WEBVTT - Chris Robinson 0:00:15.476 --> 0:00:23.156 Pushkin. Sixteen years have passed since The Black Crows last 0:00:23.156 --> 0:00:26.196 put out an album of all new material. The world 0:00:26.316 --> 0:00:28.836 changed a lot since then, and it appears so have 0:00:29.036 --> 0:00:32.796 the Robinson brothers. Chris and Rich Robinson are, of course 0:00:32.876 --> 0:00:35.676 the backbone of the group. They started together back in 0:00:35.716 --> 0:00:38.956 Georgia in eighty four as Mister Crow's Garden before moving 0:00:38.996 --> 0:00:42.956 to NYC, signing with Death American and changing their name 0:00:43.036 --> 0:00:46.436 to The Black Crows. The band's debut album, Shake Your 0:00:46.436 --> 0:00:49.196 Money Makers set them up as torch bearers of Southern 0:00:49.276 --> 0:00:52.356 rock for the nineties and beyond. As you'll hear in 0:00:52.396 --> 0:00:56.676 our conversation, the brothers Robinson have had a competitive relationship 0:00:56.716 --> 0:00:59.396 for a long time. Their ups and downs have meant 0:00:59.476 --> 0:01:02.196 hiatuses for the band over the years, but now they're 0:01:02.236 --> 0:01:04.916 back united and seemingly in it for the long haul 0:01:05.036 --> 0:01:09.036 with their new album Happiness Bastards. On today's episode, I 0:01:09.196 --> 0:01:11.556 talked to Chris Robinson about his growing up in Georgia 0:01:11.596 --> 0:01:15.596 with Rich, their dad's rockabilly career, his listening routine that 0:01:15.636 --> 0:01:19.116 includes Sudanese and Sufi music, and how his road habits 0:01:19.116 --> 0:01:23.036 have changed from indulging in champagne and other substances to 0:01:23.356 --> 0:01:30.076 reading Herman Melville. This is broken record liner notes for 0:01:30.156 --> 0:01:34.156 the digital Age. I'm justin Mitchman. Here's my conversation with 0:01:34.236 --> 0:01:38.076 Chris Robinson of the Black Crows. Is that a gun 0:01:38.156 --> 0:01:39.876 club like the band? Sure that you go on? 0:01:39.956 --> 0:01:40.156 Yeah? 0:01:40.236 --> 0:01:42.956 Yeah, yeah, oh hell yeah. I love gun Club man. 0:01:43.116 --> 0:01:46.596 Jeffrey Lee Pierce one of my faves. And it's funny because, 0:01:47.156 --> 0:01:49.396 you know, when we started, people would always say we 0:01:49.476 --> 0:01:51.476 sounded like and we did. We had, you know, there 0:01:51.516 --> 0:01:55.076 was the Jengle sort of indie pop thing, Rim of 0:01:55.116 --> 0:01:59.716 course being the purveyors of that, but Let's Active and 0:01:59.756 --> 0:02:03.036 the DBS and then bands from California like Game Theory. 0:02:03.076 --> 0:02:05.076 We kind of were into like this kind of jangly 0:02:05.476 --> 0:02:09.476 sixties inspired but we really sounded early days a lot 0:02:09.516 --> 0:02:11.916 like the gun Club, you know, because gun Club and 0:02:12.156 --> 0:02:14.596 X are very interesting to me, and the like early 0:02:14.756 --> 0:02:19.036 punk scene here in Los Angeles because they were the well, 0:02:19.076 --> 0:02:21.396 I guess you could put the Blasters and the plugs 0:02:21.396 --> 0:02:21.956 in there too. 0:02:22.236 --> 0:02:23.956 Blasters are from esp though, right. 0:02:23.836 --> 0:02:26.236 Oh, Blasters are a LA band too, you are they? 0:02:26.276 --> 0:02:26.996 Okay? Cool? 0:02:27.556 --> 0:02:31.636 They had those kind of rootsyed things, you know, and 0:02:31.676 --> 0:02:34.156 it would be really early on that we would think like, okay, well, 0:02:34.236 --> 0:02:39.036 Jeffery Lee Pierce is like a punk icon, but he 0:02:39.076 --> 0:02:41.756 plays with Robert Johnson song on the first record, you know, 0:02:41.836 --> 0:02:45.076 I mean, it doesn't like Robert Johnson, but needless to say, 0:02:45.076 --> 0:02:49.876 he found great inspiration and the mythology and the imagery 0:02:50.036 --> 0:02:52.596 and the vibration of like the blues and stuff which 0:02:52.796 --> 0:02:54.036 other punk bands really didn't. 0:02:54.316 --> 0:02:57.556 Whatever music is happening in La, there's always some subset 0:02:57.596 --> 0:03:00.556 of it that countrifies it. You know. It's like even 0:03:00.596 --> 0:03:02.596 with the Birds, like Sweetheart of the Rodeo, like all 0:03:02.636 --> 0:03:05.116 that stuff, Like the Birds got into that, and you know, 0:03:05.156 --> 0:03:07.156 I don't know you could even feel that with Buffalo 0:03:07.236 --> 0:03:09.556 Springfield and I mean, I know, like Neil from Canada 0:03:09.636 --> 0:03:12.276 or whatnot. But they're making music here, you know, of course. 