Posted by Opus (69.115.100.147) on October 26, 2019 at 08:35:26:
In Reply to: Re: Rich and Marc posted by joop on October 15, 2019 at 14:32:54:
: : What exactly went down between Rich and Marc? Are they doomed to fire or quit on each other forever?
: I second this question... out of the loop, did they have a falling out or split?
If you go by social media accounts, Marc is the only guy from TMS that Rich gets along with.
They follow each other on IG, but Rich follows no one else in the band and no one in the band follows him. John and Sven still follow the Magpie IG, but Joe dropped both.
John's said nothing about the new album, Joe's posted a few clips of himself drumming during shows and soundchecks but no mention of HWII (he mainly posts about GeneGene, his band with Katrine), Sven posted about it and confirmed the end of the band. Sven's now married to the Magpie tour manager and I think they're living in Argentina, or at least honeymooning there.
The weak promotion of the album has had hashtags for Rich and Marc, but not even a mention of anyone else, whereas HWI had everyone tagged.
Regarding the band itself, and this is all my speculation and I don't have any sources, but I think two things happened:
1) Chris and Rich needed money; and
2) Magpie couldn't book venues for a new tour
I can't fathom Rich wanting to restart the Crowes if he was financially secure. TMS just released an album, one that he wrote or cowrote every song on, and it's gotten praise from the people who've listened to it. He must want to play those songs live instead of Hard to Handle or She Talks to Angels every night for the next two years (TMS never even played those songs during their existence).
The second point is one I go back to when I heard the lead singer of Monster Magnet on a podcast. He said they recorded a new album and wanted to tour on it, but were told by venues they weren't booking them if that's what they wanted to play. However, if they were willing to tour behind the anniversary of one of their albums (I forget which one), they could get booked. Promoters don't want you touring behind new albums, they want nostalgia shows. And 2020 is the 30th anniversary for SYMM, so it's tour in 2020 or never. And if the crowds for Magpie shows were underwhelming on previous tours, there's another reason venues would pass on booking shows for them.
My guess is those two factors led to the brothers reuniting through an intermediary (like George Shapiro) and being given an offer that included separate travel accommodations so they don't need to be around each other. Get Marc, Sven, Steve, and Adam? Either they were hard passes or would have cost a lot more than a no name musician who can play bass for the minimum salary.
Rich then told the band, we gave it a shot, but I can't afford to do this any longer. Some people were okay with that (like Marc) and the others were not.