Kerrang article Oct. 1996


 [Submitted by Steve Witty]

    Under the title  "RESERVOIR HOGS" it begins..

    The hairiest men in America are hanging out with a plastic pig,a
large cow and a six-foot bird - they are THE BLACK CROWES,and they're
filming the mind-boggling video for the next single,'Blackberry',in
LA.The bald bloke sitting on the monstrous magic mushroom is Paul
Elliott....
     Well,what the hell is going on here?A six-foot crow in a top hat
and tails is sitting in a large wooden chair.A pink plastic pig and a
black plastic cow are sniffing some monstrous magic mushrooms.This is
all going on in front of a gothic castle and a fairy-tale house,by the
side of a yellow brick road which runs through an acid-trip
landscape.Oh,and the hairiest blokes in America are here,too.
     September 1996,and those spliff-happy rock 'n' roll weirdbeards
The Black Crowes are filming the promo video for their kooky new
single 'Blackberry'.They've built an eye-boggling set on a huge
soundstage in Los Angeles,and they're in the process of bringing it
all to life in brain-frazzling 3D-vision.As you do.
     A month later,the 'Blackberry' video is going down a storm in the
US,where it's currently on heavy rotation on MTV.The single isn't
released here in the UK for a month or two,but Kerrang! was on the LA
set as the band filmed this most mind-altering of videos.
     Chris Robinson,he of the big gob and the bird's nest beard,is
enthusiastically throwing himself into the fantastically surreal
mood.Which means he's attempted to ride the plastic pig,tried to
'water' one of the huge mushrooms with a bottle of Heineken Import,and
is generally flapping around like a mad bloke,bare of foot,flared of
trouser,and dubious of shirt.When the music starts cranking out over
the in-house PA,Chris starts to strut like a rag doll in a
hurricane.He is not familiar with the terms 'shy' and 'retiring'.
   "Hey Blueberry,look at the bumblebee," coos the Crowes singer."I
need some L-O-V-E-N to make me happy.You got to be L-U-C-K-Y to get
with a girl like Blackberry."
     It sounds fine,but, quite frankly,we have absolutely no idea what
he's talking about.We would ask,but now is not the right time,as Chris
has apparently decided to shag the pig.Bassist Johnny Colt is no use
either-he has just mounted the cow.
     Fine.In an effort to make some kind of sense of this madness,we
must collar guitarist Rich Robinson,he of the grooving riffs and the
sulky face.
     Actually,the bit about the sulky face isn't wholly true.Rich is a
happy daddy now,and is busy cradling his newborn babe as he talks to
us.So Rich,what's with the farm animals,the fungus and the face-fuzz?
    "Weeelllll,"he drawls,"it's not a serious kind of song.It's a fun
thing and we had this cool idea for the video,to make it look like one
of those old 3-D Viewmaster toys where everythings's really bright and
colourful and kind of weird-looking"
    "The video starts off with a family out on a normal day trip,and
when they pick up the Viewmaster everything goes weird.And that's
where we come in,"he chuckles.
   How do you make a 3-D vid,Rich?
   "You use 50 cameras in a 180-degree circle and they all move and
film independently and spontaneously," he explains."Everything gets
kind of frozen."
    Sounds a bit technical for us.
    "Don't worry,it's very cool."
    And what's all this stuff about blackberries and blueberries and
bumblebees?
    "Ha ha ha,it's just Chris singing about a girl.Like i said,it's a
real fun song."
    "I actually wrote it on the last tour in Sheffield.I was sitting
there in a hotel room,smiling to myself and thinking,'Where the hell
did this thing come from?'.Maybe it was just the result of pure
delirium."
     So what's happened to The Black Crowes?You and Chris used to be
arguing and fighting all the time,and now you're having a ball
together.What went right?
     "Hey,some bands go through all that shit and never make it.We
did,"he laughs."Everyone's getting along fine and having fun.For
now..."
     The Black Crowes will start their 'Three Snakes And One Charm' US
tour on October 20.Meanwhile,look out for the 'Blackberry ' vid.
   
    Well there you go.The date of the start of the tour is wrong,as we
all know,and should read September 20.
    The next UK single will be out in February when the Crowes finally
get here,or so i am reliably informed.
     Looking forward to seeing the video....!!!