{"id":3109,"date":"2011-08-05T16:39:53","date_gmt":"2011-08-05T23:39:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/?p=3109"},"modified":"2011-08-05T16:39:53","modified_gmt":"2011-08-05T23:39:53","slug":"the-black-crowes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/2011\/08\/the-black-crowes\/","title":{"rendered":"THE BLACK CROWES"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/h1>\n

THE BLACK CROWES<\/h1>\n

Chris Robinson looks back on two decades of keeping it weird <\/strong><\/h2>\n

By Chris Neal<\/strong><\/p>\n

In January 2002, the Black Crowes announced plans for an indefinite hiatus. Relations among the members had reached an all-time low, particularly the famously tempestuous bond between lead singer Chris Robinson and guitarist brother Rich. They all needed a break from each other. \u201cThere was a lot of negativity surrounding all of our feelings,\u201d recalls Chris Robinson, who founded the group with Rich and drummer Steve Gorman in Atlanta\u00a023 years ago. \u201cIt\u2019s confusing and upsetting when things fall apart and you\u2019re thinking, \u2018I want to get out of here.\u2019 It shouldn\u2019t feel like that. It\u2019s something that\u2019s brought too much joy.\u201d<\/p>\n

After being back in action for the last five years, the Crowes recently announced another impending hiatus, set to begin when their current tour wraps up in December. But the mood of the band, Robinson says, is very different this time. \u201cEveryone is happy and feels great about where we are, what we\u2019ve done and where we\u2019re going,\u201d he says. \u201cWe thought it would be healthy to say, \u2018Look, we\u2019ve done so many gigs and made three really energetic records in the last five years. Let\u2019s put it down for a bit and see how we feel.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

To mark the occasion\u2014and to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Crowes\u2019 debut album, Shake Your Money Maker<\/em>\u2014the band has recorded a new double album featuring acoustic versions of songs from throughout their back catalog. Croweology<\/em> was recorded late last year at Sunset Sound Studios in Los Angeles, with former Crowes guitarist Paul Stacey producing. \u201cWe definitely wanted to make some symbolic effort for our 20th anniversary,\u201d Robinson says, \u201ceven though we\u2019re the most non-career-oriented group of people that you would probably ever meet. I think it\u2019s a super-interesting record, it\u2019s a warm cocoon of music to get in to.\u201d When we caught up with Robinson at his Topanga Canyon home in Los Angeles county, he was engaged in what he calls \u201cbig rock-star stuff\u2014moving some stuff into a storage unit, going to Whole Foods with the family. It\u2019s a big day.\u201d<\/p>\n

Why go on hiatus now? <\/strong><\/p>\n

It\u2019s better to take a break while everyone feels good and all the pieces are in place, so it will be that much easier to put it back together when we feel we want to do it. We probably should have taken a break after Three Snakes and One Charm<\/em> [1996]. If we\u2019d taken a couple of years off back then, who knows? But when you\u2019re in the middle of something, you don\u2019t have that perspective. There\u2019s a lot of stuff that happens in your life when you get off the submarine for a while. That\u2019s a lesson we had to learn from our past.<\/p>\n

How long will it be? <\/strong><\/p>\n

It could be two years, five years, 10 years or whatever. Let\u2019s see what happens. Our joke is that if this record sold a lot of copies, we would go back on the road next year. We laugh about that, but I don\u2019t know. The last five years have been pretty Crowe-intensive, and we want to do some other things\u2014have time to be with the kids, do that kind of stuff. So it\u2019s hard to say. But that\u2019s what I like about it. You just shove off from the dock on your little dingy, and the next thing you know you\u2019re on the wide open sea.<\/p>\n

How did you decide which songs to <\/strong>re-record for Croweology<\/em>?<\/strong><\/p>\n

We were very democratic about it. Everybody put together a list of the songs they wanted to do. It was funny, about 70 to 80 percent of our lists were all the same. Then we filled in the pieces. Most of the material we know, we\u2019d been playing it for a long time, so it was just a question of getting a good sound.<\/p>\n

Even though it\u2019s acoustic, it\u2019s definitely a real rock \u2019n\u2019 roll record.<\/strong><\/p>\n

On a song like \u201cRemedy,\u201d this version is rockin\u2019 without electric guitars. Hey, \u201cRemedy\u201d was written on an acoustic guitar, laying around in my garage in 1991. One thing I really like about the record is that it breaks down a little bit more of the songwriting. You get to hear the architecture of the structure in the music, which is really hip. I don\u2019t think most people would expect the way the record sounds. I hope they\u2019ll be pleasantly surprised.<\/p>\n

What was the recording like? <\/strong><\/p>\n

We made the record last December. We came from a five-night run at the Fillmore in San Francisco straight down to the studio here and went right in. So we were a little shell-shocked, which adds to how dreamy some of the music sounds. We went from these big, loud, long psychedelic nights at the Fillmore to this. We had to get into this space where you\u2019re not being that loud, but you\u2019re playing this dynamic kind of music.<\/p>\n

