LENNY KRAVITZ INTERVIEW: Are You Gonna Go My Way?

Jun 27 2025

Story & Interview by Steven C. Pesant.

FROM THE VAULT. This classic interview with musician Lenny Kravitz was conducted in March 1997 and was first published in Volume 1, Issue 2 of Experience Hendrix Magazine in May/June 1997.

The unique rawness of Lenny Kravitz’s music has been something of a Godsend in this age of resampled, reused and reissued music.  From the gritty and powerful sounds of the young Kravitz on his 1989 debut album Let Love Rule, music listeners knew that an innovator and an interpreter of the sounds of the past was in their midst. Featuring a collection of ten blistering performances, Let Love Rule quickly captured the attention of a large audience, particularly with, “Mr. Cab Driver” and the album’s title track, “Let Love Rule.”  

Kravitz blind-sided the music industry with his distinctively passionate approach to music in his debut release.  Literally from out-of-nowhere, this talented young rocker blasted his way onto the music scene, and he hasn’t looked back since.  

Kravitz dove back into the studio and turned out the dark classic Mama Said in 1991.  This 14-track collection featured a range of strong sounds.  From the peaceful sounding “Fields of Joy” and “Flowers For Zoe” to edgy romp of “What The … Are We Saying,” Kravitz had once again managed to capture the attention of a growing international audience.

A mere two years later, Kravitz once again launched a solo collection featuring an unprecedented stylistic range. With 11 powerful songs, Kravitz dove into his early reggae and Bahamian musical influences with the track “Eleutheria.”  The grinding sounds of the title track, “Are You Gonna Go My Way?” shot to the top and the creative social perspectives of “Black Girl” provided some glimpses into Kravitz’s soul.  The 1993 release of Are You Gonna Go My Way? reaffirmed Kravitz’s mainstream presence as a unique and creative force.

In 1995, Kravitz released his fourth album, Circus, which featured a very risqué sound.  Recognizing “no limitations” upon the sound and force of music, Kravitz’s musical presence on this fourth album, earned him a Grammy award nomination.  The 11 expressive tracks on Circus included the popular but controversial “Rock and Roll is Dead.”  Kravitz melds a powerful environment in the tracks “Can’t Get You Off Of My Mind” and “Don’t Go and Put a Bullet In Your Head” and then sways into the gospel rhythms of “God Is Love.”

The evolving sounds and musical spirit behind his music continues to expand.  Kravitz only looks forward and towards his fifth studio album—eventually titled 5 and released in 1998—which he recently began recording in New Orleans.

“I think my past recordings are wonderful, but my head is in the future – I’m very excited about where things are going.”

~ Lenny Kravitz

“I think my past recordings are wonderful, but my head is in the future – I’m very excited about where things are going,” remarked Kravitz in our recent interview.  It’s clear that Lenny will continue to create the raw and gritty emotional sound within his music, but we will likely see yet an entirely new perspective with changing and evolving influences with stronger musical undertones.  Recording for the forthcoming album has just commenced, but Lenny indicated that fans could expect to see this new recording before the end of the year.

Kravitz’s music continues to move forward, ultimately bringing a tighter revelation and meaning to his earlier release, Are You Gonna Go My Way?. He continues to evolve and will ultimately pull his listeners towards his way, and the new direction within his music.

EXPERIENCE HENDRIX: Who is Lenny Kravitz – what’s the physical makeup that allows your music to be so powerful?

LENNY KRAVITZ: Well, I’m a musician that’s all.  I’m a musician I love music and music is completely my life.  My life is totally consumed with the creation of music.  

EH: When did you get your start in the business of musical performances?

KRAVITZ: I started playing music when I was 11 and moved to Los Angeles with my parents, (NBC Producer Sy Kravitz) and actress Roxie Roker (Helen on “The Jeffersons”).  My mother wanted to make sure I really wasn’t on the street just hanging out, so she had me audition for the California Boys’ Choir, which was at the time, rated the second best boys choir in the world, next to the Vienna Boys’ Choir.

I auditioned for the choir and was accepted.  I was trained for a period of time and then graduated into the actual choir.  I worked with the choir for three or four seasons, during which time we performed at the Metropolitan Opera Company.  My very first concert performance was at the Hollywood Bowl, when we opened their performance season.

