Interview: Chris Robinson, The Black Crowes

STONE THE CROWES

"I just got into a band so I could get all the good clothes!"

Chris Robinson singer with THE BLACK CROWES is displaying his colourful and varied selection of shirts to me in his room way up in Knightsbridge's Chelsea Hotel.

The band, originally from Athens, Georgia, but now based in... surprise, surprise... L.A., are packing up and moving on to their next destination on their short UK tour.

The night before The Crowes had played a stormer of a show at a sweaty (isn't it always!) Marquee club. To those of you not already acquainted with their music, these guys have got rhythm and get into a groove that compares more than favourably with THE ROLLING STONES. Recently they released their debut, Shake Your Money Maker in this country.

Robinson is a tall, skinny, thoughtful character with an authentic southern drawl.

Did you get into music at a really early age?

"We always had it around, y'know. My dad was a musician. I could go and work the stereo before I could tie my shoelaces! So I guess that's where it all stems from, and we had so many different types of records. I remember SLY AND THE FAMILY STONE was like 'my band' when I was 4 years old."

Robinson expands upon his early influences.

"I started listening to hip hop and rap music like really early on..."

Check out this influence on "Hard to Handle" from their LP.

A lot of people stick to set formulas, though.

"Formulas are like mathematics, and maths to be is boring! That's the main reason I do this, 'cause it's not boring and it gives me such a head rush!"

You have said in the past that if success evaporated, you'd still be playing in little bars. Is that true? Robinson's reply is emphatic:

"You can take it all away. I'm still gonna do it!!"

Did your parents give you encouragement when you set your heart on being a full-time musician?

"My parents were like... if you're gonna do this, you better know what you're doing. This is your passion, you mean it... just do it! They know there's a lot of extra stuff that goes with being in a rock band that aren't the best things for your child, but they also know that I have this passion, which is something a lot of people lack."

Do you take a lot of things that are part and parcel of the music biz with a pinch of salt? Robinson's approach is very pragmatic.

"There's a place to draw the line and a place to compromise. Over there we haven't sold any records really, so you have to compromise a little more with certain things."

How do you approach song writing?

"Writing is like the way you deal with problems. I hurt people, people hurt me..."

You mean like a catharsis?

"Yeah, you purge yourself. I think the best songwriters have."

The Black Crowes recently played at the Pink Pop Festival in Holland, appearing on the same bill as the likes of VAN MORRISON, THE MISSION, and NICK CAVE. Considering your varied tastes and influences, do you feel it's encouraging for people to get the chance to see a wide variety of acts on the same bill?

"Yeah. At home kids who listen to metal, that's all they listen to... and we are considered metal. It is easier to put us in the metal category than the alternative one."

Robinson is a tad disappointed with the narrow mindedness of some of the metal buying public:

"When we come out before a gig, I always play either BOB MARLEY or NWA, or whatever, and then the kids boo... and I'm like, 'What the fuck man! You pay to see the Black Crowes, shouldn't you find out more of what we're about?!'"

Apart from that, what are you about?

"It's that friction. I do have four other individuals in this band that you'd be hard pressed to find, and that tension - and I say the word in a positive connotation - is basically what the band's all about."

Mark Liddell
Riff Raff
July 1990

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