This Is Cracker Soul

CRACKER'S JOHNNY HICKMAN ON HIS "MICK AND KEITH" RELATIONSHIP WITH FRONTMAN DAVID LOWERY, THE JOYS OF "BONEHEADED RIFFS" AND THE BAND'S NEW ALTERNATIVE HISTORY COLLECTION

- Joe Bosso

NOT COUNTING ITS two founding members — guitarist-frontman Dave Lowery and guitarist-singer Johnny Hickman — 18 various musicians have logged time in Cracker since the band formed in 1990. “It’s called the ‘Steely Dan model,” Hickman says, “where you have two singer-songwriter guitar players who are the core of the operation. Cracker Incorporated is David and me. We've been friends since we were teenagers, and we've been writing songs together for 35 years.” He laughs. “Wow, that’s longer than some of our fans have been alive.”

Hickman admits that he and Lowery have butted heads over the years, but the two have figured out that the best way to keep the peace is to maintain a safe distance. “David and I live across the country from each other,” he says. “The only times we connect are when we're in a rehearsal room or we walk out on stage. It keeps things healthy. We have something of a sibling relationship with a little bit of competition. That kind of thing always existed with Mick Jagger and Keith Richards. Tom Petty and Mike Campbell had it. The guys in Oasis — that’s their whole thing. David and I have that same spark of competition.”

The guitarist boils down the Cracker songwriting approach to a simple formula: “I'll come up with a big boneheaded riff, and David will create a song around it. Or it could be vice versa.” It’s a construct that’s served them well, particularly during the band’s Nineties heyday, when they logged a succession of riffy, rootsy hits like “Teen Angst (What the World Needs Now),” “Low” and “Euro-Trash Girl” that dominated college and alternative radio. In all, Cracker have recorded nine studio albums over the years, all of which are present and accounted for on the whopping 3-LP vinyl, 2-CD set,