0:03:11.996 --> 0:03:14.516 Of course, well I mean, you know, I mean, while 0:03:14.516 --> 0:03:17.236 that's going on, Tim Buckley's here and you know what 0:03:17.316 --> 0:03:19.916 I mean. And while that's going on, you have bands 0:03:19.956 --> 0:03:23.956 like the Chambers Brothers and Eric Burden Leaves the Animals 0:03:24.116 --> 0:03:28.596 and Northern English White Band playing blues music. And then 0:03:28.676 --> 0:03:31.156 he's the lead singer of War It. 0:03:31.276 --> 0:03:34.996 War is like such a quintessential La Long Beach of 0:03:35.076 --> 0:03:36.116 fact group, you know. 0:03:36.356 --> 0:03:40.356 I mean, I think obviously there's subsequent most famous records 0:03:41.356 --> 0:03:44.516 don't include Eric Burdon. Yeah, And it's funny. It also 0:03:44.636 --> 0:03:47.796 just goes to show how that's just how music is, 0:03:47.796 --> 0:03:49.476 isn't it. You know what I mean? I mean, I 0:03:49.476 --> 0:03:51.756 guess you obviously you can make examples of things that 0:03:51.876 --> 0:03:58.516 seem heavy handed or things that don't contain a certain authenticity. 0:03:58.596 --> 0:04:00.636 But I mean that was a big deal when I 0:04:00.716 --> 0:04:03.876 you know, talking about growing up in a band, being 0:04:03.876 --> 0:04:08.196 from Atlanta, being like in a arguably the most progressive 0:04:09.356 --> 0:04:12.716 city in terms of race relations, and if not America 0:04:12.796 --> 0:04:14.596 and maybe globally. 0:04:14.596 --> 0:04:16.196 That's interesting. It probably has to be. I mean, you 0:04:16.236 --> 0:04:18.156 might I might have been coming to say New Orleans, 0:04:18.236 --> 0:04:19.876 but I think when you kind of look at the 0:04:19.996 --> 0:04:22.636 musical legacy of Atlanta over the last I. 0:04:22.556 --> 0:04:25.876 Mean New Orleans most definitely, but Atlanta is different because 0:04:25.916 --> 0:04:30.596 of the black universities, yeah, like kind of concentrated there, 0:04:31.196 --> 0:04:34.876 and Atlanta having Maynor Jackson as the first black mayor 0:04:34.916 --> 0:04:37.636 the first black police chief for the black police force 0:04:37.796 --> 0:04:38.756 in the Deep South. 0:04:38.956 --> 0:04:40.516 When I first landed in Atlanta, I got to say, 0:04:40.516 --> 0:04:42.116 coming from LA because I grew up in La. When 0:04:42.116 --> 0:04:44.436 I first landed in Atlanta, I'm in the airport, I'm like, 0:04:45.196 --> 0:04:47.556 with a whim, like, how the. 0:04:47.236 --> 0:04:49.116 Whole airport is black? This is crazy. It was the 0:04:49.396 --> 0:04:53.676 weirdest experience for me. Funny, that's funny. And as I said, 0:04:53.676 --> 0:04:58.236 I'm a third generation Atlantan and I don't really make 0:04:58.276 --> 0:05:01.516 the connection of being like I'm a Southern person, but 0:05:01.836 --> 0:05:05.156 my connection is with Atlanta. Yeah. And so so it's 0:05:05.196 --> 0:05:07.796 funny because Maynard Jackson is the guy who when Hartfield 0:05:07.836 --> 0:05:11.516 International Airport becomes an international airport, He's the one who's like, 0:05:11.836 --> 0:05:16.396 we're not doing anything unless black business owners are recognized 0:05:16.436 --> 0:05:18.036 and have a piece in this and what that can 0:05:18.116 --> 0:05:22.436 mean for the community. Something very subtle like that still