CHRIS ROBINSON
Biography
Press Release, June 23, 2004
Press Release, April 1, 2004
Biography
2003
Press
Release, September 24, 2003
Press
Release, June 9, 2003
CHRIS ROBINSON & THE NEW EARTH MUD
"I
want to find a common ground where thought, action and soulfulness meet
emotion and experience--that was kind of the motivating factor behind the whole
album," says CHRIS ROBINSON about THIS
MAGNIFICENT DISTANCE. It’s the debut album with his band THE NEW EARTH
MUD for Vector Recordings and marks the follow-up to 2002's solo New
Earth Mud disc.
THIS
MAGNIFICENT DISTANCE is
a work that draws on the vast panorama of American music--rock, blues,
folk, country, soul and elements of jazz--and ROBINSON personalizes it with his compelling
vocals, free-spirited melodies and vivid lyrics in which he looks inwards
and at the world around him. The album moves seamlessly from the
chugging immediacy of the fiercely rocking, imagery-rich first single
"40 Days" ("a storm-a-comin'-kind-of tune," he says); to the
dreamy, expansive "Girl On The Mountain"; to the funkified, jazzy
soul meditation “Mother of Stone”; to the album's pointed rave-up
"Piece of Wind" (about America's loss of free-thinking values).
The
richly yearning "Like A Tumbleweed In Eden" is a song "about
freedom--that's the underlying theme," says ROBINSON. "My first
album sounds like a Sunday morning record--it's about being in love--and
this one brings up a lot of questions about freedom. And what does freedom
mean, because I don't think it's the freedom to consume. I think in
America people have forgotten their imagination." ROBINSON adds: "If
you can't go to artists without any political and/or corporate affiliation to get
the straight answer, who are you gonna go to? To me, that's truly where
this record lies. It's a crossroads between my emotion and my experiences.
It's truly a place in the here and now."
Other
highlights of the Los Angeles-recorded album include "Train
Robbers," "Surgical Glove" and "…If You See
California," of which ROBINSON--a Southerner who now calls Los Angeles
home--says, "I like the question posed by ‘…If
You See California'--well, what is California? Is
it a state of mind? Is it a physical place? It is a transcendental
place? For me," he adds, “California has always been an inspiration.
Look at all of the musicians who have moved here over the years to make music,
like Lowell George, Neil Young and Stephen Stills. I also think
there's still people here who believe in a lot of things that the
counter-culture hit on in the '60s and '70s."
For
THIS MAGNIFICENT DISTANCE, ROBINSON penned five songs and co-wrote six
with Paul Stacey and one with Audley Freed, formerly of The Black Crowes.
The tracks were produced
and mixed by ROBINSON with Paul, except for "Mother of Stone" and
"Like A Tumbleweeed in Eden," both produced and mixed by Ethan
Johns with ROBINSON. The album's core of players--ROBINSON (guitar,
harmonica), George Laks (keyboards), George Reiff (bass), Jeremy Stacey (drums,
percussion) and Paul Stacey (guitar)--are joined on various tracks by Ethan
Johns (drums), Richard Causon (keyboards) and Audley Freed (guitars). "Most
of this album was done with a group of musicians I had been on the road with, so
we'd just set up in the studio and start cutting tracks live, and I think that
always is going to create a different vibe. On the last album, I would
play acoustic guitar to a rhythm track, and we would build around that."
Some of the songs on THIS MAGNIFICENT DISTANCE--“Girl On The Mountain,” “Train Robbers” and “When The Cold Wind Blows At The Dark Edge Of Night”—are over six minutes, enabling ROBINSON and his band to scale some dazzling peaks. He says: “The fact that the music business is in such a state of disarray actually opens up new possibilities because the rules are gone, and that works perfectly for me. I think it’s more about finding the wherewithal and the freedom to make decisions based on my love of music to my love of the life of the artist and being able to fearlessly do that. I look at a band like My Morning Jacket, who have extended seven/eight/nine-minute songs. You know what, God bless them. That’s a real positive thing—they’re making beautiful music outside of the scope of just solely being commercial.” ROBINSON continues: “I’m an individual and I’ve never been afraid to be an individual. I don’t think it’s OK to lower the bar to debase myself and my music and the tradition I work in just to make money.”
ROBINSON
began to feel a new kind of freedom after The Black Crowes went on hiatus in
2002. After moving to Southern California, Robinson began to write material
based, for the first time, not on the conditions involved in working with a
band, but solely on expressing one person's vision. Those songs traveled with
ROBINSON to Paris, where, as if to challenge any expectations of repeating past
triumphs, he assembled an all-English band. In a little more than four weeks,
they recorded New Earth Mud, his solo debut. The album was acclaimed by
an array of various publications including Mojo, which was followed by
electric NEW EARTH MUD dates as well as acoustic shows that included last
summer’s tour with Elvis Costello on which material from THIS MAGNIFICENT
DISTANCE was previewed. Writing in the Boston Globe (7/14/03), Tom
Kielty observed that “…Robinson delivered a strong, soulful set highlighted
by the closing ‘Train Robbers.’ The song evoked memories of the Band’s
best Americana deliveries.”
Now
in the second stage of his life as an artist, ROBINSON continues to evolve
musically as well as fight the good fight, for the mutual enrichment of artist
and fan. "I want to put the power back in the hands of the artists and the
audience, and take it away from the people who have sucked all of the beauty out
of it," he insists. "I'm not afraid of things becoming popular, but
that's because there was a time when the fans made the rock & roll
heroes what they were. They allowed themselves to be taken into the music they
heard, not because of some clever marketing, but because of something in the
music itself. And that's coming back. I meet people all the time who feel this
way. It could be at a gas station or a bookstore, but you get into conversations
and you sense there's something definitely brewing underneath the surface."
ROBINSON will share THIS MAGNIFICENT DISTANCE on the road this year backed by the recently revised line-up of THE NEW EARTH MUD: Audley Freed (guitar), George Reiff (bass), Steve Distanislao (drums) and Rob Barraco (keyboards). Their summer itinerary includes a June 11 performance in Tennessee at Bonnaroo (the largest festival in America), and a string of July dates with the Allman Brothers Band and Moe.
For
more information, visit www.newearthmud.net.
###
April
2004
For
more press information, contact:
Mitch
Schneider mschneider@msopr.com
Todd
Brodginski toddb@msopr.com
Lathum
Nelson lnelson@msopr.com