Rob Smith Interview - December 2007
So many people had their theories about whatever happened to Houston Wells, what went through your head when you read reports of either your fathers demise or that he was still living in Ireland off in the bush like some hermit or something? (laughs).
Rob: Well knowing exactly where my father was at the time of all these rumours, I found it quite amusing actually. Understandable maybe? but amusing all the same
Growing up were you aware of the fact that your father was this popular singer?
Rob: I was about 10 when my father gave me his "Western Style" LP to listen to, I guess that was the first time I knew my father was a singer. After we immigrated to Ireland it was very obvious to us that my father was a celeb over there, everyone called him Houston.
Did you ever get to meet any of the stars that your father worked with?
Rob: I don't think I did, I was quite young when Dad was working with most of them. I did meet a lot of the musicians in his bands. And I did go to a live show in the UK when I was about 10 or 11, I watched Billy J Kramer, The Fourmost, Johnny Kidd and the Pirates perform live, as well as Houston Wells and the Marksmen.
The Marksmen you have stated before (on your own site), were a revelation to you, listening to their music inspired you to pick up the guitar yourself. What was it about their music that inspired you so much?
Rob: I seemed to be drawn to Pete Willshers guitar playing, I wanted to be a guitar player from then on. I guess listening to those records I learnt a lot about music, tempo's, melodies and so on.
Have you fond memories of The Marksmen ?
Rob: Only the records, I did meet them a few times, but as I said I was very young. I have memories that come back whenever I play those old records, I wouldn't say they were fond memories either at that particular time in my life.
Did you ever get to experience meeting The Outlaws at all?
Rob: No, I don't ever recall meeting them. It is possible I suppose, but they would have just been a bunch of guys working with my father way back then.
You were a huge fan of Ritchie Blackmore's like so many other people learning the craft of playing electric guitar. Did it surprise you to find that he was the same guy that your father had been telling you stories about for all these years?
Rob: My father had pointed out several records to me over the years, "Galway Bay" was one record that he had told me about Ritchie's guitar playing. Dad was annoyed that what Ritchie played on that song was so far back in the mix. He told me he was amazed at how quick Ritchie was on the axe, and he wished that what he had played, had been more prominant in that song. Of course we both had no idea that we were talking about Ritchie Blackmore. It was very hard for me to get my head around the fact that my guitar hero was one and the same guy. Amazing.
Did you ever get to meet Ritchie Blackmore?
Rob: I never did, shame, he could of given me a few lessons haha.
How did you get roped into going on tour with Houston Wells...where was it and who was the band that you joined on tour?
Rob: The band was the Trident Showband, and we toured Scotland for 3 weeks. I was 16 at the time, and my father made the decision to include me in the band because only days beforehand the sax player called it quits, and of course the tour was booked as an eight piece band, accomodation, meals and so on. Dad went out and bought me a whole load of clothes, Beatles boots, black pants, shirts and tops. I was already tall for 16, and I had a Beatle haircut so with all this clobber on I looked like David Cassidy (laughs).
Did the other band members treat you well on that tour?
Rob: Sure! I knew them all well anyway, as they were always at our house, I would sit in on rehearsals and try and pick up a few things from Frankie the guitarist. Those are fond memories.
Living in Ireland is something that I know only too well helped shape a lot of different influences in your life, that has been translated well in some of your songs by the way. What was it about Ireland that endeared you so much to the place?
Rob: The space and freedom I experienced in Ireland did something to my soul, I spent thousands of days wandering the hills and countryside on my own. Hunting was something I got from my father, and as a teenager it was the thing I like to do most, especially on my own. Back in England we'd had a few rough years, and living in Ireland was just the tonic I needed to get back to inner peace. The passion and emotion that is in some of my music comes from living in Ireland, I love the place.
How long were you living in Ireland for all up?
Rob: I lived there for exactly 10 years, 10 of the best years of my life. Now we ARE talking fond memories. (smiles)
Do you keep in touch with any of your fathers co-horts from the good old days?
Rob: Not really, there have been a few popping up here and there over the past few years, but we don't stay in touch on a regular basis.
What made you choose New Zealand of all places to immigrate to?
Rob: It had nothing to do with me, it was my fathers decision to immigrate to New Zealand. My slant on it was if I didn't like it I would move back to Ireland, but I'm still here (laughs), I do like New Zealand, but I made a vow that I would return to Ireland one day, I just haven't made it yet.