reverberates, 0:05:22.476 --> 0:05:27.916 I think, and besides the culture, because you start to 0:05:27.916 --> 0:05:30.676 see Atlanta also be a city, you know, famous for 0:05:30.716 --> 0:05:33.796 the musicians and the hip hop and the athletes that 0:05:33.836 --> 0:05:36.436 I'll move there. But the reason that becomes attractive is 0:05:36.476 --> 0:05:39.676 because of decisions like that and the hard line that 0:05:39.796 --> 0:05:42.676 someone like mayn Or Jackson would take, and how Atlanta 0:05:42.796 --> 0:05:46.276 had been pried open. Of course, having the Great Reverend 0:05:46.356 --> 0:05:49.956 Bee from there, you know, gives Atlanta a different perspective, 0:05:50.396 --> 0:05:52.396 but I don't know. It's a unique place in that way. 0:05:52.516 --> 0:05:55.116 And it's funny, like I speak on it from the past, 0:05:55.196 --> 0:05:58.836 because I really left first check, I got into Black Crows. 0:05:58.916 --> 0:06:00.836 I moved to New York. Being in a band to 0:06:00.876 --> 0:06:04.516 me was like, you know, shooting an arrow over the mountain, 0:06:04.716 --> 0:06:07.796 like just I wanted to get out in the world. 0:06:08.076 --> 0:06:10.076 Had you been to New York before we moved there? 0:06:10.316 --> 0:06:13.956 Yeah? Yeah, Actually, you know our dad, richardized dad was 0:06:13.996 --> 0:06:17.516 a singer. He had a top forty rock and roll 0:06:17.596 --> 0:06:20.796 hit in the fifties called Boom a Dip Dip. You 0:06:20.836 --> 0:06:22.196 can check it out on Spotify. 0:06:22.396 --> 0:06:23.716 I've listened to some of that stuff. 0:06:24.716 --> 0:06:27.756 Very good, man, it's really good. Yeah, it's a good song. 0:06:27.836 --> 0:06:30.596 And so I really happened and looked at New York 0:06:30.636 --> 0:06:33.956 and he was like, you know, into the theater and 0:06:34.196 --> 0:06:37.556 music and acting and dance, you know. So he wanted 0:06:37.636 --> 0:06:39.916 that too at a certain time in his life, and 0:06:40.356 --> 0:06:43.836 he was in New York. And it's funny. My mom 0:06:44.116 --> 0:06:48.436 was a flight attendant for the old Eastern Airlines, and 0:06:48.476 --> 0:06:50.236 you know, it's funny she told me, she goes, Oh, 0:06:50.316 --> 0:06:54.796 I served doctor King many times on flight side of Atlanta. Wow, 0:06:55.036 --> 0:06:57.036 I always really blew my mind as a kid. 0:06:57.116 --> 0:06:59.036 You know, of course she did. I would make I mean, 0:06:59.076 --> 0:07:01.716 how many flights out of Atlanta? Musty have taken that 0:07:01.716 --> 0:07:02.676 out all. 0:07:02.556 --> 0:07:05.756 The time, you know? You know. So I moved to 0:07:05.796 --> 0:07:09.196 New York first, and I still love New York and 0:07:09.276 --> 0:07:13.996 some of my deepest connections and friendships are there. My 0:07:14.036 --> 0:07:17.116 wife and I just got back from there yesterday. But 0:07:17.276 --> 0:07:20.636 I came to Los Angeles, and I don't know, it 0:07:20.676 --> 0:07:25.196 was farther away from Georgia, from everything. I mean, California 0:07:25.236 --> 0:07:28.596 has an idea California. Later I would get to know 0:07:29.316 --> 0:07:32.116 far more about this state. And I lived up north 0:07:32.156 --> 0:07:34.596 for six years, and I was in this little hippie 0:07:34.636 --> 0:07:37.156 band and we started. We did nine weeks just up 0:07:37.196 --> 0:07:40.316 and down California in the van, playing all the little 0:07:40.396 --> 0:07:43.876 beach towns and hippie towns. And you know, I got 0:07:43.876 --> 0:07:47.236 a real appreciation for do you remember hughle. 0:07:47.036 --> 0:07:50.076 Houser, Oh, come on, man, California's goal. 0:07:50.196 --> 0:07:53.156 Baby. I was like the psychedelic hule Houser, you know 0:07:53.236 --> 0:07:55.756 what I mean, you know hil Hauser. I was like, 0:07:55.876 --> 0:07:58.076 so this is an atobe. 