Black Crowes strike back at ex-drummer over Jimmy Page story

One of the biggest turning points of The Black Crowes' career since their hit debut album was the band's 2000 collaboration with Jimmy Page.

The Crowes recorded a live album with Page and embarked on a 50-date tour with him, only to have the rock icon drop out under long-disputed circumstances after just 11 shows.

At the time, it was said that Page was battling severe back issues. But drummer Steve Gorman wrote in his 2019 memoir, Hard to Handle: The Life and Death of The Black Crowes, that Page departed over a creative dispute with the brothers Chris and Rich Robinson.

Page had offered to write songs with the Robinson brothers for the next Black Crowes album, Gorman claims, but Rich declined the offer, saying the duo didn't "need more songs." Page was so insulted that he went home.

Asked about that period in a recent conversation with Rolling Stone Music Now, Rich repeated that the only reason the Black Crowes and Page didn't continue working together was because "Jimmy hurt his back."

Chris defended his younger brother and turned the screws on Gorman, who was excluded from the revamped version of the band that's set to go on tour to celebrate Shake Your Money Maker.

One thing that I think is funny about Steve Gorman is that he's invented a persona that he was involved in any of the decisions, or that Jimmy Page would've talked to Steve about [leaving the tour]," Chris said. "There was me and Rich. And in that case, there was me and Rich and Jimmy. And then there's the band and management... you know what I mean?"

He continued: "For whatever reason [Steve's] feelings are hurt that he needs to make up things — he wouldn't know if they were true or untrue because he wouldn't have been privy to that kind of stuff ... like the way bands work and s--t.

"Look, man, we've made bad decisions, and every band that's been together for 30 years is crazy, but Rich isn't gonna not play with Jimmy Page [laughs], you know what I mean? That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard."

Chris and Gorman have plenty of bad blood between them. The band officially broke up in 2015, in large part, due to Chris's objections to Gorman's lasting equity in the band. In his book, Gorman calls Chris "the angriest person I've ever known."

Gorman discussed his battles with the Chris in a 2019 interview with Q104.3 New York's Out of the Box.

"When you're cast away or when you're treated with a certain level of disrespect; when your opinion is mocked or when someone's actions are clearly showing that you don't matter, it's ... [damaging] because, 'No, that's my friend doing that,' the drummer said. "...I never was a guy that thought that the band should supersede that [friendship]."

This article was first published on iheart.com and is republished here with permission