Counting Crows lead singer Adam Duritz delves into his high-profile romances, history with mental illness and more in the band’s new documentary, Counting Crows: Have You Seen Me Lately?
The film, which hit HBO Max on Friday, December 19, revisits the band’s journey to stardom in the early ’90s during the making of their first two records — and doesn’t shy away from exploring how Duritz’s leadership affected their overall success, for better or worse.
“Over the years, he’s pissed a lot of people off,” bandmate David Bryson told cameras after the documentary delved into Duritz sparring with Saturday Night Live producers in 1994 when they threatened to cut back the group’s performance time. “He’s in charge of the band, he makes decisions, he doesn’t really consult anybody about it. One of the reasons we’ve stuck together over the years is because we accept that. It’s OK.”
He added: “Sometimes it’s not OK, but mostly it’s OK.”
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Duritz himself is candid in his interviews, acknowledging that his mental health struggles occasionally led to tension in the recording studio, tour dates being canceled and drama in his romantic life.
“A lot of my songs are about difficult moments in people’s lives, but they’re also always sort of leavened with the idea of hope. I know I’m the kind of person who thinks about things being hopeless in a lot of situations, and I especially was when I was younger,” Duritz explained in the doc’s opening. “Because on top of everything else and whatever difficulties you may be going through, I had a mental illness that I didn’t know what it was, I didn’t understand it at the time, and I didn’t know how to deal with it. It was a really challenging time.”
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Although Mary-Louise Parker and Adam Duritz dated in the ’90s, they maintained a long-standing friendship. When the actress was interviewed about the “Mr. Jones” singer for the documentary, she openly confessed to not loving some of his other former romantic partners.
“My memories of Adam are 98 percent platonic. Maybe 98.6,” she insisted. However, she added, “He could have done without a few of those girlfriends, I think. I could have shaved a few of those off the list, very happily.”
Adam Duritz Gets Rid of His Dreadlocks
Adam Duritz’s current partner, Zoe Mintz, whom he met in 2017, opened up in the film about what first drew her to the singer.
“He was charming and just completely sweet,” she said. “We had dinner and we’ve been together ever since. I feel very protective of Adam. I’ve had that fear before, of being relied upon for happiness, but Adam isn’t reliant on me or anyone.”
Mintz noted that from her perspective, Duritz’s preference of wearing dreadlocks was “one of the things people didn’t understand about him” and likely became “a factor in which the public responded to him,” referencing some of the criticism he received in the ’90s. “I think there was a little bit of ridicule,” she added.
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Mintz said that the dreadlocks seemed to become a type of “shield” for him over time, so she would gently try and persuade him to change up his look.
“They were a barrier, and when I could get through them and see his face, I just love his face. He’s got beautiful eyes and my favorite smile in the world, and I just always gently encouraged him, ‘Maybe you should try, you know, not having dreadlocks,’” she said.
Eventually, Duritz followed her advice and shaved his head.
“I was stunned and so happy for him because he was happy,” Mintz gushed. “He was ready for a new era. He was ready to be a new version of himself and a more exposed version of himself, and I was ecstatic for him.” (Earlier in the documentary, Duritz mentioned that he did not feel like himself while looking in the mirror until he got dreadlocks.)
*Counting Crows: Have You Seen Me Lately?* is now streaming on HBO Max.