The best is yet to come!

So I’m back now – its been nearly two years since I started this love album…and then suddenly as I got close to writing the last of the songs along comes an avalanche of music and film projects…

First the Golden Band – Dug Pinnik and I are dear friends, actually every body loves Dug he is an authentic person, probably one the most authentic people I know… I believe Dug Pinnik single handedly created the modern bass guitar sound of rock music – I mean you had Chris squire and John Entwhistle and they had powerful sounds but Dug sank the Titanic – simple as that – his bass sound influenced all the grunge bands, from Pearl Jam, Alice in Chains, Stone Temple Pilot, Tool and many more.. – but beyond that – his bass line constructions are quite unbelievable, he has so much funk and groove – there is not much to be said but you have to see and hear it for yourself – anyhow we love each other and love playing music together.

Dug Pinnik and Robbi Robb laying down the Oceon

So we got together for ten days with Butch Reynolds on drums and Kripa on ambient keyboards and Al Swanson on B3 duties and Trent moss on percussion and we toyed around with some ideas. The nights were really dark at that time and the stars were raining hard…and so the stories at night would turn to contemplations on extraterrestrial life, UFOS and Aliens – and so we began to write lyrics and songs that reflected these conversations, we watched documentaries on UFO’s and a lot of the evidence especially the ancient art stuff is very convincing.

So as a result we have created somewhat of a space rock album – which as many know is one of my favorite styles of music. We are thinking of calling the album – a POCKET FULL OF STARS – Though I do not believe most of the UFO stuff out there, I must say alien life is absolutely possible and I hope to meet one alien before I pass from this plane.

Then I decided instead of travelling to Europe every year to play these wonderful little festivals – why not just create cool events out here under the night sky in the style of Duna jam – only 200 people allowed type thing – and so I hooked up with local astronomer Tom O’key and the Joshua tree lake owners and we put together a space rock star party –

I put together a little space rock out fit called The Echo People, and Tom had built these huge screens like drive-in screen size upon which he and other astronomers projected deep space images of galaxies and nebula, it was awesome and we played our brand of spacey music – it was a very successful event. Robbi and the Echo People
Anyhow then my studio got flooded and the black mold came creeping in – and walls had to be destroyed and then my mixing board fried and so everything in the studio came to a grinding halt. Very Frustrating. Meantime I finished editing Eva Soltes’ documentary on Lou Harrison which has been received very well.

Then Eva had me in to work on recording Rohan de Saram –

this was an awesome experience as I was stuck in a the Lou Harrison straw bale house/concert hall for ten days with a master cello playing – watching the depth of his commitment to his instrument; practicing every morning – there were times when he would explain to me why he was playing a piece in a certain way, and though he was talking it to me and enjoyed my curiosity he was also just go through his own mind and reinforcing his ideas – I felt like a young Arthur at the feet of Merlin or Shakespeare at the feet of Dr John Dee – I felt like a little kid sitting at the wisdom shore of infinite possibilities.

I was so inspired I quit the Echo People because the commitment of the musicians to the craft was a little slack – for them it was like a hobby – music is my life-craft and my life-raft. I still practice scales, modes, arpeggios, harmony and composition virtually every day… – I practice on the toilet, I practice watching documentaries, I practice in the shopping mall while the girls shop for girls things.

Kripa thinks I am obsessed – it’s a beautiful obsession…and watching Rohan – with his white hair and his antique cello – I know I too want to grow old with music, besides, my guitar playing is just getting deeper and deeper as I get older and become such and awesome adventure I can almost understand why people do cave diving; it is a lot like that – cave diving in the musical mountains of consciousness. This metaphor also works for why I love my improvisational bands best – with no arrangements known before we start to play we follow tunnels to caverns ever deeper – beyond gravity and breath – yet every detail filled with silence and distance.

Kripa and myself finally finished the Ted Quinn album, which he was so grateful for he changed it from being a ted Quinn solo album to calling it Rock Art. I mixed and wrote a few songs and engineered the album and Mark fuller mastered it.
Here is a little video we made: Rock art – Robbi with ted Quinn and Kripa

Then there was an Asylum kids re-union of sorts when Steve and Dino came out for 3 days and we did some tracking – this was a real treat. The Asylum kids were and will always be a great rock band.

One thing I am very excited about is Kripa’s project – Her music is growing into a most innovative project.. There is no music like this nor has there even been anything like this, and this is a thrilling experience – more on this later. – Finally the universe has answered my cry for good musicians who want to work hard and long at getting things right and going beyond our limitations and making sacrifices needed to get these things done. I am now surrounded by a gang of excellent musicians and fun loving people who are out-working me and pushing me to greater heights. – The music never stops – but more on that later. Now I must get back to working. The best is yet to come!