Counting Crows lead singer Adam Duritz delves into his high-profile romances, historical past with psychological sickness and extra within the band’s new documentary, Counting Crows: Have You Seen Me Currently?
The movie, which hit HBO Max on Friday, December 19, revisits the band’s journey to stardom within the early ’90s through the making of their first two data — and doesn’t draw back from exploring how Duritz’s management affected their general success, for higher or worse.
“Over time, he’s pissed lots of people off,” bandmate David Bryson advised cameras after the documentary delved into Duritz sparring with Saturday Evening Stay producers in 1994 once they threatened to chop again the group’s efficiency time. “He’s answerable for the band, he makes selections, he doesn’t actually seek the advice of anyone about it. One of many causes we’ve caught collectively over time is as a result of we settle for that. It’s OK.”
He added: “Typically it’s not OK, however largely it’s OK.”
Duritz himself is candid in his interviews, acknowledging that his psychological well being struggles sometimes led to rigidity within the recording studio, tour dates being canceled and drama in his romantic life.
“A variety of my songs are about tough moments in folks’s lives, however they’re additionally at all times kind of leavened with the thought of hope. I do know I’m the form of one that thinks about issues being hopeless in plenty of conditions, and I particularly was once I was youthful,” Duritz defined within the doc’s opening. “As a result of on prime of all the things else and no matter difficulties you could be going by way of, I had a psychological sickness that I didn’t know what it was, I didn’t perceive what was occurring and I simply knew it was actually onerous to stay with. It’s like, how do you progress your self extra in direction of hope when you possibly can’t sleep and you may’t suppose clearly?”
He added that whereas it was nice to “abruptly have a profession,” his superstar standing solely heightened his struggles. “There have been all these items that got here together with [my career] that simply made all the things actually f***ing tough,” he stated.
His bandmates, in the meantime, are open in recognizing that Duritz confronted way more problems from fame than they ever did.
“I’m a Little League coach and a dad,” Bryson stated. “I’m nonetheless not well-known!”
Maintain scrolling for the most important bombshells from the Counting Crows: Have You Seen Me Currently? documentary:
Adam Duritz’s Psychological Well being Struggles Included Dissociation and Self-Hurt
The Counting Crows claimed that every one among them virtually stop through the making of their first album, August and The whole lot After, as a result of Adam Duritz’s strong-willed methods.
“Within the studio, he would have actually darkish episodes the place he didn’t actually know tips on how to talk what it’s he wished,” keyboardist Charlie Gillingham shared within the documentary. “And he didn’t like the best way it was.”
Duritz, in the meantime, stated he struggled as a result of he “simply wanted” the music “to really feel a sure means,” however he “didn’t know precisely what was unsuitable. I simply wanted to really feel it. And I wasn’t superb at it. I didn’t know tips on how to inform folks tips on how to be Counting Crows.”
Mary-Louise Parker, who dated Duritz within the late ’90s, stated that she might relate to his inventive course of however understood why some couldn’t grasp it.
“When he’s within the act of making, he’s not the simplest particular person. As a result of he’s striving for one thing past his expectations,” she defined. “He desires it to shock him. He desires it to be higher than he might think about. He’s going to be relentless in pursuing that. And never all people is like that.”
Duritz stated issues took a flip for the more severe when he turned 21. After ingesting an enormous glass of water in the future, he began to really feel like he was “on acid,” a sensation that may go on to final for one 12 months.
“I might be afraid to open my eyes within the morning. I simply actually wished it to be over, and it wouldn’t be,” he recalled. “That’s the start of once I thought there was critically one thing unsuitable with me mentally. And it had nothing to do with medicine. It was simply occurring. And that’s once I began to get medicated by a physician as a result of it was so scary and it wouldn’t cease.”
Whereas the primary report led to a three-year touring stint, Duritz continued to battle along with his psychological well being. His battle acquired extra intense after the band’s second album, Recovering the Satellites, hit cabinets in 1996.
Duritz’s therapist advisable that he take time to relaxation, however the musician wished to maintain his promise of touring. As a substitute, he did a complete tour whereas coming off his prescribed remedy, which his therapist stated was a “actually tough” expertise for Duritz.
