Neil Young: "CSNY Has Every Chance Of Getting Together"

Rock’s eternal dissident offers olive branch to bandmates, and arresting thoughts on Trump, in the latest MOJO magazine.

Neil Young: "CSNY Has Every Chance Of Getting Together"
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NEIL YOUNG INSISTS in the latest issue of MOJO magazine (in UK stores now) that the door is not shut on a possible revival of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young – or at least, not as far as he’s concerned. MOJO 280, featuring Neil Young, Ray Davies, Thin Lizzy, Anohni, Madness, The KLF and more.

“I think CSNY has every chance of getting together again,” he tells MOJO’s David Fricke. “I'm not against it.”

Never the most internally pacific of collaborations, CSNY has been rocked recently by David Crosby’s criticisms of Young, and more recently Graham Nash, regarding changes in their personal lives – more bluntly, their respective splits with long-term partners.

“There’s been a lot of bad things happen among us,” says Young, “and a lot of things have to be settled. But that’s what brothers and families are all about. We’ll see what happens. I’m open. I don’t think I’m a major obstacle.”

In addition to his conciliatory words regarding CSNY, Young talked MOJO through his latest album, Peace Trail, and shared his feelings about the current political situation.

“You gotta look at it like [Trump is] impressionable.”

Neil Young

While underlining his commitment to causes – such as his opposition to the Dakota oil Access Pipeline – that place him in apparent opposition to the new regime in the White House, Young is also surprisingly phlegmatic about President Trump, whom he describes as “water on the garden of activism”.

“There are a lot of things about him that I just can’t buy into,” says Young. “But we also know this guy really likes to be popular. What if a lot of people didn’t like what he was doing and told him? He’s already shown a strange ability to change course. You gotta look at it like he’s impressionable.”

Young’s latest thoughts on protest music, including a reflection on his groundbreaking 1969 song Ohio, his current philosophy of music making, and news of Pono – Young’s bespoke high-end digital music technology – round out a fascinating interview.

MOJO 280 is in UK stores now. Go here for more information and contents.

Or get a copy of MOJO 280 sent straight to your door.

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