Life after the Black Crowes break-up
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DIY guy … Chris Robinson and his Brotherhood bandmates don’t get the rock star treatment. Picture: Supplied.
Source: Supplied
IT has been seven years since Chris Robinson last played Bluesfest. That time he was with the band most people identify with the lanky, bearded frontman, the Black Crowes.
That band has now been permanently nested in a shady haze of sibling rivalry and the Chris Robinson Brotherhood is his musical day job.
While CRB has been going since 2011, of course all everyone wants to talk about is why Black Crowes broke up. It seems it came down to money and how to split it between himself, his brother Rich and the other members.
Some people still want to talk about Kate Hudson, even though the pair divorced in 2007. They share custody of their son Ryder. And Robinson married his wife Alison Bridges in 2009 and they have a daughter Cheyenne.
Off topic … Robinson split with Kate Hudson several years ago and they share custody of son Ryder. Picture: Supplied
Source: News Corp Australia
So it is no surprise that his latest creative concern is about as far from corporate rock or Hollywood glamour as you can get.
As evidenced on their third record Phosphorescent Harvest, Robinson believes in the psychedelic jam.
“The only way to develop the music we are interested in is to be playing it. We put in the time, an hour and a half soundcheck and playing most nights for three hours,” he says.
“It’s a lot but we’ve all been in music projects that worked, and didn’t work, that should have been great and weren’t.
“So part of the allure for us, and what makes it a little utopian for us right now, is the possibilities of this music and that with more focus and more time and more dedication, you can find out where you can go with it.”
Music is a lifestyle, a philosophy and, occasionally, songs for Robinson. While the phenomenal success of their first three records Shake Your Money Maker, The Southern Harmony and Musical Companion and Amorica sold millions of copies in the early 1990s, to say Robinson is a DIY guy now is quite the understatement.
He and his bandmates live on the tour bus.
“We don’t have hotel rooms. Where we are at with this band, if we want to be out doing this and everyone making a salary and keep it going, we have to do the long hours,” he says.
“I don’t know a lot of people who have been through what I go through. But for me, it’s not even a question, it’s “Yes!’”
Robinson even sets up his own gear.
“As a guitar player, I am coming in to this so much later than; I haven’t earned the right to have some guy setting up my gear,” he says.
Marathon men … The average Chris Robinson Brotherhood gig goes for three hours. Maybe not at a festival. Picture: Supplied
Source: Supplied
In short, Robinson is a hippy. His distaste for anything corporate has been ingrained for years, with him refusing to license The Black Crowe’s music for syncs or ads.
“We are not banging you over the head to buy a damn thing,” he says.
“There’s no corporate tie-ins, we just want to get in front of people.
“It’s nice to be free, and to be honest, I refuse to be in any corporate construct where people would tell me what I should sing so someone else can make money.
“I am not clever enough or interested in watering down what I do to make it more palatable to sell more stuff.”
The musician believes there are plenty of others who appreciate rock’n’roll share his views and cites the queues at the legendary Los Angeles record store Amoeba Music and increase in vinyl sales as evidence some fans find their own groove.
“The labels may think people aren’t interested in something unless it is going to be big but there’s all this other music existing out there that’s amazing and an audience wanting to find it,” he says.
Just say no … Chris Robinson Brotherhood refuse to join the corporate rock ranks preferring to keep their music business independent. touring for Bluesfest. Picture: Supplied.
Source: Supplied
“But I do find a lot of the 20 something bands out there are only concerned about whether their sound is cool or not. They’re thing is ‘Let’s go get our teeth cleaned’ and they can be the Osmonds or something more showbiz.”
What Robinson wants is rock’n’roll heaven, a room meant for 300 people that has 400 people in it, enjoying two sets totalling three hours of psychedelic jams and tight blues rockers.
And what he has got is finally the ability to do it all on his terms.
“The Black Crows, to be honest, didn’t really make it easy for me in the last decade or so to sing and I really like singing,” he says.
“This band has a different style of singing and I don’t think it has very much to do with the Black Crows at all.
“Where I am in my age, I find this material suits my voice much more.”
Chris Robinson Brotherhood perform at Bluesfest on April 2 and 3, Corner Hotel, Melbourne, April 4 and Metro Theatre, Sydney on April 6.
