Long hair, man – it’s my cosmic roots!
The former Black Crowes frontman takes time out from his three different bands to discuss marijuana, Oasis and brotherly strife, and recalls a memorable encounter with Jimmy Page
SCAn an interview with any band more than three years into their career and you’ll soon find the bit where they complain how relentless touring has neutered their creativity and eroded their soul. not Chris Robinson. now around 16 albums deep into a journey that began in the late-’80s as frontman for Southern rock revivalists The Black Crowes – and that now finds him the flagbearer for a whole kind of freewheeling, cosmic lifestyle as leader of the Chris Robinson Brotherhood – he’s still so enamoured by the idea of playing music in a different town each night, he’s just formed two more bands.
Uncut catches up with him at Salt Lake City airport at the conclusion of a mini-tour with the Green Leaf Rustlers, a kind of Marin County jam-band supergroup playing “the dusty country classics of your dreams”. He’s heading home to California for a quick change of clothes before driving to Lake Tahoe, via a Lee “Scratch” Perry gig in Sacramento, to kick-off a twomonth jaunt with the CRB. And once that’s over, he’s back out on the road with As The Crow Flies, the group he’s recently assembled to perform Black Crowes songs in lieu of the original band reforming (a terminal falling-out with his brother Rich having put paid to that).
“It’s a blast to have anyone care about any songs you’ve written or shows you’ve done,” says Robinson, explaining his huge reserves of enthusiasm for rock’n’roll. “We live in a time of anxiety; the fear trance machine of control. So for anyone to remove themselves from that and sink themselves into my poetic construct gives me great energy.” He also points out that CRB are masters of their destiny, keeping things interesting for themselves where possible. “We play something different every night. If you’re on tour playing nostalgic hits night after night, the same arrangements, the same banter, it gets tiring. That’s a level of entertainment, but we’re on a different trip.” Another Chris Robinson tip for enjoying the ride? Travel light: “Throw some crystals in your bag, bring [yoga manual] Be Here Now and Robert Graves’ The White Goddess and you’re ready for tour, man!”
What’s the difference between a band and a brotherhood? Lee Barnes, Somerset
Well, a brotherhood can represent connections and a level of friendship and musical intimacy a band maybe cannot provide, ’cos sometimes a band is just a project or some hired people. In the case of us calling it the Brotherhood, it was also to be tongue-in-cheek about my former situation. But the reality is that, even though my name is on the marquee, I’ve never told anyone in this band what to do or what to play, and that’s where the Brotherhood comes from. We’ve all made a lot of records and done a lot of touring – over 100 years if you were to add it all up – so we’ve learned what we like and what we don’t like and we’re in this beautiful place.
Tell us more about Green Leaf Rustlers and how you intend to juggle three groups at once… Phill Wittenshaw, Croydon
The Green Leaf Rustlers thing just happened as my dear friend Barry Sless, one of the most talented musicians on the planet, is also my guitar teacher and lives right up the road. And there’s Greg from The Mother Hips and Pete Sears on bass. I’m lucky to live in a place like Marin County where music is important – you can go out in any of the little towns around San Francisco and see great musicians any night of the week. And that’s the spirit of the Green Leaf Rustlers. We work hard in the CRB, but sometimes when I get home I still want to play music! As The Crow Flies is another example. It’s only 15 shows. We have the time off from the CRB and I’ve been friends with Audley Freed since he was in The Black Crowes in the late ’90s… My focus is the CRB and that’s really my only band; this other stuff is just for fun.
What’s the best piece of advice Jimmy Page gave you? Artur Jankowski, via email
Jimmy didn’t really dispense any advice, that’s not really his bag. But I can tell you the biggest thing I learned from Jimmy: work! I’ve been lucky enough to play with some of the most dynamic musicians in the world – Jimmy is at the top of that list – and the thing we all have in common is that we work hard. With Jimmy, we rehearsed for hours and hours at full tilt, sweating, working it out. Jimmy Page is who he is because he’s worked that hard. Is he a great guitar player? Yes, but he still worked his ass off. So I learned that from him, my work ethic. You always have to be working.