Did you feel like you learned something new about the songs?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I get that feeling all the time. I\u2019m not on a nostalgia trip, and I don\u2019t really listen to our records. I can\u2019t be in one of those bands where you have<\/em> to play [the Crowes\u2019 1990 breakout hit] \u201cHard to Handle,\u201d you still have<\/em> to go out and get into that groove. Luckily, we don\u2019t play the exact same songs all the time. If you\u2019re going to play your music, it has to feel legitimate and it has to feel present. If you get to the real, true expression in whatever piece you\u2019re working on, you can stay in a pure place. The songs change with you and the things that you go through, and with the audience. Especially if you\u2019ve been doing them for a long time, the songs have to resonate in some way other than nostalgia for the listener.<\/p>\n

When you first started the band, did you have a goal in mind? <\/strong><\/p>\n

No, we weren\u2019t like that. We just wanted to make a record. Steve Gorman joined the band in 1987, and by then Rich was just getting out of high school. I decided not to go to university, so that\u2019s when we said we were going to do this. We made a commitment, but our commitment was to make music, our commitment was to not give up. Our commitment was, at least for me, to keep it weird. If we made it, or if we got to a place where we could eke out a living, great. If we became rock stars, even better\u2014but that was so beyond the realms of consciousness. It was about trying to write the best songs and be the best band we could be, and see where that took us. I didn\u2019t want to look like anyone else, didn\u2019t want to sound like anyone else. I feel the same way now. It\u2019s the thread running through our tapestry. I never wanted to be a chameleon or have a character or something. I don\u2019t have to get a silly haircut. I\u2019m sure people think I look silly anyway, like some weird old hippie-like wizard guy.<\/p>\n

How would you describe your relationship with your brother?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I guess to other people it\u2019s complicated,\u00a0but to me it\u2019s simple. I love my brother to death, he\u2019s very talented and I love the\u00a0music we make together, but I don\u2019t always like him. He probably feels the same way. I\u2019m proud of the work we do together,\u00a0but we live in our own worlds. The only time we can really communicate and be civil is when we\u2019re making music, and then the other times there are these complicated things. I\u2019ll take my half of the credit for the good and the bad stuff. That\u2019s the way life works,\u00a0and I can\u2019t get hung up on it. I can\u2019t say,\u00a0\u201cOh, that\u2019s the way Rich is.\u201d I imagine the way I am is hard to be with on a certain level as well. We\u2019re just too stubborn, maybe\u2014I don\u2019t know. The fulfillment and the payoff is the music. That\u2019s the focus, the most important and the most interesting thing.<\/p>\n

A lot of people say Rich is a realist and you\u2019re an idealist. Is that right?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Maybe on some things, but not on others. Rich is equally an idealist in terms of the politics of how we make our music and how we get it to people. We both have a healthy disregard for authority, so that\u2019s the tie that binds us. So I don\u2019t know if that\u2019s a fair assumption. It\u2019s hard to say, I have a hard time putting my finger on it myself. Maybe during the hiatus I\u2019ll figure it out. (laughs<\/em>)<\/p>\n

What are your plans for the hiatus? <\/strong><\/p>\n

I definitely see making music. I could play music here in L.A., get some solo material together, write songs with other people. The Black Crowes is this incredible dynamic trip. It\u2019s love and hate, joy and loss. It\u2019s very dramatic. I love that, but five years of that doesn\u2019t give you any time to play with other people and do all the things you want to do. It\u2019s time we take control of our own business\u00a0and say, \u201cOK, we\u2019ll get back to this later.\u201d Everybody has music to make and children to raise and wives to love. It\u2019s a healthy move for the commune all around.<\/p>\n

Looking back on the last 20 years, what are you proudest of? <\/strong><\/p>\n

Keeping it weird. Not just the music itself, but what it stands for and the culture of what the Black Crowes has been. These days nobody steps out to make a statement, a soulful statement. It\u2019s just sad when kids grow up thinking Nickelback is a real band. I\u2019m sure they\u2019re great guys, I just picked them because they\u2019re big. I\u2019m proud that we\u2019re still making music that I feel is equally important and has as much depth as anything we created in our commercial period in the \u201990s. I\u2019m proud that we still have the freedom to be self-indulgent. Jesus Christ, shouldn\u2019t somebody be self-indulgent besides Radiohead? (laughs<\/em>) Not every trip is the same, and not everything should be watered down to sell to the middle. We didn\u2019t jump on any trends or bandwagons. I\u2019m proud that we\u2019ve maintained a certain aesthetic and integrity, even though on the outside it may look like we\u2019re totally crazy. We love it so much that it probably has made us a little crazy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

THE BLACK CROWES Chris Robinson looks back on two decades of keeping it weird By Chris Neal In January 2002, the Black Crowes announced plans for an indefinite hiatus. Relations among the members had reached an all-time low, particularly the famously tempestuous bond between lead singer Chris Robinson and guitarist brother Rich. They all needed […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[7],"tags":[623,970,2295],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3109"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3109"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3109\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3111,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3109\/revisions\/3111"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3109"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3109"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3109"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}