taken from Melody Maker July 24th, 2000 ------------------------------------------------------- Crowes Prepare To Strike Led On Upcoming Album ------------------------------------------------------- by Donald F. Jackson New York - Ever since I heard his new album with the Black Crowes, 'Live at The Greek: Excess All Areas', I had been trying to sit down with Jimmy Page to discuss his current alliance with the Black Crowes, that southern fried (emphasis on fried) rock band that struck gold several years ago with She Talks To Angels and Remedy. After several cancellations, Jimmy invited me to just drop by his studio for a quick meeting during his lunch. I arrived at 1 as we had discussed and was amazed to find that Jimmy was asleep on the couch. The only ones who were around were the two Robinson brothers, Chris and Rich, singer and guitarist of the Black Crowes, respectively. After initially being accosted by Rich as to who I was and why I was there, I was invited to sit down by Chris. Chris told me that the three of them had been up all night recording and writing new material (mostly by the Robinsons) and Jimmy had just fallen alseep, so it might not be best to wake him just yet; if I had the time, I could wait around for a few hours to do the interview. He said they were going to just keep working on what they were doing, and if I wanted any food to just grab some from the table in the corner. I didn't have a problem with that and went over to the table. After I had waded through a vast selection of peanut butter, jelly and deviled eggs, I decided I needed to be taller (a Robinson expression for being.. shall we say smoked out) than I already was to enjoy anything that they were eating and just sat down and listened. After an hour Chris came over and sat down. As he munched on several eggs, he told me what they were doing together. "You see, Jimmy is just hanging out right now, and if he wants to, he's going to write a few songs with us, but we've been going through some of our newer and some of our older songs that we want to get another opinion on. You know, its kind of like a big song that we're all just part of and we have our thing to say every now and then. Its the song, you know what I mean." I didn't, but I didn't tell him that, he was obviously on a roll... "We have all these tunes that we have done through the years that we keep changing 'em around until we get them right. Right now we're working on a couple of older songs that have gone through a all sorts of changes." I asked him if the one I had heard just then on was one of them. "Yeah, that's 'Scissors and String', its an oldie that we still haven't put on an album but we have worked on it since like the early 90s, but my brother and I both like it. Jimmy has been helping us a bit directionally. You see, our last record was very to the point, and since we've been with Jimmy, we have learned a few things musically. Shit, you know, because that's what life is, you keep learning and you do what you can with what you have at any given time, but there's always something new to learn." At this point I was flanked by the Robinsons; Rich had sat down and was intently listening to his brother until he too chimed in. "Fuck yeah, I've been really damn lucky to play with a wide range of great musicians. Since Jimmy has been playing with us, I've learned alot of things and I've picked up more than a few new licks, its also been very helpful for me to have to sit down and really learn some very complex songs that are not my own." Apparently Rich said all he needed to, because at that point he stood up and went back to playing guitar. Chris continued talking to me until Jimmy woke up around 5 oclock. He told me the story of how they had hooked up with Jimmy and he went into vivid detail about several parties he had been at in the last year that he had writen a song about. One of them was a bizarre event hosted by none other than Keith Richards at his Village apartment. "Yeah, it was crazy, there was this thing at Keith's and all I remember was Ronnie Wood and Keith telling jokes all night. Keith's jokes were all terrible, but you have to laugh because its Keith Fuckin' Richards, and he's the greatest guy in the world. But Ronnie is flat out hysterical. Everything he said was funny, even if it wasn't a joke, I mean look at the guy, he's funny lookin'! There were other people there too, but I can't remember who they were, I remember some baseball player was there, I think it was David Wells and I called him a bum, cause you gotta call them bums. And I think Cheryl Crow was there too.. in fact, that's how Keith and her hooked up for that concert last year. She had done a few shows with them on tour and she wanted to have some guests on that would really rock the park, or so she said. But maybe I'm wrong though, its so hard to remember when things happen, maybe that was after the concert, shit I don't know, all I can say it was a fun time." I asked at this point if she had asked him to play on stage at some future date. "No, she doesn't like to be upstaged! Ha, no seriously though, I don' think