Back in Black: Robin Black Interview

Attempts to catch Robin pre UK tour had been unsuccessful. Being acquainted with Robin “Fucking” Black’s answer phone was a novelty as each time I’d called him up to do a phone chat, the message changed (from “I’m not in right now” to “I’m really, really, really, really sorry I’m not in”). It was quite clear that he was not so much a flighty man, more a man in demand as his tone of voice seemed to have got more apologetic each time I’d left a message. The answer to getting hold of him was to do it in person - face to face. Which would mean either strapping him to a chair and shine a bright light on him or sit him at a table in a half full pub with an icy cold pint of Fosters (I think he preferred the latter).

In a nutshell, Robin Black (and the man himself) are a collection of five little (not in the case of Killer Ky, their guitarist) Canadian beasts with one mission - to be the greatest rock and roll band that the world has ever seen. The decadent RFB and co. are well known across Canada for their disgustingly smutty lyrics (packaged in a sweet catchy rock tune) and out-there performances that draw in huge crowds.

The last time Robin Black (and the Intergalactic Rock Stars as they were then called) was in the UK was a good couple of years ago, so the hype up for the ten day tour dates was intense. Just looking at the type of posts on the official Robin Black forum and the UK tour publicity saturation, this was pinned down to be the biggest rock n’ roll tour this year.

I arrived at the Worlds End in Camden and rocked up to the bar having a cursory look around to see if I could see any signs of Robin or any of his cohorts. I thought it wouldn’t be that hard to find him, but I was wrong. There was a small worry that Robin had gone walkabouts in Camden and was nowhere to be found. But when it was decided that I’d have to catch him after the gig, he turned up in a skintight light blue vest, little blue glasses (without make up) and his bright yellow hair straighteners in his hand all chirpy and ready for a drink.

Robin sat down next to me in the quieter part of the pub and was very content when he got his pint of Fosters. He talked emphatically about a couple of fans he’d just met that had travelled from the North to see the Camden Underworld gig and he stopped to have a drink with them. Donning his blue tinted glasses, he sat comfortably and waited patiently for me to get myself ready for a chat. This is Nicola Crichton, presenting to you Robin “Fucking” Black - the man, the blue haired glittery legend who’s here to tell you how it started, where its going, what’s happened along the way and how he’s hoping to ‘turn this sterile s*** into something beautiful’.

N: How did the Robin Black legacy start?
RFB: My mom gave birth to a little beast that wanted to take over the world. It all began then.

N: With the Intergalactic Rockstars?
RFB: Well, myself and Killer Ky thought it was important that the world gets some real rock n’ roll. So we fiercely and aggressively put together what is - you know, universally considered as the greatest rock n’ roll band in the world by anyone that’s seen us. We proceeded to conquer whatever was put in front of us, drink everything, f*** most things and we are where we are today - at the Underworld, about to rock.

N: What would you say has been your greatest influence?
RFB: Beer ... beer is a huge influence. (Whimsical) I’m under its graceful influence right now. I mean, any great band will tell you that they are a combination of all the things they love and they will attempt to stay away from all the things that they hated. I think by now we’ve turned into our own beast where five unique, charismatic - (suave) incredibly sexy individuals will play our own kind of music which combines glam rock and big rock and pop rock and all the good things that make a song great and put it into a sexy little package with a nice ass (winks).

N: Nice! What would you say sets you apart from anyone else?
RFB: I think its easy to set yourself apart. Easy in that the answer is to strive and work hard constantly and to commit yourself to breeding great rock songs and putting on a great rock show. We are the type of people that if we were lawyers we would be the greatest lawyers! If we were doctors, we’d be brilliant surgeons. If we were race car drivers, we’d try to be the best race car drivers. It’s in our nature to try and be better than we were yesterday, to try and learn more than we knew yesterday and to try and constantly become greater. I don’t think there’s any shame in saying that as a rock band we strive to be the very best. Most bands talk about how tired they are from this world, how drunk they are and what f***ing tortured artists they are - all that is bulls**t. If you’re proud of what you do and you’re excited to share with other people you should want to do it better than anyone else. We work harder and learn more and constantly improve better than any band that has come before us.

N: You were on VJ Search (on Canadian TV’s ‘Much Music’) recently?
RFB: Yeah, I’m done now. I’m just starting a new television show in Canada. I can’t actually talk about it yet as its in development. Lets just say that it will involve me doing incredibly bizarre things.
N: More bizarre than now?
RFB: Yeah, the big flashy sexy glam rock singer doing some very strange things and its going to be a really cool show. What I can tell you is that its called “Fearless Or Stupid”.

