Online Exclusive: Tour Talk

David Crosby, CSNY

Tour starts: July 6th in Camden, NJ

How did the tour come together?

The way they all do. Neil just called and said, "Ok, let's do it." And it's certainly up to Neil; he is the driving force there 'cause he is the 600 pound guerilla. And I am intensely grateful. I don't mean to mock anything about it -- I really love it -- but it obviously only happens when he wants it to happen.

But this is the third tour in six years, so he clearly?

Yeah, we must be doing something right. It's so powerful, man, and I always go back to the songs. To me that's our real strength. CSNY has such a powerful book of songs that it's really not fair. We can play 3 hours of shit that will rock your world because you live through it. And it's an unfair advantage and one that we intend to really enjoy. And, of course, there's the new album.

Did you book this tour before you cut the album, because you cut it so quickly and recently?

Well, we knew that we were going to go out, but then he just came with this and said, "Hey, what do you think?" And we said, "Are you asking me, do I want to sing 'let's impeach the president for lying?' FUCK, YES!" We're pretty excited about doing that. Most of the people I know are very unhappy with this president and this war and it's familiar territory to us. We've been through this before. And we very much want to sing those songs.

I saw you guys four years ago and you were playing "Military Madness" and a guy near me was pissed off. It was four years ago, when the country was a bit different. I was all for it, but, I think these days that nobody would be opposed to it. Don't you think so?

Yeah, somebody getting pissed at "Military Madness." I remember a night when somebody -- when we were out with Crosby Stills and Nash -- and the guy was really upset. And I just had to laugh. What does he expect coming to a Crosby Stills and Nash show? There aren't any songs in praise to George Bush, but I can't imagine us doing them even if there were.

These days, it seems the country is finally coming to their senses so I think it'll be a rather smooth ride for you guys.

Well, I don't know about that. I don't' know if I should tell you this, but I've heard twice from two different sources that people are going to picket us.

What?

I'm kind of hoping they do.

Yeah, God. I guess that 30% is still out there that's believing this crap. That's shocking. Have you faced pickets at any of your concerts in recent decades?

No. There were a few people who are sure that lesbians are the spawn of the devil that were out there after the Melissa thing, but this would be more serious. Obviously, if they want to that would be fine with me. They certainly have the right to. I think it would be fun.

I have heard Neil say that his favorite thing on the tour is to play guitar again with Steven Stills. Do you think the two of them feed off each other?

Yeah, Neil gets the best out of Steven of anybody. He challenges him and makes him rise to higher levels and that's a wonderful thing. And I think Steven's been out doing a solo tour, acoustic and small band, just to get his chops up. And I think that was a very smart move because Neil's chops are up. He's always workin'.

Next Tour Talk: Bret Michaels of Poison