A Bit Of Time With Robin Trower

Guitar god Robin Trower checks in with Pollstar to discuss his upcoming album, Time and Emotion, and U.S. tour that kicked off this week.

Although known for his prowess on the axe, from his days in Procol Harum to his prolific solo career, Trower is a man of many talents. The English blues rock musician co-owns his label V12, co-produced the new LP, has embraced being a vocalist in recent years, and even paints the artwork for the album covers.

Scott Legato / RockStarProPhotography.com – Robin Trower
Royal Oak Music Theatre, Royal Oak, Mich.

Time and Emotion is due out May 5.

A review from Classic Rock Revisited declares, “Robin Trower is back with perhaps his best solo album since he was in his 40s… considering Robin is 72, that is saying a lot!  It is not that Trower’s recent efforts are not worthy, but rather that his latest release Time and Emotion is so damn good. … Trower’s smooth-as-buttah guitar licks, screaming solos and ethereal bluesy vocals keep the listener hooked.”

Trower’s U.S. tour launched in St. Paul, Minn., on Wednesday and stops by Milwaukee next with a gig at Pabst Theater tonight. Shows are booked in Illinois, Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas, Arizona, Nevada, California and Oregon. The last performance is scheduled June 3 in Seattle.

The guitarist called up Pollstar a few weeks ago from his home in Hampshire, England.

What’s your rehearsal schedule like before a tour?

Well, providing I’m not recording, I usually practice every day and then there’s rehearsals for about a week before the tour starts.

Do you give any input on the tour routing?

No, none at all. (laughs)

It must be nice to leave that in your agent’s hands.

Well, the thing is, Derek’s been taking care of that for so many years I know it’s going to be the best it can be.

Are there any cities you’re especially looking forward to playing?

Not that pops into my head right away. I do like playing almost everywhere, really, in the States, from Chicago down to Texas up to Seattle, you know, providing there’s a good audience, they’re always good gigs.

The tour features a trio, with Richard Watts on bass and vocals and Chris Taggart on drums. Looking over some press, this trio is described as your favorite lineup. Can you expand on that a bit?

I think I might have said it’s my favorite setup is to work as a trio rather than having like four people in a band where the singer is out front, as it were. That’s probably the quote you’re coming from there. I prefer to work in a trio because it gives me a little bit more room to enjoy myself on the solos and take as long as I like, really.

Will you also be singing on tour or will Richard be handling all of the vocals?

I do sing some of the songs, yeah. Richard’s an incredible vocalist. He covers all of the early stuff, which, you know, there’s no way I’m good enough to sing those. I sing the ones I’ve written for myself, basically.

You famously have been using a Fender Stratocaster on tour, as the story goes, ever since Jethro Tull’s Martin Barre let you try one in the ‘70s. Are you still using your signature model on tour? 

Oh yeah, that’s the only Strat I play now. For the last seven or eight years  I’ve only played the signature model because every detail is just what I like. It was put together to be the right guitar for me.

It doesn’t get any better than that, right?

Absolutely. That’s the top of the top.

– Robin Trower
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I wanted to talk about the cover art. How long have you been painting and how long have you been creating your own art for the albums?

I did one or two, several years ago, and I’ve done, I think, it might be the last four or five. It’s just something I really enjoy doing. Usually I work with the title of the album. I get the title of the album and then I come up with a visual sort of concept that goes with it, in my mind anyway. (laughs) I just get a lot of satisfaction out of doing the artwork; it’s great.

Does it satisfy a different creative outlet compared to coming up with songs on the guitar?

I don’t think there’s a lot of differences really, just being creative, really, is very rewarding. I get a lot of satisfaction out of creating pieces of music and lyrics and what have you, guitar solos and creating the covers I get just as much satisfaction.

– Album artwork for “Time And Emotion”

What sort of medium did you work with on the cover? Was it acrylic or oil?

Acrylic and also a lot of pieces are cut out so I get a layered, kind of 3-D effect. So there’s a background and then there’s things that are cut out and painted that are layered onto the background.

So many people these days stream music or download an album but when you have a musician actually creating the album artwork, that’s definitely an extra incentive to go purchase a copy of the album that you can actually hold in your hands.

It would be nice to think so, wouldn’t it?  The thing is, I think it’s nice if the package has a sort of one-ness to it, so it’s all come from the same heart and soul, as it were.

Do you let it affect you at all, that some people might just listen to a track or two? Or do you keep that out of mind and continue looking at a new album as a whole package?

Are you saying am I bothered with people just sort of ripping a couple of tracks?

Right.

