West of Spaghetti: Janet Robin on The String Revolution's Cinematic New Sound

Janet Robin - The String Revolution

[The Trout]

You spend a lot of time helping students Yeah, better and that's got to be real rewarding I like working with young independent artists that are just coming up and I see them as they get bigger and bigger and bigger And that's gonna be rewarding for you to see because I know I know from years ago a friend of mine was a guitar Teacher in Kansas City, and he was a sight reader. He was phenomenal classic player And I said how many I think he had 70 students and I said how many of those are talented That's what he did for a living, okay. Yeah, and he said Three, right?

[Janet Robin]

Yeah So you see a lot of people but it also has to be rewarding for you to be able to help them out and get to the next level It is and it has on But I've also noticed, you know, I'm pivoting a little bit more now and and taking on less and less students Purely because I do want to work more with people who are serious. They don't have to be pros, you know But just take it serious and and if they're kids They have to be a certain age and they too also have to be you know serious about it I was serious about it. I started at six six seven I got super serious when I took lessons from Randy at nine So you're You know, you're a hundred percent Correct about it doesn't matter what age you are You know, you could you can tell when when kids or adults are serious about something.

Um, so My rates, you know, I raised my rates kind of extraordinarily high for white for that reason and to kind of weed out non the non serious and It wasn't that before I didn't want to inspire non serious people I did but I'm kind of Pivoting now because I want to spend more time actually making music, you know, and I've been Producing a lot and and and composing doing other projects. So I have a good solid group of students now maybe ten or something like that, they're all talented and That's not to say that Years before I also had some very talented students and one of them actually went on to Get their master's degree in classical guitar At USC, so he went to Pepperdine then he went to SC on a scholarship and he's that good He still plays rock and roll, but he got really Fascinated and turned on by classical music. So I mean he ended up studying at Pepperdine with like Christopher Parkin I don't know if you know who that is, but yeah, I've heard of yeah He's he's like one of the best classical, you know guitarists in the world at the moment I'm so that's Garrett Garrett Podgorski.

You should look him up. He's amazing and He's out there doing his own stuff now, you know He's releasing his own stuff and I started with him when he was yeah, like nine or ten And I could see it I could see it with him there was no messing around with this kid, you know And so and he came to every lesson prepared and he'd gotten better and be you know week by week He was just really and until he really didn't need me anymore on that level You know like we did do some recording together We kind of moved into recording and doing his own record and solo stuff and and then he got interested in classical And I don't teach that so he went to it, you know a different teacher and then that's where it kind of took off for him But yes, it is very rewarding. We don't have children either and So, you know at that time it was sort of like look at my kid, you know But I also feel that way about some of my older students and my adults who are just You know on the ones who are serious about it.

They're just So happy, you know like they find so much joy in and Getting better at something, you know, and it's like our self-esteem. I think as humans that never goes away You know you want it You want to instill it when you're younger, you know in a child because I think it it's a survival skill that you need You know as a kid, but you know, you also need it as you grow older you everybody wants to feel good about themselves and And you know if you find something that really makes you feel good about yourself and and you want to work at it I think it doesn't matter what age You're at if you just get joy out of it and you want to work at it and you want to get better and better I have a 70 year old student Lit maybe a little bit older and he just loves it, you know, and and he flew me out to His 70th birthday party and Actually, he's 70. I don't know what I'm talking about.

He just turned 70 I'm he flew me out because for his birthday He wanted to have a jam session and he's like I want to fly you out. I don't pay you I'm gonna put you up. I want you to sort of facilitate the jam and He said this whole thing in his garage You know, like of course Garage band and he got a PA and he had all the gear there he had a drum set and he had friends that were you know, decent players and He's like, I don't know what we're gonna play We'll just look it up on the iPad or whatever and you know All these cats got up and you know I just I had to move sometimes to playing bass because there weren't a lot of bass players So I was going back and forth and I was just jamming with him and you could just see the joy on his face You know of just like I can't believe I'm doing this. I'm 70. Oh, I don't know what he's thinking I can't I can't read his mind.

