‘The vocals were on another level’: how Counting Crows made Mr Jones

‘It’s about the night me and my best friend Marty Jones hung out with a flamenco troupe, wishing we were cool musicians too – so that we could talk to the girls a little better’

Our first four records had been mostly made in houses in the hills above Los Angeles. August and Everything After was our first major label album, so it was a pretty big deal. Our advance was $3,000 each; I bought a 1971 cherry red VW Karmann Ghia convertible and drove it to LA.