Since arriving in New Zealand in 1974, Has music been something you have been involved with extensively or was it by chance that you fell back into singing?
Rob: I had always played the guitar since I was 13, but after moving to NZ, it was only a matter of time before I would form my own band, My first band in NZ was called Trident funnily enough.
Your Dad's original recordings from the '60s pop up online a fair bit going for amazing prices, you don't have a warehouse full of original "Western Style" albums that you're profiting from do you? (laughs).
Rob: ha, I only have one copy, but if we had known we should of kept a truck load of them.
Aside from the obvious influence of your father's music from an early age, what other music did the young Robert Smith listen to?
Rob: I heard all the stuff that was on the radio at the time, The Beatles, The Stones and so on. Once I started to listen to pop music that was the end of country for me I'm afraid. The only time I listened to country was when my father put it on, which as you can imagine was a lot. I became engrossed in guys like David Gates of Bread, and Gilbert O'Sullivan, I loved the melodies those guys were writing and I became hooked on melody, that's why I have always loved ballads. But once I heard rock music, Deep Purple, Led Zep, and so on my interests in music changed dramatically. Being interested in playing lead guitar drew me into different realms of music that had I just stayed a vocalist, I probably would never of gotten into.
Have you found your tastes in music changing over the years?
Rob: Not really, I love anything with a good melody, I still love rock music, and some modern rock. I cannot handle some of todays other sounds I like to call them, you know, beats and voices rambling on. I have a wide taste in music, I always have, but I don't like everything. Some people say oh! I can't stand all that lovey dovey stuff in songs, so they sing songs about hating everything instead. That don't make sense to me, I don't like negative music.
On "Then & Now..." you have re-recorded several songs from The Marksmen & The Outlaws eras of Houston's career, what was the thought behind doing this?
Rob: All of those songs are from an era when production on recordings was quite limited. My father was never 100% happy with most of them, that and the fact that a lot of the recordings were sped up back then which made his voice sound un-natural. We decided to slow some of the tracks down to the original speed, and also add some extra production to help fill some gaps in the recordings. Some of the versions of songs back then Dad just plain never liked, so we got the idea to re-record some of them, and do them at the right speed and give them a bit of a different feel. All in all I think they sound better.
When it came time to work on new songs with your father, who's idea was it? Was it just a natural thing to team up to write and record?
Rob: Dad has always dabbled with writing songs, he became very interested in writing lyrics, and he wrote a lot of those. I have written music to quite a number of his lyrics. I think we were always going to collaborate on something eventually. When Dad got offered the new record deals he was keen to get me to work on some songs for him, so thats how that all came about.
What do you hope is achieved with "Then & Now..." ?
Rob: I think it's just great that Dad is going to have a double album released, not too many artists are releasing albums at this stage of their career. I hope the album does well and people will get to hear Houston Wells singing in his more natural voice than the very early sped up sounds.
I know for a fact that you have written and recorded many original songs with your father, How come more of these weren't selected for "Then & Now..."? Can fans expect to perhaps hear an album of original Houston & Rob tunes in the future?
Rob: Well it was decided to use some of the songs we had sitting in the can already, as well as a CD of his earlier works. As you know I am very busy with other projects and so to come up with a CD of original tunes would have been a year in the making. It made sense to use what we already had, rather than go making up an album of new songs. As for a future album of songs by my father and I, it could be on the cards. We shall have to wait and see how well "Then and Now" goes.
Is it overwhelming for you, when you look at the list of different people who's names appear in the credits for "Then & Now..."? I know it is for me (laughs). It's quite a list really, a who's who of music.
Rob: It's not overwelming no, but it is very cool to see all those names included with the album, it is quite a list there alright.
Aside from yourself, the whole Smith family all seem to have musical talent of different sorts, was this something that was installed in you all or did you all just naturally gravitate towards finding that you liked music and had the skills to be musical inclinde?
Rob: It obviously has something to do with our upbringing, being around music and musicians from an early age must rub off. The Smith family seems to have a natural talent to be musical, but it is one of many other talents we have, I won't go into those (laughs). But we have a knack at being able to turn our hands to most things. That could possiblilly be in our genes, as our Grandparents were very good with their hands. Smith comes from generations of blacksmiths, clocksmiths, goldsmiths and so on, we are just a bunch of musicsmiths.
It must be pretty special to think that on "Then & Now.." you have 3 generations on the one song, not too many people can say that. Can we expect anymore music with you and your daughters working together in the future?