she has any need for a hippy with a harp on any of her songs. For real though, she's a hip chick that one, she's the only one I've ever met who can have that many great musicians on stage and actually have them play good songs, she doesn't pull any of that 'Hands Accross America' shit, she just flat out gets cool people to play on stage and do her shit!" We also discussed his band and the changes that had affected it over the last few years. The Black Crowes had gone from being a loud rock machine, to a jammy, hippy, rock band and then back again. "Things change man, sometimes you have this great thing going and then its just time to move to something else and that's great too, and then you move to another great thing. If you can't accept what you are and where you've been then your just a shodow of yourself. Nothing lasts forever anyway, its just a ride, its The Song and we're all playing part of it at some point. Sometimes you play one part and other times you play another. You can't lie to yourself, I mean shit, if I didn't like what I had done with my life, I'd be some guy selling vaccuum cleaners out of his car, cause that might make me happy, but I love being a musician, who wouldn't. I have the greatest job in the world... I am expected to do drugs and get laid! What more could you ask for? But seriosuly, as for the guys coming and going, that sucks, but it doesn't affect what you have to do as a band. You just need to be yourself out there and play what's going on in your head. Right now we're with Jimmy and when he goes, our sound is going to be forever affected by him, but that doesn't mean we are a different band than before we met him. You have to take what's given to you and learn from the guys you are with, whether its for 5 years or for 5 months or for 5 days. Enjoy what you have while you have it, and move on when you need to, man. That's life in a nutshell. If it weren't, the Grateful Dead would never have gotten anywhere. They were always the Dead, but they had members coming and going every few years, but they stayed themselves and learned a few new things along the way." At this point Jimmy Page had officially woken up. He was now sitting next to Chris eating eggs, listening intently. Chris continued on for a while talking about various bands, finally settling in on Led Zeppelin. After a brief discussion on how much his own band had been influenced by Zeppelin, he was prepared to pass the torch to the legend sitting next to him. "They were huge and we listened to all of their stuff when we were kids. But I see we're in the presence of greatness. Hey you old man, this guy's been waiting here for hours to talk to you! Ha, I gotta run, I think my brother is getting himself tied in knots and pissed at me for not concentrating on the task at hand. Like that's going to ever happen!" He thanked me for my time, which was kind of funny, because I had been wasting his time, or so I thought, and I got down to work with Jimmy. Jimmy and I have known each other for years and we eneded up talking about all sorts of things. He seemed happier and more into his music than I had seen him in year and I commented that on stage he was playing some of the best guitar I'd even seen him. "Yeah, that's the way of it. I love it here, these guys are fun and they are really amazing musicians. Its been great playing with such a great band, because it takes the pressure off of me. I can really concentrate on the parts of the song that I want to be perfect, because I'm not playing all 3 or 5 parts or whatever the original arrangement was. That's what's so great. For the first time its me and 4 guys playing what two of us did in the 70s. That doesn't mean it takes four guys to replace John Paul Jones, but it allows us to do things on stage that have never been done with Led Zeppelin songs on stage. They can be played much more like they were intended to be played, without having so many holes in the song. Songs like In The Light and Ten Years Gone were never possible in the 70s, and if we did play them, they didn't sound right. Our records would have me playing 4 or 5 guitars on some of these songs! Back then, when we were on stage we didn't have the option of having two extra guitars and a bass. Now we do, and for the first time we can play things the way they were written and meant to be played. That's part of the reason why I am so happy right now, but I'm also happy being around these guys. They are a great group of guys and I consider them good friends. The whole experience just fantastic!" Jimmy confirmed that he wasn't sure if he would be playing on the upcoming Crowes album, but he hadn't ruled anything out either. "Well, they have left the door open for me on this, and if I want to, we can do a few songs together. At this moment, I really haven't had anything really brilliant pop into my head, but I haven't really sat back and tried to write anything for a while. Its a whole process and I've just been enjoying playing what we're playing, especially some of the Crowes songs. They are a great band and I'm just looking forward to their new record."