April 27, 1998

Read about the show.

22 April 1998

I was fortunate enough to be able to do a short interview with Robin. Talking reservedly and with a definite English accent, he provided some insight to his music and his guitar sound.

Slant: I enjoyed your show Saturday night.

Trower: I see you're local, from Florida...right...this is for the internet...is it?

Slant: That's correct. Thanks for agreeing to the interview. Your early CD's, particularly the mid 80's releases, are extremely hard to find. There have been some Canadian reissues (double CD's) recently. Is there any plan to re-release any of your mid 80's CD's that are impossible to find.

Trower: Yeah, a lot of the 70's albums have been re-released.

Slant: Is there any plans to re-release the 80's albums?

Trower: I don't have any control over that you know. It's just up to whether the record company thinks it's worth putting out, you see...I think it's just Chrysalis that is keeping the catalog going really.

Slant: So you have no control over that at all?

Trower: No...none at all.

Slant: It looked like you had a couple of Marshall amps and a couple of Fender Devilles up on stage. You get a wide variety of tones from your live rig. It looks pretty basic though.

Trower: Thank you very much. It's only a couple of things, you know, nothing unusual. Want to know my setup? I use a thing for the chorus, kind of effect, a thing called a Deja Vibe, and a Vox wah wah, and I'm going into....one Marshall JCM 800...and that's running a 4x12 cab, and I'm going into a (Fender) Hot Rod Deville which is running another 4x12 cab, which is being slaved into another Hot Rod Deville which is running a 4x12 cab.

Slant: That accounts for everything I saw on stage. Do you still have your amps modified like you did in the 70's?

Trower: No...No...they're all just straight forward stock.

Slant: You swapped guitars a couple of times Saturday night. (foam green, sunburst, and white Fender Strats) Was that to get different tones or just to allow your tech to tune them up?

Trower: It's just for tuning. It was a good time to pick up a tuned guitar, you know, and the tech can tune the other one. That's what it is really.

Slant: Your sound ranges from very open air "airy". Your "Bridge of Sighs" type sound to really basic blues. What do you do to get that range of tones?

Trower: I think a lot of it is on the volume control...of the guitar...and the strength of the picking...you know how hard you hit the strings. It's a combination of...you know...volumes really...how hard you hit in the end of the pre-amp of the amplifier.

Slant: How about that "Bridge of Sighs" kind of airy sound?

Trower: Part of the is the Deja Vibe...yeah.

Slant: Your new record "Someday Blues" has been out for a few months although it's been a bit hard to find. Any thoughts on your next record or do you have any ideas that you are working on.

Trower: Yeah, I'm working on material for a new album at the moment. I may start it just after I finish this tour.

Slant: Will it be another blues type album?

Trower: Not so much. I think that will be definitely a strong ingredient, but not quite so straight, not so 12 bar blues.

Slant: A little bit more into your more "open" type of sound?

Trower: Well I'm not really sure yet. I want to see what develops. I will obviously take on board everything from my past, I always do. I mean, apart from this blues album, which was a specific attempt, you know, to make a specific type of music, really quite retro, really. I use a combination of all my influences on my albums.

Slant: Your playing on your latest CD's, "20th Century Blues" and "Someday Blues" seems to be more direct these days, less of that airy sound than in the past.

Trower: Yeah...that's right. I think that's cause I put so much into it, building that blues style. That's something I've always wanted to do...and...I've been really concentrating on it this last ...I'd suppose about four years.

Slant: Did you have any trouble singing on the new CD or did it come pretty naturally?

Trower: I think there's a certain amount of work has to go into it...getting the voice to work. But it...you know...I mean I wrote the songs for myself to sing. So...you kind of stay within the bounds of what you are capable of. So it wasn't that difficult. I didn't write anything difficult for me to sing. You see what I mean?

Slant: Fender has been a long time sponsor for you. Are you still using the squire series guitars?

Trower: No, I've been using stuff from the custom shop for about...oh...I think...ten years now...certainly since...oh...85. I've been getting stuff from Fender ever since they were taken over by the work force you know. Before that you couldn't buy a decent Fender guitar.

Slant: They seem to have improved considerably.

Trower: Oh yeah...they put together something that is fabulous. They've been making some really nice things.

Slant: I said earlier that it looked like you were really having fun up there on stage. The audience reaction really plays into that doesn't it?

Trower: I think it does...it does you know...if you feel people getting on about what you are doing. It gives you a lift.

Slant: You have an excellent web site (Scott Sutherlands Trower Page) in Canada which has recently been turned into your "official site". How do you feel about the internet? Is it helping the musicians?

Trower: I think it has great potential to help...musicians...cause eventually...I believe you will go direct...a lot more direct with the public, you know...through that.