N: You’ve had really good production on “Instant Classic”. What would you say is different about that from the rest of the releases you’ve done?
RFB: It’s always been important for us to make ‘real’ records - what we consider to be real records. Any jackass in 2006 can take their little home computer and record and sample some f***in’ Tommy Lee drums and record themselves some s*** and put it together. Us making a record should be treated with the utmost respect. We’d spent two or three years working with the best people, the best equipment circumstances you can to make something that will last forever. We’ve never made that thousand dollar, one weekend record and I think that the people who do and brag about it are idiots because why spend less than you can? Why spend less effort than you can? Why put less commitment than you can into making a record? It makes no sense to me. We spent years and every penny that we had and any ounce of energy that we had to make a record that stands up against any kind of record. We worked with some of the best producers in the world - but they were willing to work with us for no money. Bob (Ezrin) works with Alice Cooper and Janes Addiction for half a million dollars and he works with us for next to nothing because he was blown away by our commitment and how driven and special our band is.

N: You’ve got the reputation for being glittery glam rockers, personality wise would you say you’re all different or do you read from the same page?
RFB: We’re just five guys in a rock band. We all believe first of all that if you’re going to put on a show or if you’re going to lead somebody’s party, you’re going to take some people that have spent hours coming to your show or maybe even weeks to see it - and if you’re not gonna actually get dressed for the occasion you’re a f***in’ a**hole. I can’t deal with that concept. I just met two kids that took a nine hour bus ride from Scotland to come see this show (the Underworld, Camden). If I’m the kind of a**hole that can’t be bothered to put on a clean shirt for them, then I’m a f***in’ pr**k. We grew up on entertainers. True entertainers who put everything they had into the show who looked great and sounded great and were prepared. I I was them, if I pay ten pounds to see your band and you can’t be bothered to change your f***in’ shirt for me then, you know, f*** you.
N: Fair play.
RFB: In the end, we all do what we do. We’re not some prototypical glam rock band or punk rock band but we all make sure that we’ve put ourselves together and that we’ve prepared ourselves physically and mentally and the way that we look to put on the greatest show and lead the greatest party.

N: With the UK tour now virtually done, what would you say has been the reception of the UK fans to you?
RFB: This is our fourth time here and we are always blown away by how much British fans love their rock music. They’re also very, very smart and very, very informed. As a result, a band that comes really prepared and really has their s*** together, writes some great songs and puts everything they have into a great show like us will well received and admired and appreciated by British fans. But if some a**holes come from Canada or wherever to the UK with a s***y record or s***y show or just thinking that they’re going to come in here and take over, they’re going to be laughed at. That’s what’s great about UK fans.

N: What would you say has been your best gig on the 2006 tour so far?
RFB: We’ve had some great gigs. Nottingham is always amazing as it always feels like a home town for us. But the second night I feel like we hit our stride at Bradford Rio’s - it’s a great venue, everybody in the room was into it. I think they’ve all been good. If I think about any show - last night we played Mexborough, the home town of our boys in Disarm (tour support for the whole RFB tour). It was an amazing venue with all these people going crazy and were starved for a great rock band. I predict right now, as I’m sitting here with you that the best show we would have done in four years, five years or possibly ever will be tonight at the Underworld (Camden, London). I can feel it. I ran into people in the street that are pumped and have come down from Scotland and Wales. On my walk here, they’ve been stopping me to tell me how pumped they are about the show and that’s the kind of thing that gets us to a whole other level and we are top level as it is. Tonight is going to be something special.

N: A classic tour moment?
RFB: The whole time that you travel all you really try to do is spend your days preparing yourself to be great for that one hour every night. Some of the ways that you’ve got to do that is by making the tired one laugh, making the sad one happy - entertaining each other and taking care of each other. Starboy will say and do some of the most insane things just to cheer us all up or to make us all driven or wake us all up. I don’t even know where to start - that’s a whole other thing to find out what happens for those fifteen days with five renegade European invaders. I’d be happy to do a chat with you another time about that, but I can tell you that there’s been a lot of semen flying, a lot of alcohol drinking - most of it was really related to Starboy! (laughs)

N: The UK at the moment is going through a strange art rock and ‘Indie’ scene. Do you think that you can crack the UK market with the reception that you have got on this tour?
RFB: A sold out Camden Underworld, right in the heart of Camden in London with the greatest show that we’ve ever done - that word alone can spread to people who are like “this is what we really need”. I mean, there’s always ‘Indie rock’, always a**holes who are pretending to be artists. There’s always snooty pr**ks and condescending little smug b***ards that try to make this non-exciting music seem exciting and you know, f*** them!

