It's been 15 years since the brothers Chris and Rich Robinson formed a band in Atlanta called Mr.Crowe's Garden. Since then their Rock'n'Roll wagon-train has wandered the globe delivering rasping vocals and rampaging R'n'B-based rifferama to those who would listen.
Their latest album By Your Side is more similar in style to the Shake Your Money Maker debut and its follow-up Southern Harmony And Musical Companion than their last two studio efforts, but guitarist Rich Robinson is adamant that it's not merely a case of trying to restore former glories.
I tend not to think of the new record as a return to old ways, but rather as a new beginning, he says over the phone from Italy. With the Amorica and Three Snakes And A Charm albums we were just trying a different approach and getting more interested in the way our records sounded.
I think people had this idea that we were just a live band and we do love playing but myself and Chris as writers wanted to see what we could come up with in terms of different arrangements and that took time
Once you get into thinking that way and aren't watching the clock it's very easy to find yourself spending two days getting the right bass drum sound. I have no regrets about doing those records, even though they didn't sell as well as we'd hoped they would.
For By Your Side, Rich Robinson found himself the sole guitarist for the first time in the band's recording career, and from the opening 'Go Faster' it's clear he relished the role, coming on like a one-man jam between The Stones and The Faces.
There was a lot less clutter alright, he agrees, and I spent a lot of time deliberately staying out of my own way, if you know what I mean. On the last tour Marc Ford [who replaced original member Jeff Cease in 1991 GB] was pretty fucked up: it got to the point where he wasn't even playing the right songs when we were onstage and that's just not doing your job. I felt sure I could handle all the guitar parts, so apart from it being a more energetic bunch of songs I was pushing myself that bit harder as well.
Given their relentless touring schedule over the past 15 years it's inevitable that some people were bound to fall by the wayside. In fact when Ford replaced Cease, Chris Robinson was quoted as saying, If I have to make a bad analogy, let's say five guys go off to war for 19 months, chances are not all of them come back. Basically that's what happened with The Black Crowes . So is being on tour with The Black Crowes that bad for your health?
Nah, not really! laughs Rich. Sure, we've had a few scrapes and over-indulged a bit particularly in the days when the first album was taking off that's just something that you have to grow out of. In fact, the most serious problem we've ever had occurred a couple of weeks ago when our keyboard player Eddie Harsch doubled up in pain on the coach and had to be rushed to hospital in Belgium with a twisted intestine. He had exploratory surgery immediately and was only missing for five shows but, touch wood, that's the end of anything like that.
As we've seen with the gung-ho Gallaghers and the dissenting Davies, being in a band with your brother for a lengthy period can cause friction above and beyond the normal on-the-road sparks, so has Rich ever had any real problems with Chris, especially given that they tour so steadily?
Sure we have disagreements, he says, but that'd happen whether we were in a band or not. I've never been in a band without him and wouldn't really want to be. He's a great singer and frontman, we're a good writing team and sure, sometimes he loses the cool when I wouldn't. That usually happens when we're playing festivals! The thing with festivals is that you might have 50,000 people there but only 5,000 are there to see you, so while you're on there are some people checking you out and others just ignoring you. And let me stress this, adds Rich, Chris does not like people ignoring The Black Crowes! A word to the wise there! n
The Black Crowes play the Olympia Theatre on July 23rd.