No, that’s it exactly. I can’t be thinking about who is going to be listening to it or how or why. I’ve got to just get it right, what I feel is right in my own heart and mind. And then, obviously, you get a great amount of pleasure from hearing that people really like it, but I won’t worry about that until it comes out.

Time & Emotion is due out on May 5. It seems like you’ve been so inspired lately and had albums come out one year after another. What was the songwriting process like for this album? Did you go into it with a certain vision in mind for what you wanted to create?

Well, when I first started coming up with the musical ideas, I knew I was looking for something that would just be a bit different than the previous album. I think I wanted to make the compositions a little bit more, not complex, but that had more interest in them as compositions rather than relying on the performance of the music.

I think the fans will definitely appreciate you mixing it up. And as far as for your own creativity, it must have been neat to explore that as well.

Yeah, you know, if you can avoid it you try not to keep repeating yourself in terms of formula. So I definitely tried to mix it up and away from the previous album this time. And I did quite a bit more work, I think, in the writing and the preparation before going into the studio.

As far as the order of the tracks, do you have a say in that?

I’m in control of everything. (laughs) I’ve been much happier about it, these last four or five albums, where I’ve just taken complete control of it.

It seems like that’s the ultimate goal for one’s career.   

Well that’s the beauty of having your own label, really. It gives you the freedom to just do the work, you know, get it right and keep working on it until you’re happy.

I love the first song, “Land Of Plenty.” I think that’s a fun way to kick things off.

That was the last thing I came up with, the last song as it were, that went on the album. But when I came up with it and got near to finishing it, I just felt like it had to start the album off.

Living in America I had to wonder, is this a commentary about the U.S. or just first world countries in general?

I think it was kind of nudged into existence by what I was seeing about, I was kind of interested in Black Lives Matter, which was going on. Though I didn’t sort of put that into the lyrics so much I think that’s what kicked off the idea of the lyric.

That’s a huge conversation we need to keep having.

We also have similar problems in Britain as well, obviously, maybe that aren’t quite as in the forefront of news what have you.

David Conger / DavidConger.com – Robin Trower
Snoqualmie Casino, Snoqualmie, Wash.

Do you have any tracks that are particular favorites? Either that you wrote or like to perform?

I think probably my favorite is the second track, “What Was I Really Worth To You?”

What can you tell us about the songwriting or recording process for that track?

Well, when I came up with the idea musically I just felt it had a real atmosphere about it. The recording of it was pretty straight forward. It was a matter of getting the guitar part down and then the guide vocal. And then I played bass and then I brought in Chris on drums and just slowly built it up. In fact, that’s how I pretty much did every track on the album.

I was wondering how everything comes together – if you write all of the parts yourself or if when you go into the recording studio Chris comes up with the drums section.

Usually I go in with the song, which is the guitar part and the vocal and I’ll work with an engineer, Sam, and I put down the guitar to a click track, or machine drums, and then I’ll put the guide vocal on and then I’ll do the bass. And then I’ll replaced the guitar and the vocal until I’m pretty happy with it. Eventually the drums come in and get the drums on it. And then it will probably have lead work on it by then, as well, but quite often the lead work gets replaced further down the road. It’s a bit of a leapfrogging way of working but it’s the only way I can control every part that goes on until I’m really happy with it.

Besides Time And Emotion, do you have any other projects in the works?

At the moment I’m working on an album with a singer called Maxi Priest and that’s a very interesting project. … It’s very exciting, it’s something different for me. We’re hoping to have it finished by the end of summer.

I’ve done all the guitar on it. There’s a lot of stuff that’s master quality already. I would say [its] past half way [complete], definitely.

Will this be an album that Maxi is releasing and you’re contributing the guitar parts on it? Or is this a collaborative project?

It’s a collaborative [project]. Yeah, we’ve co-written all of the songs, myself, Maxi Priest and Livingstone Brown so we’re doing it as group really, the three of us.

Do you know who Maxie Priest is?

While we were talking I just looked up his Wikipedia page. I wasn’t familiar with him before you mentioned his name but I’ll have to check out his stuff.

He’s more of a reggae artist. He’s got an amazing voice. I mean, a voice to die for.

The project you’re working on – does it have a reggae flavor to it?

Not really, no, because I’ve written all of the music. It’s more rhythm and blues flavor.

Going back to the spring tour, what can fans expect as far as the setlist? Will it focus primarily on the new album or will the shows include material from throughout your career?

Oh yeah, definitely. There’s a lot of early stuff because they’re are the biggest selling albums. Stuff from Bridge of Sighs, For Earth Below, things like that, In City Dreams. A few things, two or three things from the middle period and I think I’m doing three of four songs, I think four songs from the last two albums.