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Rob Eberhard Young interviewed by
Simon Badham August 2004
We haven't featured a purely acoustic guitarist here
at EG.com yet, so we thought it about time to remedy the situation.
To this end, we bring you the very talented Rob Eberhard Young.
Rob is one of those incredibly brave musicians
willing to stop at nothing to find his own individual voice. We
talked to Rob to find out why he gave up a promising career in Rock
for acoustic guitar and how a chance meeting with a street musician
changed his life.
1.It's pretty hard to believe your background is
shred rock guitar. How easy was the wholesale transition to acoustic
guitar within the space of a year?
I think I was so inspired by what I heard in the
street that day that it was pretty much an easy transition.
Composing based on improvisation was something that I had never
done. There is so much more freedom. In addition, playing
exclusively in alternate tunings really helped. I had absolutely no
idea what I was playing or why. I just started jamming until I had
some stuff happening that I thought sounded right.
2.Did you have to re think your electric playing
technique to realise your creative ideas on the acoustic?
The techniques for me have always been really
different. I basically had to "invent" my own way of dealing with
the acoustic guitar, which is much different than my approach to
electric playing. But I think keeping the techniques separate have
helped my progress. There is almost no cross-over for me in terms of
how I approach either writing or playing. If I warmed up right now
and played you a really difficult fingerstyle piece on the acoustic
and afterwards you asked me to blaze-off a bunch of three-
note-per-string pentatonic lines at speed on the electric, I would
probably just dog my brains out. The string tension differences are
where the trouble lies for me. I have to sort of get into one mode
or the other and play for a bit until it feels right. They really
are two totally different animals.
3.What techniques did you focus on?
I'm really over generalizing, but basically my
approach writing on the acoustic guitar has been to harness the
power of open strings ringing sympathetically, while layering
fretted melodies and bass lines on top of that. I had to figure out
how to open up the left hand and fret with really steep angles. You
have to get the majority of your palm away from the fretboard so you
don't "step" on ringing strings accidentally. The electric guitar,
in contrast, has been more about trying to stop things from ringing
and using all parts of both hands to control what is open and what
is muted. My left hand is much flatter than it is on the acoustic.
They each involve a totally different technique in terms of control.
4.How did you approach song writing and composing for
acoustic in that first year, and how has it changed since?
As I said, the first year was just total reckless
abandon. I used to lie on my back in the dark, tune the guitar
haphazardly and just jam. Everything on Consistent Variation was
written in the dark. Seriously, no joke. I still do that
occasionally, but these days I have been writing a lot of stuff on
piano and moving it to guitar later. I think it lends a better
perspective for melody, although there is a textural trade off at
the same time. I usually end up changing a lot of things to keep the
organic vibe, though. Playing stuff on guitar that was written on
piano can turn into Musak real quick if you aren't careful.
5.The critical reaction to Consistent Variation was
really positive, what was your honest expectation before the reviews
came in?
Yeah, I always say how lucky I have been to stumble
on something that ended up being so appealing to so many people. To
be honest, I only made the record because friends dared me to. I had
absolutely no confidence in my sound. I was such a metal head that I
had no idea anyone ever played solo acoustic guitar before. What a
dope. I'm grateful for that though, because it allowed me to explore
without being encumbered by what every one else was doing. I credit
my originality to ignorance. I ended up shopping Consistent
Variation to every major label that signed acoustic stuff, and they
were all beating my door down. Will Ackerman called me from Kauai on
vacation and said he wanted me to be the first artist on his new
label. It was a wild ride. Consistent Variation has been out of
print since 1994. I had a lot of requests to re-master and
re-release it, so I did this year. Amazingly, I'm getting the same
reaction again, ten years later. It's like "The Little Record That
Could". I recorded it on a 4-track in my Mom's basement. Isn't life
funny?
6.Did a time ever come when you were tempted to pick
up your Strat?
Oh yeah, I still do. I was just in my studio
shredding just before we started this interview!!! It feels really
good to stretch the left hand muscles out like that once a day.
Although I didn't for the first few years. I was too afraid of
losing my acoustic 'mojo' or whatever. I used to think that
inspiration was like voodoo or something. I was too afraid of losing
it because it felt so good. I'm over that now though. Electric
guitar has been a big part of my life. I'm thinking some day I might
even like to do an electric instrumental album if I can find the
time.
7.You have a very clear and individual vision for
your personal music, what prompted the move into writing for Film
and TV?
