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The Black Crowes soar again with “Happiness Bastards,” the group’s first album in 15 years
With the release of “Happiness Bastards,” The Black Crowes’ first album in over a decade, brothers Chris and Rich Robinson are stirring the souls of rock enthusiasts once more.
The album, featuring the lead single “Waiting & Wanting,” embodies the rock and roll spirit the Robinson brothers have been known for since their early days in Atlanta.
Rich Robinson said the pandemic served as a catalyst for his songwriting.
“I started writing during the pandemic just for my sanity, you know, just to … because that’s what I do,” he said.
As he shared his new melodies with Chris, the foundation for “Happiness Bastards” took shape.
“We knew that we wanted to make like a rock and roll record, a Saturday Night record, up tempo, big riffs. We’re very visceral. It has to feel a certain way for us,” said Chris Robinson.
Growing up in Atlanta, the Robinson brothers found their musical calling one Christmas morning when they unwrapped instruments. There was a guitar for Rich, a bass for Chris, drums for their cousin and a shared amp. The gifts set the stage for their unique blend of rock that would later define the Black Crowes.
“Of course, we could make, get in the basement and just start making a noise,” said Chris Robinson.
In 1990, the music world was introduced to the Black Crowes with their debut album, “Shake Your Money Maker.”
Rich was just 19, while Chris was 22. They were unaware of the success that was to come. That album climbed to number four on the musical charts. Their next project, “The Southern Harmony & Musical Companion,” hit the No. 1 spot.
However, this period of professional triumph was also marked by personal turmoil as both brothers fought bitterly and relentlessly—fighting on stage, during gigs, backstage and during road trips. When they officially broke up in 2015, they hadn’t been speaking for years.
“I think it’s just the typical sort of brother thing,” said Rich Robinson. “(Chris) can be aggressive. And I can be really passive-aggressive. You know what I mean? I mean, we both have our ways of going about this. And so fights were us trying to figure out, or at least me trying to figure out like who I was.”
Chris Robinson said other factors contributed to the group’s split.
“And while Rich is like that, I’m completely out of my mind,”Chris Robinson said. “You know what I mean? I mean I’m out of my mind and then you add drugs and alcohol into the whole thing and I’m really cookin’ with gas at this point,” he said.
During an interview in 2020, Chris Robinson said his ego had gotten in the way of the group.
“My ego, right or wrong or whatever, I was kinda, ‘I don’t need him. I can go sing these songs without him.’ And see if I can, ya know what’ll happen.”
That acknowledgment paved the way for a heartfelt reunion.
In 2020, “CBS Mornings” spoke to the brothers after they had just reunited. The two toured to celebrate the 30th anniversary of their debut album, and the tour eventually led to the creation of “Happiness Bastards.” Chris’s wife, Camille, was the creative force behind the artwork for the album.
As the Black Crowes embark on this new chapter, they do so with a renewed sense of unity and purpose.
“We made a concerted effort to make it about sort of, this comes first and like the two of us need to talk. And we can’t talk through people,” said Rich Robinson.
Chris Robinson said the two are more harmonious than ever, even off stage.
“And for the first time in both of our lives, I think we’re on the same page, not only about the art but about the experience and how special it’s been,” he said. “Just gives us a better place to deal with each other, to love each other. And I think we can celebrate that, and we couldn’t before.”
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A 15-year-old boy was charged Thursday with murder in the shooting deaths of his parents and three of his siblings at a home in Fall City, Washington, according to court documents obtained by CBS News.
The teen, whose name is being withheld because he is a juvenile, was charged with five counts of aggravated murder in the slayings of his parents, Mark and Sarah Humiston, two brothers, ages 9 and 13, and his 7-year-old sister, per King County court records.
He was also charged with one count of attempted murder for shooting and wounding his 11-year-old sister, the documents read.
That girl was in “satisfactory condition” at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, hospital spokesperson Susan Gregg told the Associated Press Tuesday.
Autopsies performed by the King County Medical Examiner’s Office determined that all five victims died of gunshot wounds. The handgun used in the shooting was believed to belong to the victim’s father, the court records state.
According to the charging documents, just before 5 a.m. Monday, the suspect called 911 with a false story in which he claimed that his 13-year-old brother “just shot my whole family and committed suicide too” at the family’s home in Fall City, which is a community located near Seattle.
However, at about the same time as that call, 911 dispatchers received a second call from a neighbor who lives about a quarter-mile away. That neighbor said the suspect’s 11-year-old sister had ran to his house and was bleeding from what appeared to be a gunshot wound, the documents said.
The girl said her entire family had been fatally shot and identified her 15-year-old brother as the shooter. The girl told dispatchers she was also shot by her brother and “then described holding her breath and playing dead,” the documents read. The girl later told detectives that she had escaped through a bedroom window.
Deputies responded to the Humiston home, where they found the suspect in the driveway and took him into custody, court records show. The five victims were found dead inside the home.
In a hospital interview with detectives later that day, the suspect’s surviving sister said that she identified the firearm used in the shooting as “her father’s silver Glock handgun,” court documents state.
She said that her father kept the pistol in a small lockbox that “he would sometimes put by the front door so he could bring it to work,” the documents read. She told detectives that the suspect was “the only one who knew the combination to the Glock lockbox.”
Investigators determined that the suspect “systematically murdered” his parents and siblings and “then staged the scene prior to the arrival of first responders to make it appear” that the murders had been committed by his 11-year-old brother, documents read.
The court documents did not speculate on a motive.
The suspect is scheduled to be arraigned Friday afternoon. The King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office said in a news release Thursday that the suspect is in custody at the Clark Child and Family Justice Center, which is a juvenile facility.
The teen is currently being charged as a juvenile, and prosecutors said a judge will determine whether his case “will be moved to adult court.”
In a statement Tuesday, public defenders representing the suspect said that “our client is a 15-year-old boy who enjoys mountain biking and fishing and has no criminal history.”
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