“We had four guitarists, which was unheard of at that point”: Johnny Hickman on his pre-Cracker band, the Unforgiven, revisiting the Cracker catalog, and big, bone-headed riffs

Johnny Hickman (left) and David Lowery of Cracker perform on stage at Recinto Mendizabala in Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain on June 20, 2015.

Not counting their two founding members – guitarist-frontman Dave Lowery and guitarist-singer Johnny Hickman – 18 various musicians have logged time in Cracker since the band formed in 1990.

“It’s called the ‘Steely Dan model,’” Hickman says, “where you have two singer-songwriter guitar players who are the core of the operation. Cracker Incorporated is David and me. We’ve been friends since we were teenagers, and we’ve been writing songs together for 35 years.” He laughs. “Wow, that’s longer than some of our fans have been alive.”