I was asked to do a movie called Ricochet River with
famous film composer Gary Remal Malkin a few years back. It was
actually Kate Hudson's first starring role. Gary is best known for
scoring the Unsolved Mysteries show, and feature films like Thousand
Pieces of Gold. Gary called me and said he basically wanted to build
the whole score around my guitar vibe. It was really flattering. I
really enjoyed the process of looking at film and trying to write
something compelling on the spot. Talk about pressure. It was really
fun though. I also just fell in love with the idea of not having to
do or be ONE thing in order to make a living. To me scoring affords
much more compositional freedom that you can have by being JUST a
recording artist. I like the challenge of composing for other
instruments, particularly indigenous ethnic and period specific
instruments. I also like the challenge of marrying images with
sounds to craft subtle emotional experiences.
8.You often play in unusual tunings; do you have a
song or idea in mind before you decide on a tuning, or does the
tuning inspire the song?
In my case the tuning always comes first and
definitely inspires the song. It has always been that way for me. I
worked a bit with Michael Hedges, who is sadly not with us any more.
We did a duet together on my 1997 record Sticks & Stones. Michael
was just the opposite. He used to form tunings to go with his
melodic ideas. I remember thinking how amazingly insane it was to
listen to him tuning on the fly to slowly find the right open note
to accommodate the melodic ideas that he had flowing from his head
to his hands. Not many people have the patience for that. He was
amazing. I don't think I ever wanted to have that serious an
approach to my acoustic playing though. I have always enjoyed
surprising my self with ignorance.
9.You've worked with some really diverse and
interesting people, how do you approach song writing on a band
level?
Yeah, I'm so lucky to have played with the cats I
have. One of the nice things about working with all those huge guys
is that it doesn't have to be a democracy to work. For me, band
situations have always been difficult because of egos. The biggest
ego always seems to be on the worst musician in the band,
ironically. When your band is comprised of people coming together
for the 'session' and not to get all wrapped up in each other, I
think it works much better. I was just talking about that with a
friend today, in fact. In terms of method, I like to write rough
sketches with simple rhythmic and melodic structures and then let
the sessions produce the best possible song within that framework.
You really need world class players to pull that off though. When
you play with great musicians you can communicate your idea to them
and instead of telling you how it should be different, they just
adapt and play you what you wanted and then some. You have to learn
to let go. Manring and I always work that way. He used to ask me for
charts and I would never give them too him. But then we get in there
with the tape rolling and he just slays me to ribbons every time. He
is a genius. Its real easy to write ensemble music when you know
guys like him are going to be playing it. Even if you have partially
formed ideas, you just know the players are going to make it smoking
before the process is over.
10.How did you find the experience working with the
likes of Rod Morgenstein and Alan Pasqua?
Rod has been my favorite drummer for 20 years.
Working with him has been one of the greatest pleasures in my life.
Alan too. Hopefully, the record I recorded with them will be
released finally next year. Speak!, an acoustic fusion record which
features Rod, Alan, Michael Manring, Andy Snitzer, and many others,
has been in major label limbo for several years. It will be cool to
have everyone finally hear it. There are samples on my site for
anyone who wants a preview. It is pretty interesting stuff. Much
different from my solo guitar stuff.
11.You must get inundated with offers and
opportunities. How do you decide which to take up and which to put
on hold?
I wouldn't say I'm inundated, but I am fortunate to
be able to remain in the game over the years. I have really had to
make my own opportunities by working hard at whatever I am doing at
any given moment. I think the main reason for my success is that I
am really open to all sorts of ideas. I'm sort of itching to form or
join some sort of hybrid acoustic/electric fusion project at the
moment. I'd love to do an album with like Greg Howe, Rod, and Trilok
Gurtu on percussion or something. If anyone hears of anything
interesting, let me know!
12.On Sticks and Stones, the legendary Will Ackerman
helmed the production duties; did having Will at the desk help push
your performances to a new level?
Oh yeah, Will is really good at coaching great
performances out of everyone he works with. That is his greatest
talent. Also, Imaginary Road is the best place on the planet to make
intimate acoustic music. Both the gear and the connection to nature
are unlike anything in the world. Amazing. At first, it was a lot of
pressure trying to live up to his acoustic guitar 'legacy'. He
launched the careers of Hedges, DeGrassi, and Bensusan, just to name
a few. But I think that pressure made me play as well as I could and
really strive to help him make the record he wanted to make. It was
a very difficult record to make for me, but I ended up real happy
with how it turned out. He did too.
13.Kip Winger produced the as yet unreleased 'Speak'.
What did Kip bring to the table that was so appealing to you?
Kip is really great at recording and mixing projects
that have a lot going on in terms of track count and dense
arrangement ideas. He is one of the most talented people I have ever
known. It is a total shame that he got such a bad rap for Winger.