As for the music, it was really this classical thing that got me started.  But what was in my brain at the time was Motown, rock ‘n’ roll and all that.  But that’s just something I got into over time.  When I got out of the choir and went to high school, I began to pursue my own thing.

EH: Did you participate in “cover bands” or did you perform your own music?

KRAVITZ: We really just used to jam. There were a lot of kids in steady bands at the time that worked around, but I was just basically into having jam sessions.  More than anything, we would just get together and play.  I suppose we had a band for like maybe a minute while we jammed, but that was about it.

“Jimi Hendrix was a great influence, but it was a combination of everything that I listened to – all the Motown music, Al Green, Miles Davis, jazz music.  Miles Davis and John Coltrane were great influences.  I was into big bands – Sarah Vaughan.  I was into a very eclectic music following.”

~ Lenny Kravitz

EH: Who are some of your main musical influences?

KRAVITZ: Everything!  Obviously, Jimi Hendrix was a great influence, but it was a combination of everything that I listened to – all the Motown music, Al Green, Miles Davis, jazz music.  Miles Davis and John Coltrane were great influences.  I was into big bands – Sarah Vaughan.  I was into a very eclectic music following.  My parents just took me everywhere.  So, one minute I’d be at Lincoln Center seeing Audrey Watts playing the piano; the next minute, I’d be at Madison Square Garden watching the Jackson Five.  I was also at the Café Carlisle in New York watching Bobby Short.  I remember seeing James Brown playing at the Apollo when I was like, eight years old.  Duke Ellington too – it really was everything, but not one particular thing.

EH: These varied influences really explain your whole musical style.  It’s unique and you’ve been able to harness the various sounds from all these different musicians and really come up with a sound that really works for you.

KRAVITZ: That’s what it is.  We all have our influences and it’s what we can make of them.  That upbringing I had really explains the musical schizophrenia that I possess.

EH: Do you find some of those deep rooted, sounds in your music have a reggae beat, from the likes of those such as Bob Marley?

KRAVITZ: Definitely.  Good Lord – I forgot to mention Bob Marley.  Marley’s music was a great influence and also Calypso music from the Bahamas.  My family is from the Bahamas, and I would spend a lot of time down there when I was a kid.  So, it’s all in there – it’s all in there.

EH: Do you consciously strive for a unique sound or does the music of Lenny Kravitz really show the listeners who you really are?

KRAVITZ: That’s what it is – this music is just me!  When I’m doing my thing, I’m trying to do it as best I can, but you know, I’m not in there trying to make a unique sound… I just do what comes out of me.

EH: Do you carry a strong religious undertone into your music when you create it?

KRAVITZ: Gospel was another major influence in my music.  Gospel is just such a beautiful form of music.  Of course, as we all know, rock ‘n’ roll and so forth, rhythm and blues and all that sound just came from Gospel.   I love God and I appreciate my gift and appreciate my blessings.  So, this is how it all comes out.

“I’ve seen from my first four albums that I’ve been able to cover a great deal of territory with my music… my sound is gonna change again, and that’s what it’s all about – evolving.”

~ Lenny Kravitz

EH: As your music evolves, do you find yourself responsive to the changing sounds of music in the 1990’s?

KRAVITZ: I’m just gonna do what I’m gonna do.  I’ve seen from my first four albums that I’ve been able to cover a great deal of territory with my music.  I’ve done some things.  I’ve just started my new album right now, as we speak, so my sound is gonna change again, and that’s what it’s all about – evolving.

I can be influenced by certain things cause I think that music in general is getting better right now than it’s been for a while.  There was a stage there where I just thought that it was horrible.  It’s getting interesting again.  I’ve been open to checking out some of that stuff and being influenced by it.  I mean I can be influenced by parts of it, but I’m not going to jump on the techno bandwagon.  You can allow yourself to be influenced by all that, but it’s how you put it all together in the end.  I will continue with whatever I do, and it will be different.  I’m open to everything because you can’t close yourself off.

EH: When can fans expect to see your new album hit the stores?

KRAVITZ: Near the end of the year.

