Why The Black Crowes Excluded ‘Manipulative’ Drummer Steve Gorman From Reunion

While the Black Crowes’ 2021 reunion tour will see brothers Chris and Rich Robinson reunite with bassist Sven Pipien, original drummer Steve Gorman has been excluded, because according to Rich Robinson, he was a “manipulative” figure within the band.

Though Gorman started playing with the Black Crowes in 1987 and appeared on nine of their albums, the Robinson brothers initially decided that they wanted a fresh group of musicians to support them on the reunion tour when they announced it in late 2019. They did choose to involve Pipien since then, but apparently that’s because he wasn’t an issue for them.

“Steve was one of the incredibly negative and manipulative forces in the band that we really didn’t want to deal with,” Rich Robinson told the Long Island Weekly about the decision to leave the drummer out of the reunion. “In order to get back, we really had to do this very specific purge where we focus on the two of us and let this be something that will be positive.”

“We can be in charge of our own triggers, but if you have other people around that have an agenda, which a lot of the older people around did, it’s just going to crash and burn,” the guitarist continued. “We didn’t look at this as a one-time thing. We want to focus and do it right for ourselves as human beings. For ourselves as brothers. For ourselves as writing and creative partners as well as the other reasons.”

Joining the Robinsons and Pipien on the tour — which will commemorate the 30th anniversary of their debut album Shake Your Money Maker — are guitarist Isaiah Mitchell, drummer Brian Griffin, Joel Robinow on keyboards and backup singers Mackenzie Adams and Leslie Grant. Dirty Honey will be the opener for the shows. See the full list of dates here.