Rob Gonzalez
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Rob Gonzalez
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Rob Gonzalez is a singer songwriter from the Midwest who was drawn to the Boston area for his education at Berklee College of Music and Stonehill College as well as the music scene. The recent success of his new self-produced album �Somehow� has put many eyes on him to find out what is so special about this guy. I had the opportunity to speak with him in brief and this is what was said.
Skope: What are your thoughts on your album debuting at #18 on the CMJ Triple A chart with such other incredible songwriters and artists on the list with you?
RG: I moved out here and this whole time I�ve just been working and working and working, and just to see that I came up with something that was at least mentioned in the same breath as Bob Dylan and Lyle Lovett. It really meant a lot to me.
Skope: I can tell from your writing, particularly in the song �California Rising� (Track 6), that Bob Dylan must be a big influence on you, who else influences you?
RG: The Beatles are the biggest, everybody always says that, but it�s really true.
Skope: Which of the Beatles in particular?
RG: All of them in a different way. I was turned on to the Beatles by my older sister�s boyfriend when I was nine. Songs like �Penny Lane� just really blew my mind and it opened a whole new world for me at nine years old. Particularly John Lennon for his lyricism, Paul for his use of melody, George for his progressions and I think Ringo for his ability to just have fun which I think is the biggest thing of all that I�ve learned because if you can�t have fun with your music then why do it.
Someone else who has recently influenced me is Van Morrison because people kept saying that I sounded like him. So I started to listen more to him and I don�t see the similarities but I really do like his arrangements. And then of course, Elton John and Billy Joel as well.
Skope: You mentioned how important it is to have fun with your music and I have never seen you perform but I have heard that you put on a great show and always look like you are enjoying the time you have onstage. Is that something you learned to enjoy when you were very young touring for the first time?
RG: Yes absolutely, my first professional job at 19 years old at St. Thomas playing for 6 months, which was the coolest thing ever. I was making money and living on an island, well except my father disowned me for it. He�s a doctor and to leave school and join some band to go to some island in the Caribbean was very unexpected from me because I was always such a good student. I just suddenly in his eyes lost my mind. But I went down there and had so much fun playing and that ended up leading to a gig playing in a hotel lounge act which toured around the country. I thought it that was the coolest thing in the world cause here I am 20 years old touring around the country playing at these bars where I wasn�t even old enough to drink and having 28 year old women hit on me. There was one guy on that tour that ended up teaching me some really cool ideas about performing, which I had never really thought about. I thought you get up and you do your song but he taught me some real techniques to put on a good show and some of it is obvious, to just have fun and be yourself. He taught me that a lot of times the audience is just as uncomfortable as you are and you both have your doubts about how the other will react. Will this artist mess up or will the audience enjoy what I�m doing up here? Everybody�s always uncomfortable at first so if you can break that down then fwew! it�s a relief and that�s when everybody has a really good time.
Skope: What do you think gives you the greatest sense of accomplishment? Of all the things you�ve done musically or not, what�s the greatest thing to you?
RG: Oh boy�I�m my own webmaster! That�s not my greatest accomplishment but I learned how to do it and I was pretty impressed with that. Being on the charts I guess is my greatest accomplishment�well let me rephrase that, putting out the CD on my own as an unsigned artist and being on the charts. That�s my greatest accomplishment. I recorded six of those songs basically in my bedroom. In fact I did the vocals for six of the songs on the album in one day, I started at noon and finished at 12:30 at night.
Skope: Was being self-produced important to you in making this record or was it more out of necessity?
RG: Well it was out of necessity, I ran out of money. Working with Anthony (Resta) who did the first two songs was an amazing experience. He�s worked with Elton John and Collective Soul he�s worked with Shawn Mullins and he�s worked with Duran Duran he�s done some really cool stuff. It was the first time I had worked with someone who was as passionate about what we were doing as I was. Pretty soon the rest of it had to happen I just had to get the rest finished so we could promote it. I had the material so I just said I�d do it myself. We recorded the drums during the day at the Dogwood caf� in Jamaica Plains with the pizza machine running in the background which got so loud at times that we had to stop recording and wait for the pizza maker to stop.
Skope: So I hear you are writing new music now. Are you planning to put out another record any time soon for us to look for?
RG: I do. I�ve got an idea for a record that I can�t say how it�ll go over but I�m excited about it and my band member�s are excited about it. I don�t want to talk about it too much but I will say that it�s gonna have a lot of piano in it, more that anything I�ve done.
Rob Gonzalez will be setting off on his �Missing Wisconsin Tour� as this magazine goes to print and will be touring throughout the state of Wisconsin on a 20 college circuit during the month of February. He has high hopes and the talent that may enable him to set himself free to the world. His songs are currently played on more than a handful of radio stations nationwide and the first week of the record�s release was ranked #14 Most Added to College Radio Stations Throughout the U.S. Rob appears to have a bright future in the music world and I hope to see him rise to the top.
~ Chris Greiner
�I feel like I can die happy because I really have been working on this for so long.�
�I told my mom when I was fourteen I wanted to be a songwriter.