Born Hippie - Crosby,
Stills, Nash & Young Interview
Music365.com
October 27, 1999
CROSBY, STILLS, NASH & YOUNG reunions are almost as rare as total eclipses.
Their new album 'Looking Album' is only their third in almost 30 years,
following 1970's magical 'Deja Vu' and the less
satisfactory 'American Dream' in 1988. In the New
Year, they will embark on their first tour for more
than a quarter of a century, already dubbed 'CSNY2K'.
NIGEL WILLIAMSON spoke to them for Music365 twice -
first in San Francisco and then again two weeks later
in London.
The formerly fractious foursome talk about the reasons for their
new found harmony, why they used to fight and why they won't be
appearing in cabaret in Las Vegas just yet....
Part I
Music365: Graham (Nash) complained a few years ago
that the four of you had "wasted an enormous time on
petty issues" and that it should never have kept you
from making music together. Is that fair comment?
David Crosby: "It's like brothers or sisters. Because
we are very strong personalities we did waste time.
We are like seven pounds of stuff in a three pound
bag and we fought with each other over stuff we laugh
at now. That's one of the great things about getting a little
older and smarter. You've made enough mistakes to
learn from and there's a better ability to deal with
each other. There's a lot more listening going on."
Music365: Was the album a process of finding each other again?
Neil Young: "We had the music. That's what made it
happen. They had 12 or more great songs and I had
been recording a solo album for the last couple of
years so I had a similar number of songs. I went down ,
to play with them and it sounded great. We just
followed the muse. We still haven't satisfied what we
are really looking for. We want to get a bit more of
a rock'n'roll thing happening. We're headed that waybut we haven't got there yet."
Music365: No more clashing egos?
Stephen Stills: "It was about realising who we are
and what attracted Neil and me to each other in
first place all those years ago and getting back into
the concept of there is no 'I' in team. We have
plenty of outlets for the 'me' element. Years ago
every little picky argument developed into a huge
story about rows and splits. I remember a Rolling
Stone interview about my solo career in which I said
something about them which became a scar for years."
Crosby: "I don't even remember what it was which is
the sole advantage to having been stoned all the
time. But we were always going to pursue our own solo
careers. That's why we called ourselves CSNY and not
The Blue Turbans or something. But the minute we did
anything separate everybody shouted, 'they've broken
up'. As soon as we did anything together they shouted
'reunion.' People won't accept it was always meant to be like that."
Music365: But you've only managed three studio albums as a
foursome in almost 30 years...
Crosby (laughing): "Well, yeah. Lots of times we did
break up. Some of the time we were pissed as hell
with each other!"
Music365: Is it right, Stephen, that the idea of another CSNY
album came from you and Neil working together on
compiling a forthcoming Buffalo Springfield box set?
Stills: "I was up at his ranch listening to a lot of
the old stuff and I think that put the notion in both
our heads. Then nature took it's course. One day
there Neil was, looking like the Cheshire cat."
Graham Nash: "We were sitting around the studio and
suddenly Neil ambled in with his guitar. We were
working on my song 'Heartland' and he listened to it
and asked if he could add a guitar part. I was
holding my breath waiting to see what would happen next."
Music365: What was your thinking, Neil?
Young: "I was impressed because they had financed the album on their own.
They'd gone to the bank and
borrowed the money because they wanted to make music.
They didn't have any backing which meant no interference or obligation.
They were driving it themselves and we kept it like that."
Music365: And the chemistry was immediately there?
Young: "I think what was most exciting was picking up
the pieces we had left behind. CSNY was exciting in
the '70s and we had some great jams but none of us
could play like we can now. We thought it would be worth hearing what
we can do now. And it's good."
Music365: So of all the different permutations of CSNY, solo and together,
does
it work best when it is the four of you?
Nash: "We know what happens when Neil sings with us. He brings an
edge, a certain ruggedness to the sound which is very appealing."
