Interview with Rob Carroll – Mid Tenn Listens Podcast

In this interview, we chat with Rob Carroll about his debut album Room Without A View, his progression as a songwriter, navigating the digital music world and much more.

You can listen to the podcast or read the full interview below the video.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Email | RSS

Where are you from and what style of music do you create? (In your own words, not necessarily in marketing terms or by popular genre classifications.)

I’m from Long Island, New York. I often have a hard time defining what genre of music I write because I draw from so many influences. The album I’m releasing is pretty eclectic in terms of styles. I guess what I do can be considered pop rock but there are definitely a bunch of heavier moments on this CD. I hate to call it “pop rock” though because I feel it’s come to have such a negative connotation. There are tons of great pop rock bands but I feel as if people often associate a lack of musicianship with pop rock and that is often not the case. I guess I’d go with singer-songwriter above all else because that is pretty ambiguous. It’s also closer to the truth since I’m basically the only musician performing on this album and wrote all of the music.

What led you down this path of music and what motivates you to stay the course?

The Beatles. I know it’s cliche but for so long they were my favorite band and they completely changed the way I thought about music. I used to be a total metalhead but after listening to Abbey Road for the first time everything I ever thought about music went out the window. Up until that point if a song didn’t have a guitar solo in it or a tempo over 160 I just wasn’t interested. Never even gave it a chance. But after listening to The Beatles, almost instantly, all I wanted to do was write pop music. I still love metal and heavier music, and I do try to incorporate some aspects of those genres into my music, but to me there’s something special about pop. I think anyone who gives my album a listen will be able to tell how big of a Beatles fan I am.. for better or worse.

Who or what are your biggest influences when it comes to your creativity?

I could go on forever about creative and musical influences but I’ll keep this somewhat short. I’d say for music, above all else, it would have to be The Beatles. You can learn almost everything you need to know about songwriting by listening to The Beatles discography. I try to listen to as many different genres of music as I can and am pretty open minded. Some other current favorites include: Weezer, Prince, Jeff Buckley, Faith No More, Frank Zappa, Brand New, Jack White, Panic at the Disco and Fountains of Wayne.

As far as creativity I’d have to say Donald Glover and Louis C.K. They have completely different styles but they’re both so ambitious and have worked on so many different kinds of projects. I really admire their work ethic and the sheer volume of work they’ve put out. Between writing stand up specials, t.v. shows, (and in Glover’s case music) I don’t know how they continue to produce content at such a high level.

How is your new release different than previous ones? Did you set out to accomplish anything specific?

‘Room Without a View‘ is actually my debut album. I’ve been writing songs for a long time now but I finally made the move to record them within the past two years or so. Initially I thought of this as an opportunity to record my best songs but as I began to take a closer look at my music, I realized that many of my songs were about relationships (both romantic and platonic) and how they change over time. I started to think that since so much of my material was built around similar themes, I could incorporate the music I already had into some kind of loosely connected narrative.

‘Room Without A View’ examines a relationship from start to finish. It begins with perhaps one of the sappiest songs I’ve ever written. Within the context of the album however, “You Make It Easy” accurately describes any new relationship. Exciting, fun, easy. The rest of the first half shows the degradation of this connection. The second half of the album is a bit darker and heavier, and focuses on recovery and life after the loss of this relationship.

I got pretty lucky with keys and transitions. I only had to add a few here and there to make songs fit a little better. Many of these songs had already been written when I decided to connect them all together. It seemed as though this was the way the songs were supposed to work out all along.

<a href="http://robcarroll.bandcamp.com/album/room-without-a-view">Room Without A View by Rob Carroll</a>

Do you face any challenges as an indie musician in a digital age? On the flip side, how has technology helped you (if it has)?

Every day is a challenge lol. The biggest one is that I’m my own boss so if I don’t get my work done then I’m the one who loses. No one else to blame. Sometimes it’s hard to stay motivated when you put so much time and effort into your work and you’re still not reaching a very wide audience. Also with recording technology being so widely available there’s so many other musicians who are trying to do exactly what you are. There seems to be an infinite pool of equally, or more, talented people and that can be quite overwhelming.

Plus as a solo musician I’ve found it incredibly hard to put on live performances. The music I write is for a full band but live by myself I can only play guitar and sing. I’ve tried to put bands together to play my music but it’s hard to get musicians willing to sign on to something like that. I’m basically telling these guys “I wrote these songs and though I’m open to whatever sounds best, this is how these songs will be played.” There’s little to no creative input on their end since the music is already written. Plus there’s no way I could pay them all much, if anything, and we most likely would not be making much money from shows. Add to that trying to find time to rehearse and it’s kind of a recipe for disaster.

On the flip side though technology has been great to me because I wouldn’t have an album if it wasn’t so easy to record at home. Both of the engineers I worked with run studios from their homes so that helped me quite a bit when budgeting for the recordings. Recording in an actual studio is incredibly expensive so I was very lucky to work with such talented guys in their home studios. I’ve also had a few somewhat successful videos on YouTube which has helped me expand my audience little by little.

How do you feel about streaming services? Any romantic attachments to the physical formats: vinyl, 8-track, cassettes, CDs?

I don’t really have any allegiance to a particular format or service. I think streaming is most definitely the way of the future although I think there will still be a small market who will always remain interested in physical copies. I just wish royalty rates from streaming would improve. No one buys music anymore though which is the main issue.

Where can we follow you online and hear more music?

The best places to follow me online are either on Facebook, Bandcamp or my YouTube channel but I’m on pretty much every social media site. Searching Rob Carroll Music should usually put you in the right direction.

Anything else before we sign off?

My album ‘Room Without A View‘ will be out on December 8th and I’ll be releasing videos of my first three singles every month until that point. I really think there’s a little something for everyone on this album and I hope you check it out!