N: What’s been your biggest challenge so far?
RFB: Staying drunk 24 hours a day (smug)

N: Best song in the RFB songbook?
RFB: I love all our songs. The ones that we have in the set now. We created a set now from our two records and we have the songs that we’ve written and some of the singles are the best, intense and most exciting songs. For sixty three minutes or sixty eight minutes or whatever - depending on how long I spew off s*** from my mouth in between songs, that it will be an exciting and intense show. Some of my favourite songs that we’ve ever done are sweet slow ballads on our records but that’s not what you bring when you come to invade England and just rock out every night. We start off really strong and we end up really strong. I love playing “Why Don’t You Love Me”. “Some of You Boys and Most Of You Girls” isn’t the most intense song in the set but it feels really powerful. We love doing our cover of “Hellraiser” in England. The Sweet were from England and we’re huge fans. But we’ve taken that song and made it one better, well, ten better. We feel like we have a great set and the crowds have agreed.

N: Greatest song of all time, non RFB? It’s a tough one.
RFB: I know, f***. I really don’t know. Honestly, if you asked me when I first woke up in the morning it would be different than if you asked me right after I had a fight with my wife or if you asked me when I’m drunk with all my friends. They’re all different. One blows your mind then “Imagine” by John Lennon blows your mind the next day. “Is She Really Going Out With Him” by Joe Jackson is a mind blowing song, I don’t know why. If you’re a fan of great songs and if you’re a student of song writing and try to be a great song writer then you’re a fan of every great song.

N: Have you had any bizarre fans at all. The UK or Canada?
RFB: All our fans are strange, that’s what we love about them. I believe that as much as we’re a great band and we put on a great show to a lot of the people that really fall in love with our band we represent them. The weirdo, the outcast, the individual, the different person. The one that never quite fits in, even if they don’t look different - but they somehow know that they are different from anybody around them in the pub. We speak for all of them. We’re fans of what we’re all about. We deal with weird fans and we like it!

N: Here’s something random, what’s a fact that not many people know about you?
RFB: (Smug) I write big piano ballads in my spare time and it makes me really happy. Big, big gay piano ballads. My second favourite being on this earth is a dog.

N: What’s your drink of choice?
RFB: Corona, Jagermeister, Fosters, Red Bull, Vodka, Gin, Tequila, Absinthe, Corona, Jagermeister, urine (pause) I’m alright, I’ll drink it all! But I will drink everything I can when I am fully prepared and ready and trained and able to put on the greatest show I am possible capable of doing - that’s when I start drinking.

N: Any obsessions?
RFB: Corona, Jagermeister (pause) I’m quite into television right now. Its exciting to have something new to try to get good at so I really spend a lot of time doing that. The piano, I fell in love with the piano. Sometimes the Creep will tease me and say “why don’t you learn to play guitar so that you can write some songs for our band” I say “Neeeeehhh, I’d rather just play my faggy piano and write some gay Chicago or Toto songs. It makes me happy! I’m obsessed with my wife and my dog.

N: Plans for the rest of this year?
RFB: We want to come back here (UK) in August and do the shows that we’ve done plus get up into Scotland a bit. Maybe Wales and Ireland with Riot Promotions who have done a great job and we love them. We want to slowly assemble the songs for another record. I mean, this record is still dear to us, it’s special - we believe it’s special. We have to spend another six months working it in the UK and Europe and then drill it down the throats of those American f***s. My new TV show, I’m excited about that - I’m going to do that in and around the band so that it doesn’t interfere so we can still travel and still bring our stuff to everybody. It’s still really fun to work and have something new to do. I want to take care of my four guys and have them take care of me and drink a lot of beer and have a lot of fun. But of all to remind people of why rock and roll is fun and important.

It has to be said that Robin does have a healthy ego. But his enthusiasm for what he does, the dedication to his fans is infectious - he manages to follow through what he sets out to do - to rock, to entertain and give hope that there is something different and exciting out there. It was an absolute pleasure to talk to him.

The Robin Black August tour is currently being sorted out by the gorgeous people at Riot Promotions and we’ll bring you the news of dates when we have it. But if you want to check out Robin Black, please visit the Official Site with a plethora of things to see and listen to (www.robinblackrocks.com) and add Robin Black on Myspace (www.myspace.com/robinblackrocks) The review of the Camden Underworld show will shortly be available, to be found in the gigs page!

All images and words by Nicola (Nix) Crichton

© Pure Rawk 2006