Interviewed for FasterLouder

The Black Crowes have experienced all of the ups and downs of being a successful rock band. Over twenty years they have sold 20 million albums, split up, reformed, endured multiple lineup changes and built a rabid following of their live shows. on the eve of the release of their eighth album Before The Frost… original member and drummer Steve Gorman chatted to FL about the past, present and future.

The Black Crowes took a different tact with the new album by recording it live in front of a studio audience. “The conversation initially was very different and about having a dozen or two dozen people in a room and we were picturing a conventional studio with enough space to cram some folks in the corner. It never dawned on us that we’d end up in front of 200 people but Chris [Robinson] went to see a show at Levon’s [Helm of The Band] barn last summer and recognized that as the place and the concept changed pretty quickly when he saw that ‘cause it was a studio as well as a performance room,” explains Gorman.

The band’s previous album Warpaint marked a new beginning after a hiatus of a few years and they were keen to make a statement about the future of The Black Crowes. “We were pretty patient when we got back together in 05 about going in and making a record because we wanted to make sure we were ready to make a record that looked forward and not a record that was going to be connected or tied to the past.” says Gorman,  “One thing we learnt along the way is that patience is probably a good thing when it comes to getting in the studio and committing to a new project.”

The principal songwriters Chris and Rich Robinson had a deep pool of songs to draw from when it came to recording the new record. The bulk of them were written at the end of their 2008 touring whereas in the past they tended to have a large number of songs that ended up unreleased. “In the past we did always have a backlog of songs and in the 90s we would always make enough for an album and a half at least, if not two. Then you pick the album that makes the most sense to us at the time and the most cohesive and then we put it out,” says Gorman, before lamenting, “Then we always think we still have these great songs but a year later there’s a new batch of songs and those are the ones we’re most excited about. It seemed like a lot of albums there’d be a lot of change in direction from record to record and if we’d been able to get out everything… There were always these little bridge albums that we lost along the way due to the timing of the promotion and the way the record companies operated and when they would feel like it was OK for us to put a record out. Now having our own label [Silver Arrow] we don’t have to really take any of that into account so its pretty cool.”

Playing live is where The Black Crowes are at their best, jamming out their songs, reinterpreting them and feeding off the vibe of their audiences. Gorman has some theories about why their live shows are so well received. “I think just that there are not a lot of live rock n roll bands left that are playing basic instruments. To us there is a warmth and a human element to seeing a live band that has been dropped off on the side of the road for the most part,” he says. “In essence we are a live band. I love making records and I like the records we’ve made but really those are snapshots and then the tours are like the film. I’m very big on the visceral resonation of live music. Bad notes and tempos going up and down, someone hitting a note in the wrong key couldn’t mean less to me. Its the vibe and spirit of the thing,” says Gorman.

Touring in support of Before The Frost… will fill up the rest of the band’s calendar for 2009 and Gorman says the band is looking at getting back to Australia after their visit last year for the Blues & Roots Festival. “The show was cool, it was the first one of the tour for us so it was great to finally be back down there. I’d like to think we’d get there sometime next year. It’ll be early 2010 before we can think about heading down but I’m certainly hoping that works out.”

Reaching their 20th year together inevitably brings with it some looking back at the highlights and two spring to mind for Gorman. “When we made Shake Your Money Maker we hadn’t even signed a deal, we all still had jobs and we were cutting out of work to go to the studio for the afternoon and it was getting put together so haphazardly looking back. It was still a monumental event at the time, it was all we cared about. I remember being in the studio when we first heard it back finished and were so excited,” he recalls. “I was thinking if we could sell 50,000 then they’ll probably give us enough money to make another one. I would turn on the radio and think no one’s gonna listen to our record, Rock radio was Poison and Guns n Roses and Cinderella and all that kind of stuff.”

Gorman’s other personal highlight involved two of the most important musical figures of the last fifty years. “I remember we were playing a show in Italy opening for Neil Young and Crazy Horse and during our set I looked over at the soundboard and Neil was standing there with Bob Dylan who was playing the same little town the next night. It was in Brescia in Italy and were were playing the Piazza. It was a beautiful night and a beautiful old town, hundreds of years old and then I look over and see those two guys. I always wonder what they were talking about but I’m sure it was just ‘man my knee hurts’, they weren’t solving any great mysteries of life, they were just having a chat like a couple of old friends would.” reminisces Gorman.

The Black Crowes now seem comfortable with their place in the music landscape. Away from the buzz of being new on the scene and under the fist of major record companies they seem content to write, record and tour their southern rock n roll to the many fans that have joined them along the way. As the old saying goes ‘If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’.