Crosby: "And Neil got us all to sing around one mike again. We tried
to do as much as possible live. Things that are recorded separately
and then mixed electronically sound different from voices that are
mixed in the air. That's the greatest magic. We tried on this record
playing and singing the at the same time, too, and that worked a
couple of times. If you can get it there is a quality which you can't
artificially generate. You're going to sing something and suddenly a
guitar swoops by you and kicks you in the arse and you sing it completely
different.
That's good."
Music365: Why did you want everyone to sing live, Neil?
Young: "They had got away from doing that but we all wanted to do it.
As soon as we started everybody loved it and we all realised that was what made us feel good. Now every time we have a song to finish we
look forward to the time when we all get round that mike and sing
together. We save that to the end because that is the pay-off. It's
the magic, that's what we love and that's who we are."
Stills: "The only thing is that Crosby starts cracking jokes and we
laugh for 20 minutes and then everybody has to get their body back
into singing posture."
Young: "Yeah, we're doing well and having a great time. Then David
starts talking and that's the end."
Music365: With four songwriters in the band how did you chose the songs?
Nash: "Neil put a chart on the studio wall with four columns and
suggested that we all put a tick by the songs we felt could not be
left off the record. We got a list of about nine songs. Then Neil
said we still needed two or three more and asked us up to his ranch
and we came up with some new songs to round it out."
Music365: You've just announced an American tour, the first since 1974.
Will there be European dates, too?
Young: "We're going to see how we do on the first leg. If we don't
kill each other then I think we'll come over here. We want to
prioritise what our goals are after we get out on the road and start
playing together - concerts or records. We sold out the concerts in
less than three hours so we now know that people want to hear us. We
didn't even know if they remembered us. Now we can get out there and
figure out what's next."
Music365: And can we expect all the old favourite songs?
Young: "Yeah, but not too many. We won't jazz them up.
We won't give 'em a Las Vegas edge and we won't do them
in medleys."
At this point, Stills bursts into his own Graham Nash greatest hits
selection: "Teach Your Children Our House can change the world cos
we're riding on the Marrakech Express..." he sings as his colleagues
collapse in laughter and the interview comes to a pause.
Part IIi
Music365: Do you think the new album 'Looking Forward' holds up alongside
the classic '70s material?
Stephen Stills: "We've had 20 years of rehearsals so
our chops are finally working. I feel I've only just
begun to learn the guitar in the last two years. This is a fine album. I've
got no problems with it."
David Crosby: "I was surprised how good it sounded at
the first playback because you never know. It's
always a blast the first time you see a bunch of
people react to it."
Music365: Is that how you felt, Neil?
Stills: "Neil had a panic attack just before the playback.
He wasn't there but he called and told us
not to play one of his songs, 'Queen Of Them All'.
refused to get off the phone until we agreed. It
completely fucked up the running order. I called
Neil's wife and I said he's had an anxiety attack, hasn't he?"
Neil Young: "I'd left them in the lurch and then I
call up freaking out and saying don't play that song.
The difference is that before we would have broken up '
there and then over that (gales of laughter all
round)... No, we did over far less. This time they
just laughed at me. Then they all went to Hawaii and
I stayed home because the song needed a little more ,
work. But it wasn't enough to stop it being played. That was my paranoia."
Music365: Does songwriting get easier or harder as you get older?
Young: "It has nothing to do with age. It's about
being ready. There's a lot of things I can fill my
day with which get in the way of what I used to do
when I was 20 or 25 - which was to write songs all
day and all night. When you feel you've got a song just walkout on whatever it is you're doing. .
Whoever you are talking to just stop. Whatever is
going on in reality it isn't as important as writing
a song because a song doesn't have a schedule and you
can't call on it. It calls on you and when it does you
had better be ready."
Music365: Can we talk about some of the songs? What about
'Stand And Be Counted', David?
