Chris Robinson Comments on the Black Crowes’ Breakup
Nearly two weeks ago, Rich Robinson announced that the Black Crowes had officially broken up. In a new interview, his brother, frontman Chris Robinson, revealed that the decision was due to what he said was their unwillingness to move forward as a band.
"It came from songwriting,” he told the New Times of Broward and Palm Beach Counties. “The Black Crowes don't write songs anymore. They don't think of the present or the future. I like making albums and playing concerts. I was sitting on two EPs' worth of written songs."
With the Crowes not releasing a studio album of new material since 2008, Robinson assembled the Chris Robinson Brotherhood. The group has put out three albums since 2012, with ‘Phosphorescent Harvest’ arriving last year. Robinson noted a difference in the approach of the two bands.
"The Black Crowes were a rebellion,” he continued. “This is a pragmatic reaction to how I feel. The only revolutionary thing we're doing is staying out of the music business. There's Olive Gardens and Red Lobsters in music. We just don't eat there. We're grassroots."
Still, Chris’ statement about the Black Crowes’ stagnation is at odds with Rich’s statement, where the implication was the the breakup is the result of Chris’ attempt to establish himself as the de facto leader. He said, “[H]is present demand that I must give up my equal share of the band and that our drummer for 28 years and original partner, Steve Gorman, relinquish 100 percent of his share, reducing him to a salaried employee, is not something I could agree to.”
Rock's Nastiest Feuds