Magazine: Seconds Interviewer : Steven Blush & Adam Stern Interviewee : Rich part 1 and Chris part 2 transcribed by: Woodrow SECONDS: What exactly is your relationship to Southern Rock? While you distance yourself, ther's some onvious influences that have rubbed off over the years. RR: Yeah, ther's some influences, but I don't like to say "Rock", because "Rock" is that one word that pidgeonholes it.The one thing that Alternative did for me was it kind of made me a snob to what is big. Just assuming that if it's big, it sucks - which in the 80's it pretty much did. When you get into this Alternative mentality, you go "Everyone sucks!" Then you listen to an Aerosmith record and say "Maybe they sing about weird things, but they can play." We looked back at what Chris and I listened to throughout our childhood and said, "These people can really play." Then that whole thing flips upside down. I always hated the ALLMAN BROTHERS and I always hated SKYNYRD, but then I listened to the Allmans and I'd go, "Wow, that's amazing!" You kind of get into them and realize that they're not those rednecks people always portrayed them asbeing. They write beautiful songs, and smart songs. In that sense, maybe there is a little bit that rubbed off on us. SECONDS : Why are sex and drugs so important to the rock vibe? RR: I don't know, because I don't think that about us. That's the most overused cliche on earth. That's really just pathetic. SECONDS: But people still say it. RR: I don't think people say that about us. GUNS N' ROSES were the last band of that ilk, but who knows? SECONDS: What do you think of what became of them? RR: It's a hard thing to deal with - going from being nothing to the biggest band in the world, and far bigger than Nirvana or Peral Jam. They were fucking huge. They sold so many records - trying to deal with success is a hrad thing, but I'm not not going to be of the "I don't like being a Rock Star" school - I think that's bullshit too. A lot of Alternative bands sell millions of records and then complain about it. Well, then give all your money to charity and don't put out records anymore, or put out records on a really indie label and don't make videos and don't do interviews and you'll be fine. SECONDS: Are you Rock Stars? RR: I don't know what consitutes a Rock Star. SECONDS: I don't know either, but you just used a term about how other people don't want to be it. But you guys have a little bit of a swagger.. RR: I guess we're famous. Chris is famous. He can't walk anywhere without people coming up to him and knowing who he is. I don't know if fame is the same thing as being a Rock Star or what. Who knows? Ok, I guess we are Rock Stars, but I don't think that's something for me to say. SECONDS: How do you pull off being sexy without coming off as tacky? RR: In what sense? SECONDS: A lot of bands look like the are pouting for the girls instead of doing it for everybody. RR: I guess maybe becaus ethey are pouting for the girls. We're just up there for fun. We love what we do and we want people to like what we do. We get onstage and try different things and we try to make it fresh for us, which would in turn make it fresh for everyone else. We change the set-up, we get up and play, we jam, we do different things, we bring friends up to jam all the time, we take out bands we really like, and we try to make it a pleasant tour. Maybe for that reason, we come across that way. SECONDS: What's your view of groupies? RR: They're there for every band. It's kind of funny how people get caught up in that whole thing. I don't think we are a big groupie band. Maybe we're too ugly. I just don't think about it. Things like that don't consme my thought. I think about music and trying to write better songs. SECONDS: How do you and Chris get along as brothers? RR: Chris and a I fight and we get along. Somethimes we don't talk and somethimes we do. It's a weird world to grow up in. I mean literally grow up, because I graduated from high school and a year later I made Shake Your Money Maker and went on tour for five years. Then you have things that come into play(ego things), and you have all these dumb-ass extra headaches, but you try and get through it. I think it's just in-fighting, and when you in-fight, you fight with everyone. When you are making a lot of money, people come around. Crew guys, friends, people you think are friends...I'll go visit Cris in LA and see these fuckin' losres trying to get on his bar tab. It sickens me and I'm just like, "I never thought it would be like this." SECONDS: So what's in the future? You talked about these bands who just want to make money and quit but there's also the sixty-year-old rock star.. RR: I really feel bad for those guys because they've been making music for 40 years and all of a sudden thet are expected to quit. Some of them obviously do it for money and they cash in big. I don't think that's cool, but then ther's someone like NEIL YOUNG - who, other than doing stuff with PEARL JAM, I think does some descent things - I think that he still makes great records. Who am I to say they should quit when they reach a certain age? When I reach that age, maybe I'll want to wtite mellow, meaningless New Age music. Should I quit then because someone thinks I should? Maybe there's lots of people right now that think I should quit, but I'm not going to. SECONDS: How would you like to be remembered? RR: I don't think about stuff like that. I guess you want people to think you are good. I'd like people to think of or records the same way they would think of Exile on Main Street or Physical Graffiti. When I make a record, I do want it to sound like a record that I love. Well, what do you love? If I could make a record like Natty Dread, I'd be happy for the rest of my life. MAGAZINE: SECONDS INTERVIEWER : STEVEN BLUSH & ADAM STERN 1995 SECONDS: What's the most disappointing thing you've realized about the music business? CR: I had a hint, I didn't go into it totally naive, but I thought there would be a few more real sorts of people here and there. You're only as good as the last sales. Your songs and your music: that's your life. But the people calling the shots don't care. They haven't been on the road with us for the last 4 years: they don't make decisions that are hard. They make decisions that are easy. It happens three or four times a year - someone will say, "Hey, what about doing this gig? We'll give you four times the amount of money you make on your own gig." But it's sponsored by the beer company and I'll say I don't want to be involved. SECONDS: Speaking of that, what did you learn from the ZZ Top episode? CR: I would say Aerosmith, out of