Chris Robinson talks about some of his favourite current artists
JON ‘MOJO’ MILLS talks with The Black Crowes’ CHRIS ROBINSON about his current faves and artists he’s working with
Shindig!: What did you think of discovering the return of honest powerpop and glam in LA made by kids not much older than your oldest kid?
Chris Robinson: Yeah, totally. There’s a scene. I like making records. I like being in the studio. I’m an arranger and I want to teach younger people good habits in the studio. I want them to get away from looking at the screen. All the kids do is look at the screen and they see some green going over the line. I’m like, “Listen, listen. Let’s listen and play together.” All these kids have great record collections too. So I say, “If you love these records, you don’t have to live in the past, but you don’t also have to surrender to the convenience of technology, because somewhere in the middle is where you’re going to find the custard.” Billy Tibbals is a kid who shows up and knows everything he wants to do. So with him, I just want to get it cool. But older guys The Beachwood Sparks, they’re fucking out of control. When we made that last record they didn’t even have any songs. They’re like, “What about this?” I’m like, “Okay, okay, do that twice and then throw that bit in, you know?” But it’s inspiring to me. I had Paul and Jeremy Stacey [The Lemon Trees] and Roger Manning [Jellyfish] on this record by Dagger Polyester with kids who are younger than my son. Let’s keep it going.
S!: What about The Lemon Twigs?
CR: They’re great. What about Sharp Pins too? The youth are doing something amazing now – we have lots of it going on here in different cities. Like in Chicago, they have that scene. Horsegirl are part of that. What about The Sunday Mourners? I’m hopefully working with these kids from Peru called Camero. These two brothers, they’re insane. Rock band. I can’t wait for whatever happens. Because I can do work with bands that you wouldn’t necessarily associate me with, powerpop or whatever. That makes it even better. If it’s a good song, it’s a good song.
S!: I remember the lads at Qobuz, when you did your list with DC hardcore and punk, they loved it because they were thinking it was going to be Led Zeppelin and The Allman Brothers, and I said, “No, Chris is into all kinds of shit.”
CR: You know, I love Led Zeppelin and I love The Allman Brothers, but I don’t really listen to them. I’ll tell you the record that I love that came out at the end of last year, that Electric War album by Little Barrie.
S!: Oh. It’s brilliant. They’re friends of mine. Barrie and Lewis. And, Malcolm Catto. What a drummer?
CR: Yeah, I have to stop listening to it because I don’t want to wear it out too much.
S!: You’ve produced, and will release, Jim Jones new album, which is really exciting. I know he had a lovely time touring with you a year or so back. How does it feel to have reignited that flame again with him? The messy days of you and Thee Hypnotics when you were young is a long way behind you. CR: Jim and I were pros back then. Those guys were heroin dudes, and I was a cocaine person.
The CRB played a festival in Spain, and the reignited Thee Hypnotics were back on that gig. I was so happy to see them. I had kept in touch with Ray a little bit, but the best thing was to see Jim again after all those years. I had followed his career, and he’s fantastic. He’s the real deal. He’s got the work ethic and is putting his money where his mouth is. And he’s talented. He’s got that eternal flame. The same flame that Little Richard had. The same flame that Lux interior had.
Our worlds would cross paths occasionally in 1994-95. I didn’t really have a lot of skills to deal with problems and people then, I was myopic. But I got to apologise to Jim about that and he took it. A couple of years ago, Camille and I went out to Walthamstow to see him play at the Trades. It was like an episode of The Sweeney in there. It was amazing. I got up and sang with him, and I loved the band. So, when we took them on tour two years ago, it was the same thing. I produced the record adjacently. I didn’t have time to really be there all the time, but I’m beyond thrilled to help Jim. He represents all the things I love. He lives it. A proper outsider.
S!: We’ve had so many chats about that… Him and Ray growing up in Great Missenden
CR: That’s what we all were, you know, back in those days. We found out. That’s why we hung out at the record store.
S!: Exactly. Sharp Pins are the same. You know, it just continues, doesn’t it?
CR: I’m 59 years old, and when I meet someone, I always look at their records. All of a sudden, you have a lot more in common than you first thought you did.
S!: What else is happening with your label?
CR: I have another record coming out on Silver Arrow by a band called Damma Damma. They love everything from Alice Coltrane to Fela and The Meters. It’s groove based. They have an amazing horn section. It’s a very, very cool record. I’m really excited to be putting it out, and I’m putting out a record by Daisy Rickman. Daisy is a friend. Camille and I were in Cornwall last year. Cornwall is the best. It was raining and cold and drizzling, just the way it’s supposed to be. Daisy made a record with our friend Ryan Van Kriedt that we’re putting out, too, which is going to be really cool.
I love that I can be in Dagger Polyester’s world and Billy Tibbals’s world and Daisy’s world… and then go and get a taco with Slash. It all coexists. You just have to be available and be interested and get out there. And I think being older helps, when your mind’s way more open and less closeted than it would have been 30-40 years ago.
The Black Crowes A Pound Of Feathers is out now. Order here. Read a further interview with Chris in issue #174.
