|| Graham Nash: Feel the Dreams ||

In this new installment from the Mr. Bonzai vaults, we step back in time to 1991 for a comprehensive interview with Graham Nash. He is an artist who has been true to his words throughout his career, and it is certainly intriguing to read these words from the perspective of the two decades that have passed.

Graham Nash listening to a playback at Record Plant, 1991. Photo by Mr. Bonzai.

Graham Nash
Feel the Dreams
by Mr. Bonzai
©1991 by David Goggin, all rights reserved
no reproduction without written permission from mrbonzai@mrbonzai.com

Sessions at the top can be pretty serious, what with the big meter running and careers forging on, but the mood today is relaxed, upbeat, and friendly as Graham Nash steps out of the control room and joins me in the Record Plant studio canteen. The pinball machine fires off a synth riff as the room fills with the aroma of freshly microwaved gourmet popcorn.

Like millions around the world I’ve been touched by this man’s music for many, many years. He was a founding father of The Hollies, the only group in England to score more hits than The Beatles. Perhaps the most enduring soldier of the British Invasion, he pulled up his roots and changed his life at the Woodstock debut of Crosby, Stills and Nash.

It’s appropriate that CSN is three names, three distinct musical personalities. What’s remarkable is the harmonious blend that became a three-headed chimera, and sometimes four-headed. But this group has never been a “group” in the traditional musical sense.

“The individualism became a dominant part of what it was that we wanted to say,” Nash explains. “We wanted to let people know that we were no longer going to be in a group; that we would be individuals that came together to make music and could make music with whomever and in whatever form we wanted. Consequently, when people say, ‘They broke up, they reformed, they re-broke up, they re-formed,’ it’s all bullshit.”

Nash has had great success as a solo artist, as a member of a group, and as a member of a non-group. He’s the living proof of strong individuality working in harmony with others. When we look at the social activism, we might note that his first memories are of air raid sirens and the bombing of England in the final days of WWII.

To read the entire interview, click Nash_Graham_1991_MrB

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