NEWS
Robert Plant is highly amused by Paul McCartney’s dubbing the Rolling Stones “a blues cover band,” perhaps in part because his own old band faced similar criticism. “I don’t think there’s any fighting,” he says in the new episode of Rolling Stone Music Now. “They’ve known each other since 1963. They love each other desperately.” Still, if there’s any animus, he knows how to resolve it: McCartney, he says, “should just play bass with the Stones.”
The singer was joined on this episode by Alison Krauss, who just recorded the excellent new album Raising the Roof with him. Here are some highlights.
To hear the entire episode, press play above, or listen on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.
Plant gently mocks Eric Clapton’s vaccine criticism. “Good old Eric,” he says with a laugh. “He didn’t like the jab — but he had the jab.”
Plant and Krauss reveal details of an abortive collaboration with Daniel Lanois circa 2010. “The deal was to maybe even think about writing stuff with him,” Plant says. “I think there’s about six or seven ideas we pulled together.”
Krauss admits it’s hard to sing with Plant onstage sometimes. “The part that wasn’t fun was that he’s singing so off the cuff all the time,” she says. “It’s hard to harmonize if someone’s constantly in that state, which is magical if you’re not trying to harmonize, but if I’m trying to harmonize with it, it didn’t make it easy.”
Krauss has fond memories of the success of O Brother, Where Art Thou? and its soundtrack. “It showcased bluegrass music in such a beautiful way,” she says. “It was a really emotional thing.” She only really learned just how big a phenomenon it was when she shared a bill with veteran singer Norman Blake, on a tour sparked by the soundtrack. “He went out there to sing ‘Big Rock Candy Mountain,’ and the arena screams that came from him starting the show like that? I was blown away.”
Plant is mostly proud of the ups and downs of his post-Zeppelin career. “I was always trying to escape the shadow of what had happened to me between 1968 and 1980,” he says. “So I was trying so many different things just to expand myself without really worrying about taking along an audience that only wanted me to be on autopilot. I made good music and I made questionable music, but I did it all with great flurry. And there’s only a minor embarrassment now, maybe perhaps a few dodgy haircuts. I mean, when you’re on maximum rotation on MTV, it’s just, how the hell did that happen? From the hammer of the gods to, um, [1983 solo ballad] ‘Big Log.'”
Plant says it wasn’t easy singing the high notes in Zeppelin — and that the keys of the songs were based around Jimmy Page’s guitar playing, not his vocal range. “Quite often everything was in E because you got much more out of the bottom of the guitar,” he says. “I should have gone to one of those castrati schools in Northern Italy trying to get it right.”
The duo — who last released Raising Sand in 2007 — would like to keep the collaboration going this time. “We’ve still got about 6,000 songs,” says Plant. “So if it feels good and there’s nothing to stop the flow, once we get on tour, maybe we pull up in some little town somewhere and set up and record.”
Download and subscribe to our weekly podcast, Rolling Stone Music Now, hosted by Brian Hiatt, on Apple Podcasts or Spotify (or wherever you get your podcasts), and check out three years’ worth of episodes in the archive, including in-depth, career-spanning interviews with Bruce Springsteen, Halsey, Neil Young, Snoop Dogg, Brandi Carlile, Phoebe Bridgers, Rick Ross, Alicia Keys, the National, Ice Cube, Dua Lipa, Questlove, Killer Mike, Julian Casablancas, Sheryl Crow, Johnny Marr, Scott Weiland, Liam Gallagher, Alice Cooper, Fleetwood Mac, Elvis Costello, John Legend, Donald Fagen, Phil Collins, Justin Townes Earle, Stephen Malkmus, Sebastian Bach, Tom Petty, Eddie Van Halen, Kelly Clarkson, Pete Townshend, Bob Seger, the Zombies, Gary Clark Jr., and many others — plus dozens of episodes featuring genre-spanning discussions, debates, and explainers with Rolling Stone’s critics and reporters. Tune in every Friday at 1 p.m. ET to hear Rolling Stone Music Now broadcast on SiriusXM’s Volume, channel 106.
NEWS
Nick Cave has reflected on reports that his massive Preston Park concert with The Bad Seeds became “the largest ticketed event in Brighton’s history”.
Read More: In conversation with Nick Cave: “There’s no metric that says virtuousness makes good art”
The legendary rock band performed in Brighton on Friday, July 31, delivering their only UK show to more than 50,000 fans while celebrating their praised 2024 record, ‘Wild God’.
The Flaming Lips, English Teacher, Cate Le Bon and Warmduscher appeared as special guests, while Kylie Minogue joined Cave for a moving rendition of ‘Where The Wild Roses Grow’.
Before the main concert, the group gave fans another unexpected treat by performing an intimate acoustic set on the rooftop of Brighton’s Resident Records.
Following the packed Preston Park performance, Cave has now reflected on the milestone event, revealing that the occasion felt like a “homecoming” for several reasons.
Responding to a fan through his Red Hand Files website, Cave explained that he spent the following morning sitting along Brighton’s seafront and taking in the “near-empty, early-morning streets” while thinking about the previous night. He also revealed that his manager had told him “last night’s show was the largest ticketed event in Brighton’s history”.
While remembering the concert, Cave called it a “big day for The Bad Seeds” and said he could not “overstate the pride I feel in performing with a band that can play the rooftop of a record store in the morning, and then perform to nearly 50,000 people in the evening with the same ferocious intention”.
“There is simply no other group that can summon pure chaos and the most acute intimacy almost simultaneously, and that is both tight and anarchic within the same song,” he continued. “They are a force to behold, and it is a sheer privilege to share a stage with them.”
Discussing Minogue’s surprise appearance, Cave shared that her outfit had been created by his wife, fashion designer Susie. He also praised the Australian star as “a performer who only gives, gives and gives, then retreats, as ghosts and great performers do.”
The ‘Red Right Hand’ singer went on to express his gratitude to “everyone who came to the concert”, explaining that the evening felt like “a homecoming in many different ways”.
“Although part of me is relieved the Preston Park show is behind me, sometimes my job is so completely and emotionally overwhelming, I’m happy we could, for a delirious moment in time, create a place where the absent and the present could dance together. Again, thank you,” he finished.
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds will now complete their tour with a final series of European festival appearances. The group has also suggested that another record may be approaching, having revealed earlier this year that they were “messing around” in the studio and considering what could follow ‘Wild God’.
Following the release of that project, Cave appeared on ‘Honora’, the first solo album from Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea. He has also created a fresh recording of ‘Red Right Hand’ for Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man.