EH: Can you attribute any one particular person or event with providing your major breakthrough into the mainstream music scene?

KRAVITZ It really wasn’t anybody in particular. I just grew up in the music and as I evolved, so did my music.  It was just the right time, and all of a sudden it happened and I had this clear picture as to what I was supposed to do.  I can’t think of any particular person, but definitely my ex-wife (Lisa Bonet), helped me bring my music out on myself, at least on a personal level.  But I can’t say that any particular artist helped make that happen. Basically, ever since I was a kid, this was something that I wanted to do – I just wanted to make a record.

EH: You entered the music business the old fashioned way, with a demo tape sent to Virgin Records?

KRAVITZ: That was it!  I just wanted to make my record.

EH: Your musical style really encompasses the full spectrum of recording, from writing the music, playing the guitars, arranging the strings and everything else.  You’ve been able to carefully control the outcome that you aimed for on each album.   Were these trained skills or was it just plain hard work and dedication to the music that you wanted to create?

KRAVITZ: Well, I depend on my ear quite a bit.  I have a good ear and I just use it.  With the classical training that I had early in my career, that laid the foundation, but from then on, it has really just been my ear.  I used that early training to really embellish the sound.  

There are lots of classical players out there, that if you can’t put the desired results into a musical form, then they just can’t play it.  You can ask some of them to just play on their own and improvise and they can’t do that.  Training just enhances what is there naturally and I just rely on these natural musical instincts for my sound.

“How could you not say that Hendrix is an influence to you!  Being a guitar player first of all, being a musician and being black – what an amazing combination.  I don’t know what I really call Jimi . . . a “Being” I guess.  He took it all the way, and to this day, I have not heard anything more modern or more expressive.”

~ Lenny Kravitz

EH: Do you find yourself using some of the guitar techniques that Jimi Hendrix helped to pioneer in the past?

KRAVITZ: How could you not say that Hendrix is an influence to you!  Being a guitar player first of all, being a musician and being black – what an amazing combination.  I don’t know what I really call Jimi… a “Being” I guess.  He took it all the way, and to this day, I have not heard anything more modern or more expressive.

People like to say that that’s old or that’s new – it just doesn’t work that way.  We’re so consumed by the concept of time, but if you put something by Jimi on the stereo, it’s just beyond time.  It’s beyond time, it’s beyond what’s old and beyond what’s new, it just is what it is.

People always inspire you and influence you.  I don’t play Hendrix stuff, but there’s always a lick or so that you’re going to use or something like that.  Just like Hendrix was inspired by everyone.  I mean you can hear Hendrix playing some Curtis Mayfield licks and stuff like that, it’s done by everybody.  There are just so many licks, so you start to mix them up.

EH: Some people have called you the 1990’s version of Jimi Hendrix, through your charismatic guitar playing, plus your added physical style and presence.  How do you respond to these statements?

KRAVITZ: I’m just being myself.  I can’t try to be somebody else, I can only be myself; that’s what I’m doing. I am what I am, but Jimi Hendrix had it all.  Here’s a guy that didn’t play guitar like anyone else, didn’t look like anyone else, he performed better than anyone else – he was just beautiful.

EH: Do you have a particular Jimi Hendrix song or album you like better than others?

KRAVITZ: Wow!!  The four real albums, the ones he made – they’re all amazing, absolutely amazing.  They’re all amazing.  The first one I got into was Are You Experienced and I just wore it out.  Then I got into Electric Ladyland, the double album, and then went back to Axis: Bold As Love.  They’re all just amazing.  There really isn’t anything Hendrix did that wasn’t amazing.

EH: Technically speaking, you’ve amassed a large collection of guitars in recent years.  Is there something specific about each guitar that works for you more so than on others?

KRAVITZ: The funkiness of the Stratrocaster with the classic sound of those pickups is a sound that I love – it’s a classic sound that I like.  With the Les Paul, there is a whole other sound through the double-coil pickups that I just had to choose.  I usually choose between the Les Paul and the Flying V.  I tend to use a later model Flying V, like the ‘67’s with the Tremolo, which is like the ones that Hendrix used.  I also like the Tele.  I’m pretty much set on these four classic guitars as my favorites.

