UPI release article UPI August 1992 Chicago Submitted by: Diane Wilkenson CHICAGO (UPI) -- Black Crowes lead singer Chris Robinson said he and his fellow Crowes considered putting a sticker on the outside of their latest album, ``The Southern Harmony and Musical Companion.'' That sticker would have read: ``Within Contains No Apathy.'' And Robinson, 25, said the meaning is pretty self-explanatory. ``We have lives and apathy's not part of it and it's not part of our music,'' he said in an interview with UPI. Fans certainly haven't been apathetic about the Crowes' follow-up to its 1990 debut album ``Shake Your Money Maker.'' The LP debuted on the Billboard Top-200 albums chart at No. 1 last May and has since gone platinum. It yielded two No. 1 singles -- ``Remedy'' and ``Sting Me.'' Pretty good for an Atlanta-based, blues-tinged, Southern rock band that was thrown off the Z.Z Top tour last year for expressing its beliefs. The Black Crowes was the opening act for Z.Z. Top when Robinson, an outspoken critic of commercial sponsorship of the arts, decided to give voice to that opposition. The concert tour's sponsor, a major brewery, did not appreciate his negative comments about a beer company sponsoring a rock tour. The Crowes were forced to take wing. ``We think there's more to this whole thing than money, and I'm not going to let money dictate how I behave, especially as an artist,'' said Robinson during the group's recent appearance in Chicago. He said he objected to becoming ``a piece of ass for Corporate America to latch itself onto because some guy wants to hang out backstage at a gig sometimes.'' Robinson believes such sponsorship turns music into ``a service- oriented industry'' and interferes with freedom of expression. ``I don't need anybody else's name on my poster. If you've got to have that, then maybe you shouldn't be out there,'' he said. The Black Crowes consists of Robinson, his younger brother, Rich, 23, as well as bassist Johnny Colt, drummer Steve Gorman and guitarist Marc Ford, who's new to the group and formerly played with Burning Tree. The Robinson brothers wrote the nine original tracks on ``The Southern Harmony and Musical Companion,'' which also includes a cover of Bob Marley's ``Time Will Tell.'' Robinson said the album was ``really kind of put together...in a couple of weekends'' and was recorded in eight days in the group's hometown of Atlanta. No high-tech digital equipment for these guys; the Crowes used analog gear to record, which Robinson said allows for ``tape hiss and sounds that are real.'' The difference between ``Shake Your Money Maker'' and ``The Southern Harmony and Musical Companion,'' Robinson said, is an ``immaturing process.'' He said he and Rich went ``back to our foundations as to what we want to do as musicians.'' ``And there's a different picture on the cover,'' he laughed. Robinson feels the Crowes need to get about five or six albums under its belt before the group can be judged as to what it's all about. ``With five or six records, there's more of a tapestry of songs that we can look at and say what's a maturing process and what's not,'' he said. Following the group's first sold-out tour of Japan and Australia earlier this year, the Black Crowes launched its ``High As The Moon'' North American road trip July 24 in Minneapolis. Following the first night's concert, the band's strength of conviction got Colt in trouble when he came to the aid of a drunken fan who he thought was being handled a bit too roughly by police. He was arrested, charged with obstruction of justice, and had to pay a fine. No one seems to know how long the current tour will last, although it's slated to run at least through 1993. The Crowes' previous tour lasted 19 months and included 350 shows to more than 5 million people. ``I guess it's over when someone says, 'Are you going home?''' Robinson said.