PULSE NIAGARA(Niagara Region,ON)
09/21/06

ROB SZABO: Niagara Wine Festival Lures Him To The Region

“I feel like this is the record I’ve been winding up to make for
about ten years. On the one hand it was grueling ‘cause we went
through a lot of trial and error before we ended up really figuring
out what we should be doing. I mean, on a few of the songs we
went through two or three completely different productions of the
song, from the drum takes all the way down the line. But in that
process we eventually came up with something that just felt
right.”
Rob Szabo is a lovely fellow to talk to. It’s rare to find
someone who’s been at this arduous rock n’ roll game for so long
that hasn’t an ounce of bitterness in them. Instead, Szabo speaks
of his work with a wide–eyed excitement, a bubbling joy that is
extremely indicative of his recorded work. He’s someone truly
grateful for every experience he’s had as a musician, and
anxiously awaits the next adventure. His newest endeavour is a
benchmark of sorts. He’s just released the very ambitious Like A
Metaphor, a CD/DVD package that features new tunes, old
re–recorded favourites, and a bonus DVD compiling three
stunning new videos and a short documentary depicting his life
on the road.
“Our goal with this record was to put together the best
collection of songs that I have written to date, regardless of
exactly when they were written, and present them in a way that I
could translate live either with or without a band,” explains the
lanky songsmith of his record’s mission. “I chose to re–record
some old tunes for a few different reasons. First of all, I did more
touring in the last year than I’ve ever done and it really hit home
to me that in the big scheme of things I’m a totally unknown
performer. It means people don’t know my history, they don’t
know that I’ve already done eight records. When I play live I play
songs from throughout my career, so if I’m playing in San
Francisco and I play the song “Beautiful” and people really relate
to it, they don’t care that it’s a five–year–old song that I first
recorded with my old band [Plasticine]. They want that song! So I
kinda feel like, for people that know my history, this is a new CD
with a few greatest hits thrown in. For the new folks, hopefully,
it’s a just a bunch of bitchin’ songs! Secondly, I’ve always felt like
lots of the songs that I’ve done and been proud of never really
got a chance – –due to unforeseeables like bands breaking up, or
labels going bankrupt, etc. So now that I’m committed to touring
my ass off and getting the word out, I felt like I wanted to give
them a second chance.”
Szabo certainly has a renewed vigour for the road. On the
Good Son Documentary portion of the DVD, he speaks
passionately of his commitment to playing as much as possible.
“I’m going to tour like nutters. Two hundred shows a year.” And
so he has. Taking his acoustic and his Danelectro all over North
America, remaining steadfast in his goals, just bringing it every
night. No matter where, no matter who’s there. Nowhere is this
manifesto better exemplified than in the footage of Szabo wooing
the punk rock kids in a fire hall in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, (a
night immortalized in the new tune “The Johnstown Kids”).
Between heckles of “Fuck Canada!”, Szabo manages to both trump
the heckler and capture the unsuspecting hearts of those in
attendance by showing them that punk and pop, Canada and
America, aren’t so different after all. It’s this connection that
keeps him touring and loving his job.
“Yeah, I still get excited about touring,” he says. “It gets a
little funny when you do a really long stretch alone in the van. I
did five weeks alone last summer, and of course you get lonely
and it’d be nice to have a band around, but that comes with all
sorts of other baggage, too. I was never one of these guys who
got into music because I wanted to get laid or be famous or
something. The kind of people I look up to these days are people
like Fred Eaglesmith, not necessarily from a musical standpoint,
but the guy tours two hundred and fifty days a year! He plays to
tons of people in every city in North America and is essentially
unknown. I like that. And he has a real connection with his
audience. There is no middle–man. He doesn’t have to depend on
a label, or the radio, or video stations, or magazines. That to me
is success.”
One place Szabo has always been able to rely on for success
is Kitchener–Waterloo. Whether it was as the Bobby Baker
look–a–like front–man of The Groove Daddys in the mid–’90s, one
half of the ferocious dual guitar rock band Plasticine, or as the
mature singer/songwriter he’s grown into, Szabo has always been
embraced by the town he grew up in. His presence has been more
sparse since he’s moved to the big city, (Toronto), but the scene
he was instrumental in creating is still thriving and Szabo is glad
he can still be a part of it.
“Do I still feel like K–W is my home? Of course. That’s where I
grew up, cut my teeth, learned to play, and made my first records.
That’s where I came back to after my first tours and that’s where I
felt like I was a part of a scene at a certain time. I haven’t lived
there for about five years so of course I’m somewhat
disconnected, but I still have friends there and hear about what’s
going on to a certain degree. I haven’t been feeling like a part of
any scene for quite some time because I’ve been traveling lots,
and that gives you a whole different perspective on things.”
Lately, Szabo’s career perspective is focused squarely on
longevity and constant improvement. He is a dedicated writer and
player and is purely interested in the continual betterment of his
craft. This is his eighth release and over the course of those
albums he’s seen every facet of the rock mythos. So when is
enough enough? For people who love what they’re doing as much
as Szabo, there is no such thing. All that matters is the next
adventure.
“I like the thought of looking into the future at the records I
will make and thinking that they will be way better than anything
I’ve done to this point. I really kinda feel like I’m just getting
started, just scratching the surface and really starting to figure
out what the hell I should be doing. That may sound ridiculous
considering I’ve done eight or so records already, but I’ve only
just finished Like A Metaphor and if I find myself daydreaming it’s
always about how we’re gonna make the next record, and what
the sounds will be like. That really excites me. It makes me feel
like maybe I’ve been doing something right. It’s really the only
thing that consistently makes sense to me: keep on writing songs,
keep on making records, keep on touring. What else is there?”
[PATRICK FINCH]

Presented by Niagara Wine Festival
@ Montebello Park
Tuesday, September 26, 2006
http://www.grapeandwine.com