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The thing is either this band goes away or it goes on for another 20 years. Truly. This record is the crossroads for us in terms of what it means to be playing music in the world right now. -Chris Robinson |
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Photo by Jay Blakesberg
 The Black Crowes by Jay Blakesberg |
Despite an ingrained resistance to aimless hippie noodling, there are echoes of the socio-political aspects of '60s culture to the Crowes, especially Chris, who understands that saying words like 'peace' and 'love' in a charged setting like a concert hall has power and meaning. Saying them just because they are good ideas, without qualifiers or overt agenda, has the potential to uplift the world in subtle ways.
"Well, look where we are. Grow your hair long and wear some dirty clothes and see how you get stared at and spit at. People will hate you in America no matter how famous they might think you are. We live in a time where it's the same shit [as the '60s]. Don't let the powers that be tell you that you can't live the way you want," barks Chris. "It's a cliché and it's kind of tongue-in-cheek, but long hair doesn't cost a thing. In a weird way, wearing clothes from a fucking Salvation Army means more than going to a Gap or wearing designer clothes right now. There's all these things now from eating organic foods to not putting pesticides in your home. It's about lifestyle and choices and these things don't have anything to do with status. That is mirrored in our music from early on till now. It's just become more refined. I know which parts of it retain their worth now."
"It's funny talking about how Warpaint has this independent, defiant stance," continues Chris. "Culturally, we start to mirror that. The music industry starts to mirror that corporate interference and the lack of any sort of direction or judgment other than profit. So, they say that music is over but maybe that's because it's what the industry turned it into. Those of us who've fallen through the cracks have made our own place. And you know what? That place is what this record sounds like."
Movin' On Down The Line
 By Jay Blakesberg |
Much like their debut in 1990, The Black Crowes sound like almost nothing else out there. There's a slinkiness and palpable spirit that infuses every note, which immediately sets them apart from the cookie cutter perfection that gets airplay now. The Crowes have the thick, unshakable rightness one picks up on in John Lee Hooker or Dylan, real men with the will and skill to get the job done. While they seem tempered by their travails, there's also abundant confidence about them these days, and not just the cocksure swagger they exhibited as young men. Like George Clinton once put it, "I'm not conceited by no means/ I just know what I'm capable of."
In no small way, they think of themselves as the keepers of a flame lit a long time ago by Elvis Presley and Jerry Lee Lewis and the countless bluesmen and barrelhouse cowboys before them.
"I remember a moment Luther and I had in the studio where I told him how I feel so privileged to be part of this thing that seems to be the last great gasp of what rock 'n' roll is. We almost came to tears with that realization," says Pipien. "It was such a beautiful experience, and sad too, because why is it the last gasp? Sure, there are other folks doing this but it comes down to meaning it in your bones. Everything else is trite bullshit."
Warpaint is refreshingly free of premeditation. This is music for the sake of music, unconcerned by videos, radio play or any of the other industry trappings that cloud genuine invention. For better or worse, this is The Black Crowes at their purest.
"If we worried about that other crap then we would have been shortchanging the creative part. Then we would be like all the other bands worried about those things," says Chris. "I've always ever worried about one thing, and that's raising the bar as much as we could with our talent, our musicianship, our writing, and getting out on the road and giving it to people."
"The thing is either this band goes away or it goes on for another 20 years. Truly. This record is the crossroads for us in terms of what it means to be playing music in the world right now. At the end of the day, it's kind of where we started," concludes Chris. "I do this because I love it. I don't do it because it's all there is to do. That's why we've chosen this path as opposed to anybody else's path. That's why we've put it all on our shoulders and accepted the responsibility of our fuck-ups and our successes, our pain and our pleasure. When it works it sounds like Warpaint."
Check out The Black Crowes' video for "Daughters of the Revolution" on YouTube...
To find out where the Crowes fly next, check their tour dates here...
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