He talks to La Vanguardia from Warsaw, one more stop on the tour of the band he has led for more than thirty years. The one who speaks is Adam Duritz and the combo of which he is the lead singer and main songwriter, the Counting Crows.
The Californian band, an indisputable reference on the American rock scene since their first album appeared in 1993 -and also famous for recording the song Accidentally in love for the movie Shrek 2- will land this Monday 26 in Barcelona (Razzmatazz 1 room, 9pm).
They will do it within the framework of the tour of their latest album The butter miracle. Suite one and after being postponed due to the pandemic. It started a few weeks ago in Tel Aviv and the band proves to be in great shape.
What can be heard in Barcelona?
No idea, the set changes every night, and we played for almost two hours. Of course, we fully interpret our latest album The butter miracle. Suite one, all at once, it's 18 minutes without stopping and always in the same order.
In his Tel Aviv concert repertoire, the last encore was Holiday in Spain and the only version is Joni Mitchell's Big yellow taxi.
Yes, Spain is fundamental in our career, above all because of the vibrations it transmits and because they are cities that are open. In addition, it is one of the countries where we have always found a great feed back. Spain and Italy are our favorite stops when we come to Europe. And as for Big yellow taxi, well, because it is one of the versions that has worked the most for us throughout all these years. I love doing them, even from hip hop pieces, and in this case
What do the songs from the band's latest album, The butter miracle. Suite one?
They are songs about how I feel; there is probably a message in them but I was not aware of it while writing them. I just wanted the songs to flow, the lyrics to match the sounds... that was the main priority.
But when you started writing them, what was your starting point?
Well, the truth is that I had no special interest in writing new music. It's something that I've been experiencing over the last few years, especially, I mean, I'm excited about performing live and touring and I guess part of it is because I've realized that it's getting harder and harder to put music on circulation, to get it to the people, at least what Counting Crows does. But when I started writing again, I realized that I needed that music to reach people.
That difficulty you talk about in getting to music has to do essentially with its distribution, with the weight of the record companies.
We have never allowed ourselves to be subdued by the record companies when making our music and therefore how our albums turned out. Never. The real problem with them is that they don't know how to do their job, they have some schemes and ways of working with a fixed gear. But luckily now you can distribute your music through other channels, through platforms, through Apple Music for example.
That's fine?
Yes, now it's easier to produce your music and get it to those who want to listen to it. You can make your music at home, although we can't because we need the studio to play together, but in general it's much more affordable. On the other hand, it is very difficult to become a rock star like before, and above all, the fact that nobody wants to pay for music, for art.
And he wrote them far from the United States, in the countryside, in England, practically isolated. And before the pandemic.
Yes, we went to a farm in the English countryside, I was with my family, my girlfriend, but most of the time I was alone, with a couple of dogs. And a huge inspiration came to me to write again... and in fact when the real confinement arrived I already had like eighty percent of the album written. I spent this confinement in the United States
The coronavirus has also separated him from the stage. How has it been?
In a rather strange way, starting with the fact that it's been the longest period of time away from live since I was a youngster... the last I think was in January two years ago. But it has been an experience that has served to realize your life, your health, the importance of the people closest to you, and that in the end you return to offering great concerts. And I have experienced this as a great reward.