That in itself is absurd, since of all the bands of the era, they
were all monstrous musicians in comparison to most. Anyway, he is
just the opposite of Will as a person, which suited the project in
its own way as well. I'm probably over generalizing again, but if
Will is a sort of father figure, Kip is more like a big brother. I
think the transition worked out well between doing a record with
Will, and then following up with doing one with Kip. They were each
perfect for the needs and circumstance of their respective projects.
Will was sort of trying to harness who I was, while Kip was trying
to help me grow. He also played bass and sang some on the record as
well which was never planned. He really got into it and wanted to be
a part of it. He has the best work ethic and respect for music of
anyone I have ever known. Also, if anyone hasn't checked out his
solo records, you should. The writing and production are amazing.
Andy Timmons plays guitar on both records as well and he is just
ripping too.
14.Have you worked with Kip before?
No, I had sort of known him since the 80's but I
asked him to produce the project after Rod suggested it. I had
called Rod's manager to ask him to see if I could get Rod for the
sessions. It turned out that his manager used to promote shows in
Boston back in my early metal years. Anyway, we had a great talk and
he had Rod call me. Rod agreed to do the record, but I still didn't
even know where we were going to track it, and who the other players
were going to be. At that point it was just me, Rod, and Manring on
fretless. Rod said Kip had a great studio in his house in Santa Fe
and that he had some great drums there that he loved for jazz and
fusion. I originally called Kip to ask him if we could just track
Rod's drums there and we ended up having this really deep
conversation about music. Anyway, I ended up asking him to produce
the record as well and he agreed almost immediately. It was another
one of those accidents that turned into something really cool. Kip
ended up bringing himself as a player, along with Chris Botti
(Sting), Andy Snitzer (Rolling Stones), Joel Derovin (Eric Clapton),
and Alan Pasqua (Alan Holdsworth) to the project.
15.Everything I've heard you play sounds incredibly
energetic, are you a just as hyperactive when you put the guitar
down haha?
Thanks. Yes, I have played an energetic piece or two
in my day. My old manager used to say that I'm always playing either
really over the top stuff, or super oblique and introspective
ballads. As he put it, I spend little time in between. I think that
is very true, but I don't know why. I'm pretty mild-mannered in real
life though. They call me mello-yello.
16.Groove isn't a word generally associated with the
acoustic guitar.are you on a mission to change that?
To me, being a good rhythm player is of paramount
importance to overall musicianship. I think that is really
applicable to any instrument, not just guitar, or acoustic guitar
for that matter. I'm not on a mission by any means, but I think the
acoustic genre is particularly weak in the rhythm department. There
are so many big name players that couldn't find a groove in a
drainage ditch. I grew up practicing with a metronome for 8 hours a
day, to try and unlock the secret to rhythm. I didn't see the click
as sterile, but as a foundation to learn to push and pull time ever
so slightly. That is a critical skill in modern recording where many
times records are made in pieces, and have to be made whole again at
the end. I think that work transferred over to the acoustic pretty
seamlessly for me. Every player has his own sense of time which goes
way beyond a sample accurate click track. Those subtleties are what
give different players their own personalities, in my opinion. I
also think that learning to groove is one of the hardest thing for
an aspiring musician to learn.
17.You have some considerable technique at your
disposal; do you still have any sort of practice regime in place?
I really haven't practiced much in years. I just sit
down and play. I know every one says that and it probably sounds
arrogant coming from some. I guess it is practice, but you have to
understand that for me practice means what I used to do in the 80's
- putting in 8-12 hours a day with the metronome and teaching and
just living and breathing guitar 24/7. Those days are over. I do
make an effort to play and explore, but I don't really have a ton of
time to just dick around and try and perfect the scariest lick of
the decade anymore. That was so much fun doing that in my 20's
though. I just have to use my time more for creation than discovery
these days.
18.Your sound is massive, how do you achieve such
huge tones?
Thanks. I'm always flattered to be referred to as
massive. Wait - but not by men in the UK. Oh yeah, were talking
about tone.
[Laughs]
Sorry. The tone on Consistent Variation is just a
pair of mics on the guitar - nothing fancy. I played really hard on
that record though. I really dug in and played closer to the bridge
than normal. On that record the tone is definitely my hands. On
Speak!, I layered lots of rhythm tracks to make one huge sounding
guitar groove. I try to vary the methods a bit from project to
project to keep things fresh. By the way, I have referred to huge
guitar tones as "The Corn" in recent years. I don't know why and I
have no idea what it means. Although I do think it might have
something to do with a cob.
