Skinhead Rob - Transplants (11/06/2013)
Transplants’ Skinhead Rob Aston recently chatted to The 59th Sound regarding tours, time-management, and the band’s imminent third LP In a Warzone.
“I’ve done about four hours, and I’ve got about three more hours to go. It’s all good, shit!”
It’s no secret that phone interviews for countless publications are done by musicians in one fell swoop. It’s easy to see how anyone – rock star or otherwise – could get bored, tired, or utterly enraged by having to answer the same questions from strangers on the phone all day. Queried with just how long the gamut of phone interviews is for his day ahead, the disarmingly friendly Skinhead Rob is optimistic about the faceless question-asker thicket of which he is well and truly in the midst.
In a huge parallel with the violently imbued lyricism and aggressive vocal energy he and fellow front man Tim Armstrong have brought as Transplants’ front men for the past thirteen years, Rob is nothing but honest and kindly spoken throughout the course of the interview. Especially regarding what prompted a third release from the punk rock supergroup.
“It was kind of everyone’s choice, y’know. But after (Transplants drummer) Travis was in that unfortunate plane crash, it sort of opened everyone’s eyes. It’s horrible it took a tragedy like that to kind of stop and take inventory of everything in your life, but we all realized life’s too short; let’s do what we love doing, and that’s making music.”
It’s common knowledge that the aforementioned plane crash left Barker with many months of painful burns rehabilitation and lasting psychological damage, making it an understandably difficult task for the drummer to face air travel since the disaster took place back in September of 2008. As a result, international touring is a task involving greater time consumption and planning around what is already three remarkably busy schedules.
“We do what we can do with the time that we have, y’know? With everyone’s other bands and schedules and stuff. Everyone’s prior requirements or responsibilities means we can’t really do everything we want to do. It sucks, but you never know… maybe one day we can get overseas and everywhere we haven’t been yet. Maybe we’ll fuckin’ jet ski there!”
For Australian fans some sixteen thousand kilometres away from California States, the journey is still a bit out of reach, at least for the time being. Rob is also clear on how he feels about internet trolling regarding Barker’s last-minute departure from Blink 182’s recent Australian reunion tour, and inability to take to a plane in general.
“I mean, believe me we’d love to get down under and play everywhere, but people need to realize Travis was in a fucking horrible plane accident. People need to understand or put themselves in his shoes and see what it’s like to be the only survivor from that plane, and they may kind of understand why he isn’t really in a rush to get back on a plane. You’d be surprised what some fuckin’ dummies on the internet have to say about it. Fuck internet bullshit anyway. They’d never say it to your face.”
With eight years between album releases, and a two-year average for announcement to release time for each album, it’s easy to wonder if the task of writing and recording a Transplants album is monumentally difficult, or finally releasing an album is an intimidating prospect.
“I just want it out so we can play it to people. It’s been a minute, but maybe it’s a good thing we’ve had this much time, y’know, because this album that we’ve made is my favourite one so far, and definitely our best work. The actual writing and recording for us is the easiest part! We can go in the studio on any given day and write or record three or four songs from scratch. The problem is everyone’s schedules outside of Transplants. Travis has Blink and all the other rappers and stuff he produces for, Tim has Rancid and everyone else he produces for, and I’ve got (thrash punk outfit) Death March. So we’re all busy, but we all love all our bands equally. It’s not like anyone is favouring any of their other projects or putting anything first, it’s just that we all have to give all of our bands one hundred percent. I guess the only nerve-wracking part about writing or recording with us is “When’s it gonna be done!? When’s it gonna be out!?”, y’know? Is everyone’s schedules going to allow for this or that to happen. At the end of the day I can’t really complain though. I’m just lucky I get to make music with my friends.”
With the new album now locked in for release on June 25, Rob is not lost for words discussing particulars of the new album
“(In a Warzone) sums up the album best. That song is what we start the album out with, and it sets the tone for the listener for what’s to come. It’s a comment on society too, y’know. There’s a war going on everywhere in one form or another, so I think it’s definitely relevant. Our good friend from Japan Usu Grow drew the new album cover, with the lady and the skull. We let him go with it. Travis and I have known Usu for a while now, and he’s a phenomenal artist, so we just said “Here’s the title of the album, so… whatever you think! And he did such a great job."
The addition of bassist Kevin Bivona as a permanent fourth member for the creation of In a Warzone is a story in which Rob seems to revel, and also explains the a big part of how the new album will sound. Having gained a new member, it seems as though the usual swathe of collaborators that can be found across other Transplants albums has been side-lined for their latest work.
“Kevin… shit, a long time ago when we were first going on tour… this is probably 2003, or 2004. I remember walking in to rehearsal while we were getting ready to go on tour, and remember seeing this young fuckin’ skinny kid, just turned eighteen then, so he looked about eleven. And everyone was all “Hey, this is Kevin. He’s gonna come out and play keyboards with us”, of course at the time we had a keyboard player, though we don’t anymore. I said alright, y’know, he was a cool kid, quiet, super talented. Then we always just kept him around, one thing led to another, and he ends up winning a grammy with Tim for the Jimmy Cliff album (laughs). He’s a real talented dude, man! He’s switched from keyboards to being our bass player. We didn’t really have too many guests on this album like others. (Rancid bassist Matt Freeman) played on a few tracks, and (rapper) Paul Wall is on one, but we just wanted to make a stripped down punk rock record. And that’s exactly what we did.”