I just Looked like that. He was so happy and and I told his name is Hamish I I said Hamish, you know, you sound you're sounding really good today. You've gotten better I met him at rock and roll fantasy camp because he was he was in one of my bands I was mentoring and I said you're you know, you've gotten better since camp Which was just a few months prior.

He's like, oh since camp. I've been at it I've been doing I've been playing almost every day and I'm like I can really tell the difference so Yeah, you know, I think that's the great thing about teaching and Any field mind you? Oh, yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

I mean We are we are we are here anyway as humans to teach everybody, you know We're here to share our experiences and help people and teach everybody That's it Go ahead.

[The Trout]

I what I was gonna say was I just don't I did I don't have the patience I made now I tried years ago and students would come and go I Want to play like that? I want to because I had my last paw. I've had that's my 87 back here I've got several of them, but I said I want to play so I could play that guitar and I'm going like no That's not that's not like that.

That's not the way it works.

[Speaker 3]

Yeah. Yeah.

[The Trout]

No You know, it's like okay Here's a C and there's a you know, and of course you got it's like anything else and They come and I'd say what do you want to learn how to play? At that time it was TV rare or whatever and I said, okay, and I'd listen to it How do you know how to do that? How can you figure that out so quick?

[Janet Robin]

I said because I've been playing for decades You know My approach is really it's like I I approach it very like on straight, you know I'm just like look if you want to get good you got to practice, you know, there's no way around it So and then I just tell them look I'm getting paid anyway, so it's up to you You know and I can help you get good, but it's not it's not me. I'm not doing the work, you know I'm doing the work for this hour and then the rest of the week is is on you buddy so and then I also try to be humorous, you know in the lessons and it's because humor always like relaxes people and I do you're a producer now, you know part of the being a producer is how to deal with people without Mentally, yeah mentally and emotionally. Yeah.

Yeah, you want to inspire the person and and instead of critiquing like in a negative way I critique in a funny neck the funny way that can't is slightly negative if they're not sounding good just sort of like I Just say like what was that because that really sucked and they just laugh, you know and I I say that to kids and adults and they're just like Yeah, you're right. It did kind of sign. They know yeah Exactly, and I'm like, yeah, it did suck.

So here's how you get better Let me show you you know, and then we'll do reps and I'll show them how to practice Correctly because that's really what it is I'm and I always say it's up to you. You want to get better faster you practice more If you don't have so much time because we're all busy with things that's fine, too If you have no time to practice, that's also okay You can come to the lesson every week and that's and then that's a practice.

[The Trout]

You won't get good faster But you'll still get good, you know just slower Yeah, I was I was always a believer that if you joined a band you usually get better especially if we're playing out a lot even I started playing in bands when I was Eighth grade, I don't remember.

[Speaker 3]

Yeah. Yeah.

[The Trout]

Yeah, and you don't want to suck. I mean you do It's like you got to get better. So then you're like, okay, I got to get better cuz I'm playing in front of somebody

[Janet Robin]

Well, I I do tell them ultimately when I feel like they're ready for that to find a jam partner right if they can find some people or a person to jam with and and If possible people who are better than you surround yourself with players who are better than you now If you don't have any of that go to an open mic If you if you're seeing if you're a singer and a songwriter and you've never been on stage before Take yourself to open mic.

Yeah, just just do it and I'll get you ready for it I'll get you right as ready as I can And then and then go, you know Cuz I used to go to open mics all the time like for four nights of in a row I would go when I was starting out doing my own, you know singer songwriter.

[The Trout]

That's how you get better It's kind of like golf golf is you playing guitar learn how to play guitar is you It is you have to do it on your own and you had to get better at it But I also believe you're born with a certain amount of it and only you can make it better

[Janet Robin]

Okay, so yes and no to your question not question to your comment only because my experience, um is a little bit different because I'm a woman and Not to I'm not trying to play the gender card here but in the 80s, um It was a little bit different back then for the most part if you were good you were good, you know It didn't matter how old you were if you were a girl or if you were a guy But there was a lot of assumptions, especially back then if you were a girl you didn't play well So if you got you know, if you got on the stage with a guy who's who was good You immediately got on Before you even fucking played one note. Excuse my language. I'm You know, you got the once over, you know And then then they would fire off gear questions You know to kind of put you through like what pickups are using what strings, you know To see if you knew what the shit, you know What shit you're playing and probably never ask any of their other friends the same questions.

