The Black Crowes Go On 

An interview with Crowes’ guitarist Rich Robinson 

By Aaron M. Fontana from Entertainment Today



If the Georgia-bred Black Crowes have anything on
their rock contemporaries, it’s longevity. And 

since their 1990 debut album, Shake Your Money Maker,
on Rick Rubin’s American Recordings, this ole’ time
rock ’n’ roll outfit has stayed mostly busy, either
making albums or touring to promote them. Recently out
from under the spell of American (which itself had
been under the power of the Sony multi-conglomeratic
umbrella, until, newsflash, as of Monday, when
American became aligned with Universal’s Def Jam Music
Group), the Crowes have a new label and a new album,
Lions, which was released in May. Having finished a
coheadlining tour with other influenced-rockers,
Oasis, in July, the band has now embarked on a 30-plus
city tour across the U.S. with L.A. locals, Beachwood
Sparks. Entertainment Today spoke to Rich Robinson,
Black Crowes guitarist and founding member (as well as
the brother of spindly frontman, Chris) from a hotel
in Boise. He talked about the Idaho weather (“it’s
hot”), his supposed side career as a fireman, about
the band Funkadelic, American Recordings and more. 


ET: Do you really firefight like your Internet bio
says? 

RR: Do I firefight? 

ET: Yes. 

RR: No, no, no. it’s a joke. I don’t have time to
firefight. 

ET: I wasn’t sure. I thought you might have been a
volunteer. Anyway, next question. Your dad played
music. Can you tell me about his influence on you? 

RR: You know, just sort of a life influence. My dad
was a musician when he was in his teens and he was on
the American bandstand and he played guitar. He did
all sorts of things and so, you know, there was always
music in the house... 

ET: Is that how you guys got started? 

RR: Yeah, I mean, you know, it was just sort of like a
natural thing. Chris and I, we say, we never liked
look at each other and said, hey, let’s start a band.
We just sort of did it. 

ET: Well it worked, I mean, you guys really blew up. 

RR: Yeah. 

ET: Can you tell me a little about your new album,
Lions? Was the approach different this time around? 

RR: I think there was a different approach. But to me
it was hands-down my favorite record we ever made. 

ET: You’re not just saying that, are you? 

RR: No… We don’t put out records that we’re not happy
with. Or at least, I don’t. I mean, I know Chris
wasn’t thrilled with By Your Side for whatever reason,
but it was what we wanted to do and when it was
finished, we all loved it… And this record, I love
because I think we’ve been fortunate enough — even
though it’s always been a fight — to really make the
records we want to make. And my thing is we came in
under the radar. When we signed with American Records,
you know, no one knew who we were and it wasn’t like a
big bidding war or anything. it was just our friend
George (Drakoulias, who also produced Shake Your Money
Maker) signed us. And Rick was like, ‘yeah, whatever,
don’t spend any money, but just make this record if
you want.’ It was almost like a gift to George… So we
never met Rick Rubin, we just made this record with
George and it wasn’t necessarily a fashionable record
to make... And so we came in in an arena where no one
cared. We got to do what we wanted to do. 

ET: And it ended up being a huge success. 

RR: And it was so big that the second record, they (he
laughs) couldn’t say anything to us, because we sold
seven million records. What are they gonna say? With
the second record, we got to make the record we wanted
to make. 

ET: It’s pretty well-known that you weren’t happy with
American? 

RR: No we never really were. 

ET: Is it because they didn’t nurture you guys as a
band? 

RR: Well, to get to my point, we sort of came in under
the radar and then went above the radar. And we sort
of were able to do whatever we wanted to do. And a lot
of times, you know, a lot of our records are really
different. You know, {Southern Harmony and Musical
Companion} is really different from Shake Your Money
Maker and Amorica is really different from Southern
Harmony and {Three Snakes and One Charm} is really
different from all three of them. And so… we really
had to fight to make the records we always wanted to
make. But we did it. And it was really cool. The
reason we were never into American, is they basically
built that label around us. I mean they were in debt
and we sold seven million records. So all of a sudden,
they had all this money and Rick started getting
notoriety and he had some say again. 

ET: He didn’t even discover you? 

RR: No it was George. And so when you make someone a
lot of money, they want you to always make them money.
And so, for whatever reason, we were content to move
on. It was like, we made Shake Your Money Maker, we
loved that album. You know, no one was as proud of
that album as we were when we were finished, but I was
19… 

ET: You didn’t want to make another one? 

RR: Yeah, exactly. We learned how to play, we moved
on. Our songs, I feel, got better. And we definitely
became more like into playing and writing and trying
to further our horizons. But, every record we made,
they were always trying to find the “Hard to Handle”
or the “She Talks to Angels.” And it was like, well,
there aren’t any of those ones on here. And so they
always picked songs that didn’t necessarily represent
what we were doing… They tried to pick songs that kept
people thinking we were still this sort of rock ’n’
roll band, which we were. But we had all these other
elements that we wanted to sort of show off…. “ 

ET: To the label, it’s about marketability? 

RR: Yes. And the music industry changed so much. And I
think that if they hadn’t kept trying to put that
stigma on us, in actuality, they shot themselves in
the foot and they shot us in the foot because there’s
this fucking stigma about us that we are this retro,
classic rock band, whatever. You know, but we’ve never
really been that. We’ve always had a lot more to it
than that. You know what I mean? But they never
fosuced on that. But the cool thing about this record
is that when we signed with V2 (their new label),
those guys were like: ‘…it’s great the fact that
you’ve always changed. That’s a great thing. And so
you go make your record, whatever you want to do and
then bring it to us and we’ll sell it.’ 

ET: When you negotiated the new contract, did you feel
that you would have to give V2 that so-called Black
Crowes’ sound? 

RR: No, no. that’s the thing… After we left Columbia,
which was our choice, you know, they had misread the
contract. We knew what the real contract was. And we
let the option go. They thought that this record was
firm for them, but we knew it was an option. So we
were just like, don’t say anything. Just let it go, so
we could just leave Rick Rubin and leave Sony for
good. So we waited it out….You know, we haven’t been
free agents ever really. And so we looked at everyone.
I mean we took meetings with Internet-only companies
and small and large independent companies. And the
typical, you know, Atlantic and RCA and whatever those
big labels are. And we met with everyone just to see.
We even talked about putting records out ourselves and
we just really liked what the guys at V2 had to say. 

ET: So do you have a favorite song on Lions? 

RR: No. I mean, I generally think that every song on
the new album, I love. I am totally thrilled with it. 

ET: I did mention in my review that I heard some
Funkadelic in there. And I was happy to see that they
were listed on your Web site biography as an
influence. So I might have been right. 

RR: Yeah. I mean we grew up listening to Parliament.
And actually, Chris since he was older would go buy
all the records and bring them home. But he and I
would listen to them. And you know, for whatever
reason, I always loved, The Electric Spanking of War
Babies. It was like one of my favorites. 

ET: I was a Maggot Brain guy. 

RR: Maggot Brain, you can’t go wrong with. But for
some reason, there was a couple of songs on Electric
Spanking that I loved. And we sort of grew up with
that and Sly and the Family Stone was key... 

ET: When people talk about the Crowes, they always say
The Rolling Stones or vintage Faces. Are there any
other secret influences we should know about? 

RR: Yeah, I mean we listen to so much music in
general. I mean you wouldn’t necessarily think that
Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs would be mentioned… I
mean we’re huge Byrds fans... And I really like the
new Coldplay record. I think was great. I think that
some people in America wrote them off as like some
Radiohead, but they’re really interesting... And we
are travelling with the band called the Beachwood
Sparks. 

ET: How did you guys hook up with them? 

RR: Well, Chris had seen them in California a couple
of times. Someone actually gave him the CD and said
like, hey you got to check this out... You know, he
liked the name and the artwork. And he played it and
you know, it was definitely Birds-influenced and Gram
Parsons, who we’re definitely huge fans of. So it
really hit home and so now they’re on tour with us. 

ET: What was the tour with Oasis like? 

RR: Those guys were really cool and they’re a lot like
us. 

ET: So you all got along? 

RR: Yeah, totally. We really got along well with all
of them. 

ET: There was no battling ego stuff? 

RR: No there wasn’t any of that. In America
especially, I think they know. I mean they actually
asked to go on before us every night. And so we were
like, all right, if that’s how you feel... There
wasn’t ever any egos about it. We didn’t even look at
it like that… 

ET: Do you still let people tape your shows? 

RR: …When we toured with Jimmy [Page], Jimmy wasn’t
into it. So we were respectful of Jimmy. And Oasis
wasn’t into it, so we were respectful of their stance.
But on our shows, you can tape. 

ET: Do you let people attach themselves dierectly to
your mother board? 

RR: No they bring mics and shit… People are going to
tape anyway. And our thing is, you know, fans tape and
if they want to hear shows, let them tape. Let them
get it for free, instead of yet some other asshole
trying to sell our shows. You know what I mean?
There’s always somebody trying to make money… There’s
like real fans who want you to sign their T-shirts or
CDs or tickets or whatever and it’s really cool. But
then there’s always these assholes who… xerox or color
copy these magazines that they want you to sign
pictures of so they can sell them to make money. 

ET: Yeah, they post them directly to eBay. 

RR: Exactly, which is such bullshit. It’s like man, I
don’t owe you a fucking living. You know what I mean?
You know, get a job. And I hate that. I mean that is
just yet some other fucking asshole, leachy people
trying to cash in and the same thing with the people
who try to sell bootlegs... 

ET: So then have you taken a stance on Napster? 

RR: No, I mean we haven’t really. To me, at first, we
didn’t really know what it was. And when you get sort
of half misinformation about what it is, it makes you
upset. But then you sort of look at it and you
realize…. (The new) record was on Napster two months
before it came out, which I thought was bullshit... 

ET: You’ve been around for a while now. Do you think
the Crowes will ever break up? 

RR: I’m sure everyone would like to take a break, you
know, because we’ve really gone strong for 12 years.
We’ve never really taken a year off. I mean even
though there might be a year between records, we’ve
toured that whole year. And then the minute we stop,
two months later, we’re in the studio writing another
record…. So I think we’ve talked about maybe taking a
break, but no one has ever talked about retiring. I
mean, we love music, it’s what we do. 

ET: Carlos Santana said something about people always
going back to the so-called classic bands. 

RR: I think kids go back to the roots because they
like uncorrupted, I think people like uncorrupted art
forms. And I think no matter how they sort of get off
on the fads and all this bullshit, they really realize
that there’s no substance. I mean it takes them only
so far and then they go, wait a minute, that person is
full of shit or that song really didn’t go anywhere.
Or they are not really looking at life or writing
about anything beautiful. 

ET: It seems to be a problem. Do you have a least
favorite music fad now? 

RR: The whole metal rap sort of hybid bullshit, I’m
not into. 

ET: A lot of music is bad nowadays. 

RR: It’s a shame. But with all that in mind, there
still are people who take chances and there are still
people who write good songs…. I mean there are bands
out there who are doing shit. I mean shit, it’s
amazing to us that we are still around. Literally
we’ve weathered so many different times, so many
different genres that have come and gone. 

ET: Has it been hard? 

RR: Yeah, I mean shit, we’ve heard everything (said
about us). ‘They’re retro, they’re this, they’re that.
They don’t mean anything… they’ll be over next year.’
I mean whatever, we’ve heard it for 12 years. They
said it after Shake Your Money Maker. They’ll be over
next year. No one will care. people said that about
us. 

ET: Was there ever a time when you thought you guys
might call it quits? 

RR: No. This is what we do. We do what we do and I
think that we move forward, we move music forward in a
natural sort of time frame instead of trying to force
it. Most people, I mean especially in America where
there isn’t any sense of tradition, the thing is,
Europe had thousands of years to live with itself. And
I think almost genetically, it’s sort of built in
people. I mean… if you grew up in Rome, and you look
out your fucking window and you see a Roman arch, I
think that it puts things in a little more
perspective. Like well maybe (you’ll think) I’m not
the most important thing on earth or maybe I won’t be
here forever. And if you grew up in America in the
suburbs where all your houses are fucking ten years
old or twenty years old,… you know, everything has to
be new. You know, everything is renovated, everything
is torn down and rebuilt in America. There isn’t much
history... And so what the entertainment industry has
become is the fucking service industry... So that’s
what the entertainment industry now is instead of
something that can actually challenge someone, make
them think differently, make them hear a different
sound, make them taste something different, make them
think of life from a different angle. 

ET: I understand perfectly. 

RR: And now it’s just like, we have to make it sound
just like what’s been selling for the last ten years,
but make them think that it’s new. It’s like new and
improved tide detergent. 

The Black Crowes play the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles
on Sept. 11 for their “Listen Massive” Tour.