EH: Which amps to you prefer to use?

KRAVITZ: Right now I’m very much into the Fender amps, especially in the studio, where the Fender amps are just amazing.  The Marshall amps, for me, are much harder to get the right sound in the studio. The smaller Fenders tend to be more whole sounding in the studio.  I have used both, but after my first album, which was done completely with the Fender Deluxe, I’ve moved on from there.

I had an Epiphone and the one Deluxe and maybe I had one Tele.  I basically had nothing when I made that first album (Let Love Rule).  It’s easy to choose when you don’t have so much stuff.  But now, I’ve just got this room full of guitars and amps, and its like, God, what do I use?

EH: What’s behind the Miss Bessie name for your music publishing company?

KRAVITZ: Bessie Roker was my Grandmother and a huge inspiration.  She was also a person who personified that love between a grandmother and a grandchild.  It was a very deep and unconditional love that she had, which completely supported me.  Even when I wasn’t doing the right thing, she was behind me.  She could tell me about myself, tell me about everything, but nobody else could.  She was always there for me, but unfortunately, she died just before I put my first album out. So I wrote everything in that name and dedicated everything to her.

EH: You teamed up with your Brooklyn high school friend, Slash, on the album Mama Said for a couple of tracks.  Now that Slash has left Guns ‘N’ Roses, do you see yourself working with him again on future album projects?

KRAVITZ: I actually haven’t seen him for many years, and I’m not sure about future projects with him. The new album will basically be just me.  I’m really looking forward to the new album myself.  I think that a group is a wonderful thing, but I just feel that this new album will reach out into an entirely new area.  I’m excited about that as I never like to repeat myself.

EH: Looking back on your first four albums, what would you consider your crowning achievement?

KRAVITZ: I don’t feel that I’ve hit that yet.  I’m the artist, it’s my own stuff, so it’s hard to say.  For me, I’m still trying to grow and to reach everything that I haven’t reached before.  I look at that and I appreciate it.  There are moments on those first four records that I think are wonderful, but my head is in the future.  Those albums were all my experiences.  They are all what they are, but they are pieces of time and my expressions from those pieces in time, that’s what they are.  I’m just really excited about going into the future.

EH: Looking at the entire music scene today, when you start listening to the music, is there something particular you listen for?

KRAVITZ: I’m listening for the sound, the vibes, the attitudes and the integrity of the melodies.  There is just so much that makes something wonderful.  I’m looking for something that feels good, sounds good, and is pleasing. But I’d like it to be a lot of different things.  

I definitely appreciate those who make their own music.  I’m into the sampling thing and I believe that there are certain people that do sampling and do it very well.  There is an art form to that, but so many times, you hear other people’s records in these recordings.  They are just other people’s music with just other pieces of things in them; basically they’re someone else’s records.  I’d like to see more people make more original music, make their own music.

EH: Is there someone in today’s music scene that you believe is heads and shoulders above everyone else?

KRAVITZ: I listen to it all, but I think things are heading in a great direction.  I haven’t seen someone who can blow me away like Jimi did.  There’s nobody of that caliber yet.  But you know, it will happen, it’ll happen.  Hopefully that’s the move in the music today.

I’m really just happy right now.  I’m glad that I’ve been blessed to be able to make music, I just want to continue and grow.  There is just so much, it’s limitless, it’s all in the mind.  It’s limitless and I just want to stretch it out.

EPILOGUE

Since we completed this interview in 1997, Lenny Kravitz who has long acknowledged Hendrix as a rich source of inspiration; contributed a soulful remake of the title track “Have You Ever Been (To Electric Ladyland)” from Electric Ladyland to the 2003 release of Power Of Soul: A Tribute To Jimi Hendrix.  This recording marked Kravitz’ first ever interpretation of a Hendrix song.

In addition to his musical contribution to the Power Of Soul release, Kravitz has become an ardent collector and preserver or vintage pop artifacts, including several original Jimi Hendrix items including Jimi’s handwritten Woodstock set list, handwritten lyrics to “Crosstown Traffic,” plus several garments including pants, shirt and vest. Learn more about his collection through this GQ “Collected” interview.

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