Brothers Chris and Rich Robinson of the Black Crowes hadn't even been born yet. Yet musicians with similar spirits have a funny way of hooking up regardless of generational boundaries. And so it seemed oddly appropriate when these two notable rock forces combined their powers in concert at London's Café du Paris on June 27, 1999 for a Page-sponsored event to benefit two charities he was close to, SCREAM (Supporting Children through Re-Education And Music) and the ABC (Action for Brazil's Children) Trust. The set was a huge success, as Chris belted out tunes like "Whole Lotta Love," "Nobody's Fault But Mine," and "You Shook Me," the latter with the musical help of Aerosmith's Steve Tyler and Joe Perry.
Page and the Crowes then decided to give the collaboration a shot in the U.S., with a series of concerts at New York's Roseland Ballroom and Los Angeles's Greek Theatre. The L.A. shows were recorded, yielding a collection of blues standards and Led Zeppelin tunes. On Feb. 29, 2000, the band released Live At The Greek online through musicmaker.com. Following tremendous critical and commercial response, they're now planning to embark on yet another go-'round this summer, a full U.S. tour in conjunction with the Who.
In a recent exclusive interview with LAUNCH, Page and the Robinson brothers talked about how they got connected to musicmaker.com, sharing the stage with each other, and the challenge of doing Led Zeppelin tunes without...you know, that other singer.
LAUNCH: How did you get involved with musicmaker.com?
RICH ROBINSON: We recorded the shows in L.A. and we were so happy with them we were like, "Wow, this would be really cool [to release]." So we left it up to our managers to suss out what would be a cool way of doing it. And they checked out all sorts of options, major labels and indie labels, and then the Internet thing came up and the thing that was so attractive about it was the fact that they were accepting of this thing that we supplied them. No one was telling us it was too long, too short, we've got to edit, none of that. It was the immediacy factor, as far as we can get this out in two months without all the red tape or the bullsh-t. And it was something different as well--it's about choices. The person buying it has three choices on how they can do it. They can buy the whole CD the way we put it out with our artwork, or they can sequence their own, or they can download a song at a time.
LAUNCH: Did you still have to fight about stuff with your regular record label?
CHRIS ROBINSON: Along with the Zeppelin numbers and the blues numbers and the couple of covers that we did, we did play some Black Crowes numbers, but because of that kind of stuff, contractual things like that, we can't put them on this record. Which is a bummer, because it was a part of the evening, and it was a very special evening for all of us, you know what I mean? Usually when the word "contract" comes into something, there's always some kind of action like that. "Oh, contract. That's why there's no Black Crowes songs on there."
LAUNCH: Because this album is sold via computer, you can't go to the corner store and get turned on to it and pick it up. That old-fashioned way of finding out about music doesn't exist online.
RICH ROBINSON: Technically, you can argue that [radio] DJs used to do that too. Like, "Hey, I have this big audience, let me play something for you that I think is cool." Now it's too caught up in "Oh, that didn't test very well, that's not marketing well, that's not the right format."
CHRIS ROBINSON: And you know what? Go ask somebody at a big record chain, they don't...it's not like you're going down to the corner mom-and-pop record store.
RICH ROBINSON: It's like asking someone at Home Depot what a saw does or something. Those guys won't know.
JIMMY PAGE: But as far as going to a record store, like a vintage one, and seeing racks and racks of CDs--sorry, of vinyl--and 45s and picking them out, putting them on [in listening booths], listening to them and selecting them, I can see a parallel between that search and how our album is presented on the Internet, the fact that you access the site and you can have a 30-second demo of each song, so you actually know what it is. And I think that in the future you'll get bands going on there that haven't found a comfortable relationship with record companies, or new bands where the music is really radical. And then the consumer will actually search and find, "Well, that's an odd name for a band, hmm, let's listen to a couple of demos of that. Well, I like that. Oh, that's crap." You know what I mean? The search is still there, so maybe it will move into this area.
LAUNCH: You said that you hadn't recorded the New York shows. Why weren't they recorded? I thought everything gets taped.