19.What gear are you using at the moment?
My main acoustics are a Froggy Bottom model K in koa
with a 100 year old German spruce top, and two Tom Higgins
prototypes. One is an OM sized rosewood guitar and the other is a
koa 00 sized 12 fret. Both have Engleman spruce tops.
My main electrics are two customs I built from parts of other
guitars. One is a swamp ash Soloist Body, and the other is an alder
Tele body. Both have 1-piece birdeye necks that Ken Warmoth made for
me. I have played his necks since 1985. I love his compound radius.
More curvy at the nut, and flat as hell at the heel. I endorse
Seymour Duncan pickups. Seymour made me this great double-screw 59'
humbucker for the Soloist, which is the most articulate humbucker I
have ever heard. Low gain, but very focused from string to string.
If I want gain, I get it from the amp. I also use and endorse
D'Addario strings and have for 15 years. I haven't recorded much
electric guitar in many years, but I do have some old Plexi's and
Fender amps in storage. I also have a Line6 Flextone combo, which
does just fine for practice and scoring work when I need it. I use
Trace Acoustic preamplifiers for acoustic pickups live - although I
don't tour much these days.
As for studio stuff, I am an avid Logic user and also endorse them.
I have been with them almost since they started. My whole studio is
built around Logic as my composing and arranging platform. I have a
Yamaha 02R digital mixer which I use as a giant digital router and I
use Motu midi and audio interfaces. I also use and endorse Milennia
preamplifiers and compressors. They are a small high-end company who
makes the best front end stuff you have ever heard.
O.K., I'm getting tired, but there is a complete list which is
constantly added to at the site. I have some new guitar photos and
descriptions that I need to have put up, but there is plenty of gear
stuff there to check out. I also have rig flow charts and essays on
recording techniques if anyone is interested.
20.Are you always looking for new gear to try or have
you found your ideal set up?
No, I pretty much stick with what works. I do have to
stay on top of the studio stuff though, like keeping up with
changing media formats and adding to sample libraries. It is a
fairly constant mental and financial drain to build and maintain a
professionally acceptable scoring studio. It is a labor of love for
sure, but when everything sounds exactly the way you dream it, the
negatives seem to be forgotten fairly quickly. Plus, all those
pretty colored lights make you feel cool when the room is dark.
21.Do you feel you've captured the definitive Rob
Eberhard Young on any of your recordings yet?
I don't know if there is such a thing. I try to bring
something new to every project I do. I think I do have a very
personal sound, but I just don't present it the same way on each
project I do. I just want to keep growing and learning and trying
new things. What is that saying? The journey IS the destination.
22.What's the current status of 'Speak'?
One way or another, it will be out next year. I just
don't know whether it will be on one of the Universal labels, or
another major label, or my own. I may even totally re-record it
exactly as we did it before, except better. Be sure to join my
mailing list on the site and we will keep you posted with release
dates, etc. I will probably try to do at least a major markets tour
with the core band as well if we can get everyone's schedule
coordinated.
23.What's next for Rob Eberhard Young?
I want to continue to work on my composing skills.
Someday, I would love to make a true classical album. Probably
chamber music to start, but I want to make sure my writing is really
happening before I consider releasing it. I would also like to start
doing more independent films if I can. The money sucks in comparison
to other work, but they really do afford the greatest artistic
freedom. Plus, any director could be the next Tarantino, which is
always nice for back end! I also have an album of original scoring
type stuff in the works which will be called Music for Film. How
obvious is that? This will be the first project I have ever done
that has absolutely no guitar! I just wanted to see if I could do
it. All the arranging and midi mock-ups are done. I just have to
tweak everything and then I will be ready to start re-recording all
the midi parts with real players. I used a lot of ethnic
instruments, so finding some of the players and getting them here
will be a challenge. I'm sure Manring will do all the bass, and
maybe I can get Alan to do the piano too. Come to think of it, I'll
need almost everyone from the Speak! Lineup again. Maybe I'll ask
Kip to mix it with me too. Who knows. That one probably won't be
ready until the year after next. It will be interesting to see what
people think of it since it has no guitar. In terms of guitar
records other than Speak!, I have what is sort of a follow up to
Sticks & Stones in the can and ready to go. That album will be
called What I Believe. It is about half new stuff, and half stuff
from the Sticks & Stones era that I never got to record. It will
also have some duets with Manring as usual, and maybe some piano
from Phil Aaberg, or someone else with a soft touch. That will
probably be out next fall.
www.robeberhardyoung.com
All images used with permission of Rob Eberhard Young
2004.
Interview provided by essentialguitarist.com |