0:07:58.476 --> 0:07:58.796 Wow. 0:07:59.076 --> 0:08:02.116 He was amazed about everything too, He's like, so this 0:08:02.356 --> 0:08:08.996 is a ball of Manuda. I love hul Hauser Lake 0:08:09.196 --> 0:08:12.516 great Man, the late great hutle Hauser Man. I love 0:08:12.556 --> 0:08:15.876 and you know what, he was always so excited he 0:08:15.996 --> 0:08:19.516 saw mission from San Diego to like, you know, the 0:08:19.516 --> 0:08:24.036 Oregon border, so that the mission like so excited. 0:08:24.876 --> 0:08:27.396 Everything was ecstatic to him. It was crazy. It was 0:08:27.436 --> 0:08:29.356 so that was that was a funny show to watch. 0:08:29.436 --> 0:08:30.436 Man. I loved it. 0:08:30.476 --> 0:08:32.596 When I moved here, I was like, what is this? 0:08:32.636 --> 0:08:35.156 Is this good? I also am lucky that when I'm 0:08:35.196 --> 0:08:38.996 I'm so I moved here. In ninety one early ninety two, 0:08:39.796 --> 0:08:43.596 that was the golden age of public television. Yeah, I'm 0:08:43.796 --> 0:08:47.916 the weirdest, weirdest of the weird stuff would come on 0:08:48.036 --> 0:08:51.316 TV Man on the couple of public stations on your cable, 0:08:51.436 --> 0:08:57.076 like Channel six and Channel fourteen or whatever, the most unimaginably, 0:08:58.076 --> 0:09:00.156 I mean obviously like Tim and Eric. I don't know 0:09:00.196 --> 0:09:02.796 if you ever got into Tim and Hell. Yeah, Tim 0:09:02.796 --> 0:09:05.716 and Eric like take the inspiration of that into their 0:09:05.756 --> 0:09:08.836 twisted world for the series, which is still some of 0:09:08.836 --> 0:09:11.676 my favorite stuff. You don't need a Chinese massage, you 0:09:11.716 --> 0:09:14.836 need an Italian massage. It was fantastic you know what 0:09:14.876 --> 0:09:17.116 I mean, And you know the other thing about things 0:09:17.156 --> 0:09:21.036 that were really I've always been interested in outsider culture, 0:09:21.076 --> 0:09:23.476 you know, when those would be like driven by like this, 0:09:23.876 --> 0:09:26.276 but because of Hollywood, it made it even weirder, Like 0:09:26.356 --> 0:09:28.756 I'm on TV now I'm famous too, you know what 0:09:28.836 --> 0:09:33.196 I mean, pre dating the psychoses that has become social media, 0:09:33.276 --> 0:09:33.516 you know. 0:09:33.996 --> 0:09:36.396 Yeah, yeah. People always describe LA when they come to 0:09:36.516 --> 0:09:39.356 LA as being closer to the industry, as being closer 0:09:39.396 --> 0:09:42.876 to things. But I also find that you can find 0:09:43.036 --> 0:09:45.876 your niches and stay way out of the way of 0:09:45.876 --> 0:09:47.796 the industry if you want. I did it. 0:09:47.916 --> 0:09:50.556 Yeah, I mean when I moved to Topanga Canyon at 0:09:50.596 --> 0:09:53.636 a certain point, I moved to Topanga because I have 0:09:53.796 --> 0:09:57.436 these romantic notions of what northern California, what I've been 0:09:57.436 --> 0:09:59.596 to northern California, but what it might feel like not 0:09:59.676 --> 0:10:02.476 to be in LA, but to still be able to 0:10:02.556 --> 0:10:05.796 be in LA for different reasons. I'm of the firm 0:10:05.836 --> 0:10:08.836 belief that Los Angeles is one of the great cities 0:10:09.236 --> 0:10:13.596 world and which is also unique because of how new 0:10:13.676 --> 0:10:18.156 this city is comparatively. In eighteen sixty there's five thousand 0:10:18.196 --> 0:10:21.716 people living here. That's wild ranchers and spread out and 0:10:21.756 --> 0:10:26.316 it's just come over from Mexican rule and stuff from 0:10:26.316 --> 0:10:30.876 that government. And they had, you know, gave everyone deeds 0:10:30.916 --> 0:10:33.916 to these mass affincas and ranches and things that were 0:10:33.956 --> 0:10:37.556 all of California, you know. So it's not that old 0:10:37.716 --> 0:10:42.036 in the big scheme of things. But the other funny 0:10:42.036 --> 0:10:45.956 thing is when I came here, I was I laugh 0:10:46.036 --> 0:10:48.516 all the time because was like growing up in Atlanta 0:10:48.596 --> 0:10:51.316 or whatever. In nineteen I had my first sushi in 0:10:51.396 --> 0:10:55.436 nineteen eighty nine. My guy ended up being our manager, Like, 0:10:55.476 --> 0:10:58.876 took me and Rich with some friends to get sushi. 