THE BLACK CROWES have had a tumultuous history. Numerous musicians have passed through their ranks, and brothers Chris and Rich Robinson’s battles with each other — verbal and physical — are legendary. It’s been 40 years since the earliest incarnation of the band first came together. Only Rich and Chris remain from Mr. Crowe’s Garden, the name the band was using right up to the point that they signed their record deal with Def American in 1989. While the media often has reported on the volatility of inter-band relationships, the Robinson brothers have dealt with the issue by adopting a real-world perspective on the immense challenges that global success brings to a pair of teenagers, barely out of school, who suddenly find the world at their feet.
Rich remembers how their life was turned upside down.
“By the time I was 18 and graduating high school, I’d written a lot of the songs for that first album. But, you know, I’m a teenager. What the fuck do I know about anything? All of a sudden, we put this record out and it sells seven million copies and I’m gone for 12 years. We went from playing clubs in Atlanta to 12 people to playing in Moscow with AC/DC in front of a million people. You go through that in a period of 18 months, how do you handle that? People can deal with failure, but in a way, it can actually be harder to deal with success when it’s so big and comes so quickly.”
The band have just released their first album in 14 years, , a record that sees them revisit many of the elements that made their first two albums — (1990) and (1992) — essential listening for anyone who likes their rock ’n’ roll cut through with a hefty dose of Southern swagger. Rich is excited at the prospect
