{"id":3887,"date":"2010-08-23T08:21:41","date_gmt":"2010-08-23T13:21:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/npt08.wordpress.com\/?p=3887"},"modified":"2013-01-23T12:49:02","modified_gmt":"2013-01-23T18:49:02","slug":"catching-up-with-the-black-crowes-drummer-steve-gorman","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.wnpt.org\/mediaupdate\/2010\/08\/23\/catching-up-with-the-black-crowes-drummer-steve-gorman\/","title":{"rendered":"Catching up with The Black Crowes` Drummer Steve Gorman"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Steve Gorman<\/strong>, Nashville resident and Hopkinsville, Kentucky native, has been the drummer for The Black Crowes<\/strong><\/a> since the band\u2019s breakthrough success in 1990 with the multi-platinum selling Shake Your Money Maker<\/em>. Celebrating its 20th-anniversary this year, the band released Croweology<\/em>, a double-album, 20-song acoustic reworking of some of the finest songs in its catalog. It’s also in the midst of the \u201cSay Goodnight to the Bad Guys\u201d tour, which includes a stop at the Ryman Auditorium on September 12 and wraps with a six-night stand at the Filmore in San Francisco in December. The band will then go on what\u2019s being called a \u201clengthy hiatus.\u201d<\/p>\n

In advance of NPT\u2019s broadcast of The Black Crowes\u2019 performance on Live From the Artists Den<\/em><\/strong><\/a> on Friday, August 27 at 11 p.m., we caught up with Gorman in Nashville before the start of the tour to discuss the Nashville floods, the Artist\u2019s Den, the influence of Levon Helm, Croweology<\/em>, the Tour, the Titans, the World Cup and more.<\/p>\n

On how he and his family fared during the Nashville Floods of May 2010.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Professionally, it had no impact at all. All my gear was fine. Everything I was working on … every studio I had been in that week …. everything was safe. I totally lucked out. The house took about four feet of water in the basement. It\u2019s not a finished basement and we lost maybe our Halloween decorations. So I was really pissed off until I saw a helicopter shot of what was going on in the city, and then I felt like the luckiest guy in town.<\/p>\n

We were just knee deep in our own crisis, and then to realize all we had was a little bit of water. I don\u2019t even have the words to describe what went on here \u2026 everybody here knows. But it is strange to be traveling all summer, and have the number of people that I\u2019ve talked to who\u2019ve said \u201cYeah, I heard something about Nashville. Did you guys get a big rain or something?\u201d Still, it\u2019s weird to leave town and no one knows about it.<\/p>\n

On taping the <\/strong>Live From the Artists Den<\/em><\/strong><\/a><\/em><\/strong> show at the Lyric Theatre in Oxford, Mississippi in September 2009. The show airs August 27 on NPT and on PBS stations nation that week (check local listings)<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

The thing I remember — and at the time is was so specific to me — was that it was the show right after we played the Ryman here. So we had an amazing show at the Ryman, the best crowd of the year, a really special night, and then went down to Oxford for the TV show. It\u2019s really easy to forget you have a TV show to do when you show up at the Ryman, so (the next day) was one of those days. When we were on our way down there, everybody was thinking, \u201coh wait, we have to do this thing for PBS tonight, we oughta probably get our heads around it\u201d and \u201cwhy didn\u2019t we put a couple of days in between the Ryman and this show.\u201d But it turned out to be a really good night. It was such a different venue. It was a really cool old theatre, a great room, a lot of fun. I just remember thinking the whole time, \u201cwe may have just peaked for the whole year last night.”<\/p>\n


\n<\/a><\/strong>\"\"<\/a>
\n<\/strong>Watch a clip of The Black Crowes from Live from the Artists Den<\/a>.
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

On becoming a great live band, the influence of The Band, and recording Before the Frost … Until the Freeze<\/em> at Levon Helm\u2019s farm in upstate New York.<\/strong><\/p>\n

There\u2019s not a good enough word to describe what Levon means, not only to me, but really to the whole band. When our first record came out, we toured for two years on it. We were the guys who would run off stage, have a beer, and go right to the bus to listen to another cool bootleg someone had found that day in whatever town we were in. So we listened to tons of live shows by the Band, Little Feat, Zeppelin, the Dead and other bands. But The Band themselves was a huge part of us becoming a good live band. We were breaking it down, the way musicians do, trying to figure out all this language. How do these guys play together so well? What are they doing? It\u2019s a slow process. You can\u2019t just overnight snap your fingers and suddenly understand how to play with each other. We spent the two years touring for Shake Your Money Maker — to us that was school — learning and pushing ourselves every night.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Levon is as musical a drummer as anyone has ever been in a rock \u2018n\u2019 roll format. The heart and soul of The Band was always Levon Helm. So not just to me as a drummer, but as all the musicians in the band would say, no one ranks higher. Everyone has got their Mt. Rushmore of those influences, and Levon\u2019s absolutely one of those faces on mine.<\/p>\n

