Three days into a Jefferson Starship tour in support of their Earth album, and one month before she “quit” the band after a drunken debacle during a concert in Germany, Grace Slick talked on the phone with Patrick Carr for this Direct News interview.

Ironically, much of their chat centers on Grace’s stance on alcoholism and her recent four months of abstinence. Also covered here are Grace’s unabashed opinions of Jefferson Starship’s recent recordings, the state of the band itself, an interesting nugget about oil’s power to shape politics, and the story of how the press came to believe her daughter’s name was “god.” Throughout the interview, Carr’s tone is relatively condescending, but Slick’s graceful answers and candor make her seem all the more good-natured as a result.

00:00 – Getting stage fright; getting over it 00:27 – How Marty (Balin) is behaving 01:13 – Her true opinion of the Earth album 02:12 – How she would pick singles from an album / “Count On Me” 03:02 – Playing commercial soft rock / Fleetwood Mac 03:51 – Why it’s hard to do a love song 04:42 – Low expectations about “Miracles” 05:12 – Can’t answer for Paul (Kantner) as a space rock, political writer 05:58 – Off drugs for 4 months / different types of alcoholism 06:42 – [Housekeeping interruption] 07:16 – Wishing to be a secret drinker 07:48 – Grace’s type of alcoholism 08:45 – Not uncomfortable about her reputation 10:01 – The Rolling Stone Jefferson Starship story: an accurate representation 11:32 – How long the band might last 12:05 – Still a hard rock band 12:51 – Not knowing what the crowd thinks about the band these days 14:12 – Music is like sex 15:08 – No longer able to play free outdoor concerts 16:04 – Jerry Brown / why she doesn’t vote 17:06 – Her daughter, China (not named “god”) 18:31 – On the cover of some magazine 19:20 – Coming to New York?