Rob: Well with regards to the 3 generations doing more tunes, it could have something to do with how long the old timer lives haha. We don't have any plans for a future song right now, but it could be possible. Maybe the next 3 generation song will be myself, my children, and their children, I look forward to that.
Early in your career you were in a band called The Candles with your brother Phil who played bass and sang backing vocals...quite the talent he was too!, has he continued making music since?
Rob: Only at home with his trusty guitar and bottle of plonk, nothing wrong with that, many a good sing song was had over the years. The whole family used to sit down and have a sing song years ago, we haven't done that for a long time. Those are fond memories too.
Have you had the chance to perform, write or recording with any of your other siblings?
Rob: My brother Martin used to sing lead in a band we called Deep Image, I have jammed with my brother Tim and his wife Zoe, and also Martins son Daniel who plays the guitar and sings. I have also sung with my sister Linda years ago. Apart from recording songs with my daughters Catherine and Laura, I played in a band called Crazy Paving with my wife Carol for 8 years, and we are currently working on her debut solo album.
I know there was some hope of getting Tim (Rob's younger brother) and Zoe (Rob's sister-in-law) involved in the "GONE WILD II" album, that is something that I reckon would be something pretty special, and probably pretty heavy (laughs).
(editors note: unfortunately due to scheduling Tim & Zoe were unable to take part in the "GONE WILD II" recording sessions, but there is still some hope of the Smith brothers working on something in the future)
Rob: I'm sure he would be. yeah! I would like to do more collaborating with Tim on some songs in the future, we have talked about doing a song together for the new GW album, so hopefully that will happen. Down the track I'd like to think we might work on a whole album together, something from the both of us would be rather cool.
Although we're not here to plug GONE WILD, but fans ought to know that you're not one dimensional by any stretch of the imagination where music is concerned. You can still rock it with the best of them...what do you think is the essence of GONE WILD's music? I know we all have our own theories (laughs).
Rob: That's a hard one to put a finger on, it's a combination of ideas, that seem to come together to form this sound we have, we bounce ideas off of each other and just go with the vibe that comes along. Some of the vibes have been from another planet, but then again I've always been into space travel (laughs).
You yourself have a couple of wonderful solo albums to your credit, and I do say this without any bias of course...I am a huge fan, You have your own independent music label, written and produced several artists...with more on the way. You're a living and breathing music machine...Is music still fun for you?
Rob: Definitely! many of my happiest hours are spent creating music, I love the whole process of creating, writing, recording, seeing a new song come to life. We have often likened it to giving birth, (though not half as painful I'm sure), but it's like giving something a life of it's own and I have many children now haha.
When can fans expect you to release your next solo album?
Rob: My next solo album "Never A Dull Moment" will be released in 2008 sometime, I think around June/July approx. It will be along the same lines as my first two albums, a mixture of ballads and up tempo songs.
(editors note: the "Never A Dull Moment" album was released in 2009 and can be obtained by contacting Rob Smith or Richard Anderson - breakfree74@hotmail.com - Rob is currently working on several upcoming solo releases as well as other projects that he is producing)
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Houston is not the only country artist you have worked with, you're currently in the middle of producing "Something To Remember". What attracted you so much to working with Hayley Oliver?
Rob: Well her voice is beautiful isn't it?, that and you can hear she is very passionate about her music, I hear it in Hayleys voice. She is a real professional to work with, and I love working with her. I am excited about the "Something To Remember" project, so far it is sounding great, and I am really looking forward to some of the songs we are currently working on.
(editors note: "Something To Remember" collaboration album was released in 2009 and can be obtained by contacting Rob Smith or Richard Anderson - breakfree74@hotmail.com)
Do you enjoy the processes of recording? Or would you prefer to perform live?
Rob: They are both so very different, I love doing both, but I would lean very slightly towards working in the studio. I try to be a bit of a perfectionist where music is concerned and I think I get closer to this in the studio than playing live. I have some fond memories of playing live too, and sometimes when it is really jelling on stage I think Oh! if only we could press record. But I do love the studio process best, because once you have captured it, you can play it over and over until you're sick of it, I'm a song junkie see! (laughs).
What do you think is next in the career of Houston Wells? Any plans to tour perhaps?
Rob: I think a tour of the worlds rest homes is coming up, haha just kidding!. Maybe something will arise from the "Then & Now" album with regards to some shows? but at the moment there are no plans for touring.
For more information on all things Rob Smith:
Rob Smith @ Myspace
Rob Smith @ Soundclick
