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Estrella: Can you please state your name and what you do in the band?
Rob: Sure, my name is Rob and I play keyboards for Mae.
Estrella: How has the tour with Relient K and Sherwood been going so far?
Rob: Well we are six weeks into it so it has been very long but it has been successful. I want to say 95-97 percent
sold out shows on the entire tour so its been great.
Estrella: I know after that tour you are going on the road with The Fray and OK Go, how did that
come about?
Rob: Well our management also manages The Fray so we kind of became best friends with The Fray, we played a
couple of their shows and hung out with them for a little bit. It made sense at the time to do it, so we were really excited when we got asked to come aboard the first leg of
the tour. So we are really stoked.
Estrella: For that one, aren't a lot of the shows already sold out for it too?
Rob: Yeah, I can't believe it, it is pretty amazing. All of the shows are selling out pretty early.
Estrella: I know, also you guys are doing two stops in the same city since some of the shows have sold out so fast,
they added on extra dates.
Rob: Yeah, actually that is right. I know one situation for that, the Chicago one there is two or three dates.
Estrella: Yeah, I'm in Chicago, you guys have 3 dates here.
Rob: That is pretty crazy.
Estrella: When is the new album coming out and is there anything you guys did differently on it
than previous albums?
Rob: Yeah, I think we are all extremely proud of this record. I mean, we are proud of all of the efforts we made on the
last record that we done. But this record, I think really showcases our collaborative efforts as a band and it shows us as a stronger band. I think it's supposed to be coming
out; well we just finished recording two new songs so it got pushed back a little bit. I think sometime this summer and I think probably either July or August.
Estrella: Do you guys have an album title yet?
Rob: Yeah, the name of the record is Singularity.
Estrella: How long was the recording process for it?
Rob: We went to the studio for pre-production in October and we finished recording the majority of it in December, and
we had two extra songs that we worried weren't going to make the record, that were just recently finished a couple of weeks ago. It is kind of weird, certain installments here
and there.
Estrella: Were those two songs you just recorded always going to be on the album?
Rob: No, it was kind of a last minute thing; it is a very weird phenomenon I think. I hear it's not something that is
un-visual for bands that go into record records that after you finish recording what you think is the actual record, sometimes what happens is you kind of look back on what
you recorded and everything begins to finally make sense and that is when some new inspiration that is found. Sometimes some of the best songs on the record are written
at a later time and that definitely happened for us. It was kind of like an after thought really, but they are both real strong songs and our label is happy with it, and we are
happy with it, so they are going to make the record.
Estrella: Did you have to take any songs off to put those ones on or did you just add them on?
Rob: It's funny that you ask that question because right now we are in the midst of trying to come up with a sequence
for the record. We don't know which ones are not going to make it yet, but definitely after a result of these two strong contenders there's definitely a couple of songs that
have to be moved over to the B side.
Estrella: How do you guys usually determine the order of the songs?
Rob: It's really on feel; you take a look at the whole conceptual picture of the record. Then you look at individual songs
and the cool thing about having iTunes is you are able to take all those songs and basically make your play list accordingly and see which songs fit the best. Which can tell
a story, which kind of keep the vibe going, iTunes definitely helps do that, it is very instrumental in coming up with a sequence. I'll just say thats me personally, thats how I
usually try to think about it.
Estrella: Are you guys playing any of your new songs yet in concert?
Rob: Yeah, actually I think we've played four new songs off the record so far. Not necessarily every night because
people obviously who haven't heard the new record want to hear something they are familiar with. But we have been rotating four new songs into our set on a nightly basis
and it's been really good. We have been getting a really good response from both new fans and old fans so we are really excited.
Estrella: Is there a song out right now that you never get sick of hearing?
Rob: I don't know, I don't really listen to the radio a whole lot. From my own personal play list, it is anything from STP
(Stone Temple Pilots) and Pearl Jam I never really get sick of hearing.
Estrella: How important do you consider sites like myspace and purevolume for Mae?
