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| Graham Nash - photo by Eleanor Stills |
More than 50 years into
his musical career, Graham Nash shows
no signs of slowing down. In fact, given his schedule for the remainder of 2015,
one could argue that the singer/songwriter has never been busier. Currently on the road with Crosby,
Stills, and Nash, a summer solo
tour will follow, after which CSN will board the Queen Mary 2 in September
bound for London from which they will launch a fall European tour.
Nash is a two-time
inductee into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (with Crosby, Stills, and Nash in
1997 and The Hollies
in 2010), an outspoken social
activist against the use of nuclear energy, and a musical icon whose incredible
journey has, fortunately, been immortalized in
print. Our conversation took place during one of CSN’s early stops on their
current U.S. tour, and in the course of a half hour, revealed a veritable
Renaissance man who, like a certain Mr. Einstein, questions everything; whose mind remains
crystal-clear; whose tongue remains razor-sharp against those he views as threats
to the collective safety, well-being, and ultimate survival of humanity; and
whose heart remains firmly rooted in the essentials of life: home, family,
love.
Roy Abrams: You’re in
Milwaukee tonight (May 3). How’s the tour going?
Graham Nash: Unbelievably
well. It’s really astonishing; really, we are still performing really well, and
still writing really excellent songs, and still putting asses on seats, as they
say!
RA: After CSN’s current
tour, it seems to be the summer of solo tours. Was this coincidence or deliberate
on the part of all three of you?
GN: Well, the truth is that
we are getting older, and we want to do this as much as we can. It’s quite
simple, because we’re communicators, really; we’ve got a lot of things to say
that we think that people might want to hear, and as long as we keep writing
songs like this, I don’t see an end to this.
RA: I wanted to touch on
your upcoming solo tour. You’re previously spoken about the song selection
process at length, that it’s always been a challenge given the sheer volume of
the catalog. Your contribution to the CSN “mothership” includes songs dating
back more than a half century; you’ve travelled with them for decades and have,
no doubt, established a personal relationship with each of them. What have
those relationships been like?
GN: Sometimes great,
sometimes not so great. For instance, it’s always good to write a love song,
you know? On the other hand, I wrote “Military Madness” about my father going
off to World War II and we don’t seem to have learned anything. [chuckles] In terms of “Military Madness” as a writer,
I’m touched by the fact that people still like the song, but it sure is a drag
to have to keep singing it! Not from the point of view of doing the song, but
what the subject is about.
RA: From our first
conversation more than 20 years ago, you explained that the shift in your focus
from whales to humans came with the shift in focus one acquires upon becoming a
parent. Our children are our biggest asset, you expressed at the time. As a
teacher, I couldn’t agree with you more. And yet, we seem to be the only life
form which poisons its young with hatred. How do you break that cycle in people
whose mindsets have been frozen in fury?
GN: I think you have to
peacefully and gently provide information that may change their minds. The
truth is that you can only really take care of yourself, and your loved ones,
and your family, and your friends, and do the best you can with your life. What
more can you do except work toward positivity and good things and a decent path
through life?
RA: The
words of “Teach Your Children”, written more than 45 years ago, echo through the decades, reminding me that we, collectively speaking,
should have come much further than where we are today …
GN: And we have to realize
that even though children are only about 25% of our population, they’re
absolutely 100% of our future.
RA: You have seen so much
during your lifetime; for six decades, you have travelled the world and seen
more of its people than the majority of so-called statesmen. Who do you see us
as, as a society, as a culture? Where do you see us going? Are we where you
imagined we might be when you wrote those words?
GN: I don’t feel great
about it, I must confess. I think a couple of things: First of all, that the
media is completely controlling real access to genuine information. They don’t
want protest songs on their airwaves; they don’t want anybody rocking the boat.
Just leave us alone while we rob you, and go away. It’s the old bread and
circuses from Roman times! Give the people something to look at and give them a
piece of bread and they’ll leave you alone, so you can control them. When you
add to that the unbelievable melting pot of humanity that the world’s
population is, everybody thinks that they should have this and have that, and what’s
really disturbing to me is the amount of control that the corporations have
over the population. And it’s really disturbing to me the amount of sheep that
there are out there. It’s disturbing to me that—well, quite frankly, I don’t
want to get political on you, but the Republicans disturb me. [They represent]
the one percent, and it’s so obvious. They’re so obviously against women,
they’re so obviously against abortion, they’re so obviously against trying to
provide funds to feed people with food stamps; it’s so obviously against … I
don’t know, don’t the Koch brothers have
children? Don’t the Koch brothers have grandchildren? Don’t the Koch brothers
realize what they’re doing to the fucking planet? I don’t feel good about it,
and I have to keep going back to Stephen
Hawking, who was asked quite recently how long he thought that the human
race would last. He thought for a second and said, “Hmmm. About a thousand
years.” And a thousand years is the blink of an eye. I don’t feel great. I do
realize that bad news sells, and I do realize that good news is hard to find,
but there are many, many wonderful things going on at the same time as many,
many awful things are going on, and it’s part of being human, I guess. But I
think greed and corruption and lack of manners does not bode well for humanity.