0:10:59.036 --> 0:11:02.116 And that place is called Imperial Gardens or whatever. It 0:11:02.156 --> 0:11:04.876 was right there on Sunset. It's now like a Loco 0:11:04.996 --> 0:11:08.636 place or something, but it was the Roxbury later. But anyway, 0:11:09.116 --> 0:11:11.516 were sitting there and like, of course I know what 0:11:11.596 --> 0:11:16.116 it is, but I'm you know, standing Nancy Robinson in Atlanta. 0:11:16.196 --> 0:11:19.996 We didn't, you know what I mean. Like I remember 0:11:20.036 --> 0:11:23.476 being sixteen and telling my dad, like coming downstairs one day, 0:11:23.556 --> 0:11:25.516 I was like, why have we never had Indian food? 0:11:25.716 --> 0:11:27.676 My dad was like, you're right, we should go get it. 0:11:27.716 --> 0:11:29.676 And I was like we all drove to the one 0:11:29.716 --> 0:11:33.236 Indian restaurant, you know, and it was amazing. Wow, I'm 0:11:33.236 --> 0:11:35.916 here in nineteen eighty nine. I'm still working on the 0:11:35.956 --> 0:11:39.636 first album, and I'm a kid from Atlanta. But the 0:11:39.716 --> 0:11:42.796 cool thing is it's a mentality. You get farther away 0:11:42.836 --> 0:11:45.996 from where you come from, and like anything else, you 0:11:46.116 --> 0:11:49.556 figure out what's delicious about it and what's special about it, 0:11:49.596 --> 0:11:52.316 and now it has a place in your culinary like 0:11:52.716 --> 0:11:55.676 thing that tonight's sushi, we want to go and you 0:11:55.716 --> 0:11:57.756 know what I mean, And then you can on that level. 0:11:57.756 --> 0:12:00.516 But there was one time where you're you know, I 0:12:00.636 --> 0:12:03.036 come to La I don't know anything about anything, and 0:12:03.076 --> 0:12:04.356 I don't even know what this is. 0:12:04.636 --> 0:12:07.156 How far removed from Atlanta do you feel now? Like 0:12:07.156 --> 0:12:08.236 do you feel like an atlantin? 0:12:10.036 --> 0:12:14.956 I mean not especially, And none of that is to 0:12:14.956 --> 0:12:18.676 be taken as if Atlanta has feelings. I do love 0:12:18.716 --> 0:12:22.556 Atlanta more than ever. But it's also I like the 0:12:22.596 --> 0:12:25.956 remnants of the Atlanta that I remembered, so when you 0:12:25.956 --> 0:12:28.556 go back you don't see the I mean, man, it's changed. 0:12:28.676 --> 0:12:31.756 There was this thing on Peach Street called the Darlington Apartments, 0:12:31.756 --> 0:12:34.356 and there it used to have this digital thing and 0:12:34.396 --> 0:12:37.236 it would be like two million nine nine, you know 0:12:37.276 --> 0:12:38.996 what I mean that, you know, and it was the 0:12:38.996 --> 0:12:42.756 population and it got older. With the population sign it 0:12:42.796 --> 0:12:46.356 got bigger and it went to three million in nineteen ninety. Wow. 0:12:46.436 --> 0:12:49.196 You know. We used to hang around this monthly thing 0:12:49.276 --> 0:12:53.396 called the Mudshack at this after hours Mexican burrita place, 0:12:53.396 --> 0:12:54.876 and it was a poetry. 0:12:54.396 --> 0:12:56.836 Reading and just the poet would get it on stage, like. 0:12:57.076 --> 0:12:59.996 I live in a city of three million people, as 0:12:59.996 --> 0:13:02.356 if it was like, you know this Atlanta of this 0:13:03.356 --> 0:13:05.556 it's almost eight million people now. 0:13:05.876 --> 0:13:08.596 Yeah, yeah, right, that sounds about right. It's huge went 0:13:08.636 --> 0:13:08.996 on there? 0:13:09.516 --> 0:13:12.036 I mean, of course I love it, But most a 0:13:12.076 --> 0:13:14.876 lot of the Atlanta you know, the house where we 0:13:14.956 --> 0:13:18.116 used to rehearse and have parties is now the Federal Reserve. 