[The Trout]

No, they probably wouldn't know I mean they probably go.

[Janet Robin]

Yeah, I never thought now and now if I know you wouldn't you wouldn't you know? Because your experience through life has been different. Um, and that's totally fine.

I'm just trying to educate people a little bit. I'm now Sometimes people would get on stage with me and they knew I had taken lessons from Randy So there was no discussion about anything Alright, and I I didn't sound like Randy. I didn't play like him, but I had the chops, you know I had my own chops and so there was respect there for the most part in my career It's been respectful even with with major players like Lindsey Buckingham people I Big respect, but there were times where yeah It was I was put through the ringer like that or you know I would hear things after after a show man.

You play so good for a girl. Like that's just crazy I've never seen a girl play like like you before do you play guitar like a guy? I'm like Not like a backhanded compliment, you know, I think I think it is there Yeah

[The Trout]

well I was looking for women bass players and And I would interview them because I thought I was just really cool because you just don't see very many of them Let me change gears because I am a huge I grew up watching spaghetti Westerns Ennio Morricone was one of my favorite all-time Composers and He wrote a lot of great movies so When I got word from your PR person What was the the first thing I thought was okay. What was a preface for you guys to do something in that vein?

With that kind of feel to it Because I'll let music and all that music at that time had that feel to of course most is all it did because but but

[Janet Robin]

What what kind of drove you three into making that decision, you know, it's it's funny how the string revolution works It's it's just like Often we'll get together when we're composing or writing on together We're just we're literally just playing shit, you know Just jamming and I think it was Roberta that was sort of playing this Kind of this this, you know Waltzy type of thing and he's he's from Cuba. So it had this like Latin flair you know, and then I started playing that melody and The two of us looked at each other and we're like, it's kind of got that like any oh, I mean we're Complimenting ourselves, but you know big time We're first of all, we're both the all three of us are You know any old fans and I'm I'm also a Gustavo Santo Elijah fan and he's another composer that that uses guitar steel string guitar slide Durango which is Durango is on west of spaghetti on and So the two of them are like my my two of my favorite composers. I'm and that's sort of minimalistic Sound, you know very melodic nothing fancy per se right that you would think of in guitar music So Roberta and I started jamming and and then Marcus joined us like a week later Because he couldn't come to that that writing session and he's like, what about Durango, you know, what do you think and I was like, uh Yeah You know, so he's got a beautiful Durango.

It's it's a string instrument from Peru and He just started we wanted an intro, you know on and so he started playing this You know this arpeggio thing. It was just wow, you know, and it just like Thematically all came together That way it was pretty organic, you know We didn't sit down and it was like we didn't sit down and was like let's write an Enyo sounding song we didn't do that, you know, and I think pretty much all of the string revolution stuff is like that like Sometimes I might come in with an idea of like let's cover this song What do you think and then but the thing is is that sometimes we'll try a cover and it's not It's not clicking, you know, it's not working So, you know what? I mean and other times we'll just be jamming and I might bring up a hey What about this song, you know or this song that we just did ourselves.

This is an original This came out of purely out of a jam session. Just feeling in that moment. What was going on actually was here I think and we were just jamming, you know, and there's there's There's something to that, you know all your I don't believe in like it coming out of from like boo like, you know New Age.

Yeah, I mean nothing nothing against that. You know, there's no crystal ball I feel like when you jam together you're feeding off energy of each other's yes And each other's back musical background It's all like it's like a library in your in your head a musical library and when you get with somebody else Your card catalog starts going fucking crazy You know, it's filing through all the all the different Musical influences you've had you grew up with and and when you get with somebody else It is an energetic thing that I believe in but that's scientific.

You're feeding off of each other's Backgrounds and all three of us come from we couldn't come from more different backgrounds, you know a Culture and of musical Inspirations and and then you get this this mix and and you know, I'm not gonna say it sounds exactly like a Morricone You know Film soundtrack it doesn't you know, nor should it you know, we didn't cover a song of yours We just were thinking in that vein vein.

