Who would believe that the album that brought us hits like She Talks To Angels, Hard To Handle and Jealous Again would be turning 30 so soon?
For many those songs still ring as fresh and true as they did three decades, and for the benefit of such people, as well as a new generation of music lovers, The Black Crowes have decided to celebrate the milestone by performing Shake Your Money Maker in its entirety for a special run of shows that lands in Australia this month.
Written by guitarist Rich Robinson and his brother Chris when in their teens, Shake Your Money Maker not only introduced The Black Crowes to the world, but it also fired the opening salvo in a musical war with pop and glam metal that still rages to this day.
But of course, we all know rock will always win out!
Rich joined HEAVY this morning for a quick chat about the tour and the album that catapulted The Black Crowes into the mainstream of rock.
“I remember making pretty much the whole thing,” he recalled. “It was such a big deal for us. We were just kids. We were making unpopular music at the time, roots rock and roll when hair metal and pop music was at its peak, and we weren’t from L. A or New York. We were from Atlanta, Georgia, and we just made this record as a tribute to the music that meant something to us, and it happened to catch on.”
Even though fans love hearing an old album played live from start to finish, it isn’t always an easy thing for the band to do, especially when the album was written over 30 years ago.
Technology was nowhere near as advanced back then, and not many bands would have written an album with a view to having to reproduce the whole thing live down the track.
“It’s not easy…,” Rich measured. “Actually, it is easy to do now, with the benefit of hindsight and all that stuff. But back then, we didn’t think what it would be like. We were always in motion and always trying to move forward. Even the first shows after we made the record we would change the set list, and we would do all this different stuff, so it was pretty amazing to be able to do that. We did that for 30 years or 25 years, however long we toured before we split up, so to get back and do it this way and really focus and play this record from start to finish in its sequence has been really interesting. It’s been interesting to see… first of all, it’s given us a bass line or a platform for everyone to learn how to be in a band with one another again, you know what I mean? With a couple of new guys, and with Sven and everyone playing and creating that language. It’s really paid off, and it’s been pretty amazing to do.”
In the full interview, Rich talks about some memories from making Shake Your Money Maker, which song out of the four hit singles produced did he feel was the best when it was recorded, playing the same songs live 30 years later and the different enjoyment levels, the success of that album and why, what to expect from the shows and more.
*Due to overwhelming demand extra shows have been announced in Sydney and Brisbane but tickets are going fast*
