The Black Crowes are making the rounds in support of their first new album in 15 years, Happiness Bastards, and on Monday night stopped by The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon for a bit of promo. The brotherly band of Chris and Rich Robinson performed the single “Wanting and Waiting” after Chris sat for an interview with the show’s effusive host.
On the performance side, The Black Crowes came marching in with the intro of “Wanting and Waiting”, the first new song from the band since 2009’s two-part project Before the Frost… Until the Freeze. Given the group’s turbulent history—breaking up at some point in each of the past two decades—it was a welcome sight to see America’s answer to Liam and Noel Gallagher together again onstage.
Even though The Black Crowes formed 40 years ago, Chris Robinson’s age has no impact on his natural stage charisma. He has now ditched the wiley beard and hippie garb of his Chris Robinson Brotherhood days, trading it in for a suit fit for Studio 54 as he resumes his position as one of rock’s great frontmen. Though Chris captivates the camera, Rich gets plenty of words in edgewise between his brother’s hollering. Blistering blues licks weave through the vocals from Chris and the backup singers in a delicate dance that leaves audiences “Wanting and Waiting” for more.
The Black Crowes — “Wanting And Waiting” – The Tonight Show
Sitting for an interview with Jimmy Fallon, Chris Robinson touched on a range of topics including why they chose the title Happiness Bastards. In truth, Chris lifted the name from the title of Beat writer Kirby Doyle‘s 1967 novel Happiness Bastard (“Plagirize Bastard,” the frontman quipped). But the title also has a connection to the Crowes’ story of redemption.
“We’re a bit cheeky that way,” Chris slyly retorted. “We’re in a good place. The thing about The Black Crowes, we’ve not always been in a good place. So we’re in a very happy place, but we don’t want to forget about the bastard part of it.”
Speaking to that feeling of being in a happy place, Chris had this to say of his and Rich’s decision to reunite: “You know, it was just one of those things. With time comes perspective, and with time comes hopefully wisdom, and with time comes acceptance.”
Though it’s Fallon’s job to gush and tell every guest what a huge fan he is of them, this time he had physical proof to back it up. For this interview, Fallon dug through the family photo album to find a picture from a high school dance where Jimmy and his friends all went in their Black Crowes t-shirts and bow ties. Chris politely thanked the lot of them for buying all that merchandise back in the day.
Among Fallon’s trove of Black Crowes ephemera was mail (not electronic, but actual, physical mail) from The Black Crowes “Mafia” fan club. Among these ancient artifacts and communiqués from the Mafia, Fallon stumbled across a news item headlined “The Black Crowes Thrown Off The ZZ Top Tour”.
Back in 1991, The Black Crowes were opening for ZZ Top on the Recycler Tour, sponsored by Miller Lite. So, every night, Miller Lite plastered advertisements wherever the bands were playing, and every night, Chris Robinson used his microphone to tell audiences that they weren’t corporate shills and Miller Lite wasn’t who they were singing for. The band was warned that if they kept it up, they would get thrown off the tour. They did keep it up, but they were strategic about it as they traveled to Atlanta for a hometown run at the Omni.
“We were doing the cover story for Rolling Stone magazine and there were two shows, and David Fricke‘s coming the second night,” Robinson explained of their logic. “Don’t get thrown off the first night, get thrown off the second night. We had to solidify our bastards monicker.”
Chris Robinson of The Black Crowes on Why ZZ Top Fired Them from Tour (Extended)
The Black Crowes will get back on the road next month for a North American tour (Miller Lite is not involved) beginning on April 2nd with a show at Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium. Visit the band’s website for tickets and a full list of tour dates.
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