Sven Pipien - Flyin’ High with The Black Crowes

Photo by Josh Miller
  
It’s hard to believe that 18 years have past since The Black Crowes broke out of Georgia with their hit-laden debut, Shake Your Money Maker. In that time they have established themselves as one of the best live bands around with the musical chops to easily convert the non-believers! Having reunited in late 2004, the Crowes returned to the stage for a sold-out tour that won over a new legion of fans. The band recently released Warpaint, their first album in seven years on their own Silver Arrow records.

Both confident and cool, the ‘lived in’ feel of Warpaint is the sound of a band that has seen more than their share of onstage action. But the years spent on the jam circuit only seem to have sharpened the band’s talents. Rather than wandering off into abstraction with long improvised bits, the Crowes have delivered one of their most focused and powerful collections of songs yet. It is also one of the most rockin’ albums you are likely to hear in 2008.

Fresh off of the first leg of their current tour, bassist Sven Pipien called in to talk about his history with the Crowes and how his Aguilar rig helps him to cut through two loud guitar players.

By Marco Passarelli

So Sven, let’s start at the beginning.
I was born in Germany actually; I grew up in Europe and moved to the States with my folks when I was ten. Obviously you can tell I don’t have a thick, German accent; a sign that I moved here at a young age (laughs)! I lived in Chicago at first but when I was 13 or 14, I moved to Atlanta and that’s how I ended up being friends with Chris and Rich Robinson; we were in rival high school bands.

A friend of mine had a drummer friend in Kentucky, Steve Gorman [Black Crowes drummer], and he came down and joined our band; which was a band called Mary My Hope. I remember just before we got signed he befriended Chris and started talking about playing with them occasionally. He ended up joining them and of course a couple of weeks later we got signed to Silver Tone Records! I was just really upset with Steve for his sake that he just made a really bad decision (laughs)! Of course a year later or two years later I guess it was, Shake Your Moneymaker came out and proved me completely wrong (laughs)!

How long have you been playing with the band now?
I joined the first time in ’97 after Johnny Colt left which I guess was right after the Three Snakes and One Charm album.

I had been friends with them for years so when Johnny Colt quit, Steve Gorman was like, “hey man, I think Sven is probably available, why don’t we give him a call? I was in another band at the time and I broke some hearts (laughs) but you know but I had to go along with that situation. I did have some ups and downs with it; I left in 2000 after some disagreements with the band and just the way things were going. I was, actually we were all out of our minds (laughs) so I don’t think they were really the most rational decisions! But when they got back together at the end of 2004, with Marc and Ed, I joined back and as grueling as it’s been, it’s been great!

I hear War Paint was recorded at a pretty cool studio.
Oh it was fantastic; it’s called Allaire Studios. It’s in the Catskills on top of a mountain, near the Ashokan reservoir and so it’s just lakes and mountains. It’s just a fantastic physical surrounding, like a little old English Village on top of a mountain basically. It’s just a great old room, great old gear. We holed ourselves up for the first couple of weeks and it was just us; no record company, no wives, no kids and it was, for me, just one of the most rewarding recording experiences I’ve ever been through.

I heard that Allaire has a great live room – did you track live?
Yeah, the whole album is pretty much live with very few overdubs. Everything we did was either the first, second, or third take. We would jam around on something and Paul Stacey, the producer, would at some point decide, “Ok, that’s getting somewhere, let’s just hit record!”

What has the reception for the album been like?
I think it’s gotten a fairly good response out of people and the thing about it is that it’s an honest record, whether you like it or not. It is what it is; it’s where we are right now. I would much rather have it that way than having a big-selling record that wasn’t us, you know?

For the first couple of shows, you guys debuted Warpaint in it’s entirety
We did yes but we’re definitely going to mix it up for the summer tour. It’s been cool just playing new music as well as the old catalogue, which, for me, being I wasn’t a part of the band the whole time, is always an invigorating experience. I just love some of their older stuff!

What basses do you have out with you right now?
I’m a Fender guy for the most part but I play a Sadowsky Jazz bass; it’s really in between a Jazz and a P Bass as far as pickups go and it’s an active bass but I don’t use the active pickups at all I just use it straight. There’s just something about the neck, it’s as if I bought an early 60’s Fender Jazz that no one’s played! It just works out for me in a practical sense. But I do have a P Bass, I’ve got a Jazz as well; regular Fender stuff but I’ve been going with the Sadowsky for the most part; it’s got a great neck, I’m just really happy with that.

What led you to Aguilar gear?
The biggest problem I’ve had with gear has been dependability. Since I switched to Aguilar, I’ve had zero problems - I’m so happy with the Aguilar stuff! Somewhere in the ‘80s when my old, early 70’s amplifiers began falling apart I started buying a lot of newer stuff but I was just more and more unsatisfied with what was out there. I just think Aguilar is superior to the old stuff, especially the cabinets.

What is it that you like about the cabinets?
The cabinets are so fantastic; they project in a way that no other cabinet does! They project not only well for me onstage but also for the rest of the musicians onstage, which has always been a problem. The way bass frequencies work obviously, you can have a great ‘spot’ and think you’re great and then you move three feet away from that and everyone else is getting a bunch of low end rumble with no definition! But with these cabinets the whole stage is covered in nice, clear bass tones.

What cabinets are you using?
The DB 810. I went to the factory and tried out the new DB 412 and I like those too. I think before the summer tour I’m gonna pick those up as well just to see what the spread is. I’m anxious to try that out with everybody and see what everybody else thinks. Like I said, it’s not just how I feel about the bass, it’s how everyone else feels onstage as well! It’s just one of those weird things about bass!

   gear
Photo by Jay Denes

So you have the DB 750 and the DB 810 on the road with you now?
Right, the DB 750 head and the DB 810’s but sometimes for smaller gigs I use a DB 410 and a little DB 210 cabinet that I tilt up so that I can keep it at lower volumes and still get what I need to hear. It’s like a makeshift flip top! Somebody just suggested, “Why don’t you tilt that DB 210 up, that way you can keep a lower volume and still have the DB 410 on the floor so you can feel the bass”? But also hear the higher tones at a lower volume so when we do smaller gigs at clubs and such it just works out great for that.

What helps the bass cut through a large band with keyboards and two loud guitarists?
I’ve noticed that I need midrange; that’s my thing. For years I always had the midrange way down especially being in a standard four-piece situation where you need a bigger spread of the bass. Both guitar players [in the Crowes] use so much bottom end to their sounds that it’s often clashed in the past. I’ve realized that I can have a higher volume but just lower the lower bass frequencies and push the mids a little bit and that cuts through. And something about those Aguilar cabinets, I don’t feel like I’m losing any bottom end when I do that; at least for me in front of the amp. There’s just such a nice, low bottom end that when I turn down the bass frequencies, and push the mids, I still like I’m playing bass as opposed to some sort of lower guitar!

The other thing is volume; Steve plays so incredibly loud, he’s such a strong drummer that that pushes everyone else’s up! And Rich of course has been notoriously loud for years. And so for me to compete with, there’s just no other cabinet or amp that I’ve tried and I’ve tried just about everything at this point, that competes as well as the Aguilar stuff does.

Well, thanks so much Sven; we hope to see you the next time you’re in NYC!

 
bottom
Photo by Josh Miller