Bones into a business so it was all by the books. I didn’t have the words then, but this was my hail mary to escape the corporate world. Fun fact, 5/14/2023 I posted a brisket video – this is in fact the first cook on my new offset and first offset brisket I ever smoked. Drumline sound track was flames.
WE SELL OUR FIRST "PERPETUAL BEEF"
January 11, 2024 — I spent a lot of time sneezing in the kitchen blending my own spices. PBeef went live and I was proud.
"EAT B.B.Q. LIVE FOREVER"
March 6, 2024 — Over that first year, I continued to work full-time as I learned new cooking and filming skills. Growth was slow, but I was committed and “eat our meat, live forever” became “Eat B.B.Q. Live Forever.” Stopping doing voiceovers in the closet with a handheld mini Bluetooth mic and bought a podcast mic that it took me far too long to understand. Started editing on desktop around this time.
THE FIRST EDUCATIONAL GUIDE
April 4, 2024 — We set out to create something we wished we had when we were starting. A lofi PDF of what to do for your first cook that was super stripped down. No nonsense. We couldn’t find it, so we built “Your First Smoke” [pulled pork]. People were in to it, so from there, we started putting our knowledge in PDF guides so people could follow along and learn at their own pace.
THE FIRST PIN SIGN
November 15, 2024 — Every in person event we do now has a pin sign because of a private event we catered on November 15, 2024. Virginia created our menu and she used my collection of pins from festivals and places we’ve visited to give personality to our menus (insert pics). It stuck.
TIME FOR A TRAILER RIG
December 2, 2024 — Fast-forward 2 years of building Rolling Bones while working a full time job and Virginia and I decided to roll the bones and go all in. We bought a trailer rig from the folks at Mill Scale and jumped into BBQ full time – broadening from content creation to events and education. Will was anxious because he did not know how to backup a trailer. Drove it from TX to SC to VA then back to SC.
SAY HOLA TO PERPETUAL PORK
February 3, 2025 — The second rub in the perpetual line is introduced and goes live on our site.
OUR FIRST POP-UP IN CHARLESTON
February 15, 2025 — We put that new trailer to good use and did our first Charleston pop up for Presidents Day Weekend. We made a menu with our friend Stephen at One Oak Barbecue inspired by the presidents' favorite foods. And we wore powdered wigs.
OUR FIRST DOME COVERS
February 19, 2025 – Ever since we started saying, "Eat B.B.Q., Live Forever," we knew we needed to put it on some merch. Developed a hat and made it as quickly as we could. They sold out in one day.
THE RIG GOES TO TEXAS
May 9, 2025 — Learned how to back up a trailer... Drove the Bones rig back to where it was created – Lockhart TX for Mill Scales Lockhart Rising Festival. We served 800 bites and tested ourselves in that service capacity burning Daniel Vaughn’s mouth on some hot ass grits at Lockhart Rising.
PERPETUAL POULTRY IS BORN
June 27, 2025 — We just keep plugging away, developing spices in the background. It's just how we do.
OUR FIRST PITMASTER PLAYBOOK
July 2, 2025 — We started stringing it all together for people as playbooks: putting the shopping list, timeline, recipes, and service plan in PDF guides so when it was time to put it together in the backyard for a full BBQ we we're there to see them through.
P-VEG HITS THE MARKET
July 11, 2025 - Perpetual Veg is released into the wild. Low key my favorite.
RECONNECTING WITH OUR ROOTS
October 2025 — We’re no longer vegetarians, but the desire to protect the spaces that we play is still strong. It’s not a rule and we’re practical about it, but when we’re able to we’re going to share the sustainability aspect of our lives that is still important to us. We’re just starting to go down the rabbit hole that is hunt/fish and working with wild game meats. Maybe it’ll stick.
SMOKE A BRISKET IN SPACE...?
2030 — We're on a mission to smoke a brisket in space. If you know anyone at NASA, tell them to send us a fax.
