Robert Vincent
Robert Vincent has been in the music industry for a few years playing in a series of bands but this week sees him release his debut album Life In Easy Steps.
We caught up with him to chat about this new record, working with producer Pete Smith and what lies ahead for the rest of the year.
- You are about to release your debut album Life In Easy Steps so what can we expect from the record?
It is a nod back to the classic albums that I grew up listening to in the way that they are written and in the way that is was approached. For me the song is quite important in the way that it is constructed and what it talks about.
The album is built around the idea that if we had a book of life in easy steps that was to guide us through life would it be a hindrance? Or would it be a help? Would life be too mundane?
A lot of it is about my own personal experiences which have helped me to get to this point now and be able to look back and think ‘I am not going to make those mistakes again’.
- This does seem like a more personal record than ever before and in an interview you said that Life In Easy Steps came from the frustration of yet more hurdles, closed doors and dead ends, personally and professionally - so how do you feel that these challenges have influenced your music?
I think it has fired me up and made me… the last situation I had with the band was the kind of management wrangles and record label wrangles that you go through and sometimes the one that you have with band members.
I could have walked away from the last band and the last situation and thought ’it is too hard’ but it fired me up to make this album and to kind of go alone and to make it so that I can pick myself up and go wherever I need to go with just my guitar. So in a sense it has just made me more determined than ever really.
Because I do draw on personal experience before you know it you have written half an album of things that have just annoyed you - so it kind of gets you half way there in that sense. I suppose if my life was nice all of the time I probably wouldn’t have anything write about (laughs).
- How have you found early responses to it as you have been playing some shows across the UK?
I has been fantastic. People have been coming to me after gigs, I say in the shows when the album is released, and they have been coming up to me and saying that they are definitely going to go and pre-order it.
We have seen the sales rising - especially since we had the Radio 2 play list as well - the pre-orders have just been fantastic.
But there are things on there that people can relate to and I think at this moment in time with the social consciousness of the way that things are in this country right now I think it is connecting with people in a good way.
I think the more people that have seen me live and the more that we have been on the radio the response has been brilliant and I am looking forward to starting the tour in February and seeing the response when I get out there.
- This album comes after the release of EP's The Bomb and My Pill so how do you feel that you have developed as both a musician and a songwriter in that time?
I recorded the album in summer of 2011 and then we recorded some of The Bomb EP in January last year so it is always a long process.
But in those eighteen months since I recorded those songs I have written more songs and I suppose now I feel that I have more of my own stamp on things because I am a solo artist.
I feel I have got that album and I can put that one to bed now and start looking for the next kind of thing to write about or talk about.
So in a sense it has definitely broadened my horizon as a songwriter and I do feel stronger for that because I really do believe in this album.
- You teamed up with producer Pete Smith for this record so how did you two meet?
A friend of his that he has worked with on a lot of albums was involved in my last band and Pete Smith came in and engineered on that album. We became friends and he really quite liked my writing style - he said that he could see and feel different things with the more country vibe, and I agreed with that.
When the band split up my first phone call, literally my first phone call, was to Pete Smith and I was like ‘right, I need to make an album are you in?’ And he was like ‘Yeah, let’s do it.’ We were in the studio within six weeks.
He is still a good friend and I speak to him a lot and we talk about the next album that we are going to do. Working with someone like him who is a Grammy Award winning producer - he has worked with the like of Sting and Joe Cocker - was brilliant because he is a real old school producer.
He gets into the studio and he really gets to the bottom of things and he makes sure everything sounds the best that it can do and I think the album has benefited massively from him being on it.
- He has thirty years experience in the music industry so how exciting was to work with someone like him on your first solo album?
It was brilliant, it was brilliant. Going back to you question about being a songwriter and a musician you get to stage where you are like ‘I understand that now’ and I thought I had a little bit of an idea of what production was about but working with Pete Smith I clearly didn’t.
It was brilliant because I learnt a lot from him and I am able to put that into practice myself now. So he really taught me the ways to properly produce and album and how to get what musicians around the album and what equipment to use.
I think people take it for granted with the production these days but it is an art like song writing or performing - he did things that I would never have thought of in a million years.
Having that wealth of experience that he has got it has pretty much made the album really. It really is half and half as the songs and the production and the performances all come together to make the album strong.
- You have mentioned that you are heading out on tour in February so how excited are you about getting back out on the road and introducing these tracks to a live audience?
I am really looking forward to it. Last year was busy as I did do a lot of shows and played a lot of these songs but I didn’t have the album to say ‘take one with you and see what you think’.
But it is great that I am going to be able to get out and play these songs when people can come up and see the album - it is double disk and it has a twenty five page booklet and a really nice piece of artwork. When people are able to see that and they can take it away and listen to it I can’t wait for that response.
To be honest the live thing is my real passion and I am looking forward to it. I have got some great tours coming up including Justin Currie from Del Amitri, I will be supporting him on ten dates in February, and a band called Moulettes. I am also doing some dates with Marcella Detroit.
So it is going to be great and it is going to be a really busy year. I am really looking forward to what response I am going to get for the album and for gigs.
- I was reading that you grew up in a very musical house so from what age did you know that you were doing to go down this path? And what sort of music were you introduced to as you were growing up?
Apparently I knew that I wanted to be a musician before I can even remember. There is a story that my told me, there is this road in Formby in Liverpool where all the footballers and that kind of thing live there and there are a load of big house.
When I was about three years of age we were walking down there to go to the beach and I said to my mum ‘when I am a rock star I am going to buy you one of these houses’ (laughs).
I don’t know where that came from because I was just three years of age but it is obviously something that I always wanted to do.
When I was six of seven I started singing lead in the choir and I took to it straight away - the rest is history really.
There was always some form of music on in the house such as The Beatles or Elvis, Roy Orbison and some of the great country guys like Johnny Cash. There was just really good music being played - when we were in the car my dad’s tape would go on and it would be country of Blues.
Half of the time I wouldn’t know who it was but it has obviously seeped through and has influenced me with the way that I am going with the country sound. No one in our house was musical in terms of playing an instrument but there was always music being played.
- You have an every growing fanbase so for any of those fans reading this interview do you have a message for them?
Support live music and come out and see the shows - I come out and play with a band most of the time so it is a good show.
I have tried to make an album that is something that they can go back to again and again and I just hope that they enjoy it. I am looking forward to seeing everyone on the road.
- Finally what is next for the rest of the year? Are we going to be seeing you tour for the most of it or will you be heading into the studio at the back end of the year?
There is a possibility that we will go into the studio at the end of the year but at the moment there are no plans. I just want to go and tour and play these songs.
Even though for me it has been eighteen months to get to this point - it does seem like forever - but for everyone else it is a very new thing.
So my focus is going to be on playing life and then towards the end of the year or this time next year we will go back into the studio and start looking at another album.
Robert Vincent - Life In Easy Steps is out now. Check out our review of Life In Easy Steps.
Click here to download Robert Vincent - Life In Easy Steps