Slant: The internet is probably the only way I have obtained as many of your albums as I have. Your fan club "Trower Power" has released a "outake and interview" CD. Any chance that there will be more music released through the fan club?

Trower: I think...it's being worked on at the moment. Getting them released...getting them licensed is very difficult.

Slant: A lot of the artists such as Steve Morse and Tony MacAlpine are selling small runs of hard to find or dropped catalog items via the net. Any chance of your hard to find albums being released that way?

Trower: I hope so. I know my management is working on it. But it's proven quite difficult.

Slant: That would be great if it could happen. Do you have any future plans to do any work with Jack Bruce or other artists like you did on the CD "BLT", "No Stopping" and "Truce"?

Trower: No....I don't think...I can't imagine ever going back to working with somebody else. You know you always want to try to move forward.

Slant: Anybody in particular you would like to work with?

Trower: Ummmmmmmmmm...No. I mean you caught me off guard a little bit. I'm sure if I really thought about it...I'd come up with somebody...you know...I haven't really thought about that.

Slant: Going back a ways - Was there any particular inspiration for your classic album" Bridge of Sighs"?

Trower: ummm...well I think a lot of different inspirations went into that album. I think um...obviously you know...I was trying to write...what I was trying to write...what I call a rhythm and blues rock album. In other words...something that...combined what I liked about rhythm and blues...you know...James Brown, B.B King, and....Donny Hathaway, who I was really into at the time. And combine that with the rock of Hendrix and Cream, sort of like that, you know. That was really what the album was about.

Slant: I suppose the inspiration for your new CD "Someday Blues" is the old blues guys?

Trower: Well, that is really ...the whole Albert King, B.B. King, T-Bone Walker, Muddy Waters, guys like that are really the fountainhead...really...for me.

Slant: Have you ever resented the comparisons of your playing to Jimi Hendrix?

Trower: No...not at all, I've always been the first to admit that he was a very big influence...especially on my early stuff....you know. When I was just starting out as a solo artist I drew on him quite a lot...especially my first album...and I think "Bridge of Sighs", my second album, I started to develop my own thing.

Slant: How did you get started playing guitar and what were your earliest influences?

Trower: Well I think, when I was a little kid...I was very impressed with Elvis. And that's why I wanted to play guitar, because Elvis played guitar. And that fit that phase when I was little. I got a guitar when I was about fourteen I think, for a Christmas present and...went from there.

Slant: That's funny, I got a guitar because of Elvis on the Ed Sullivan Show.

Trower: (laughing) Well that's it...I mean...he influenced a whole generation. There's no doubt about it.

Slant: Are there any influences from today's crop of guitar players that you particularly notice?

Trower: Influences?...no I can't say I feel influenced by today's guitar players. We've got some very very good players about, but they're not coming from black music enough for me.

Slant: You like that original blues type of...

Trower: Yeah...blues...rhythm and blues, blues rock...all that sort of thing...I like stuff to have that real 'laid down in the alley' feeling to it you know.

Slant: Changing the subject a bit. Are you finding it hard to get radio play as a quote unquote classic rock guitarist?

Trower: Well I still get some radio play on some classic stations of my old stuff. But it's impossible to get my new stuff on the radio. Especially this blues album cause there's just not a home for it really.

Slant: Is radio play in the States a lot different than in England or Europe?

Trower: Ummmm...I think it's more compartmentalized in America, you know. They play a specific type of thing on each station, whereas in Britain you will get a wider sample of music on radio stations. Yeah..definitely more compartmentalized over here. Well it's a business - radio is commercial isn't it. It's a business.

Slant: Well you're in a business too.

Trower: I know, but the thing is...they...they make their money giving an audience what it wants, so you can't really knock it. In Britain we have the BBC, which ummm.....during its 24 hours on the air...it plays a very wide range of stuff. And it's not commercial.

Slant: Is there any "lost" Trower music anywhere someplace?

Trower: Not really...no.

Slant: No holy grail of Robin Trower or anything?

Trower: (laughing) I haven't made that yet.

Slant: You started your own record company, V-12 Records, which has released "20th Century Blues" and "Someday Blues". Do you have any other artists signed or are you planning on signing any other artists?

Trower: Oh no...it's just a label that my manager just put together purely...so I could carry on making records cause nobody else was interested.

Slant: I find that hard to believe!

Trower: There you go! These are the facts. This is the reality today I'm afraid.

Slant: Thank you very much for your time and I'll see you next time you come to town.

Trower: Thank you very much.

Murf Murphy Murf is a registered professional engineer....(i.e. haircut and a real job) who loves to play guitar. Vist Murf's home page. He lives with (1) wife who wishes he would grow up, (1) teenager who wonders how his parents got to this point in their lives without his help, (2) dogs who sleep a lot, (1) ferret who attacks when not looking and (1) cat who is basically useless. Other Articles I've Written