The Black Crowes: Brother Rich Robinson Gets the Led Out
Interview with Katherine Yeske

Trying to name a busier band than the Black Crowes seems near-impossible; this is a group of serious workaholics. This summer alone, the band's launching a major world tour as co-headliners with rock royalty, releasing two albums, signing to a new record label and writing songs for the next studio album.

Brothers Rich Robinson (guitarist) and Chris Robinson (vocals), TBC's leaders and main songwriters, have always unabashedly displayed their classic rock influences. This new tour finds them going one better and actually bringing one of their heroes onstage with them: legendary Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page will jam with the band on both Black Crowes and Led Zep songs.

As this tour gets underway, the Crowes will release "A Tribute to a Work in Progress...Greatest Hits 1990-1999" (Columbia Records), which includes 16 tracks from all five studio albums, including all the hits like "Jealous Again," "She Talks to Angels," "Hard to Handle," and "Remedy." There's also a new live album, "Live at the Greek" (TVT Records), recorded in LA last fall when Jimmy Page again joined the Robinsons & Co. onstage for Crowes and Led Zep favorites.

And finally, after many years with Columbia Records, the band has switched to a new label, V2, and plans to release the next studio album in Spring 2001.

Considering how busy the band is lately, it's a wonder that Mean Street managed to find Rich Robinson in Chicago only hours before the tour's debut show. It should be noted that, despite being tracked down on such a hectic day - and the Robinsons' reputation for being 'difficult' - Rich was both gracious and friendly (look elsewhere, fight-seekers).

MS: So you're kicking off this new tour in a matter of hours from now...
RR: Yeah; we've been rehearsing here for the last week, so I think we're all ready. I'm not nervous, really. You know, there's only been a couple of times [that] I've been sort of nervous, and it was just because we hadn't played in a while. So I'm excited; I think it's gonna be great.

MS: You played a few shows with Jimmy Page last year; what made you decide to team up again for a full-fledged tour?
RR: Well, basically, when we did the last shows, we were all like, "Wow, this was too short! Man, we wish we could play more." And the promoters felt the shows were so cool that they were like, "It'd be great to do a whole tour," and we obviously thought that, too. And we talked to Jimmy, and he was excited. It's just fun.
That's really the main reason for doing it: to get out and play and have fun.

MS: Have you ever felt intimidated getting onstage with Jimmy?
RR: No, I haven't. Jimmy's like one of us, in a weird way. I mean, obviously, he's done so much, musically; his career's spanned a lot longer. But as far as our interests in music, it's really similar. He's a very gracious person, very talented, and I think there's a mutual respect. And I think we're pretty confident in our
ability , as a band. I don't sit up there and look at him and go, "Oh, my God - it's Jimmy Page!" But sometimes, when I hear him play, it's amazing - just as a fan, I'm going, "Wow, that's fuckin' great!" So it's just fun playing these songs, and I think we play 'em pretty well. And I definitely think we have a grasp on
what they were about, and I think that's why Jimmy was into it, too. Not only is he our influence, but his influences are out influences, too.

MS: Has Jimmy given you advice on making your career last as long as his?
RR: No, 'cause he came out at a different time, and people really paid attention to music back then. They were so huge; shit, they still sell millions of records a year. I think Zeppelin was the second largest-selling artist after the Beatles in the United States. I mean, huge! It's just different times. Look at bands like
Tom Petty, who's been around for a long time and does tours, but it's not that easy anymore. But I figure, we'll just do what we do, try to write great songs, and do our own thing.

MS: What's the status of your next studio album?
RR: We'll do pre-production during breaks during this tour, and then probably record in the fall or in the early part of next year. We have about 22 songs written, and I'll probably write more between now and when we [record] it. A lot of times, I just sit in hotel rooms; I have a lot of time where I can just record stuff on 
my portable recorder. I'd like to put out a double record; we've never done that. That would be really cool.

MS: Are you playing any of those new songs on this tour?
RR: I don't think so. The new songs, we don't want to throw that in Jimmy's lap right now. But we might record a song or two with Jimmy, which would be cool. I swear he's playing now better than I've ever heard him. It's unbelievable, really.

MS: "Live at the Greek" is your first live album; what made you decide the time was right for that?
RR: The reason we did that [album] was because shows were going so well, it was better than we expected. So when we got to LA, we recorded the show as we played it, and when we heard it we thought, "Wow, this would be good to release." So we put it out - there wasn't any editing or do-overs. That was the main point, with us: 
we wanted to put it out "as is." We didn't want anyone to mess with it.

MS: You released that album on the Internet before regular record stores could get it. Does that mean you think the Internet is the way the biz will go in the future?
RR: I think maybe half and half - half online, half in regular record stores. The Internet has a fuckin' huge ego! [laughs] I mean, it seems to - they're banking on it taking over everything. But people are still gonna want to go to stores to try clothes on, to look at cars, stuff like that. Ultimately, I think people are 
gonna want to go to record stores and listen and pick through records. I think the Internet will sell more records every year, but I don't think it's gonna completely get rid of record stores. But one cool thing about the Internet is that it gives the artist so much more control.

MS: Besides Black Crowes stuff, you're doing your own outside project, too...
RR: Yeah, I scored a new movie that's coming out on New Line; it's called "Trip" right now, but they're gonna change it, I'm sure. It was cool. I had 40 minutes to score, so I had to watch the whole movie, and it had 23 scenes that they wanted me to write music for. The way I approached it was, I turned it into a whole song. 
So it's like there's 40 minutes of a song, so everything has a continuity. I did everything - guitar and bass, hurdy-gurdy and dulcimer, and drums on a couple of things. And I had Ed play some keyboards. But I did tons of layers of stuff, so it's really cool.

MS: How is it that the Black Crowes always manage to seem relevant even though you never jump on the latest trends?
RR: I don't know; we just do what we do. It's all speculatiuon, but it seems like a lot of bands will just do whatever comes along to try to stay hip, and so [that band] doesn't have an identity, really. It's a shame, becuase that's what it's about. I used to get excited about my favorite bands' next records to come out, and 
now it's like, "Oh, my band's gone after one record." Or, "They were a rock band now they're doing something with a rap artist." For the most part, it's so contrived. I mean, shit, if we were trying to be current, we'd either be a boy band or try to be Korn! [laughs] That's what's big. So it's a really weird time in 
music, and I think people are really missing out on a lot of cool stuff. That's what art is about, really - to challenge people, to turn them on to an idea or sound that might spark an original idea.