A Chat with Rob Giles (05.11.23)
Most well-known for his solo music, along with his work with the Police, Sara Ramirez, Lisa Loeb and The Rescues, Rob Giles is an artist who holds no bars in whatever he does. Musician, screenwriter, and playwright, the US-based Giles is eager to share his passion for life with all sorts of people in all sorts of formats. We speak with Rob Giles about his new album MEDITATION DRIVE-THRU, future plans, superstitions and more.
OSR: We interview many unsigned, new bands on The Other Side Reviews, as well as established ones. You are more established with a successful career in music, film and television but what initially drew you to performing arts? Why did you choose to become a musician?
Giles: I had a crossroads a few times before I graduated high school that forced me to choose a path. I was a fairly good athlete as a kid, and was even a Quarterback in high school, until I quit my Junior year, mostly because I knew I didn’t have the fire that the team would need from me, and because the “artist” in me was waking up. That last year or two of high school gave me the chance to make a lot of music with bands, even recorded a “solo album” where I was able to play all of the instruments in a recording studio and be in some plays that pushed me as an actor and guitarist.
I was a drummer, originally – still consider myself a drummer who plays some guitar etc. – and then was accepted into some really great theatre schools. But, ultimately, I wanted to write. I suppose not plays, or I didn’t realise I could follow theatre into writing for the stage or screen at that age? But I wanted to write songs. So, that was my path.
My dad taught me how to really ask yourself, if there is only one thing you could do, and money and ease were not part of the equation, what would you do? I wanted to write songs. Everything and every opportunity and missed opportunity fell or didn’t fall into place, painfully, clumsily, gracefully, after that.
OSR: What does music mean to you?
Giles: I am not sure how I would recenter myself and find myself without Joni Mitchell’s Blue album or Radiohead’s Kid A album or Prince’s Lovesexy album or The Beatles’ Abbey Road album. Vibration being the stuff of reality is a matter of fact. So, yeah, music is my reality.
OSR: What can you tell us about your new album MEDITATION DRIVE-THRU? Is there a particular theme or backstory?
Giles: I had quit. Was done. I had lost my voice so much that being a member of the band The Rescues or making music was an impossibility, but I didn’t want to announce that or anything. And I felt very, very burnt out. I wanted to flex that muscle that I had left at that crossroads years ago in high school. I wanted to try and write movies and TV shows. So, I just started doing that and stopped writing songs. In a day, just pivoted, and it was so, so fun. I didn’t miss music at all, for close to a decade. It was just something I used to do (and be, breathe, be consumed by, my all and everything). And then, it was time to write some songs. It was time to dust off some old unfinished ideas. It was time to see if I could sing.
The theme is… I think that we can heal and change and save ourselves. But only if we allow our spirit or Higher Self to lead the charge. Our ego, injured children and hurt selves cannot find the way out. The Spirit in all of us that is beyond injury is always there, and it just needs you to test it and say help.
OSR: What do you hope people take from the album?
Giles: I hope they get whatever it is they need at that moment. Even if it is just a nice listen in the background of their busy and complicated lives.
OSR: MEDITATION DRIVE-THRU is your “musical comeback” after a decade. Do you think it shows an evolution in your sound? Does it represent you as a person?
Giles: I think it allowed me to be produced by Rich Jacques and make a simpler sound that maybe my “let’s try this choir and overdub 55 spoons hitting a toilet bowl and…” Yes, my evolution is baked in. I am older. I am wiser. I am less insecure and less frantic. Rich and I meditated most days. We trusted we would make something good and who I am is in there. Mostly in the hope that still exists inside me somehow after having my ass handed to me by life. Which is what life does to everyone.
OSR: What is your greatest achievement (not necessarily music-related)?
Giles: I’m a great dad, and when I’m not, I repair and reconnect with my kids. I always try to be the very best parent I can be. That and sobriety. I am coming up on 19 years sober in a few months. Unless I drink tonight.
OSR: I know we’re a music blog, but which do you find more challenging: writing scripts for films and TV or making music?
Giles: I don’t find writing challenging. I love it. I find collaborating challenging because my writing style thrives on flow and not “me” being there but allowing whatever to come through and just happen. When I start to think, I slow down and I suck. Collaborating slows me down, makes “me” enter the room, and so I suck.
I love TV writing because I get to go so, so much deeper into the character, and I get so much more playing field to be surprised by what the story or character tells me they need to do. It is really fun to watch a story unfold before my eyes when it is my fingers typing it out. But, to do that in a song, to create novels in two verses, a bridge and a chorus, that’s a magical thing. John Prine or Lyle Lovett or McCartney or Taylor Swift or Joni masters at this.
I love them both – TV and songs. I hope to be writing both now, and other stuff I’m working on, including my future as an LMFT (Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist). I want to do it all. I only have 50 years left, tops.
OSR: Random questions: what TV show would you binge-watch and why that show?
Giles: Fleabag because of the humour that shines through the hurt and the characters that are so real and yet 10% over the top. She’s a master. It is so sad that there will never be a season 3, and thank god there will never be a season 3.
OSR: What is the most irrational superstition you have?
Giles: I can’t question how a plane flies once I am on the plane or it will stop flying.
OSR: What advice do you have for new artists?
Giles: Make what you want to make. And always ask yourself if you are making this thing because you want to see it made, or because you want someone else to see it made. Your mom or dad who didn’t love you, your ex who hurt you, the world who will validate you. F*ck them. Make the song you need to hear that isn’t in your cloud yet. Make the show you want to see but can’t find on Netflix.
OSR: What future plans do you have for your music?
Giles: I never promoted myself. Ever. I slaved over albums making everything perfect then just put them out and didn’t tour or promote or do anything, hence no one knows who I am and my true obscurity. So just following through with this promotion is a big deal for me. And yeah, I had a lot of fun.
I will make more music, finish a musical show and a stage musical or two that I am working on with some talented geniuses. But, mostly, I will follow the thing that excites me. That is my true compass. I cannot do anything well when I feel forced to do it. I have to follow the shiny new thing, which means I have a lot of shiny things going at all times. But that’s ok! Some people (Manifesting Generators for anyone familiar with Huma Design) is the way for me. Do what I love, and never what I don’t love. Follow Your Bliss, Joseph Campbell style. Make stuff that I want to see and hear!
Many thanks to Rob Giles for speaking with us. For more about Giles, check out his Facebook, Instagram and Spotify.
This artist was discovered via Musosoup #sustainablecurator
Discover more indie folk songs on The Other Side Reviews Indie Folk playlist:
