Steve Gorman Interview translated by Niller From: Copenhagen, Denmark -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Finally got completely finished with translating this. It's an interview I did with Steve in July 1999 before the Crowes played Midtfyn in Denmark. Thought you guys might would be interested in reading it. He's got some interesting thoughts on Johnny Colt and playing concerts. Niller Here it is: The Black Crowes have been going through a lot the last year. You got a brilliant new album behind you, and 30.000 people are waiting for you tonight. How does it feel to have all these people by your side? "It's cool. That's the greatest real reward you can have. The thing that we've always had is, always been given us, is a lot of room and a lot of space to do what we wanna do. And that's only given to us, because people come and see us, buy our records and check us out. The result of any of that kind of success, is that freedom that it gives us, and that space to continue to do what we do. And the title By Your Side was a direct reference to that. Like: "We're still here, hopefully you're still here and we're still gonna continue to make the kind of music we make and do the things our way". We're in it for the long haul" On By Your Side you've returned to a much more simple kind of rock'n'roll. Was it difficult to do that? "I don't think we ever really got away from it. On this record there's some up- tempo songs, the record starts very in your face and that's different from the last record. So I think it's really easy for people to think: "Oh yeah, they wanna go back", but we never see anything as going back. I mean, Three Snakes And One Charm is a rock'n'roll record. It's got all the elements of every record we've had. It's got a little country, a little blues, soul, gospel. All those things are always incorporated. There's funk on that album. It was the first time we did something you can call psychedelic, I think, but that's rock-music too, you know. It's all rock'n'roll. On By Your Side, Go Faster, Kickin' My Heart Around, those are very direct songs, but I think Virtue And Vice could easily had been on Amorica or Three Snakes. And Welcome To The Good Times could have been on either one of those records, you know what I mean? Diamond Ring, we've never had a song like that at all. It's still us, but we're always looking ahead. We never went away from anything, it's just growth, it's all learning. We can never go back and redo something we've already done." You've been playing for a year now with a new constellation, and you're playing without Ed tonight. What has that been like? "Well, he's back now." He's playing tonight? "Yeah, he played two nights ago in Berlin. That was his first show back. Like anything else you just have to make the most of it. It was odd. Nine years with Ed", but you have to look at it as a challenge. If the situation was gonna be where he had to go home, I don't think we could have finished the tour. We couldn't have played more than a few shows, we just wouldn't have wanted to. We looked at it like five shows, and we thought: "Okay". Two of those were headlining shows, so we had to play a full show, and that was difficult" So you had to rearrange some of the songs? "Not really songs", there's a lot of songs that we can play without Ed..." Like She Gave Good Sunflower? "Yeah, of course, there's no way. Thorn In My Pride and Descending. Virtue And Vice, there's no way you can play that without piano. It's just like losing an engine. You still got a few more, but you want the whole thing there. It's interesting, `cause we like change, we like things different, but that's not the kind of change you really like. He' doing well now, though. When we heard that he was ok, that it was gonna be a week, we had a talk about it. Our concern was first for him and then secondly, like I said, if it was the kind of thing where he had to go home and recuperate we wouldn't have continued the tour." Has it been difficult to start playing with a new bassplayer, Sven Pipien? "No, not at all. Not in the least. For a few reasons. The first band I was ever in, I was with Sven. In 1987, when I first played drums in a band, we played together. Just for a few months. But that was when I was brand new to drums and he was brand new to bass. We really connected right away and we spent ten years saying: "God, we were great together, we should still play together". Everytime I would see him in Atlanta. He was in that band and I was in this band. And so, we always felt we had a good thing. And we he came in, it wasn't hard for me", he wouldn't be in the band, if he weren't the right guy, you know what I mean? He came in", it's, you know, I play the way I play, Rich plays the way he plays. We've played together for ten years and Sven has to come in and find that space. It's all odd Sven, really. Whoever the bass-player is gonna be, it's up to them to fit in, `cause we're not gonna change what we do. I mean, that's not the thing. I think we needed a couple of good breaks to go our way, and that was one of them. We literally played one song", the first song we played with Sven was Thorn In My Pride, and it was just the three of us, Rich, Sven and me. Just to keep it real simple. It wasn't like and audition. I called him and said: "We just wanna play with a bunch of bass-players, we're not asking you to do anything, but", just to keep it carefree". And he came in and said: "Well, no, this is an audition. I want this job". Which I was happy about. Cool, you know. He played one song, and walked out of the room. And we looked at each other and just went: "Waaauuuw". He's a very, I mean, he's a great, great bass-player. That's just what he does. And in lot of ways, he's got a lot more range than Johnny had, a lot more..., plus the last few years Johnny was in the band, he had lost interest. I had gotten used to Johnny not really being there. He was just drifting away. And then in steps Sven, and he's just great here, all gung- ho. We clicked right away." It's like a new energy-punch in the band? "Oh, it's great, and it was not even", and as much as he was clicking with me, he understood Richs playing. He fit into all the little cracks that the bass has to fit in to. He was right there. And once we played with him, we didn't think about playing with anybody else. Very lucky for us, and very lucky for him, I think." Why is it interesting to get up and play night after night? "Just...., that's just all I ever wanted to do since I was 5 years old." You don't ever get bored? "Touring gets boring, but not playing. That's the part of the day that is good. But sitting around all day and sitting on a bus for 10 hours that drives us crazy. But getting on stage that's never bad, that's always a chance to..., even if it's just one hour. That's one hour of freedom for us. That's our world. And we do our thing." What's a good concert for the Black Crowes? "We put everything that we are into our music. There's no separation between my life in the band and out of the band. It's just our life, it's not a job, that's what I'm saying. Anything that influences us, inspirers us, it comes right across. And if people pick up on that..., the best Black Crowes shows are the ones where the crowd gets it. We give it to them and they give it back. I like to see people that are having a good time, and appreciating it for that time, `cause its' only and hour or two hours. A live-show to us is what makes the band. Records are great, I love recording, and I love when we're working on new songs, and I like our records. I think we have made great records. But live, that's people, that's when it's actually human, that's when you can reach someone. When you play a song people don't have to already heard it before. Music is.., music is..., life, you know. It's an animal and when the animal is good and everyone gets a piece of it, that's great." Have you got any rituals or routines that you do before you go on stage? "Not that I'm specific to, but have a very.., like, I just walk around, I'm always saying hi, but never really having a conversation, I'm just sort of pacing all around the venue. I can never just sit in a room and not do anything. I have to either be reading, flipping through a magazine, then I get up and I listen to a song. I just move a lot basically. I think it started with.., probably went back to when I first started playing clubs from being nervous about playing. And I'm never nervous to play at all, it's just such a habit of.., I mean the reason we're in Denmark is not for the weather, it's for that stage, that's why we're here. What we do on stage is the reason that we go anywhere we go. So as it gets closer and closer, it doesn't matter if were in Midtfyn or Japan. Or if we're in Atlanta. That stage is always the same." You played this benefit-gig with Jimmy Page a couple of days ago. What was that like? "It was great. Jimmy called us a few months ago and asked us to be his band. We actually played a whole set with Jimmy Page & The Black Crowes." Have you played with him before? "He sat in with us one time in Paris at one of our shows, and we toured with Page/Plant in South America, and we've known him for years. He has always been a great friend, very supportive and we go back even further with Robert Plant actually. So, they've always been really cool. And Jimmy asked us, three months ago he called and said: "If we set it up, can we have a rehearsal? I want it to be good. I don't want it to be, let's really take it seriously". And we said: "Yeah, absolutely". So we went in to London and we knew that the rehearsal would be the most fun. Because there wouldn't be anyone there, so we could just all jam. We had a blast at rehearsal, but the show was fun too. I think it went off really well. If you wanna know about the benefit and how much money it raised, you can talk to those people, but for us just playing with Jimmy Page was obviously.., it was a great cause and we were happy to be a part of that, but when Jimmy Page calls and says: "Do you wanna play?", you don't ask so many questions you just say: "Yeah, no problem". It was a blast, we had a great time, but that was the day after Ed got sick, so he couldn't play. That kinda sucked. He missed it."