The current CSNY project came about after
Stephen and Neil were working on the Buffalo Springfield box
set, and Stephen asked Neil to come to Los Angeles to play on
the new CSN record. What happened there to make it a CSNY album?
Neil Young: I came into the studio and discovered that
they were in here working on a record by themselves, and they
weren't using a record company. They had to finance it themselves,
so obviously they were really into it. That's the only real
good reason to play music. So it was just a good feeling again;
it was three guys who have been making music together for 30
years, and they still want to do it enough to take out bank
loans or whatever. That's why someone would want to be involved
in that energy. It was all positive, and the music was really
great.
Graham Nash: Once Neil saw our situation and heard the
music, it was much more enticing for him to get involved. He
knew we wanted to be there because we had music to make.
This is a group that's famous for its arguments and ego
battles. What's different this time around?
David Crosby: It's much better, for a number of reasons.
One, there's no chemical baggage. And two, we're much better
guys. None of us stomps off in a huff. If we have two opinions
about something, we stand there and treat each other with respect.
We talk about it and work it out, which we never would've done
in the past. The standard move back then was to say, "Ah,
f--k these guys," and walk off. That's never happened the
whole time we've been together now, not once — not
even close. There's been respect and care and a really honest
try to give each guy his worth and his value and his place and
his support.
Nash: If one of us has an idea, we'll chase it until
it either works or it doesn't. Previously we would have discounted
ideas, and that's where you get into trouble, because we're
all good at making records. We've been doing this for 30 or
40 years, so we should be listened to. Everyone who makes their
suggestions should feel that we at least tried, and that's all
you can ask.
Stephen Stills: There was more listening going on than
since the first record. No agendas, no tricks. We realized early
on that the ridiculous kid games we used to play with each other
that would end up crashing sessions were really hysterically
funny and Pavlovian. Very kids-in-the-sandbox-chewing-on-each-other
and just beyond belief.
Young: It used to be if someone was singing flat or
something, Crosby would get on Stephen's case and Graham and
David, being better than Stephen, let him know that, "Hey,
we're faster than you and this is f--ked. Why aren't you ready?"
Now they realize everybody has their own speed to go at, and
that it's worth waiting for Stephen to gets the part right,
and that it's better if they all do it together. And with me
it's even worse, because I take longer than Stephen.
Why have you been able to achieve what seems like a more
cohesive reunion now and not for American Dream back
in '88?
Nash: The feeling between us then wasn't as good as it
is today. I don't think we had the commitment. I think we had
the commitment from Neil because he had promised David, but
unfortunately it takes more than that to make a great piece
of music. There are some great songs on American Dream,
and we were very proud of that record. But there's also some
funky songs, too, songs that maybe should not have been there.
After 27 years, what's the show going to be like?
Crosby: I think it's probably going to start with an
electric set of about an hour, maybe a little more, and then
we'll take a break and come back acoustic for another hour,
and then move from that into a closing electric set of probably
an hour. And we do stretch out, we are a jam band. We stretch
on "Down by the River," "No Tears Left,"
"Rockin' in the Free World," "Wooden Ships,"
"Almost Cut My Hair." There's lots of places to get
a little loose. We've got these two insanely good lead guitar
players [Young and Stills] who are completely different from
each other, but who can really speak to each other with guitars.
And, man, when they start talking, I want to listen.
Young: There's a lot of room in our structure for improvising
and changing on the fly, which is really what keeps it alive.
Nash: We want to play every song from the new record.
And then we want to play a selection of songs that our fans
know and love us for. As long as we can make them musically
interesting and not a Las Vegas medley, we're going to choose
songs that we still mean.
Young: Well, I don't think that I'll be satisfied live
to just play Looking Forward, although we're going to
do those songs. But we're going to do things from the Buffalo
Springfield, and hopefully something from the Hollies and the
Byrds, as well as our CSNY repertoire and everything that's
new.
Crosby: Jesus, man, you know, we have so much stuff
— 900 songs between us. Even if you discount the fact
that 450 of them are Neil's [laughs], there's still so many
songs that you love, that you know. And they're good songs.
When the tour was announced, you spoke about playing songs
that weren't recorded for Looking Forward or that have
even been written since. Is that indeed going to be the case?
Crosby: Oh, there are songs there that you've never heard
before, that nobody's heard before. I guarantee you'll hear
some stuff that you've never heard. We're an ongoing process,
man. We could finish a song at any given point, and it could
be in the show that night. The approach is pretty fearless,
as you'd expect with Neil involved. He's Mr. Fearless.
Young:
Our energy is going to come from delivering new songs and
getting the crowd off, and then doing these things from the
past, the ones that we can really rock on, that are still valid
for us today, the ones we can mean what we're singing. We don't
want to cheerlead a sing-along; we want to sing songs like "Teach
Your Children," because every word in it is meaningful
and the people out there were moved by what it said in the first
place.
Looking Forward hasn't exactly been a sales monster.
Do you think there's a place for CSNY in a world of Backstreet
Boys, Britney Spears, and Kid Rock?
Nash: We don't care. We truly do not care.
Crosby: You've got to remember that we're in the fortunate
position of not having to worry about whether we're going to
be a success or not. We judge our success on how well the song
went down, how well the music happened. We don't need to wonder
if we sell records or tickets or if we have to paint ourselves
blue and wear Maori headdresses. We're not in competition with
any of that other stuff. But there is an audience for us. There's
a huge audience for us.
Stills: One of the more delightful things in my life
has been that each of my children, who range from 31 to 3 years
old, each one of them gets to a certain age, about 11 or 12,
and they discover our old records and sooner or later they come
down and say, "Dad! You guys were hot!"
Nash: What's the point of caring about trying to compete
with whatever's out there? We can't do that. All we can be is
Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, the best we can be. I hope
that's enough, and I really believe it will be.
What about the future?
Crosby: When we started singing in the studio, we didn't
say, "Are we making a record?" We never brought it
up. We looked at each other and said, "Hmm, let's let the
music do this." That's what we're doing. We're letting
the music lead the way. If we have a blast doing this, then
we'll probably keep doing it.
Young: There's a lot of unfinished business. I don't
think we ever really reached our potential, and so we have a
lot of things to show and a lot of things to do. That's why
it's so exciting; there are things that we started doing on
the record that can show us the future. This band can sing like
the Byrds and jam like the Dead. Hopefully we can get the audience
turned on to what we're doing and have it just be a music thing.
Nash: I don't think anyone's considering anything permanent.
We love the new record, we are as excited as s--t to be going
on the road to play new music, and we'll take it a day at a
time. And if it's all good, if the music's good, and we're getting
off and we look at each other at the end of the tour and say,
"You know what? That was groovy; let's go to Europe,"
then great.
Crosby: We're not trying to decide the future now. What
we're trying to do now is make sure that when you come to the
concert, you get what you came for, that you hear those songs
done really well, from the heart.