JIMMY PAGE: It does, by bootleggers and the general taping fraternity in the back, but no, it wasn't thought of like that. It wasn't like, "Right, we got the first show at Roseland, we've got to tape this," it was like, "Let's get through it, let's see how we do." We had no intention whatsoever originally of recording it. By the time we finished the third show at Roseland, we said, "We've got to record this because it's going so well." There were so many elements that were really magical going on...it was meant to be. It was an organic process, the way we got together all of it.
CHRIS ROBINSON: Part of it too is, when you consciously record something live, it's hard, you know what I mean? Especially hard for bands and musicians who [are] living gig to gig. You have that element of immediacy. Now when you're free to really think about things, that's when that really clicks on all cylinders, not to be clichéd. But sometimes when you're that kind of band, you know what it sounds like when it works, that's very exciting, but part of that dynamic is also when you're thinking about the guy in the [recording] truck instead of what you're doing because you're making a record. In this situation we only had six shows to really show our stuff, so to speak, so by the time we got there we were riding such a high, of the vibe and the music, that we didn't even realize they were taping it. Yeah, it was an awesome night and the band was on, everybody played great...we weren't really thinking about it.
LAUNCH: Do you think there was an element of danger, since you only had six shows, that helped make it sound the way it does?
JIMMY PAGE: When you say the element of danger...like, something like "Nobody's Fault But Mine" is a difficult number to play, with all the stops. It's really difficult, so there was an element of danger, because there was always a possibility that it could...not necessarily that it would fall apart from these gentlemen over here, but that I would come in on the wrong place or whatever. There's always that. So you really have to be alert and on top of everything, because that sort of number is just going to howl if you get it wrong.
LAUNCH: Did you ever think about videotaping your shows?
RICH ROBINSON: It wasn't the vibe. If we had gone into it videotaping and recording every show and looking at it as that, I don't think it would have the same kind of passion. It would be more contrived, and I don't think that there's anything contrived about Jimmy and nothing contrived about us. So in that sense, it really was about getting together and making some music. Like whoa, big news scoop. It's 2000 and somebody did something because they had a passion for it.
LAUNCH: Any chance we could hear a joint album of new music by you guys?
JIMMY PAGE: Well, we've discussed the possibility of maybe having a collaboration in the studio. It's all being discussed, but there are so many different avenues you can go down at this moment, and they're all very positive and good, and we'll see what comes out of it all.
CHRIS ROBINSON: I imagine it will all get sorted out.
JIMMY PAGE: It's not the sort of conversation you can have over the telephone. You really need to be sitting facing each other and talking about it, and we haven't had a chance to talk about it.
LAUNCH: With the Zeppelin songs, knowing that Robert Plant did them a certain way, did that add any pressure?
CHRIS ROBINSON: I have to look at it from different angles. I know who Robert Plant is, I have all the respect in the world for Robert, but what am I supposed to do? Not go up there and try to do the best that I can and do what I do? So you've got to realize that it's not just black and white.
JIMMY PAGE: The way that they approached it...if this carpet was poison ivy, they took their clothes off and jumped into it. They just committed themselves right to it, you know? And you could tell, from my end of it, as I heard these soundcheck tapes coming through--'cause they were rehearsing at [their own] soundchecks--they had a real command of the songs. They understood the subtleties, and I was just really looking forward to getting together and playing them. We'd had a discussion as to what numbers to do. I was up to playing anything, but the initial mandate, really, was just whatever you feel comfortable playing and singing. Let's see how we get on from there as a starter. Rather than me saying, "We're going to do this, this and this."
LAUNCH: Rich, I'm assuming you've spent a good part of your life listening to Page's riffs. When you guys met, was there any time when you thought you had a part right, and he said, "Actually, it goes this way"?
RICH ROBINSON: I've never been in cover bands. When I started playing guitar, I was 15. I started writing immediately 'cause I wasn't good enough to play other people's songs. The cool thing is having the opportunity to learn these songs after I've been in a band for 15 years. I think I've looked at it differently than some kid who grew up and sort of learned some Zeppelin song. I think that's why the subtleties came out. Because I really tried to approach it from a songwriting standpoint, listening to all the parts. And then when Jimmy came around it was sort of taking my thing, doing his thing but from my standpoint, I guess, because that's the only way I know how to do it.
