If Guns N’ Roses were the natural successors to Aerosmith in the late ’80s, then The Black Crowes were there to fly the flag for the rootsy rock pioneered by The Rolling Stones.
Led by singer Chris Robinson and his brother Rich on guitar, the Atlanta group signed to Def American in 1989 and released their debut album Shake Your Money Maker the following year to wide critical acclaim – cementing their stature as one of the most vital new forces in rock at the time.
But nothing lasts forever. As well as a brief hiatus in the early noughties, the band broke up in 2015 following a disagreement between the two siblings, and four years would pass until they were able to put their differences aside to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the album that launched their careers.
This year they return with their tenth full-length Happiness Bastards – a tour de force of Southern-voiced rock ’n’ roll, tastefully and eloquently cross-pollinating bluesy minor pentatonics with country majors as they so often have done in the past.
When Total Guitar tells Rich Robinson the tones on the latest release are possibly the finest he’s ever put to tape, he’s more than ready to spill the beans. “Let’s geek out,” he nods. “That’s what us guitar players do, right?”
The timing, by the band’s own admission, could have been better. They were all geared up and ready to celebrate the album that launched their careers when the pandemic put paid to much of the anniversary tour.
Keen to make up for lost time, however, the brothers decided to commence writing for their first album of original material in 15 years – the ideas starting with Rich and then being sent over to Chris, who would use a neighbour’s studio to overlay his vocals and send the demos back. By the time they were recording the final versions, creativity was in full flow, and once again it was vintage gear helping them conjure up authentic sounds of the past…
“A couple of years ago I wanted an old Marshall Bluesbreaker, which can be hard to find,” reveals Rich. “Suddenly a 1966 model appeared in Nashville and I had to buy it. I brought it to rehearsals and knew it was amazing. Being a typical guitarist, I knew I’d need another one in case it blew! So I found a ’68 in Seattle, which is one of the best amps I’ve ever heard. I realised that I wanted a spare ’68! So I had a guy duplicate it, in every possible way.”
The like-for-like clone led to the launch of the guitarist’s own company, Muswell Amplification, named after The Kinks’ 1971 album Muswell Hillbillies. You won’t find these reverse-engineered boutique combos in your local guitar shop, however, as they’re all made to order with a wait time of roughly two months.
In any case, as Rich goes on to explain, the Bluesbreakers are just one part of a wider sonic picture, working in tandem with an old Vox AC30 and the same Marshall Silver Jubilee that has been with him since the start. “Jubilees are so special,” he says of the amps that were released in 1987 to celebrate Jim Marshall’s 50th year in music, ending up as the head of choice for Slash, John Frusciante and Joe Bonamassa.
“It doesn’t make sense because usually the less knobs, the better. They have the pull rhythm clip and other clever stuff, but it all just fuckin’ works! Every time I hear one, I’m blown away. I have a 50-watt and a 100-watt, both ’87 originals, one of which was all over our first record.”
Naturally, old amps call for old guitars: the main protagonists in this case being a 1956 Les Paul Special in TV Yellow, a 1969 Les Paul Junior in the same finish, two early 60s ES-335s, as well as a black Telecaster and Gretsch White Falcon.
All acoustic parts were tracked with Rich’s Martin signature – a faithful recreation of the 1954 Martin D-28 he inherited from his father Stanley Robinson, a travelling musician who scored a late ’50s hit with Boom-A-Dip-Dip.
There probably would have been even more vintage instruments in the studio with him if were not for the severe flooding and havoc wreaked by Hurricane Sandy – one of the most destructive natural disasters in American history – back in 2012.
“I lost around 70 guitars!” admits Rich, the passing of time having gently eased some of the understandable heartache. “My 1964 ES-335 got destroyed. I sent it to get fixed because it was delaminating and they tried but it was never the same. It sounded horrible to me and didn’t play well.
“But there was a 1968 Goldtop that got damaged and actually came back better after getting fixed. It was so destroyed you could take the paint off with your hands. They mixed it back together to refinish the guitar, then used the leftovers for a pedal which had a mahogany back, just like the Goldtop! It’s a little boost – really simple – so I used that a bit on the record, too.”
Boosts aside, in these 10 new tracks there is little in terms of gain stacking or colouration. Even ambiences are kept to a minimum, with a vintage Electro-Harmonix Memory Man providing what Rich calls “a ratty, old-fashioned delay sound” by being placed in front of the amps on two tracks.
The Black Crowes have always been quite minimalist in that regard, favouring a salt of the earth musical honesty that is as pure as it gets instead of anything too modern, effected or processed. If Rich has one piece of advice for all the younger musicians starting out, it’s about finding your sound by sticking to the basics.