To go up and work in his studio, in his home really, was great. Obviously we got a live record out of it, and playing shows where he does his Rambles … all of those things were so special. But nothing compares to the two or three times in that process when we would take a break and he would come in and we would all sit by the fire and shoot the sh*t. He would tell stories, and we would tell stories, everything from having babies to playing shows in bad clubs with no heat. And it wasn\u2019t like he came down to give us any sage advice. It was just a bunch of musicians hanging out. But it\u2019s always those kinds of moments where you sit there and you have a nice flowing conversation like you\u2019ve known him your whole life, and then he gets up and leaves and five minutes later you\u2019re like \u201cOh my God, I was just hanging with Levon Helm for two hours talking about everything and nothing.\u201d He\u2019s a special guy.<\/p>\n

On choosing the songs to record for Croweology<\/em>, a double album of acoustic versions of 20 songs from The Black Crowes catalog.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>This is 20 years since our first record came out and we were kicking around ideas on what we would do to acknowledge that and sort of celebrate it. We\u2019ve never looked backed intentionally before, so to do it, it\u2019s been kind of fun. It\u2019s exhilarating and incredibly humbling. I look back and all I see are all the people that have helped along the way. In anything that has any longevity, it\u2019s the work of so many. People focus on the members of the band, but it\u2019s so many other people too.<\/p>\n

There was a lot of acoustic music on Before the Frost \u2026 Until the Freeze<\/em> and also on Warpaint<\/em>. We\u2019ve also done some acoustic shows over the years, so we thought, \u201cwhy don\u2019t we go pick 20 tunes out and record them in that template, so it\u2019s not just a greatest hits record.\u201d We still wanted to do something that was interesting to us. So to rework the songs in a new format sounded like a real challenge going in. As it turned out, it flowed pretty quickly and we felt great about what we were doing. The songs came together in that setting really nicely and we didn\u2019t even struggle over what songs to pick out.<\/p>\n

Chris, Rich and I each wrote a list up of about 25 songs, and I was saying I bet we have five songs in common between the three lists. We looked at each other\u2019s lists and I think we had a dozen songs right off the bat that we all had written down. Then we said, \u201cwhat songs songs made two of the three lists?\u201d Between those two Venn Diagrams we had enough songs to attempt, and then enough of them worked out and we got twenty to put on the record.<\/p>\n

On the \u201cSay Goodnight to the Bad Guys\u201d Tour, and temporarily wrapping up a 20 year-career.<\/strong><\/p>\n

It\u2019ll be a 90-minute acoustic set and then a 90-minute electric set, so it\u2019s a long show. It\u2019s a nice way to wrap up 20 years, put it in a pretty box and leave a big bow on top. Then at the end of the tour we\u2019re going take a break for what I imagine will be several years. We feel great about what the band is doing. We really like the last three records and feel like we\u2019ve really gotten it together. We put together a thing that seemed irretrievably broken six\/seven years ago so that, in itself, took a lot of work. We\u2019re very proud of it and now we feel like, let\u2019s not repeat the mistakes of the past by driving it into the ground, where we sort of implode. Let\u2019s pull the plug while we\u2019re in a great place and let everyone go and refresh themselves, do something else and then we\u2019ll see. Something about 20 years just seems like a really nice time to shut it down again. It\u2019s a much cleaner, much happier ending than the first time we did this.<\/p>\n

On the idea that in five years the band will be eligible for the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame.<\/strong><\/p>\n

(Laughing) It\u2019s interesting. I don\u2019t think we\u2019ve kissed enough babies along the way to make that happen, frankly, and I don\u2019t know if there\u2019s enough babies in the world we could kiss at this point. I don\u2019t know if the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame wants anything to do with a rock n roll band anymore, but we\u2019ll see. I don\u2019t have any issues. I don\u2019t mean to downplay it. I\u2019ve never been there. If I\u2019m in Cleveland I\u2019m going to check it out. I\u2019d love to see it. It just seems like you have to be a little more industry savvy for them to notice you, and we\u2019ve just never put ourselves in that position.<\/p>\n