Rob: Very important because the internet is just global and everybody basically congregates around these particular,
therefore lack of a better word centers, like social centers. Even if there is nothing else that is out on the radio we are able to put our material up on purevolume and
myspace. Anybody from anywhere can basically log onto our site or even just browse through our site. They can listen to any songs that we have, see any video journal
entries that we have. I think myspace and purevolume are very instrumental in getting us exposed to a more global community. As a result of those two spaces, we are
getting requests to come over to Australia, New Zealand, England, basically just any place in the world, even Indonesia. We are really stoked about it; I think they are really
instrumental in helping us gain a wider audience.
Estrella: Do you think you are going to go overseas anytime soon?
Rob: Yeah, well we have been overseas. Weve been to the UK and weve been to Japan twice. We just keep getting
requests from everybody and we are really, really stoked to get over there during this album cycle. We definitely have it in our plans to make it over to Japan again and
Europe, UK and hopefully Australia.
Estrella: Is there any difference from the fans over there to here in the states?
Rob: Not really, they just seem to be more open to diverse musical bills. When there is a tour over there, they are
open to anything that they like as far as music is concerned. When we went to the UK we played this huge festival called Give it a Name festival and it was a bill that
was chopped full of completely different genres of music. Everywhere from harder stuff to poppy stuff. Everybody that was there just enjoyed it; we had a lot of Coheed and
Cambria fans. Consequently, as a result of being on that festival, we did a small week tour with Coheed and Cambria and obviously our band is different from that band but
everyone that came out who were fans of Coheed wound up really liking us as well. They just seem to be more open to accepting divergent genres. Where over here it is
kind of like, if you are in one genre, you like that genre and are not really receptive to anything else.
Estrella: Have you ever bought anything that seemed like a good idea at the time, but now realize it
wasn't?
Rob: Yes, definitely. I am not sure if I can give you a concrete example right now off of the top of my head. I have
definitely bought some music as a result of it being advertised in a magazine and thought it would be really cool to listen too but it wasnt. I can't really place a finger on who
that was, and I probably shouldn't say who it was if I did know who it was. The cool thing about iTunes, not to plug iTunes at all but you can go on there and sample the
songs and see if it is something that might be your taste at the time. I think that kind of eliminates the problem now.
Estrella: What is one of your favorite lines in one of your songs?
Rob: "Love, it's the wave I ride, that won't ever reach the shore" and that's from, 'Anything.'
Estrella: What is something you have always wanted to do, but have not done yet?
Rob: These are really good questions, I would say score an orchestral piece with a full orchestra.
Estrella: If you could see any band or artist perform any song live what would it be and why?
Rob: There are a couple of bands I would like to see before, well I hope they dont ever retire but I would like to Pearl
Jam live. I have not seen them live. I would love to see the Smashing Pumpkins; I heard they are going to be touring soon. But in smaller bands Silversun Pickups, I love that
band. It is one of my favorite bands and I would love to see them. I just want to see them live because I love their record so much.
Estrella: While you are touring, do you ever get to go to other concerts?
Rob: Its really, really hard because touring schedule, especially a touring schedule thats like this, its straight legs of
a three month tour. You are playing thirty shows in forty dates. It is really hard to do anything extra-curricular other than just play the shows and then get on your way to the
next show. We did that once in Detroit. After we finished playing a show we were able to get in to Marquee Theater to watch Death Cab for Cutie play and that was
awesome. So we were able to do thats fun. We are always open to it if there is any band, like we played the Crystal Ballroom in Portland, Oregon and Silversun Pickups
are supposed to be playing there the following week so I was really pissed that we were not there at the same time. We love to do that but just our schedules are so hectic
it doesn't really permit doing anything but play our shows.
Estrella: On your off time, do you go to a lot of concerts?
Rob: Yeah I try too, that's one of the benefits of being in a band and having a good booking agent because she can
basically get anybody into concerts and shows when she is given reasonable notice. When I am home I love to go to our local theatre and see a show there, absolutely.
Estrella: Any last comments?
Rob: No other than the fact thank you for talking.
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