In 1994, CSN celebrated their 25th anniversary as a band by releasing their fifth studio album, embarking on an extensive North American tour, and appearing as featured performers at the feted Woodstock '94 event that summer. This was the only time that I interviewed both David Crosby and Stephen Stills on the same day. David's interview took place at the scheduled time, while Stephen's interview kept being pushed back to the point where we spoke during his ride on the way to the band's gig that night. It was worth the wait. Read and enjoy!
If three
people were ever meant to sing together, the hand of fate certainly chose well:
David Crosby, one of the original Byrds; Stephen Stills, the musical wizard of
Buffalo Springfield; Graham Nash, harmony master of the Hollies. Over the past
twenty-five years, CSN has created many moments of pure musical brilliance, on
group, solo, and various other efforts. Currently in the midst of their 25th
Anniversary tour, the band just completed their first album in four years and
is looking forward to the future with all──if not more──of the same boundless energy, enthusiasm, and sheer love of
music that drew these very different individuals together in the first place.
I spoke with
David Crosby and Stephen Stills just prior to a show on their current tour …
Roy
Abrams: What are
your thoughts on playing your second Woodstock gig? [Note: this interview took
place prior to CSN’s appearance at Woodstock ’94 on August 13]
Stephen
Stills: Well, listen──I’m amazed. I’m amazed that we’re still doing it, I’m amazed
that we got invited back, I’m amazed that we placed high enough on their
whatever computer thing … it’s really weird. It’s gonna be a zoo, but I’m
looking forward to it.
David
Crosby: I don’t
think it’s gonna bear any resemblance to the first one. The nature of a live
performance is you can’t recreate a live performance──that’s inherent in a live performance. The event that
happened was a very, very special moment in history, when an entire generation
of people looked at each other and said, “God, there’s a lot of us and we are
different.” What’s gonna happen this time is an entirely different ballgame.
It’s a corporate venture; it’s owned and run by corporate America. There is a
chance──because music is magic──that the music will transcend and
what will happen musically will be an amazing experience. But what happened the
first time was something that happened with the people, not the music. What
really created the first Woodstock was the people that were there and how they
behaved with each other──that was real magic. The music was
good──I’m not knocking it──but the event happened with the
people. This time, they’re gonna try their best to control the people,
control the circumstance and sell ‘em a lot of Pepsi.
RA: How’s the new album coming?
DC: It’s finished! Actually, we had it
finished, then we cut a single that Stephen wrote. After we finished the
record, Stephen wrote another great song.
SS: I actually did it in three days. I
can still do that stuff. My producer couldn’t come back and we just went in and
did it ourselves, just like the old days.
RA: What’s the album called? Can you
talk about some of the tracks?
SS: It’s called After the Storm,
appropriately enough. There’s a song of Graham’s called “Unequal Love” that
sometimes gets a standing ovation for the first verse, just how beautifully the
lyric fits together, and how it touches people. There’s another song of his
called “Find a Dream” that I really love. There’s a song of David’s called
“Camera,” which has got a really Latin feel. I wrote the chorus to it. I don’t
know, sometimes I open up when it’s not my song! [laughs]
DC: Unusual for me, my songs are all
“up” kind of rockers rather than ballads. I’m being completely immodest here,
but the songs are very, very strong and I think it’s gonna be the best record
we’ve made in about fifteen years. At least partially, maybe very largely, due
to the involvement of (producer) Glyn Johns
I mean, the guy’s made half of the good records that ever got made. He
acted as a catalyst in a wonderful fashion. We had also been smiled on by the
Muse, and had a bunch of really good songs, and the result was a very real,
very human, very in-your-face kind of record. It’s not produced a lot. There’s
not a whole lot of tricks and synthesizers and samplers. It’s real people
playing real songs and making you feel real stuff. I think that’s where we
shine, so I think that’s entirely appropriate.
RA: Stephen, there have been
unconfirmed stories of a Buffalo Springfield reunion circulating for years.
Have the original five of you worked together at all since the split?
SS: Yeah, we sat down, worked for a few
days, and then Neil (Young) got involved with something else … Richie (Furay)
showed up all the way from Colorado to L.A. and got real mad about having his time
wasted.
RA: Was anything recorded?
SS: Nothing that’s presentable. There
was a little (tape) machine sitting in the middle of the room.
