“Immy” of the Counting Crows gives some insight

by Brenna Rushing

Although the Counting Crows have been around for over ten years, they seem to know what to do to stay “in the scene.” Since their Oscar nominated Shrek 2 single, “Accidentally in Love,” they’ve been working on a new album and touring all over the world.

Saturday Nights and Sunday Mornings came out in March, with “You Can’t Count on Me” as their first single. In an interview, guitarist David Immerglück told me “We recorded the album in two separate cities and with two different producers. We made a conscious decision that we wanted to record some songs in NY and some completely different songs in Berkeley, California. It’s sort of a bipolar sheen on the record.”

He went on to explain that the album has two sides, meaning that it has a loud and aggressive side and a quieter, more well-mannered side much like the band. The title goes hand in hand with this. There’s the Saturday nights where you go out and rage and get very aggressive and do irresponsible things. And then Sunday is the recovering time. Those are the sides of the album.”

The group is currently on tour with Maroon 5 and Sara Bareilles. When I asked Immy (as he is called) how he gets ready to go out on tour, he said that he was doing his taxes right before this tour. “I got home and I thought I was going to chill out for a little while but I found out I had to do my taxes. I was on my hands and knees in a pile of receipts on the floor.” This tells me that they’re pros at touring.

I also asked him if he or any of the band members get nervous before a tour, and he said “The last time I got nervous in sort of an 'Oh my god' sort of way was when we were opening for The Who.” Once again, pros.

Since the hugely successful single “Mr. Jones” came out and made a name for the band, they have released four studio albums and two live albums. The band has been through some changes over the years, losing seven members and adding new ones. Currently CC has six permanent bandmates and one touring bassist, Millard Powers.

David had a lot to say about how the music industry has changed since the band began. He said the major issue resides with the record labels, not the bands. He explained that most bands make their money off of live shows, so the fact that more people are buying their music online isn’t hurting them as much as you would expect. He gave recognition to the fans saying, “We have the good fortune of having a really loyal and ever growing live fan base."

But if you’re a band trying to make it big, beware. “It’s harder more than ever now for a new band to come up and get attention put on them,” David elucidated.

After mentioning the two free song downloads on their website, Immy lit up saying, “That pairing of songs was the greatest incapsulation of our record. We had more success with that than the single the record label put out.” The two tracks are “When I Dream of Michelangelo” and “1492,” which are both off of their new album. Listening to these tracks is a great way to get a quick impression of their record because both tracks show the opposites coming together.

But David had hope for the rising musicians out there saying, “Something’s gonna give. Good music always come through and people need good music.”

If you need more Immy, check out his website!

The Counting Crows and Maroon 5 will be here with Augustana on September 6 at Superpages.com Center.