As part of the "30th anniversary" tour of their first and highly successful album
Shake Your Money Maker
, The Black Crowes will return to Argentina and will play
this Thursday, March 16 at Luna Park
, with the great novelty of having among their ranks with Argentine guitarist Nico Bereciartúa, son of another local star, Vitico, former bassist for Riff.
After an initial stage in the underground city of Atlanta, The Black Crowes gained
immense worldwide fame
with the release of their debut album.
Around the first decade of success, brothers Chris and Rich Robinson quarreled to the point of not even seeing each other at family gatherings.
Rich Robinson, guitarist and co-founder of The Black Crowes.
Photo courtesy of Mike Savoia / Emily Butler.
As in the history of rock, there were meetings and returns, to the point that they left their differences behind and started a new tour that was interrupted by the pandemic, but which has now returned to the ring.
Guitarist Rich Robinson, who during his break had a solo career and with his own bands such as Hookah Brown, Circle Sound and The Magpie Salute, spoke on Zoom and talked about the problems of the past, the current great moment and the incorporation of Nico.
"We haven't been going since 1996"
-What do you remember from your last visit to Argentina?
-I was in 2017 or 2018, but with the Crowes we haven't been since 1996, I think.
We played before Jimmy Page and Robert Plant.
I remember that it was in a huge stadium, that it was a lot of fun and that it was very hot, unbelievably hot.
The people were amazing, everyone was going crazy.
And of course going on tour with Jimmy is always very nice.
The Black Crowes, with Chris and Rich Robinson, will play this Thursday at Luna.
Photo courtesy of Mike Savoia / Emily Butler.
-I have bad news: here it is more than 35 degrees.
-Uh,
shit
.
But at least this time it will be in a closed stadium!
-Tell me about the latest shows and how the tour is going. They were recently at a festival with Green Day in Arizona.
-Yeah.
She was very good and they are very cool.
Before we did some dates in January, to stay in shape, because in November we finished the tour of Japan.
And before that we had done Europe for six weeks.
We were pretty busy!
Chris and Rich Robinson live.
Photo courtesy of Mike Savoia / Emily Butler.
"We're having a great time"
-How did the idea of going on tour to celebrate the anniversary of the group's first album come about?
-When we were separated, every year a producer would come and tell Chris or me to do a tour, but we were not ready because
we came from a bad, unhealthy moment
.
A band is like a family, and it doesn't work when the dynamic becomes toxic and traumatic.
Chris and I had to come out of it to calm the waters down, so we each went out into the world to do their thing, separately, for years.
And that was what we did.
It was good and creatively very satisfying, but something was always missing.
I always wrote songs with Chris's voice in mind.
I remember one day I was recording in Wales at Rockfield Studios with my band Magpie Salute, I told a friend that I would love to hear how Chris would sing those songs, and he told me that Chris had recently told him the same thing.
Brothers Chris and Rich Robinson, synonymous with the sound of The Black Crowes.
Photo courtesy of Mike Savoia / Emily Butler.
-And from there they saw each other?
-Yeah.
It was as simple as that, because the door opened.
Our children didn't even know each other because we were estranged!
Step by step, we got back together as brothers, then the proposal to tour came up and this time we said yes.
It was organic, and we didn't want it to be just a tour, take the money and do nothing else.
We wanted to do things right, without repeating old mistakes.
When you're successful, especially when you start out as a kid, there are negative people around you, like the ex-drummer we had, who didn't like that Chris and I got along and worked on the bottom trying to distance us.
He's a liar who wrote a book full of bullshit.
Why would someone look for two brothers to fight?
So when we decided to return we agreed to handle things ourselves, without intermediaries.
That's why we brought new and positive people, with good vibes.
And since then we've been having a great time.
"Nico is already like a brother"
-They are celebrating the 30th anniversary of the first album, but almost 40 years have passed since the band was formed. How do you see the passage of time?
-This is very crazy.
We all started very young: I was 15 years old when we started playing in that band called Mr. Crowes Garden, and this year I'm turning 54, so that's 39 years of playing.
In that first band, our cousin got a drum kit, and Chris and I got guitars for Christmas, so we put together a band.
It was very punk-rock and we wanted to call ourselves The Goo-Goo Mucks, after The Cramps' theme, which we loved a lot, just like Dead Kennedys.
The Black Crowes on tour, with Chris and Rich Robinson.
Photo courtesy of Mike Savoia / Emily Butler.
We made noise for a couple of months and then we started taking things more seriously.
I remember the first time I heard REM on the radio it was life changing and an influence that permeated the whole scene in the city of Atlanta where we lived.
Punk-rock is great and there are bands that survived, but we went deeper into songwriting and got into the alternative rock scene, like Echo & The Bunnyman.
-How was Nico's income, where did you know him from?
-He sent me a video through some social network where he played one of my solo songs.
He just said that he loved the theme and wanted to send it to me.
I liked her version and he struck me as a genuine and cool guy, so I wrote to thank him and to say that I appreciated what he did.
A couple of weeks later he told me that he was going to be in the state of Florida when we were going to play, and that he would like to meet me.
We hit it off and I asked him to play with me at my solo shows.
We've been friends ever since, and I suggested trying it when we put together this version of The Black Crowes.
And it was perfect!
He plays very well, has good taste and is very respectful of the songs.
He already feels like our brother.
Nico Bereciartúa speaks
Nico Bereciartúa, the Argentine guitarist who is now a member of The Black Crowes.
FB photo
The son of legendary bassist Vitico, Nico
played in bands like Viticus and Riff
.
He also released his first solo album in 2015. Over the phone, he confirms Rich's explanation of how the meeting came about that led to playing together and now integrating none other than The Black Crowes:
"One day I saw that Rich was doing a question and answer with his fans on Facebook, before releasing a solo album. There were like 200 people, but I didn't get discouraged and I put a question and a link to the video I made with a song of his.
Eight months later, when I thought I hadn't even seen it, he wrote to me on Twitter to say that he liked it.
That's when contact began by email and one day I traveled to the United States, I met him and we hit it off.
I still can't believe it!"
-How was the experience of playing with Rich?
-Obviously it was amazing and triggered in this to play with them in South America.
It was my first experience in that league, playing in venues where I always dreamed of playing.
Today, being with The Black Crowes means a lot;
There are no words to explain what I feel
.
It is the proof that illusion and dreams are the last thing to lose.
I'm a huge fan of the band and have seen them several times in the US, so playing with them is very exciting.
the south american tour
March 11 - Caupolicán Theater, Santiago de Chile
March 14 - Unimed Space, Sao Paolo
March 16 - Luna Park, Buenos Aires
March 19 - Vive Latino Festival, Mexico City, Mexico
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