Calgary SUN(Calgary,AB)
06/03/06
Here's my Earthy pop
by Mike Bell

He's known the big rock show in front of drinking and partying throngs.  And now the quiet club dates in fron of a handfull of attentive listeners.

In Rob Szabo's mind, one suits him a whole lot better.

"For what I do now, tiny folk clubs and tiny rooms where it's really intimate, that's how it starts and that's where it's really gratifying," the veteran Toronto-based singer-songwriter who plays Jackdaw's tonight, says.  "And it works ... I love it."

"Playing to a room with 20 people who are there and know why they're there, that's really satisfying to me."

"And they get the feeling they're part of something other people don't know about, and it's true."

After more than a decade in the music industry - solo and with bands such as Plasticine and The Groove Daddys - Szabo is actually hoping to rectify his anonymity with his new CD Like A Metaphor.

The disc features songs from his past projects, as well as new material, all recorded in Szabo's smart, earthy pop style.

Again, in contrast to his rock past, it's the perfect album to hit the road to support - just he and a guitar - and attempt to let audiences get to know the real him.

"I'm an unknown in most places I'm playing.  People don't know I've done eight CDs.  So I just thought, well, 'yeah this is an introduction.  Let's do a record that top some people will be a greatest hits, and to those who don't know me will just be a good record.'"