0:13:18.276 --> 0:13:21.236 The club that we based all our rock and roll 0:13:21.356 --> 0:13:23.636 dreams and mythology on is now at that you know, 0:13:23.636 --> 0:13:25.596 a place where people go get stitches. 0:13:25.236 --> 0:13:27.236 Or whatever, you know what I mean, Like all of 0:13:27.236 --> 0:13:27.836 that kind. 0:13:27.716 --> 0:13:30.076 Of stuff from back in the eighties, whenever the world 0:13:30.236 --> 0:13:33.876 was new and music was all our career was ahead 0:13:33.916 --> 0:13:37.396 of us. That's all kind of gone. Yeah, you can 0:13:37.436 --> 0:13:40.556 see that, the skeleton of it, you know what I mean? 0:13:40.796 --> 0:13:44.556 Yeah, wellcome back with more of my interview with Chris Robinson. 0:13:44.796 --> 0:13:53.116 After this quick break, we're back with Chris Robinson. Do 0:13:53.156 --> 0:13:54.676 you get excited to tour these days? 0:13:55.036 --> 0:13:55.116 Like? 0:13:55.196 --> 0:13:56.596 Can you still get excited about it? 0:13:56.836 --> 0:13:58.676 I do? I do. It was funny. I've done a 0:13:58.676 --> 0:14:02.116 couple of interviews for this project and I'm like shocked 0:14:02.116 --> 0:14:04.716 that the people have said, you're the first musician who 0:14:04.716 --> 0:14:08.316 says they still find inspiration doing what you do and 0:14:08.756 --> 0:14:11.156 being on tour, they say is so boring. I'm like, 0:14:11.556 --> 0:14:15.476 I've never lost the dream. And again, I've never been bored, 0:14:16.396 --> 0:14:18.436 you know what I mean, even as a kid, like 0:14:18.516 --> 0:14:20.756 with my mom and go to your room, I'd be like, 0:14:20.796 --> 0:14:24.996 I'm amazing. That's all I want to do. All records 0:14:24.996 --> 0:14:27.076 are in there, the books I'm reading are in there. 0:14:27.276 --> 0:14:29.756 I can draw, I can dream, you know what I 0:14:29.796 --> 0:14:33.276 mean daydream? I mean I was somewhere there's a permanent 0:14:33.276 --> 0:14:35.916 record of me, and all it says is prone to daydreaming. 0:14:36.876 --> 0:14:40.516 Not very good at math. But I was saying, I 0:14:40.556 --> 0:14:43.796 mean it's just the way it is. I mean, is 0:14:43.836 --> 0:14:48.716 it tedious sometimes? Fuck yes, I'm fifty seven now. Airports 0:14:48.836 --> 0:14:54.556 fucking suck. Not every gig is a magical experience, but 0:14:55.036 --> 0:14:56.716 you never know who you're gonna meet, and it could 0:14:56.756 --> 0:15:00.876 be anyone. It could be the Guyanese uber driver who 0:15:00.916 --> 0:15:04.276 pitch you up in Saint Louis, who's fucking hilarious, an amazing, 0:15:04.356 --> 0:15:07.796 soulful person who's left a life behind to try to 0:15:07.876 --> 0:15:11.396 eke out something better, and like it's so brave and courageous, 0:15:11.436 --> 0:15:14.436 and you know, and you're only with this person eight 0:15:14.516 --> 0:15:16.876 minutes from the airport or whatever, and you just two 0:15:17.036 --> 0:15:19.156 people in the world laughing in a car. You know. 0:15:19.436 --> 0:15:22.556 But that little thing that doesn't even necessarily have to 0:15:22.556 --> 0:15:23.956 be a part of the narrative. It just has to 0:15:23.956 --> 0:15:27.796 be a part of that. You still believe that there's 0:15:28.796 --> 0:15:33.356 dynamic and meeting people and talking and laughing and sometimes crying. 0:15:33.396 --> 0:15:36.076 But I'm just naive enough to still see it as 0:15:36.476 --> 0:15:39.316 in the same way that I wanted. I picked music 0:15:39.636 --> 0:15:42.036 on a lot of levels because I knew it was 0:15:42.116 --> 0:15:46.756 the one thing that I would travel all the time. Yeah, 0:15:46.956 --> 0:15:49.076 and then you set up your little thing and then 0:15:49.116 --> 0:15:51.196 you put your vibes out there. You know, it is 0:15:51.236 --> 0:15:51.676 pretty rare. 0:15:51.916 --> 0:15:54.236 I feel like, listening to you talk, the only other 0:15:54.316 --> 0:15:57.996 person who has had a level of