“I’m always like, ‘Guys, put the pedals away!’ because you get the bulk of your tone out of your guitar, amp and fingers. Sure, use pedals as a little bit of salt here, a little bit of sugar over there. But a lot of kids get carried away and have five pedals running at once instead of getting a nice amp and turning it up… which sounds way more natural.”
Natural is definitely the right word to describe what we’re hearing on new tracks like Bedside Manners, Cross Your Fingers and Rats and Clowns – the latter of which eschewing the guitarist’s breezy country rock influences in favour of the heavy open A-string riffing one might link to Malcolm Young’s work in AC/DC. The comparison is welcomed with open arms and evokes fond memories for Rich.
“It’s my homage to Malcolm, man! I’ve never not loved AC/DC. That’s exactly where that chugging you mentioned comes from. Anyone who thought that AC/DC were heavy metal was wrong – that’s the best Chuck Berry-style rock ’n’ roll you’ll ever get. Funnily enough, we did the Monsters of Rock tour with them in 1991.
“They loved us because they felt we were a proper rock ’n’ roll band, which meant a lot. Also, we were brothers, just like Malcolm and Angus. I remember we played one headline show on a night off and they came down to see us, which was so cool.”
The Young brothers’ influence can also be felt on Wanting And Waiting, which features D minor pentatonic hooks that sway and swagger. “It’s a driving song,” Rich says, likening its groove to Gone Shootin’, a deep cut from AC/DC’s 1978 classic Powerage. But, for the most part, the predominantly open tuning-led tracks owe a lot to famous recordings by The Rolling Stones’ Keith Richards and folk music legend Nick Drake.
“I think there was something really special about Nick Drake’s rhythm playing; it sonically reached inside of me,” smiles Rich. “So I would take that and mix it with what Keith Richards was doing, as well as Jimmy Page and Stephen Stills. My approach is an amalgamation of all that. It mainly came from listening to all those old English bands – that was the shit for us!”
Everything should have this flow, almost in an architectural way. That’s what I loved about Peter Green. He was always so f**kin’ tasteful
As the guitarist freely admits, The Black Crowes aren’t trying to break any speed limits with their instruments. Their approach is as old school as it gets – owing more to feel and simplicity than anything too studied or regimented. Some people see music in colours and others experience it more as shapes, and Rich counts himself firmly in the latter camp.
“Everything should have this flow, almost in an architectural way. That’s what I loved about Peter Green. He was always so fuckin’ tasteful. So many times, less can be more. There are those who play for the right reasons and others who won’t shut the fuck up! It’s like ‘Dude, you can put that guitar down for a bit... you don’t have to play every note all the time.’”
In that regard, it would be fair to say the Rich Robinson approach shares more in common with the Gilmours and Becks of yesteryear than, say, busier blues players like Joe Bonamassa and Eric Gales who steal all the headlines today…
“Those virtuoso guys are great players and they can do everything on the guitar,” Rich says. “They can do gymnastics, run up and down, anything you could possibly ask them to. But sometimes it’s more fun to hit one note and see what happens, see if it can mean as much. Sometimes it can mean even more!
“Jimmy Page was great at that, I think it’s why he’s considered to be so brilliant. Melodically, he knew when to play less. Jeff Beck is absolutely another one. Those two had the technique but more importantly they knew when to use it and when not to.”
The same goes for Rich’s approach to slide guitar – he’s picked up more from “the sweeping beautiful melodies of George Harrison, Ry Cooder and Lowell George of Little Feat” than more technically ambitious players like Derek Trucks, who he happily admits is “fuckin’ brilliant and another level”.
But humans aren’t perfect, he reasons, noting how the real magic lies in how our imperfections manifest themselves in how we’re heard, giving the listener deeper insight into a musician’s true nature and character.
Rich also puts a lot of trust in his signature brass slide – made by D’Addario and worn on his pinky – to guide him and take the lead in all things glissando and vibrato. It’s almost like he, as the player, surrenders to the creative tool and lets it decide where the line should go and when it’s finished with him.
“We don’t have to be so uptight about everything being perfect,” Rich shrugs. “A song can speed up going into a chorus and then slow down – and that’s okay. When you add vibrato on slide, it doesn’t have to be exactly note-perfect the whole time. The more you play, the better you get at it. So my advice is don’t worry too much about intonation or technique, because it’s all relative. Just don’t lose the human element in your music.”
- Happiness Bastards is out now via Silver Arrow.