On Steve Gorman Sports<\/em><\/a>, his sports radio show formerly on 104.5 The Zone in Nashville and now available as a podcast.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>A few years ago I went down to the station here in Nashville, 104.5, to just sit in on the afternoon show with some of the guys. They were doing a fundraiser so I was helping out with that and I just stayed on the air for an hour and a half. As I was leaving the station the P.D. said, \u201cMan, you sound great on the air. You should come in and we should do a regular feature. It was really funny to hear you talk about the stuff.\u201d I said (without thinking that there was anyway in the world that this guy would said OK), \u201cinstead of me doing a weekly appearance, why don\u2019t I just do my own show,\u201d because that\u2019s just the kind of guy I am. I have to stink a little, and I was really just trying to tweak him, and he\u2019s said \u201cthat\u2019s great, when can you do it?\u201d (Laughing). So right away, I was thinking, \u201cI just stepped over a line I didn\u2019t mean too.\u201d But there was no backing out at that point of course.<\/p>\n

For a couple of years I was on Sunday nights, doing Steve Gorman Sports<\/em> on the air. The touring always gets in the way, of course, so now we\u2019re just doing it in podcast form. Ultimately, it\u2019s either me and my co-host, or a musician or an athlete just talking for an hour or so. If I have an athlete, we tend to talk about music. If I have a musician, we talk about sports. Sports and music have always been the two passions in my life, so it\u2019s a pretty natural fit for me.<\/p>\n

On the show\u2019s logo.<\/strong><\/p>\n

We\u2019ll know we\u2019re a success when Major League Baseball sues us. That\u2019s the goal.<\/p>\n

On the Tennessee Titans this year.<\/strong><\/p>\n

I think they\u2019re definitely a playoff team. I think this is a great chance for them to get it back together. They had a nice run at the end of last year, but there was just no way they were going to get in. Plus they didn\u2019t really have it. They weren\u2019t as solid as that eight-game winning streak might have suggested. But I think this year their schedule is just tailor-made for them to make a run on the playoffs again. There\u2019s no telling if they can get past the Colts, but I think they\u2019re easily a wild card.<\/p>\n

On Italy\u2019s quick exit for the World Cup — my heartbreak — and rooting for the Dutch teams. <\/strong><\/p>\n

Heartbreaking for you, nothing happier for me. I am no fan of the catenaccio<\/a><\/strong> style of play. Just by default, I always cheered for the Dutch teams as a kid. The total football of the 70s is what I grew up obsessing over, and for Italy to win those World Cups and the Dutch to be empty handed…. for some reason I reserve a special resentment for the Italian Team based on nothing but childhood lunacy. I\u2019m always happy to see a powerhouse go down like that. I\u2019m actually a fan of a lot of the French players, but I love seeing them implode. It just adds to the flair of the whole thing.<\/p>\n

On the World Cup Final.<\/strong><\/p>\n

I was definitely going for the Dutch. I along with everyone else in the world, of course, predicted Spain would win the thing before the Tournament started, but I was actually more upset with how the Dutch played than the loss. It was weird to think that at that level you can still be psyched out by your opponent. They walked on to the pitch knowing full well \u201cwe can\u2019t just play against these guys straight up, we have to try and break their legs.\u201d So I was a little disappointed after the game that they didn\u2019t trust their skills enough to stay with Spain. But then again, everyone else did the same thing. Spain, even though their scores may not have shown it, had a pretty impressive romp after that first round loss to Switzerland.<\/p>\n

On where he likes to hang out when he\u2019s home in Nashville.<\/strong><\/p>\n

I like to hang out in my house<\/em> (laughing). That\u2019s where the action is, man. This has been six straight years, really, that we\u2019ve been on the road, so when I\u2019m home I burrow in pretty much.<\/p>\n

I go see bands wherever they\u2019re playing. I don\u2019t have a regular hang anymore. I\u2019m just so involved with the kids and with their school and the sports they play. I don\u2019t get out nearly as much as I did five and six years ago. It\u2019s just go wherever the gig is. You and I used to see each other at the Family Wash a good bit, but I just haven\u2019t gotten over there that much as of late. But that\u2019s still a place I get out to when I\u2019m out. The Mercy Lounge always has good shows. I go to the Bluebird every now and then just to sit in on writers-in-the-round. There\u2019s no shortage of places to go.<\/p>\n

On Whether the \u201cWhat Wrong? … With Steve<\/a>\u201d Advice column, accessible now at <\/strong>BlackCrowes.com<\/a><\/strong>, will continue during the hiatus.<\/strong><\/p>\n

In some format. We may just have to move the whole thing over to the sports page. We\u2019ll have to see. But as of right now, of course, I\u2019m still here to lend a comforting and sarcastic ear to many of the conflicted Black Crowes fans in the world. These are some troubled, people, let me tell you (laughing).<\/p>\n

Interview conducted and edited by Joe Pagetta<\/strong>, NPT Media Relations Manager.<\/em><\/p>\n

Related Articles<\/h6>\n