When you toured with Oasis in 2001, did you see any similarities given that they were led by a pair of brothers who are now also at war? Shane Kilgour, via email
Everyone had so much fun on that tour. The Oasis lot were game for it – we had a smashing good time with them. It seemed like Liam and Noely G were getting along all right. I guess it was like taking a boat trip with another mafia family. Everyone’s on their good behaviour. I don’t know if they think my brother and I’s bullshit is as funny as their bullshit, because their bullshit is hilarious! One thing I will say: rock’n’roll and success and fame and money, they really put a test to a family to see who can deal with that.
How do you feel about the legalisation of marijuana in California? Does the fact that big businesses are moving into the marijuana trade make it less attractive as an alternative lifestyle drug? Stephen Robertson, Exeter
First off, I don’t think the average marijuana user in California has considered it a drug in a long time. Of course, it brings up a philosophical dilemma. When I was a young man, I put my name on the list to legalise marijuana. There were many trips to Heathrow with all our bags in a separate room, with the dogs, and everyone frowning at us. I’m happy that the stigma is being removed… but the same corporations who wanna make the money are the same ones who’ve been trying to keep it illegal so they can sell their cigarettes and booze. A few years ago we were outlaws, and now we’re just patients. So that’s kinda funny to me. But free all the illegal plants, not just marijuana. You can’t dictate our consciousness and you can’t dictate things that pop out of the ground to help us deal with what’s going on in our world.
Are you now in competition with [Rich
Robinson’s band] The Magpie Salute over who plays the best version of Black Crowes songs? Or is there a gentleman’s agreement that you play
different songs? Steve Sims, London
Of course there’s not; I haven’t spoken to my brother in over five years – I don’t need his permission for shit! It’s not a competition, know what I mean? It’s music. And I wrote those songs with Rich. I wrote every lyric, every melody; I arranged every piece of music we ever did. To me it’s just celebrating that music and the people who love that music.
You’ve played with everyone from Bob Dylan and Neil Young to Oasis. Who had the strangest rider demands or backstage rituals? Mike Stone, West Yorkshire
When The Black Crowes started out, we supported this metal band called McAuley Schenker Group, featuring Michael Schenker. They were pulling up in limos to play these dumpy little clubs. They didn’t have any rituals – well, maybe getting their hair gigantic was a ritual – but it was funny that they tried to tell us we couldn’t have alcohol as some of them were trying to be sober. That was a hilarious request, when you have a band full of rock’n’rollers from the Deep South in their early twenties with nothing to lose.
How important is long hair to your journey? Ever considered a crop? Damien Canning, Ramsgate
Long hair, man – it’s my cosmic roots! It’s like Danny says in Withnail & I, all barbers are in the employ of the government. Hairs are your aerials! Dave Brock still has long hair, right? Well, I’m keeping mine too, then.
The Amorica sleeve… what were you thinking?! T McGuire, via email
It was supposed to be cartoonish, but the subtext was that there’s this gratuitous, violent, sexual, weird America. It’s about decadence… and ultimately it was also very rock’n’roll. At a time [1994] when everything was so dour, we just thought it was a really striking graphic. It wasn’t
Smell The Glove or anything.
What can we expect from the next CRB album? Magnus Liljebergs, Norrköping, Sweden
We don’t go into the studio until later this year, but we have some new songs that we play live, like “The Chauffeur’s Daughter” and “Venus In Chrome”. They’re a little less folky and more rock’n’roll. But it’s still our California stoned-out sound. Influences? I could say Knut Hamsun novels, Robert Altman movies, Dr J’s basketball playing… millions of things are in the tapestry of whatever your creative world is. There are no rules, there’s no record company, there’s no-one telling us, ‘You can’t do that.’ We’re free to roam around and do what we want.
“Free all the illegal plants, not just marijuana. You can’t dictate our consciousness”