success that you've 0:15:57.996 --> 0:16:00.156 had and towards as much as you do, and travels 0:16:00.156 --> 0:16:01.676 as much as you do. That seems to still love it. 0:16:01.716 --> 0:16:04.356 I got lucky. I met Quincy Jones in Havana maybe 0:16:04.356 --> 0:16:07.796 ten years ago, and the joy he has to like 0:16:07.876 --> 0:16:10.796 travel and just talk to anybody. It's like he's like, yeah, 0:16:10.996 --> 0:16:13.156 he'll tell Sinatra stories, and I'll tell the story about 0:16:13.196 --> 0:16:15.996 like the cab Driver and like Memphis, and you're like 0:16:16.716 --> 0:16:20.436 everything is like new and fun and interesting in every 0:16:20.436 --> 0:16:23.436 person and everything and every sound and every that's a 0:16:23.436 --> 0:16:26.156 particular joy that you don't find in a lot of 0:16:26.356 --> 0:16:27.036 a lot of people. 0:16:27.756 --> 0:16:31.636 Like I said, I understand, and you know, you get older. 0:16:32.756 --> 0:16:35.996 It also helps in my life that after all the 0:16:36.116 --> 0:16:39.356 rock and roll and all the experiences that I found 0:16:39.556 --> 0:16:44.836 Camille my wife, because I found someone who she understands 0:16:44.956 --> 0:16:47.596 that some of that is problematic and some of it's 0:16:47.956 --> 0:16:49.476 pain in the ass, and some of it is like 0:16:49.556 --> 0:16:54.396 can't we just be do normal something? And like, by 0:16:54.436 --> 0:16:57.836 the way, we could talk about that and do our best. 0:16:57.876 --> 0:17:00.796 But then she also realizes, like she's an artist and 0:17:00.836 --> 0:17:06.076 she's Piss's queen Moonstone child out in the world, you know, 0:17:06.116 --> 0:17:09.316 who wants to feel these things too, And you know. 0:17:09.396 --> 0:17:14.436 My thing is the pandemic was such a fucking head trip. Personally, 0:17:14.516 --> 0:17:17.516 I didn't really find it creative. I found it stifling. 0:17:17.676 --> 0:17:20.476 But we were lucky enough to live out in the 0:17:20.516 --> 0:17:23.036 wilds of West Marina and then we were in Southwest 0:17:23.036 --> 0:17:28.556 Colorado amazing, Yeah, which was really really help. But one 0:17:28.636 --> 0:17:31.796 thing I thought I would really flip out on was 0:17:31.916 --> 0:17:34.676 it was the first time since I was basically a 0:17:34.676 --> 0:17:37.836 teenager where I wasn't working and touring and singing and 0:17:37.876 --> 0:17:41.236 playing and doing the whole spiel. And you know what, 0:17:41.796 --> 0:17:46.396 it was rad really you liked it. Wow, my head 0:17:46.436 --> 0:17:50.516 didn't fall off, you know, our lives didn't, you know, 0:17:50.676 --> 0:17:53.756 disintegrate into nothing. It was nice. I had time for 0:17:54.196 --> 0:17:58.596 a lot of other things. And it's funny the travel 0:17:58.796 --> 0:18:02.276 part of it. I was just talking to my manager 0:18:02.316 --> 0:18:05.356 Mark last night about how at a certain point it 0:18:05.356 --> 0:18:10.036 would be nice to bow out from forming the way 0:18:10.076 --> 0:18:15.116 we perform before. I can't because I love the travel 0:18:15.156 --> 0:18:17.156 and we fit in the things that we want to. 0:18:17.996 --> 0:18:20.556 But it's different to be in a place for you know, 0:18:20.676 --> 0:18:22.916 we're going to Paris, I'm gonna see my friends. I 0:18:22.956 --> 0:18:24.436 know all the restaurants I want to go to. I 0:18:24.476 --> 0:18:26.036 know all the things I want to do, but you 0:18:26.076 --> 0:18:28.756 got to leave in two days. Yeah, yeah, and you 0:18:28.836 --> 0:18:31.036 have a show. When I was a kid, I didn't care. 0:18:31.156 --> 0:18:34.796 We would just party, go out, champagne, drugs, this that, 0:18:35.076 --> 0:18:38.916 two days, do the gig, go do the gig. You know, 0:18:39.116 --> 0:18:41.916 like just all one thing was so when you're young, 0:18:41.996 --> 0:18:44.276 you can do it, you know what I mean. I 0:18:44.276 --> 0:18:47.276 