everyone, taught us what never to become. I really love their records from the 70's and just to see them the way they are - but that's America. People go, "God bless 'em, they came back." SECONDS: What did they become? CR: It doesn't seem like they are musicians. They're definitely MTV Rock Stars. I don't think that's very interesting. Being a musician contains more substance and having a deeper realtionship with your music than, "Wow, I can be sexy and make a lot of money for the rest of my life and tell people don't do drugs because I did them and my experiences are more important than yours." SECONDS: That's the stuff that kills me with these Rock Stars - "I did it but you can't.." CR: How exalted are you that you think you're the only one that's had these experiences? What music does is brings people together. It makes a connection, because we all have similar experiences, we all go through highs and lows. A cat like HENRY ROLLINS is really intriguing because I like his music and I used to go see BLACK FLAG when I was a kid, but here's a guy who tells people not to do drugs and he has all these horror stories, yet he has the nerve to talk about JIMI HENDRIX and JOHN COLTRANE. Their music and their lives were heavily influenced by chemicals and there's this guy telling kids not to do all these things because he knows better, yet he's extolling the virtues of these people who did experiment with their lives. SECONDS: Why hasn't Pot been decriminalized yet? CR: Those are some of the underlying problems with America. At this point in time, who knows who is in charge? I'm not really into politics, but I am all against hypocrisy, all the false morality. Look at America, man. We're living in a place that's founded on the Manifest Destiny, the White Man's Burden...these white people are going to go around the world and teach everyone what's right. Of course, we fucked up the entire planet that way. I can't say I'm proud to be an American when the entire country is based on the genocide of it's indigenous peoples. There is something ironic there. The damage has been done. I can't change it, I can just try to live with less judgment and try not to be a hypocite. I have to have something that steep me in reality. I feel so sorry for a cat like EDDIE VEDDER who's trying so hard..hey man, if you meant all the things you said, you would just be cool about it. No hassles, man - that's all people care about. SECONDS: I saw this article in KERRANG! wher they blew up your whole Heroin admission, but I just looked at it like, "big deal." CR: That's the English thing. The whole point was, I have friends who are junkies and it makes me sad. Why don't you just run a picture of KEITH RICHARDS and you'll realize he did Heroin for 15 years! "Oh my God, he did? Let's run a headline!" The English press is like the National Enquire of Rock. SECONDS: Why are sex and drugs so important to the Rock vibe? CR: I think they are important to the vibe of everyone. Everyone wants to get high, everyone wants to have sex, and everyone likes music - some people just don't know it. That's why people who don't live by that false morality tend to go to those other lifestyle, which some people call a Rock and Roll lifestyle. It's an adventure and you're using experiences as energy. That, to me, is more a bohemian thing, as opposed to being down and out and wasted. Some people like to get out on the road and see what's out there. You can do it sober - I've had just as many bizaare times sober as I've had high. SECONDS: How does sex help your musical creative process? CR: I've never really thought about that. I've never thought of the Black Crowes as having any sexual intrigue. We're the ugliest seven people you could ever get together. SECONDS: I don't now, you're probably the only band that can use that sexy Rock Star swagger without coming off as tacky. CR: I see what you are saying. Sex is a motivating factor, but to me, sex is something really controllable. If I'm single, then I don't have any responsibilty to anyone. But I've had a girlfriend for a while now. Sex is something I don't think about except in terms of her. I don't associate being on stage and singing as a sexually charged thing. I see being on stage as a free thing. SECONDS: What kind of girls are attracted to the Black Crowes? CR: I don't know. You would have to ask them. I meet all sorts of different people. There's people our age, there's younger people, there's Hippies, there's straight-laced people, there's bikers, there's lawyers, there's doctors - I met a State Trooper the other day that dug us. We have a tremendous amount of respevt for people like that. It's a low paying gig. You don't want them around, but if something weird happens, they're the 1st people you call. Imagine spending your days dealing with psychos. It must be pretty heavy. SECONDS: Before you had a girlfriend, what's the most outrageous propostion you had? CR: Eh..ask BON JOVI that one. SECONDS: What's your relationship to Southern Rock? CR: It depends on what your definition is. I had this question asked a couple of days ago: "Do you think JACKYL's giving Southern Rock a bad name?" I said I've never heard of them. Do you not take the ALLMAN BROTHERS as seriously because of MOLLY HATCHET? It depends on what you call it. We are a Rock Band from the South, so it would be classified as "Southern Rock", but I don't think it falls into any cliche'. The ALLMAN BROTHERS are great becaus ethey encompass allsorts of American forms, most of which originated in the South. SECONDS: You guys obviously never like that SKYNYRD fan type.. CR: Even the ALLMAN BROTHERS. All through high school, I only listened to CAMEO, PFUNK, PRINCE, the BAR KAYS, but I always had stuff like BOB DYLAN records and blues records. Then we really started to get into Punk Rock and started with the CLASH and moved to hardcore - DEAD KENNEDYS, MDC - and that's when we started to go see other bands. There would be all-ages clubs with that type of music. Then, I never would have listened to the ALLMAN BROTHERS. LED ZEPPELIN? That was dumb. But DREAM SYNDICATE, LONG RYDERS, RAIN PARADE, the REPLACEMENTS..those bands I liked. I went back and listened to the BYRDS and BUFFALO SPRINGFIELD, which led back to the ALLMANS. It's like SLY and the FAMILY STONE is probably the biggest single influence on my music. I never get tired of hearing any of his records. SECONDS: Who were some of the great forgotten bands that you grew up on? CR: A band whose 1st few albums were really great was POCO. That live album, Deliverin', is unbelievable. I still think musicians our age aren't really hip to LITTLE FEAT. LOWELL GEORGE, y'know...