RA: Jumping off from your
last statement, I wanted to try something a little different. Last year, prior
to my interview
with David Crosby, my stepson Eric came up with a beautiful question for
him; one which could only have resonance coming from a young person. Asking
David’s permission, I passed the phone to Eric, and David’s response proved to
be among the lengthiest of our entire conversation. May I hand the phone to
Eric so he could ask you the same question?
GN: Sure.
Eric Gordon: As a lifelong
advocate of political awareness, what advice would you offer to today’s young
people as they grow into adulthood and assume the responsibilities for moving
our country and the world forward?
GN: I think that
information and ideas will absolutely change the world. I think that if the
children of today really try to find real information and not bow down to
people who want to control their mindset, I think that they will be in good
stead. As I said to your stepdad, children are 25% of our population and 100%
of the future, and if we don’t teach our children a better way of dealing with
our fellow human beings, we’re in deep shit, kid.
RA: Moving from global issues
back to CSN, your eventual role within the band was that of peacemaker or, as George Martin
described the role, “an emollient” that lubricated the friction between the
partners. Can you talk about that responsibility and its impact upon you when
situations had erupted in the past?
GN: I’ve always wanted to
get the job done, whatever the job is. If you set out to do something, do it
the best way with the most grace and the most dignity and the most fun that you
can. I’ve always tried to see that; I think it’s in great part because of my
English upbringing where, quite frankly, you didn’t know whether your house was
going to be there tomorrow. Or even tonight, you know? So, I’ve always wanted
to get the job done. If we’re going to do it, let’s do it the best way we can!
I’ve always had that attitude and my partners have always respected that
attitude, and I’m always bringing us back to how lucky we are to be doing what
we do, how fantastic our lives have been, and how insanely lucky we really are.
And I keep bringing everybody back to that basic truth. We were incredibly
lucky choosing a path in our lives that brought us to this place.
RA: Speaking of getting
the job done, the job that you and CSNY archivist Joel Bernstein did on the
three boxed sets {Crosby’s Voyage, Stills’ Carry
On, and Nash’s Reflections) ... bravo! I understand that some of
those projects took you years to compile.
GN: And the CSNY 1974 stadium tour boxed set took me almost
four and a half years.
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| Onstage with CSNY (c) Marty Wolff |
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| Graham Nash - Reflections |
RA: Is the role of band
archivist something that you found yourself gravitating toward, or did the
other two turn to you and say, “Graham, could you please do something here?”
GN: No, it’s just been a
natural thing for me. I’ve been a collector of many things: of art, and objects
that I really love. It’s just who I am, kid. What can I say? It’s just who I
am.
RA: You’ve stated that
you’ve been a photographer longer
than you’ve been a musician. Do you feel a sense of linkage from one to the
other, whether in the form of a particularly lyrical photo or an extremely
cinematic lyric? In that regard, I’m
thinking of “Cold Rain”—I
see these really grainy black and white snapshots of your home town.
GN: Perfect. That’s a
great description. Yeah, I see life as a column of energy. Where do I want to
plug in today? I don’t think I’ll ever get what they called “writer’s block”
because if I’m not writing, I’m sculpting, if I’m not sculpting, I’m
collecting, if I’m not collecting, I’m doing wood blocks, If I’m not doing wood
blocks, I’m painting, if I’m not painting, I’m
… I’m a lucky man, kid!
RA: Last year, David released his first solo record in
21 years, which was very well received and captures Crosby and band at the peak
of creative inspiration and performance. Here we are in 2015, and it’s been 21
years since CSN’s last studio album, After the Storm.
After the aborted sessions with Rick
Rubin to record an album of covers, were there any attempts to reconvene
and record a new, original album?
GN: Not really … no. There
are songs that you write that are very obviously for three vocal parts. There
are songs that you write that are only solo stuff. For instance, my life has
been chaotic for years now, in a good way. Recently, I had a month where, with
my friend Shane Fontayne, who’s
(CSN’s) second guitar player, I wrote 20 songs, went into the studio and recorded
20 songs in eight days.
RA: Really!
GN: And they’re solo
songs. So, that’s what we’re doing. David did the same thing with his band.
You’ll notice that there’s not a great amount of what would be normal
three-part harmony on David’s album. Of course, there are harmony parts, but
not like “Helplessly
Hoping” for instance, which is obviously an incredibly great vehicle for
three voices. So, you know, I think we have to get this year out of the way;
we’re on the road almost all year. In September we go on the Queen Mary 2 to
Europe, to London, and start our European tour. I think after this year, we
will obviously sit down and talk about making a new CSN record.
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| Crosby, Stills, and Nash - photo by Eleanor Stills |
RA: You have recorded with an amazing variety of people. Who are some favorite collaborators outside of the CSN “mothership”?