don't feel that now. I'm really happy being in the 0:18:47.316 --> 0:18:53.076 Black Crows and really fulfilling and satisfying and gratifying. But 0:18:53.196 --> 0:18:56.116 at a certain point, I just want to take my 0:18:56.156 --> 0:18:59.596 wife and go to Sicily and eat linguini and clams 0:18:59.636 --> 0:19:00.556 and like you. 0:19:00.476 --> 0:19:03.356 Know, drink whine and you know, read Moby Dick. 0:19:03.236 --> 0:19:05.156 For the third time or whatever. You know what I mean. 0:19:05.796 --> 0:19:08.276 I just want to just be a part of everything 0:19:08.316 --> 0:19:10.396 going on. There's lots of places I haven't traveled. I 0:19:10.476 --> 0:19:12.996 haven't been to Africa. I've always wanted to go to Africa, 0:19:13.076 --> 0:19:15.076 you know what I mean. That would be nice to 0:19:15.436 --> 0:19:18.036 have some time to do that. And because Africa is 0:19:18.076 --> 0:19:21.276 such a huge thing too, you know, I'm really interested 0:19:21.316 --> 0:19:23.996 in West Africa. I'd like to go to North Africa. 0:19:24.436 --> 0:19:26.516 Be cool, to see the East Africa, be good. 0:19:26.556 --> 0:19:28.516 You know what I mean, what interest you in West Africa? 0:19:28.676 --> 0:19:31.156 I don't know. I think maybe it has something to 0:19:31.236 --> 0:19:34.676 do just with the I mean, I love North African music, 0:19:34.716 --> 0:19:37.316 but there's you know a lot of those West African 0:19:37.476 --> 0:19:41.796 music could be because of the horrors of mankind and 0:19:41.836 --> 0:19:45.076 the horrors of the slave trade, human beings found a 0:19:45.076 --> 0:19:51.516 way somehow, through the vileness of that to communicate and 0:19:51.636 --> 0:19:55.836 share things in art and music, cuisine. Yeah, so many 0:19:56.156 --> 0:19:59.876 African parts of especially in the Deep South, and people 0:19:59.916 --> 0:20:04.916 wouldn't they don't even know they're they're they're under educated anyway. 0:20:04.996 --> 0:20:07.876 But with these things, you know, it's like, oh, every 0:20:08.196 --> 0:20:12.556 Southern person and loves the fried okra, but okra came 0:20:12.596 --> 0:20:16.276 over from Africa, you know, right before that, ochra came 0:20:16.276 --> 0:20:18.956 from India to Africa. So just dumb things like that, 0:20:19.196 --> 0:20:24.916 Plants and fruits, vegetables, natural things and supernatural things that 0:20:24.956 --> 0:20:27.676 were brought over that could never be extinged with. And 0:20:27.716 --> 0:20:29.956 I just have some sort of and I don't even 0:20:29.996 --> 0:20:32.676 know what it is, because I'm not obviously that knowledgeable 0:20:32.996 --> 0:20:35.396 as other people, but I can put a few things 0:20:35.436 --> 0:20:38.796 together and realize, you know, so much of the music, singing, 0:20:39.036 --> 0:20:43.436 rhythm things guitar things, especially string things come from a 0:20:43.476 --> 0:20:47.956 West African musical tradition that represents like this African mysticism 0:20:47.996 --> 0:20:52.676 and magic as well, that manifests when people express themselves 0:20:52.716 --> 0:20:56.476 vocally and rhythmically and with melody and things, you know, 0:20:56.596 --> 0:20:59.716 like a simple as something like a string guitar, And 0:20:59.756 --> 0:21:02.876 that is something that would draw me there first, be 0:21:03.036 --> 0:21:05.916 that in a first person and see what it feels 0:21:05.956 --> 0:21:09.316 like for me as a real outsider. Yeah, outside your 0:21:09.316 --> 0:21:11.676 culture is important to me just because of whether my 0:21:11.756 --> 0:21:15.796 dyslexia or just whatever my tastes and my where I 0:21:15.836 --> 0:21:18.516 would find the things in life that are interesting that 0:21:18.596 --> 0:21:21.996 make me happy, things that I can understand or help 0:21:22.036 --> 0:21:24.436 me for things that I don't understand to understand, you know, 0:21:24.676 --> 0:21:25.996