Finally, Duritz stated he started to “minimize” himself to really feel higher. “And the worst half about chopping your self is you do it and it really works,” he stated. “It does launch a few of it, so [you think], ‘I ought to minimize myself some extra as a result of it’s really making it higher.’”
Fortunately, Duritz realized that he had sufficient “logic” to acknowledge that self-harming wasn’t “really good logic,” and he admitted himself into UCLA Medical Heart for a remedy keep — the identical day Mariah Carey was allegedly testing.
He was later identified with a dissociative dysfunction that usually results in derealization and depersonalization. As soon as identified, Duritz stated he was in a position to get on the appropriate drugs, though the sickness by no means “goes away” completely. (In keeping with the Mayo Clinic, dissociative problems are psychological well being situations that contain experiencing a lack of connection between ideas, reminiscences, emotions, environment, conduct and id. These situations embody escape from actuality in methods that aren’t wished and never wholesome and trigger issues in managing on a regular basis life.)
Adam Duritz Had Points Adjusting to Fame
Adam Duritz defined within the documentary that he first balked on the thought of superstar when the band was requested to be on the duvet of Rolling Stone.
“I couldn’t assist however suppose what my life was going to be after that and the way it might change, as a result of I used to be very shy,” he stated. “Journal stands have been all over the place and Rolling Stone was on the entrance, and that’s your face. … Your anonymity is f***ing gone. And I couldn’t assist pondering there have been actual repercussions to saying sure to that, regardless that there’s no means you’re saying no.”
The band did their picture shoot and interview in Paris, however Duritz was closely dissatisfied with how the images, largely in black and white, got here out. “I appear to be a donkey. I”m so f***ing mopey,” he quipped. “They appear to be a parody of a band.”
Counting Crows’ Drama With ‘Saturday Evening Stay’
The band was requested to play the late-night present in January 1994, however because the evening acquired nearer, producers at SNL advised them they have been going to must swap their two songs and likewise minimize multiple minute off of every efficiency. Adam Duritz refused, claiming that the present “promised” them the complete time to carry out “Mr. Jones” and “Spherical Right here.”
When producers insinuated there was nothing they may do, Duritz stood his floor and insisted they get the complete time. “It’s the most important second of our lives and we gotta do it the appropriate means or else I don’t need to do it,” Duritz defined.
In the end, they got their full time slot and delivered an excellent efficiency, however they haven’t been requested again to the present since.
“Within the occasions he’s carried out that over time, he’s pissed lots of people off,” bandmate David Bryson advised cameras. “He’s answerable for the band, he makes selections, he doesn’t actually seek the advice of anyone about it. One of many causes we’ve caught collectively over time is as a result of we settle for that. It’s OK. Typically it’s not OK, however largely it’s OK.”
Adam Duritz Moved to L.A. Solo After a Cellphone Name From Johnny Depp
After touring for 3 years after the discharge of their first album, Adam Duritz started to really feel “dissociative” and battle as soon as once more along with his psychological well being.
“It made it onerous to need to play, and I had a little bit of a breakdown,” he confessed within the doc. “We needed to cancel a number of reveals.”
Duritz additionally took concern along with his rising fame in Berkeley, California, noting that children would camp out on the band’s garden to get a glimpse at them, main Duritz to have “panic assaults.”
“I can’t do something right here. I don’t know the place to go. All over the place I’m going, it’s a problem,” he recalled pondering. “You begin to draw back from all people. I used to be about to grow to be a shut-in.”
After receiving a cellphone name from Johnny Depp inviting him to move all the way down to Los Angeles and rejoice Kate Moss’ twenty first birthday on the Viper Room, Duritz realized he felt extra at dwelling within the Metropolis of Angels.
“L.A. was an actual refuge,” he defined. “This entire city of dreamers.”
Duritz ended up bartending on the Viper Room almost “each evening” — giving his tricks to the homeowners — as a result of it turned the one place he felt comfy and like himself.
When the remainder of the Counting Crows known as him up about writing one other album, Duritz would say, “I’m not in a band now.” Nevertheless, his L.A. experiences finally impressed him to get again into the studio.
“I lived a totally completely different life, then I moved to Hollywood and met all these actually cool folks and I wished to make a report about it,” he stated.
Adam Duritz’s Brief-Lived Romance With Jennifer Aniston
Adam Duritz had a short-lived romance with Jennifer Aniston in 1995, which he claimed was because of their buddies working time beyond regulation to set them up.
