DO NOT IGNORE! CONTAINED WITHIN IS ONE AMAZING STORY!
How did a guy, who some thought couldn't sing six years ago, end up recording an album with one of the world's top rock producers?
Sheer hard work. And notable results. Robin Black didn't, doesn't and won't take no for an answer.
When Bob Ezrin, the Canadian producer of such legendary albums as Pink Floyd's The Wall and KISS's Destroyer, didn't think the band's songs were good enough, the five-piece stepped up to the plate. As the frontman for the Toronto-based rockers, Robin already had a deal with EMI Music Publishing Canada (since 2000), so someone believed in his ability to write songs. But to get the man responsible for The Wall to put his reputation on the line, well, that was another story entirely.
"He heard 12 new songs we had written and he hated them all," admits Robin. "They were all 9 out of 10s on a scale of what we used to consider a 10. But he taught us the Bob Ezrin scale of 10, how emotional the music has to be, how each part has to be great — a world-class drum beat, a world-class guitar part, world-class chorus, a world-class vocal, world-class emotion, world-class story, world-class everything." At the offices of EMI Music Publishing in downtown Toronto in May of 2003, Robin, alongside bandmates Killer Ky and Starboy on acoustic guitars, started playing a new song, "Feel (Something So Real)." Mr. Ezrin sat at the piano, and together they worked until the song was bigger and better — and anthemic. "Suddenly, Bob slammed the lid of the piano down and started pacing and screaming for (EMI Music Publishing president) Michael McCarty that we had a hit," Robin remembers.
After that day, Mr. Ezrin was sold.
The result is the album Instant Classic, due out on Venus/EMI Music Canada on February 15. The single, "Over You," is already at radio and the video serviced to MuchMusic and MTV Canada. But there are other potential hits, including the rocky horror "Hellraiser," obedient rocker "Why Don't You Love Me?" and poppier "We Saw Right Through Ya," and "Better Off That Way."
"I think Robin Black is the hardest working and innately optimistic person that I've ever encountered, so there's no stopping this guy," says Mr. Ezrin, who ended up co-writing six songs with the band. "He's going to do it, one way or another, with or without me. But I think what I've brought to him is stronger material and a better sense of how to craft a song. And I think the industry is ready for another great rock band."
Robin always thought the world was ready for him. A Manitoba native, he abandoned his band, The Ballroom Zombies, and moved to Toronto in 1998 with nothing but bravado and determination. Coming up with the name Robin Black & The Intergalactic Rock Stars, he then put together the band. While building up a dedicated local fan base, RB & IRS recorded 2002's full-length debut, Planet: Fame, with GGGarth Richardson (Atreyu, Rise Against, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Rage Against The Machine) and Moe Berg (The Pursuit Of Happiness).
RB & IRS garnered a rabid following which don't give a hoot what's playing on the radio or MuchMusic and snapped up 8500 albums, scanned and off the stage. The band made four videos: "So Sick Of You," "Some Of You Boys (Most Of You Girls);" "Time Travel Tonight" and "Take Myself Away," and released a DVD, We Came We Saw We Came. Planet: Fame came out in the U.K and Europe and sold in excess of 10,000 copies. All this independently.
The hook up with Mr. Ezrin came through GGGarth Richardson. It was GGGarth's father, Jack, who gave Ezrin his start 34 years ago in Toronto, and encouraged him to produce his first act, Alice Cooper. GGGarth and Mr. Ezrin have also worked together for many years and recently formed a company, Jaxboyz.
Having shortened the band name to Robin Black and securing a new line-up with the addition of ex Age Of Electric bassist John "The Creep" Kerns and drummer Christopher Alexander Kidd, the band recorded Instant Classic on-and-off between January and June of 2004, spending six weeks at Richardson's The Farm in Gibson, BC, a week at The Warehouse in Vancouver, and a couple of weeks with Mr. Ezrin at The Carriage in Stamford, CT.
Mr. Ezrin co-produced with Richardson, even though the two weren't in the same time zone, except for during preproduction in Toronto, where they made sure the 11 songs were great. "After that, I was on the West Coast and Bob was on the East Coast," says Richardson. "We tracked the CD in Vancouver with (engineers) Dean Meher and Ben Kaplin and after the drum track, we moved to my studio, The Farm, to do the overdubs. Lots of fun times. We spent three weeks working on it. We would send Bob MP3s as we went along."
The stride between Instant Classic and Planet: Fame is ten-fold. These are songs that can compete on the world stage. With the reunion of Motley Crue and the international success of newcomers such as The Darkness and Jet, the time for Robin Black's rock 'n' roll has come.
The Gaslight Anthem
October 13, 2009
Kool Haus
Toronto ON
Metric
October 24, 2009
Hamilton Convention Centre
Hamilton ON
Jay-Z
October 31, 2009
Air Canada Centre
Toronto ON