[The Trout]

It just like came up and and it does have a little bit of that sound You know I think the problem is if you're gonna cover him you have to play it. Just like him you do because it's No, you can't go around Beatles song. It's like you ever lead breaking.

Okay, if you're gonna play whatever it is From him, right, you know, okay. This parts coming in. All right Where's that part worth that funky little thing going on there and you're like, okay, cuz he was it was An interesting composer.

I mean as far as is that that whole segment not to get into this too much but that genre of movies Was just interesting because it was closer to me I think Then it probably was because during that time all the movies that came out Westerns from Americans Were all people that had teeth at the gondola. Dennis had white bright teeth Stuff on to make him look dirty, but then their teeth would shine. You're like, okay This Italian director to come in films in Spain with Italian They can't speak English and look like they should look in Westerns Exactly, and then you throw in the stuff with the funky I mean, I still remember watching the Good, Bad and Ugly when it first came out.

It's just a kid And and yeah, but isn't that so much is some of the other songs. I know yeah Yeah, what moved you so much and you're

[Janet Robin]

Sergio Leone right Yeah, and you know more Connie, yeah, I mean there I think their idea of American Westerns was way more accurate You know And it's he literally created a genre, you know a cultural genre, you know, like it's so Like that's sort of Western Music, you know, it's that country music like yeah, you know that you think of something else when you when you hear country music, you know, so yeah, I mean again, I we you know, we didn't cover a song of his we're I think we're sort of Composing and ranging in a little bit more cinematic way.

We wanted it to have this kind of sonic Landscape this sort of big bigger ish sound without sounding big. That's what that's what gustavo Santo elagio does if you listen to some of his like brokeback mountain and the last of us Which was the latest thing he did On the video game and and the show on tv It's it's like guitar or tarango and like strings like that's it. You know, it's like It's very, you know minimalistic and it just evokes this emotion and feeling with the less is more kind of thing, so We we were trying to go for that and I love the piece, you know, I love the piece.

Um, we have another original piece Coming out very different. Uh, that's going to come out in a few months Uh, or maybe three months or so after this next song that we have coming out, which is completely different From this one, you know, and I don't give a shit, you know The string revolution is about making music making good music exploring music with our guitars And doing things differently in arrangements. So, you know if you go to our spotify, we're all over the place I mean it is what it is But it's still string revolution sound because it's the three of us or in the earlier days.

It was the four of us And we still had that core Sound of this these guitars covering, you know One covers a bass line one covers the lead line one covers the rhythm line or it's the percussive thing And that was always what I wanted to do when I put this band together I didn't want to just have some kind of instrumental dental office music. No offense, but That's probably we're probably on a playlist and now I just got us off that playlist Yeah Dental office Yeah Listen, and I come from a family of dentists So, you know, I I can say that because because my dad was a dentist and so was my brother And so is my nephew. But anyway, um, yeah, so Our next song we're doing is a is a is a cover, but it's unusual.

It's a video game theme song from a very very popular early 2000s video game called plants versus zombies Funny name and We did this theme song and it's real quirky sounding, you know, and it was written by this woman in japan Uh named laura shigiara and she does video game music in that sort of, you know, quirky way um And the story goes real quickly is that this video game theme song? Really inspired billy eilish and phineas To write a big hit which was called bad guy And when you hear the theme song from that game You can and if and then then you play bad guy, which was a big song for them Yeah, you can kind of hear like they didn't rip it off. It's just sort of like oh my god I can I can totally hear that, you know so our producer uh Who became our producer steve schner?

He works for ea games, which is Yeah, i've heard of him big time. Yeah big time. He's the he's the The president of the music division there he approached us after after we won the grammy and um with this idea And he's like I have this idea.

I have this vision and and he's like And you know i'm friends with billy and her team and I think if you mashed The theme song from that video game with bad guy In the string revolution way as an instrumental track. It would be amazing and we're like yes You know the weirder the better, right? I knew nothing about that game You know, i'm not a gamer.

I did end up playing it. I finally got it and it's fun to play and you know, we we cut it, you know, and and it's it's came out amazing and He also had the idea of featuring some cello on it, you know, and so we got this amazing cello player tina guo and oh Oh Oh, i'd love to interview her.

