The Black Crowes have announced their first album of new material in 15 years, ‘Happiness Bastards’.
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On Friday (January 12), the southern rock band took to Instagram to announce the new full-length release. “Leaving the bullshit in the past… 15 years since our last album of new music, we present ‘Happiness Bastards’, our 10th studio album out March 15,” read the post’s caption, attached to a video of a man glueing posters of the album’s artwork onto a brick wall plastered with the band’s old album covers.
According to Consequence, brothers Chris and Rich Robinson have commented further on the album’s significance in a press release. “The Robinson Brothers are claiming this momentous year as their own,” it read. “While they have dealt with their share of differences over the years, they are now two happy bastards, with a triumphant album to show for it.”
“Happiness Bastards is our love letter to rock n’ roll,” added Chris Robinson. “Rich and I are always writing and creating music; that has never stopped for us, and it is always where we find harmony together. This record represents that.”
Rich Robinson also revealed that the band worked together with Jay Joyce, who has also produced works by Carrie Underwood, Orville Peck, Eric Church and FIDLAR: “Our years of experience writing and making music and touring the world are represented in this record, and we were brilliantly guided by one of the best producers in the business, Jay Joyce. I am incredibly proud of what we put together.”
The announcement was accompanied by the release of the album’s lead single, ‘Wanting And Waiting’. Listen to the track below.
‘Happiness Bastards’ marks The Black Crowes’ first full-length album of original material since 2009’s ‘Before The Frost… Until The Freeze’. In the 15 years that have passed, the band have only released live recordings and re-workings of old material, including 2010’s ‘Croweology’ which consists of new renditions of old Black Crowes tracks, and their 2022 covers EP, ‘1972’. In 2021, the band released ‘Brothers Of A Feather’, a film commemorating their reunion the year before.
Chris and Rich Robinson, who have been feuding since the band’s early days, originally split The Black Crowes in 2015 following a disagreement over ownership of the band. The estrangement between the brothers ceased when they announced a reunion tour in 2019, celebrating the 30th anniversary of their 1990 debut, ‘Shake Your Money Maker’. However, the tour had to be rescheduled as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the band announcing in 2021 that the tour would take place in 2022 instead.
During the ‘Shake Your Money Maker’ reunion tour, the band was joined by R.E.M.‘s Peter Buck for a cover of R.E.M.’s ‘The One I Love’, and Soundgarden’s Kim Thayil, who joined the band for a cover of The Velvet Underground’s ‘Rock And Roll’.