“After I met Jennifer Aniston, my buddies lied to me and her buddies lied to her. They advised us we each have been actually into one another,” he revealed within the documentary. He famous he didn’t know “something” in regards to the Mates star on the time, including that he was “busy throughout prime time” and unable to look at any of the large TV reveals.
Nonetheless, when Aniston confirmed as much as see him play, he was intrigued. “Once we have been on the brink of report, we’d do these reveals on the Viper Room and we might check out the fabric, and Jen got here to the present and she or he’s cool,” he stated. “She’s good, she’s actually humorous, she’s lovely and she or he likes me, apparently.”
Adam Duritz Offers Uncommon Perception Into His Relationship and Breakup With Courteney Cox
Duritz’s bandmates and buddies stated within the doc that they’d seen their singer “deeply in love perhaps 4 of 5 occasions,” noting that he would fall in love “in a short time.”
Duritz famous that his “longest” relationship was with Aniston’s Mates costar Courteney Cox, whom he started relationship in 1996 after she starred within the band’s “A Lengthy December” music video.
“She’s hanging out with us or she’s on our tour bus with us. She painted my fingernails,” former bassist Matt Malley recalled, claiming that Cox was an enormous inspiration for the band’s second album, Recovering the Satellites.
“I don’t suppose their relationship was the healthiest factor on the planet as a result of Adam wasn’t the healthiest factor on the planet at that time,” Duritz’s longtime good friend Randall Slavin famous.
Duritz, for his half, shared his perspective on why the pair finally didn’t work out. “Courteney was in all probability my longest relationship, however I don’t know whether or not we have been actually collectively for lots of it,” he defined. “We have been very, very completely different folks. And there have been moments that have been completely great collectively and there have been moments the place it was actually onerous. We simply weren’t on the identical wavelength.”
Mary-Louise Parker Throws Shade at Adam Duritz’s Exes
Though Mary-Louise Parker and Adam Duritz dated within the ’90s, they maintained a long-standing friendship. When the actress was interviewed in regards to the “Mr. Jones” singer for the documentary, she brazenly confessed to not loving a few of his different former romantic companions.
“My reminiscences of Adam are 98 % platonic. Perhaps 98.6,” she insisted. Nevertheless, she added, “He might have carried out with no few of these girlfriends, I feel. I might have shaved a number of of these off the listing, very fortunately.”
Adam Duritz Will get Rid of His Dreadlocks
Adam Duritz’s present associate, Zoe Mintz, whom he met in 2017, opened up within the movie about what first drew her to the singer.
“He was charming and simply utterly candy,” she stated. “We had dinner and we’ve been collectively ever since. I really feel very protecting of Adam. I’ve had that worry earlier than, of being relied upon for happiness, however Adam isn’t reliant on me or anybody.”
Mintz famous that from her perspective, Duritz’s choice of sporting dreadlocks was “one of many issues folks didn’t perceive about him” and certain turned “an element during which the general public responded to him,” referencing among the criticism he obtained within the ’90s. “I feel there was a little bit little bit of ridicule,” she added.
That loving feeling! Courteney Cox’s romantic previous is stuffed with vivid stars and massive names, which echoes her profession. After dancing at the hours of darkness with Bruce Springsteen in 1984, the Alabama native landed the function of Monica Geller on Mates in 1994 — and she or he rose to superstardom shortly after. Because the present took off, […]
Mintz stated that the dreadlocks appeared to grow to be a kind of “defend” for him over time, so she would gently try to persuade him to alter up his look.
“They have been a barrier, and once I might get by way of them and see his face, I simply love his face. He’s acquired lovely eyes and my favourite smile on the planet, and I simply at all times gently inspired him, ‘Perhaps you need to strive, you recognize, not having dreadlocks,’” she stated.
Finally, Duritz adopted her recommendation and shaved his head.
“I used to be shocked and so glad for him as a result of he was glad,” Mintz gushed. “He was prepared for a brand new period. He was able to be a brand new model of himself and a extra uncovered model of himself, and I used to be ecstatic for him.” (Earlier within the documentary, Duritz talked about that he didn’t really feel like himself whereas wanting within the mirror till he acquired dreadlocks.)
Counting Crows: Have You Seen Me Currently? is now streaming on HBO Max.