[The Trout]

I'd love to talk to her. Oh, i'll try to i'll try to get you together I mean, I I know her because she plays with that some guy that writes movies called zimmer or something Yeah, some guy who is that guy? I don't know who I follow her on instagram.

Okay, so she She is exactly Yeah, she's fucking badass.

[Janet Robin]

She's in paris this week, by the way Yeah, she she's awesome. So she came down to stalk her now anyway No, no, she's she's she's so great. She came down to the studio and Cut some amazing, you know cello parts just like in an hour, you know Hi, and then bye, you know, but we we uh, we kind of had some camaraderie because you know She's also metal queen, you know, she she loves metal and when she found out I studied with brandy She was fascinated by that and so we ended up going out and having lunch together And talking about the business and stuff But so so it's the string revolution covering the plants versus zombies fame Mashed with bad guy. We go into the the riff of bad guy from billy and phineas and you know And tina playing over it.

So That's the name of the tune what's the tune it's called bad zombies Okay All right.

[The Trout]

So let's go back to west spaghetti. Okay.

[Janet Robin]

Okay.

[The Trout]

I just had to know I'm gonna get to that another one in a second. Yeah, so when you guys are doing this you guys get together Do you have a goal of we need to do something to release? Or is it just get through jamming and you go like, you know, we're just having a good time and then somebody goes Hey, maybe we should put this out Okay more like that or how does that work?

[Janet Robin]

It was more like that before we met our new manager Oh You know, you gotta have a ring leader to whip you in the shape Right. So yeah, we have also a ton of other ideas, but he's like so you haven't released anything since america last year And we're like, yeah You know, we're just yeah, so, you know, and uh, because you know, we're we're not I mean, I think we do think like oh we should release something. It's been a long time But you know, we're not you know managers are different, you know, they're they're just and they're like well What you have songs finished?

Yes. Yeah, we've got some And they're like, oh he's like, okay. Well Why don't you finish them, you know, like completely get them mixed and mastered and we're like, okay No, yes, you're going to release a song every five weeks So he put us on this schedule, you know, and and he we had you know The songs were basically done we had to clean up a few things and we finally got them mixed and you know So sometimes you do need that ring later, but to answer your question. No, I mean We don't get together unless it's um, absolutely necessary And we're just like somebody gives us a project like bad zombies that was given to us, you know, um That said, you know We've been wanting to do a holiday record for a long time and our manager Brought that up and we were like, oh we kind of started that like three years ago, you know And you know and he's like well and we're like well and he's like finish it Finish the album, you know, it's like you you don't have to do a whole album. How about an ep? How about six songs finish six songs?

Get them recorded get them all done and let's get it out And done by october and let's release it in november and we're like, okay, okay, you know So you gotta you gotta you know Round up all the musicians and all the work that you're doing and that's why you have management sometimes so We don't normally sit down and say we have to release this in july.

[The Trout]

Let's right now go, you know, it doesn't work like that Yeah well in the second second Zombie thing. I I I listen to that. I mean when you're talking about that I think about When you got the quality of players that you work with The advantage that you have that your students don't have Is the fact that you can make phone calls to people?

That they can never do that And so you're playing with some of the great players. I mean all three of you're great So that that's part of it and you can feed off each other. That's the one thing I miss And I don't have a band anymore.

My wife says and I said I just don't want to put it's just too much of a You know what? I mean? Well, it's I would rather You know, i'd rather play with people I could jam with I mean i've threatened this over the years because i've interviewed such great people And everyone I ask I said, okay I want to put a an album out or music out where i'm going to write it And then each one of you kind of add stuff to it like slide player you do that Yeah That's great.

I'll say yes, and then I sit back and go Well, how am I going to write a song that that's good enough for everybody? You know what I mean? It's just I it's something I got to mentally overcome To go.

Okay, because I know they're not going to go. No, that sucks, right? They're just going to go.

Well, maybe you could do better, you know, just like you do I mean But so what my point is this you're working with people that already understand What needs to be done? So when you start feeding off each other I mean when you did the thing in cash cabin You were feeding off each other.

[Janet Robin]

Oh for sure

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