Todd Gingell
“I’ve done about four hours, and I’ve got about three more hours to go. It’s all good, shit!”
It’s no secret that phone interviews for countless publications are done by musicians in one fell swoop. It’s easy to see how anyone – rock star or otherwise – could get bored, tired, or utterly enraged by having to answer the same questions from strangers on the phone all day. Queried with just how long the gamut of phone interviews is for his day ahead, the disarmingly friendly Skinhead Rob is optimistic about the faceless question-asker thicket of which he is well and truly in the midst.
In a huge parallel with the violently imbued lyricism and aggressive vocal energy he and fellow front man Tim Armstrong have brought as Transplants’ front men for the past thirteen years, Rob is nothing but honest and kindly spoken throughout the course of the interview. Especially regarding what prompted a third release from the punk rock supergroup.
“It was kind of everyone’s choice, y’know. But after (Transplants drummer) Travis was in that unfortunate plane crash, it sort of opened everyone’s eyes. It’s horrible it took a tragedy like that to kind of stop and take inventory of everything in your life, but we all realized life’s too short; let’s do what we love doing, and that’s making music.”
It’s common knowledge that the aforementioned plane crash left Barker with many months of painful burns rehabilitation and lasting psychological damage, making it an understandably difficult task for the drummer to face air travel since the disaster took place back in September of 2008. As a result, international touring is a task involving greater time consumption and planning around what is already three remarkably busy schedules.
“We do what we can do with the time that we have, y’know? With everyone’s other bands and schedules and stuff. Everyone’s prior requirements or responsibilities means we can’t really do everything we want to do. It sucks, but you never know… maybe one day we can get overseas and everywhere we haven’t been yet. Maybe we’ll fuckin’ jet ski there!”
For Australian fans some sixteen thousand kilometres away from California States, the journey is still a bit out of reach, at least for the time being. Rob is also clear on how he feels about internet trolling regarding Barker’s last-minute departure from Blink 182’s recent Australian reunion tour, and inability to take to a plane in general.
“I mean, believe me we’d love to get down under and play everywhere, but people need to realize Travis was in a fucking horrible plane accident. People need to understand or put themselves in his shoes and see what it’s like to be the only survivor from that plane, and they may kind of understand why he isn’t really in a rush to get back on a plane. You’d be surprised what some fuckin’ dummies on the internet have to say about it. Fuck internet bullshit anyway. They’d never say it to your face.”
With eight years between album releases, and a two-year average for announcement to release time for each album, it’s easy to wonder if the task of writing and recording a Transplants album is monumentally difficult, or finally releasing an album is an intimidating prospect.
“I just want it out so we can play it to people. It’s been a minute, but maybe it’s a good thing we’ve had this much time, y’know, because this album that we’ve made is my favourite one so far, and definitely our best work. The actual writing and recording for us is the easiest part! We can go in the studio on any given day and write or record three or four songs from scratch. The problem is everyone’s schedules outside of Transplants. Travis has Blink and all the other rappers and stuff he produces for, Tim has Rancid and everyone else he produces for, and I’ve got (thrash punk outfit) Death March. So we’re all busy, but we all love all our bands equally. It’s not like anyone is favouring any of their other projects or putting anything first, it’s just that we all have to give all of our bands one hundred percent. I guess the only nerve-wracking part about writing or recording with us is “When’s it gonna be done!? When’s it gonna be out!?”, y’know? Is everyone’s schedules going to allow for this or that to happen. At the end of the day I can’t really complain though. I’m just lucky I get to make music with my friends.”
With the new album now locked in for release on June 25, Rob is not lost for words discussing particulars of the new album
“(In a Warzone) sums up the album best. That song is what we start the album out with, and it sets the tone for the listener for what’s to come. It’s a comment on society too, y’know. There’s a war going on everywhere in one form or another, so I think it’s definitely relevant. Our good friend from Japan Usu Grow drew the new album cover, with the lady and the skull. We let him go with it. Travis and I have known Usu for a while now, and he’s a phenomenal artist, so we just said “Here’s the title of the album, so… whatever you think! And he did such a great job."
The addition of bassist Kevin Bivona as a permanent fourth member for the creation of In a Warzone is a story in which Rob seems to revel, and also explains the a big part of how the new album will sound. Having gained a new member, it seems as though the usual swathe of collaborators that can be found across other Transplants albums has been side-lined for their latest work.
“Kevin… shit, a long time ago when we were first going on tour… this is probably 2003, or 2004. I remember walking in to rehearsal while we were getting ready to go on tour, and remember seeing this young fuckin’ skinny kid, just turned eighteen then, so he looked about eleven. And everyone was all “Hey, this is Kevin. He’s gonna come out and play keyboards with us”, of course at the time we had a keyboard player, though we don’t anymore. I said alright, y’know, he was a cool kid, quiet, super talented. Then we always just kept him around, one thing led to another, and he ends up winning a grammy with Tim for the Jimmy Cliff album (laughs). He’s a real talented dude, man! He’s switched from keyboards to being our bass player. We didn’t really have too many guests on this album like others. (Rancid bassist Matt Freeman) played on a few tracks, and (rapper) Paul Wall is on one, but we just wanted to make a stripped down punk rock record. And that’s exactly what we did.”
Todd Gingell