Rob C - Home Sweet Home download free

I had the opportunity to interview Rob C himself for this review of the new album - 'Home Sweet Home' - at the studio where it was recorded; HB central, so here it is: Xelcior - "How did you realise the concept for the album and decide to put it together" Rob C - "Quite simply, I've written a bunch of songs over the last year and I have the means to record them in my own studio; so I set about recording them and also recorded two extra songs from my past. During the process of recording them I won some CD duplication in a fantasy football competition, and used that prize to press the album. Honest!". Xelcior - "This is a change in style for people that may be familiar with your past releases as Herb Boy and with The Cohorts". Rob C - "That's because the tracks were written in a different way. In the past I've worked on tracks using mostly loops and samples whereas the songs on this record were all written on acoustic guitar. All the instruments were played live, with the exception of some loops that I layed up on the track 'My Friend'. I wanted to keep a more raw and live feel to the overall sound as I thought that was what suited these songs the best. Xelcior - It appears that everything has been created by you from the initial idea to the final release of this album. In that light, is this the way for musicians to go to truly express themselves without compromise. Rob C - Yes, I did the whole album myself. Wrote the songs, recorded them, mixed and mastered them, did the artwork. It was quite a big job. I think having little influence from anyone else whilst I was making the record did allow me to express myself more personally. Whether that's a good thing for the listener depends on the listener. Beauty is in the ear of the beholder. Xelcior - Tell us about some of the songs and the concepts. There seems to be quite a lot of references to your hometown. Rob C - "Well, the album's called Home Sweet Home and there does seem to be a recurring theme of belonging throughout the songs on the album. The first song I wrote for the album - not including the 2 older songs featured on it - was 'The Acoustic Cafe', which is the name of the regular Thursday night session at the Fortescue on Mutley Plain in Plymouth. So that has a particularly Plymouthian flavour to it. It was Jimi who runs the Acoustic Cafe that got me started writing songs again. 'A Song about a Train' was something I just wrote in my head on a train journey back from Truro - seemed to kind of just write itself. Xelcior - What influenced you musically in your approach to making this album. Rob C - Songwriting-wise, I'm influenced by some pretty old school people. Tom Waits, Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell - people like that. I think when you have been doing music as long as I have you gather so many influences it's hard to be specific. And it's not just listening to music. I've been involved in making hip-hop, drum 'n' bass, jazz, staight-ahead song stuff. I can hear African, blues, Irish and folk influences on the record but I think they are interwoven naturally enough for it to sound like it's my style and not what you would call crossover or fusion music. Xelcior - What's your target audience? Rob C - "People that I meet in the street, or in the pub, or at a gig. I've not done any promotion at all or put it into shops. If somebody finds me on Amazon or iTunes they become part of my target audience as well. It's more personal this way! Or maybe I'm just too lazy to sit on Facebook and tell you that I love you. Xelcior - What did you use to record the album? Rob C - I used a PC that I built. I used Cubase to the do the multi-track recording. And all real instruments; basically guitars, bass, drums, a bit of percussion, quite basic and battered old kit really. I just used what I'd gathered over the years. That's true of the equipment and also the whole project really - it's influences, songwriting, recording techniques, equipment and playing abilities that I have gathered over the years. Xelcior - OK, thanks Rob for talking to me.