Crosby: "Somebody told me that your life isn't worth
anything unless you have things that you are prepared
to die for - I think maybe I got that from Martin
Luther King. I believe that and it makes better
people out of us. For a long time I didn't have any
sense of personal honour. When I was a doper I was a
low-life and I put at risk something that is awfully
valuable to me."
Music365: And you're working on a book and a documentary of the
same name?
Crosby: "It's basically an oral history which starts
with Woody Guthrie, moves through the Civil Rights
movement and people like Dylan and Baez, then through
the Vietnam War era, through Live Aid and the Amnesty
tour up to the Tibetan Freedom concerts. I wanted to
chronicle that and my private agenda is to try
perpetuate it."
Music365: Did rock n roll ever really change anything
politically?
Graham Nash: "You have to believe that you can make a
difference. We used to believe that we could change
the world and I wrote a song with those very words.
Then we found out that the rate of change wasn't what
we wanted when we were young and impatient. But good and
music with a positive message does change the way
people feel. Definitely."
Crosby: "I think we have affected a lot of stuff like
the outcome of the Vietnam War. We thought we could
do it in a year and it took ten but music seriously changed things around.
And I think that is still true."
Stills: "I'm in two minds. You can't take yourself
too seriously. When we were young it was cool being a
voice against the machine. But after a while rock
stars standing there saying, 'Up the revolution!'
gets a little boring."
Music365: But you've written the angriest song on the album in 'Seen
Enough'.
It sounds like a slowed-down version of 'Subterranean Homesick
Blues'...
Stills: "It is! That song was provoked by the fourth school shooting in a row. When I got done writing it, I realised it was 'Subterranean
Homesick Blues'. So I contacted Dylan's people and Dylan said, 'Great
song' and I didn't have to give him anything. But I said I can't go
out there and say I wrote this by myself. I had obviously got
attached like a barnacle to the melody so I credited him."
Music365: Neil, tell us about 'Out Of Control'.
Young: "I don't really want to talk about it because it is way too
close. But it's about being caught in a loop and being too hard on yourself. Relationships have their ups and downs and you can
sometimes be your own worst enemy. It's when you know you should be
in control of what you are doing but your mind is taking you
somewhere else. You've got to watch out for depression. It's scary
because it is a silent killer. There's a little of that in the song."
Music365: And 'Slowpoke'?
Crosby: "Neil hates talking about his songs. If you ask him to
explain a song he looks at you and you know he's thinking, 'You're
supposed to listen, man'. He's trying to smile and be real nice but
that's the truth... (laughter from all).
Young: "It's about how time used to go fast when we were growing up
and it always seemed there was something to be catching up with. Now
it feels like I'm on a moving walkway. My feet are travelling slower
than the speed at which the world is going by."
'Music365: Someday Soon' is a very simple but very moving song, Graham...
Nash: "I got a call from a friend about this 14-year-old girl with
leukemia. She was a big CSNY fan and we wanted to help. We made her this collage with all our pictures and sent it to the hospital. We
made her last two weeks on earth a bit more tolerable because she
knew other people out there cared. The song is a letter to her
parents that someday soon things might get a little better.
Young: "The beauty of that song is that if you don't know the story
behind it you are probably better off. What makes a great song is to
be able to take something specific like that and react to it and
create something that applies universally. And that's what Graham
did."
Music365: Is it true that you're a great cricket fan, Stephen?
Stills: "I just adore cricket. I got into it when I lived here (in
England) in the '70s. It proceeds at this great sedate pace like an
old clipper ship." He then proceeds to tell a story about England
captain Michael Atherton and team-mate Devon Malcolm on tour in South
Africa in the style of a true fan.
Music365: Finally, are you going to keep us waiting so long for the next
album?
Young: "We haven't decided what we are going to do next and there is
no rush. But it would be great to make another album if we can keep
the momentum going that we have now."
Stills: "There are some great songs we recorded for this time which
we didn't have room for. That's the backbone of the next album so we've
got a running start."
