source: rocknrollreporter.com february The Black Crowes by Byron Nash There’s really no need for a long-drawn out introduction for the Black Crowes. Everyone knows who they are. Back in 1990, the Black Crowes surprised the music industry with their southern-bred rock and roll. Since then, they have toured all over the world, sold millions of albums and headlined the H.O.R.D.E. Festival. Over time, a few band problems developed, eventually taking its toll on the band’s music. Their last and least successful album, Three Snakes and One Charm, found the Crowes at a low point in their career and the band needed a drastic change. Exiting the band were longtime bassist Johnny Colt and lead guitarist Marc Ford. Like a true rock band, the Crowes have regrouped and have put out By Your Side, perhaps their most energetic and best album ever. Skin basher, Steve Gorman enthusiastically spoke with the Reporter about the band’s transition, the new album and life after hard times. The new record sounds very energized and revitalized. What inspired the band? “We came through a really strange period on Three Snakes and One Charm. There were obviously some serious internal problems that led, overtime, to two guys leaving the band. Once they were gone, the four of us who were left were very committed and still here. Then we hooked up with an old friend of ours, Sven Pipien, who’s now our new bassist. We were so happy to hook up with him. We also got onto a new label, Columbia Records, which is this big, monolithic corporation who could sweep us under the rug. They came to us and said, “We’d love to have you and we like what you’ve done.” from the moment, we found ourselves as a four-piece, this focus came into play. Also, finding the right producer was a good thing. We met Kevin Shirley and after one meeting with him everyone seemed to feel good about him. There was this positive energy that just kept creating more positive energy. Making the record in New York City in the springtime helped, because the energy level there is incomparable to any place in the world. That was the antithesis to the recording process of Three Snakes. It was winter time, we were all stuck in the house and there were too many drugs around— on top of a lot of personal problems. Three Snakes isn’t the type of album people would put on and try to rock to. That’s not how we felt, so the record isn’t going to sound that way.” The element of the powerful backup soul-sisters really pushes the music into a rocking gospel territory. How important is gospel music to you? “As we were writing the tunes, Chris, Ed and Sven would do the backup vocals just for the tape so we could figure out the parts. We just tried different things that sounded right to us. The chicks in the background...well, there’s nothing like it. It’s an integral part of the music we play and all love. We’ve said for years now that it’s the wellspring of American music, specifically southern music forms, that shape rock-n-roll. We don’t have a hands-on-policy on any style, whether it be rock, folk, funk or jazz— it’s all of southern origin. It’s (the music) the merging of African and European music forms and that’s what we’re inspired by. When I was in eighth grade my two favorite bands were Earth, Wind and Fire and Devo. I listened to a lot of punk and new wave at the time and that inspired me to be in a band, but it never inspired the way I wanted to play.” Now that Marc Ford has left the band, how was Rich’s transition into the lead guitar role? “It didn’t feel like a transition at all. The only stumbling block would have been Rich himself. On Three Snakes he played almost all the bass and guitars. Marc brought a lot to the band guitar- wise, but, as far as writing those lines, it was never that far removed from Rich. It’s my favorite guitar work, because it’s most connected to the songs. It’s really in sync.” This album flows much better than Three Snakes and One Charm’s continuity is concerned. “Three Snakes doesn’t really have any continuity musically. It’s a collection of songs that were treated all individually. We were in a disjointed place as a band. A lot of bands would have taken a year off. If we’re in a good mood or bad mood we’ll play. The Amorica tour was grueling, ‘cause someone was quitting the band almost everyday. Coming through that, Johnny and Marc were the two guys who hadn’t gotten past a lot of that. Johnny had gone into a totally different way of life and it took his focus away from the band. With Marc, he just wasn’t ready to get straight and he had a serious, serious drug problem. We tried to help him out and then we said, ‘This is getting in the way of the band.’ He wasn’t ready to help himself, so we had to draw a line in the sand. Within a month he helped himself and is now playing in L.A. doing really well. That couldn’t have happened if he stayed in the Black Crowes.” How would you compare the energy of By Your Side to the last record? “It’s positive energy verses a confused energy. Shake Your Money Maker is like everyone’s first record, ‘Here we are!’ then Southern Harmony was like, ‘We’re going to show you that we didn’t goof off on tour,’ and Amorica was a lot of problems in the band with the brothers, and the energy on that one was anger. Three Snakes is a blue, down, sad, tweaked-around-the-edges and tired feeling. That’s how we were, so, why not record that? It’s our band and we’ll do what we want to with it.” I would have to say that By Your Side is your most honest record. “I agree with you. We’ve never written a song like “Then She Said My Name.” We are all fans of pop rock and we figured, ‘Why can’t we write a happy song about a girl?’ I still listen to the Beatles and old Stones, so why not write a song about girls and not take everything so seriously. We couldn’t have done that before and really felt it.” “Horsehead” has a lot of vocal intensity and the guitar chords match the theme really well. “The lyrics match the sound perfectly. If you fuck around with things like heroin, that’s serious business. That’s not a recreational thing, that’s a lifestyle. You are going to have trouble and that’s all the song says. It doesn’t tell you not to do it.” Was switching bass players an adjustment for you having played with Johhny for ten years? “No, not really. Sven’s not on the album, but he will be on the tour. His musicality and sense of melody is a lot different from Johnny’s. I actually played in a band with Sven in 1987. He’s the first bass player I ever played with. At the first rehearsal, it was just Sven, Rich and myself. The first song we played was “Thorn In My Pride.” We played it once, he went to his car to get something and Chris looked at me and said, ‘Well, that was easy.’ He’s terribly intuitive, has a great ear. Its been awesome.” With all of these new changes and transitions, what did producer Kevin Shirley bring to your sound? “He’s had a huge impact on everything. We had to find someone we trusted who had the same vision. We decided whether or not it took a month or a year, we’re not going to do this until it’s right. Chris had run into Joe Perry (Aerosmith) at a hotel in Los Angeles and he explained to him that we were trying to make a straight-ahead rock record. Joe said, ‘You gotta work with Kevin Shirley. The guy’s name is Caveman. You go in, bust it out and go home.’ Kevin said, ‘Look, this is how I work: get to the studio at one, start tracks around two, you’re outta here by eight and you have weekends off. Go get dinner and have a real life, like a human.’ We would always lock ourselves in the studio for twenty-four hours a day. His method made perfect sense, because everyone got to bed at a decent hour. We’d wake up at noon and walk ten blocks through Manhattan to the studio, so you’re buzzing when you get there. Have some coffee, play a few tracks, have some lunch, do some overdubs and go home. It was the most carefree and energetic recording we’ve ever done. Chris’s role in the studio wasn’t to listen to guitar tones or which was the best take, but to sing! It’s the best vocal performance he’s ever had and it’s because that’s all he focused on.” He delivers the vocals with serious conviction, making the lyrics believable. “The album title is very intrinsic to the whole thing. The majority of the bands out there have a sense of detachment from their own persona. They’re forging these images and personalities that are separate from who they are. I don’t think we did more drugs than any other band on tour, it’s just if someone asked us we said ‘Yeah.’ Guys who get in bands and play for a living are the most fortunate fuckers on the planet. You can sit around and bitch about the business side and the labels, or take that little piece of freedom you have and make the most of it. Lyrically, this record is very direct and the album title is our commitment to ourselves, each other and the fans. We just finished a decade and reenlisted with Uncle Sam for ten more. We’re not going anywhere. So many people are afraid to be honest and direct. It’s painful on the surface, but at least we can sleep at night.” That honesty will keep the creative arteries unclogged and free. “Yeah man, exactly! The problem I have with bands today is what would these guys be able to accomplish if they stopped thinking about their image or detachment from the rock world? Focus on the music and if you don’t want to be a rock star, then don’t!” Is there ever a time when you get too over-analytical about your playing? “The most stressful time for me in the studio was our first record. At that time I had only been playing drums for two years. When you’re making your first record, you have all of the expectations of being the biggest band in the world with only one cent in your pocket and you realize that you still have to go to work after the studio and no one gives a shit. At the same time you can’t believe someone would actually put you in the studio. All I wanted was to make the best record we could, and I worked myself over pretty hard to the point of insanity. It was a tough record to make because I had all of the confidence in the world outside until I had to put those headphones on. Shake Your Money Maker was every ounce of what we had and that was at a time when we really didn’t know what we were doing. That album has attitude: naive, but in all the right ways. ‘Let’s go take over the world! We’re a gang’ was the mentality of everyone’s first album. It doesn’t really sound that good to me. The songs are good, but they’re not played that well. I listen to the album and I’m like, ‘Ugghh, Jesus.’ I was cocky enough when I was younger, now I’m humble because I’m older. We strut around and show our shit in the rock world, but in the world of music, we’re just a small part.”