JIMMY PAGE: That's right. That's what was so good. Because the character of their band is right through this as well, in Chris's vocals and all of it.
LAUNCH: What was the most surprising thing you found out about each other from playing together?
JIMMY PAGE: Well, I don't know whether it was surprising, but it reinforced what I already knew, the fact that they were really, really good musicians. Having played with them, I appreciated it even more, and I'm not just talking about the Zeppelin stuff here, I'm talking about everything right across the board.
CHRIS ROBINSON: From our point, it's a hard thing to describe. Because on one hand there's a friendship, because we've known each other now. Then there's also having to deal with a legend, and you don't want to geek out and everything, but then we have to handle our business--and we want to impress Jimmy more than anyone, you know what I mean?--if we're going to play these songs that are these rock 'n' roll cultural icons. The best thing, I think, was the trust, and just for Jimmy to let us be a part of that, that's the thing I came away with.
LAUNCH: What's on the burner for the Black Crowes? Is there another album on the way?
RICH ROBINSON: We're working on it right now. We're writing. We have to get the label situation out of the way. We're looking at all of our options, which spans everything from Internet companies to independent labels to major labels, trying to find the right one that will embrace our changes. We're proud of the fact that we've changed every record. I think that it's helped our career, and added to it. Whether we've sold more or less over the years, I think it's helped us along the way. And I want someone who's going to be cool about that and...almost like how [musicmaker.com] just said, "We'll do our job and you just give us this thing and we'll work it," instead of trying to change it.
CHRIS ROBINSON: There's no room for any music on an album that's filler. And I think we're in an age of a lot of filler, and I'm not interested in filler.
RICH ROBINSON: I love the songs we write. I wouldn't put a song that I thought was half-assed on a record. Every song we put on records, Chris and I really think about. We think about sequencing and whether we want them on there or not. I'm proud of everything we've done and I want someone who's working with us, Columbia or whoever it may be, to be that way too. They never will, but that's ideally how it should be.
LAUNCH: How about you, Jimmy? What are you working on?
JIMMY PAGE: I had some material that I wrote last year, and the only proof of that is when we did the Net Aid thing; I did one of the songs there just as an instrumental, and I've got some other things that I expect to surface at one point or another. I don't know when.
CHRIS ROBINSON: Maybe that'll be on our next album.
JIMMY PAGE: Maybe, yeah. Maybe we can rip off each other's ideas and sue each other.
CHRIS ROBINSON: We'll do it on the Internet and you'll have to pay a fee in court.
LAUNCH: What's the biggest misconception people have about the Black Crowes?
CHRIS ROBINSON: Well, it's hard to say. We've worn our hearts on our sleeves. If you want to think that it's simple and some sort of Southern rock thing, if that's what you think it is because you remember when you saw our videos and you haven't really kept up with what's happening...What I'm saying is, if you're the kind of person that buys whatever is hip this week or popular this year, then I don't have to explain anything to you about our band. You know what I mean? They're not seriously into music, and I'm seriously into music. I would love for us to have another one of those songs on another album that touches a lot of people, but no record is...There's no such thing as a record being good because it's popular. Usually the really, really, really, really, popular records are really, really, really bad ones to me.
LAUNCH: Jimmy, what about you is misunderstood?
CHRIS ROBINSON: He's much less satanic than you might believe.
JIMMY PAGE: Well, that's today, you weren't with me two days ago.
LAUNCH: Is there anything you haven't done that you want to do?
JIMMY PAGE: [As] I said at the time of the first [Zeppelin] album, it's all a race against time. In those days I knew that within Zeppelin we had this fantastic vehicle that we could continue and continue and just come up with amazing things...but I still thought it was a race against time. I had no idea how prophetic that could have been with the loss of John Bonham. But it's a fact. It really is. It's more difficult as you get older, because you know your days are numbered. Trying to do good work and improve upon what you've done--it still is a race against time.