RS: “Love
Story” from the 1975 Stills LP must stand as one of the great
unheralded classics …
SS: Somebody should make it into a Broadway play!
RA: I was wondering what are some of
your personal favorites that you feel may have been overlooked?
SS: Oh boy that’s a hard one. I’m
into the “right now,” I don’t really look back at those. Get a few drinks in me
and I’ll be able to tell you!
RA: What do you credit your trademark acoustic guitar sound to? Is it a
playing approach or more of a studio engineering thing?
SS: Well, first you get a
fifty-year-old guitar, [laughs] and that’ll run you $100,000 or so, and you
play it really hard. An engineer that I used to work
with said that he’s been asked about a dozen times, “How do you get Stephen
Stills’ guitar sound?” And he said, “Well, first you get a fifty-year-old guitar!”
RA: As a bass player, I’ve always
admired your technique and feel for the bass. Who influenced your playing
style?
SS: Chuck Israels, who was a jazz
bassist back in the early ‘60s; James Jamerson from Motown; Duck Dunn.
RA: You’ve been a highly visible
supporter of the Democratic Party for years. Any thoughts on how President
Clinton’s doing so far?
SS: He’s doing okay. This is a very
strange time. I mean, we’re in the final stages of media overkill that makes it
hard to figure out if he’s doing any good or not. The bimbo eruptions [laughs]
and the stupidity; things that don’t matter.
RA: If you were responsible for
assembling a CSN musical time capsule, which songs would you choose?
DC: Oh God, I couldn’t do that, man.
It’s like asking, which one of your children would you choose.
RA: The songs are that close to you?
DC: Yeah. And I think we have a
higher percentage of songs that do last than almost anybody. I think a lot of
Dylan’s songs will last, a lot of The Band’s, a lot of ours. There are a few
more … there’s Joni Mitchell, Jackson Browne, and James Taylor──songs
you’ll never forget──but that’s only a handful of performers out of the overall bunch.
RA: After knowing and working with
each other for twenty-five years, is it at all possible to describe the
chemistry between you, and can you put your finger on what’s kept it going?
DC: The chemistry is constantly
changing because the guys don’t stay the same. What keeps it going is that we
all really love music. We got into this thing for music before there was any
money to be made; there was no MTV, there was no Rolling Stone. That’s
still alive and kicking. What draws us is when we have songs that really move
us. We listen to the songs and we say, “Mmmmm … gotta make a record!”
SS: The noise that we make when we
open our mouths together is a gift from God. The marriage has been an absolute
bitch. It’s a freak of nature, actually.
RA: What have you learned from each
other, musically or otherwise?
SS: I think we’ve probably just beaten
off a few corners, softened up a few edges. But that question invites much too
long a reply than we have time for. What have I learned from them? I learned a
lot of what not to do, but I learned lots
of stuff to do.
DC: Stephen is such an amazing instrumentalist
(and) has taught me lots about the guitar. Nash is──although I hate to admit it──probably the best harmony singer
(although I tell everybody it’s me), and I’ve learned things about that from
him. What I’ve learned personally is the value of friendship and the value of
patience and the value of long-lasting, loyal work with each other.
RA: CSN’s popularity, or should I say
influence, has proven over the years to rank along with some pretty good
company, like The Beatles, the Stones, and Dylan. In terms of your impact on
both the public and other musicians, does it amaze you that you’ve been able to
accomplish this on the strength of comparatively few albums over a long period
of time?
SS: Well, it amazes me that we don’t
get the big bucks like the Rolling Stones. It makes me think we’re stupid
[chuckles] ’cause everybody says that. That’s the only response I really have.
Yeah, I’m amazed. I’m totally amazed.
DC: I think it’s served us well to only
make records when we really thought we had the songs, and when we really wanted
to, and not to have to crank ‘em out every year. I confess that I try not to
think too much about what our place in musical history might be, because I
think that’s unhealthy. You wind up thinking [in theatrical voice], “Gee, how significant
I am!” [laughs] I don’t think that works too well, but I do think that we
probably have made our mark.
Crosby,
Stills and Nash will be appearing at Jones Beach on August 17th.
© Roy Abrams 2021
Originally
published in The Island-Ear, August 8-21, 1994 issue
No comments:
Post a Comment