NEIL YOUNG

Crazy Horse’s bassist BILLY TALBOT on Zuma, the rebirth of Crazy Horse, power cuts, Dylan jams and more

UNCUT: What was Neil’s mood going intoZumafollowing the break-up with Carrie and the CSNY ‘Doom’ tour?

BILLY TALBOT: My main memory of Zuma is being in Malibu in some bar having a beer with Neil and talking about how he was happy that we were going to do some recording. He was happy about that, and that’s all he was thinking about. I don’t think he was thinking much about Crosby, Stills & Nash at that point. He was past that. Neil is always moving forward. As for Carrie, it wasn’t spoken. It was like any other gang. You don’t speak about things when you are trying to get past them – you try to have a good time, but you don’t moan and groan because that’s not how to get past things. If you do any moaning and groaning, you do it by yourself.

What was it about Poncho that made you think he’d work for Crazy Horse?

He had a simple new attitude towards music. He wasn’t somebody who had been playing music with everybody always telling him how great he was or anything like that. He always loved the music, he loved playing and he loved making music. He wasn’t trying to be a star in any way. He wasn’t not trying to be a star, he just wasn’t thinking in that way and that’s what I liked. So I asked him to come and join us somehow. He came to my house, we played together a bit, then I invited Ralph and Neil down and we all played and it was fun. That’s all we could ask for, as Danny had passed.

Was there a point where you realised this was the new Crazy Horse?

We didn’t talk about this being Crazy Horse, it all just happened. Neil went to Chicago and invited all three of us to join him – me and Ralph and Poncho. I said we should bring him as it would work, and we did and it did – it worked. When the record [Zuma] was released eventually, we called it Neil Young And Crazy Horse, but we weren’t thinking about that at the moment. We were just trying to get back on track. Danny passing was a real blow. That was what we’d been doing for years. Ralph and Danny and I had been traipsing around as a vocal group, then decided to start playing instruments. Then we got together with Neil and just as we were really getting into it, Danny passed. It was a disruption to this whole force that had been moving forward, so we had to regroup and find our way. We did, fortunately. I guess it was in the cards. It just gelled – but like anything that comes together, it was one of those things.

How did Poncho change the sound of Crazy Horse?

Poncho is another person, so it’s bound to be different. That’s how it is in life. Each one of us is unique. Especially in a group when you have three or four guys. Danny was one person, he was himself and he’d been great with us, and now he was gone and Poncho came into the picture and he was also himself. If there was any change to the Horse that was it, the new element.

Tell me about the vibe at Briggs’ beach house – it sounds quite wild?

It might sound wild and at times it might have been a little wild, but we were more interested in the music because Neil was taking us in that direction. He really wanted to do what he wanted to do – and he wanted us to do it with him. He didn’t lose sight of that picture and what he wanted to create. He kept the partying to a minimum, so I don’t know where these stories all came from.

Who else was around the house during the sessions?

James “Sandy” Mazzeo was there, he did the cover. He was in the house with me and Ralph and Poncho and two or three others. We were staying on the beach in Malibu, you can’t complain about that. The weather wasn’t the best, it was foggy in the morning, but I was a young man away from my family and all these things taken together are kind of like a formula for adventure and it all shows up in the music.