A Chat with Robin Mukherjee (27.06.2020)
Robin Mukherjee has been writing songs since 1999 and performed for the first time in 2002 at London’s prestigious Halfmoon. Since then, he has been a frequent performer and toured both within the UK and abroad. He has now released his latest album Regents Road. We sat down with Robin Mukherjee (RM) to talk about the new album, his future plans and much more!
OSR: What does your music say about you?
RM: Good question! I like to think the simplicity of the songs, at least in terms of melody and musical arrangement, speaks for itself. Lyrically, it can vary from tongue in cheek cynicism to heart on the sleeve. So I guess that makes me a juxtaposition of simplicity and honesty with a sprinkling of an apathetic cynicism that encapsulates all that’s wrong with this generation? Or perhaps it’s up the listener to decide.
OSR: Is there a theme or backstory to Regent Road?
RM: Another good question, you’ve done this before! Well, yes there is and it starts with the title song. A couple of years ago, I was working in Salford doing a job I particularly resented. Part of the daily life involved being stuck in traffic on Regent Road for a good length of time, on my way to a soul-destroying job, wondering where I’d gone wrong for this to be so normal! ‘Regent Road’ is, essentially, a driving song about having a daily existential crisis in a traffic jam. One year, I cycled down the West Coast of America, from Portland to San Diego, and heard so many driving songs. None of them addressed the true reality of congestion and driving to ghastly jobs, so I thought I’d be the one to write an honest driving song!
OSR: Due to your planned tour being cancelled due to COVID-19, have you considered online shows instead?
RM: Not really. I tried once but I was so awfully uncomfortable filming my own face that I stopped after a couple of minutes. So many people are doing that right now, which is cool but can also get like white noise. Additionally, I do quite a few Zoom meetings during the week so can get overwhelmed by too much time spent on a screen. Martin Rossiter once wrote a satirical song with the chorus, “Where there are pixels, there is life”. How prophetic! In fact, he recently did an online show. That was quite special as he’s incredible, has lots of people who want to hear him and hasn’t performed since 2013.
Saying that, I did a tongue in cheek COVID rewrite of that awful Vengaboys song online and sent it to them. They conveyed their liking of it and posted a similar COVID updated version of their hit, even copying some of my lyrics! And I can’t think of any greater success from online gigs than the Vengaboys nicking your idea! However, 2020 has been bad enough and the last thing we need is a Vengaboys comeback!
OSR: Do you have any plans related to this album such as videos?
RM: Luckily, I had a very special show in January for this album and have already made the video for ‘Regent Road’, in my own car on Regent Road, might I add. I would like to make an incredibly cringe-worthy video for ‘Keep on Believing’, with people doing horrendously bad dance moves reminiscent of the ‘My Lovely Horse’ video from Father Ted! However, these days, planning what to eat each day is quite enough brain activity for now!
OSR: What do you enjoy most about being a musician?
RM: Lots of things. Recently, I’ve really been practising and have finally mastered a piece by John Renbourn I’ve dreamt of playing since I was eighteen. However, meeting people is one of the best things about it. I have some good friends in faraway places thanks to music. Back in February, I performed with two very lovely chaps, Vana and Pepe, whom I used to play with when I lived in London. Vana went back to South Africa and I’ve visited him out there and played a few shows since. However, we hadn’t all been together since the last time we performed together, which was 15 years ago! It was really special, and it’s moments such as this that I enjoy the most!
OSR: When did you start writing music?
RM: I wrote my first song in 1999 and played it a few times when I first started gigging. Rest assured that I don’t play it any more, it’s rubbish! I recorded quite a few multi-layered instrumentals back then as well, which I found fairly recently and they’re actually not bad.
OSR: How do you cope with writer’s block?
RM: It comes and goes but it’s never been something that I’ve ever worried about. I find it rather futile to get stressed when you can’t write, just do something else instead and it’ll come back to you at some point. If I’m honest, I’m a lot slower at writing than I used to be. That might not be a bad thing as I wrote some absolute dross in my early twenties but I’d rather spend 6 months over one song I’m happy with than 20 songs that aren’t interesting. When I can’t write songs, I’m usually writing strange and peculiar emails to companies and bands to stay creative. Up to now, I’ve received a love letter from Tesco, a tube purely of green fruit pastels from Rowntrees, some lengthy advice from Currys that they don’t sell chicken madras and have been told to keep my chin up by Right Said Fred! Writers’ block can be fun sometimes!
OSR: Do you enjoy recording and production?
RM: I really do! With ‘Regent Road’, I’d never planned on making a whole album as I only wanted to record a handful of songs I’d just written. However, I got through the first day pretty sharpish and had loads of time left over to go through some of the ‘back catalogue’. I discovered some songs I’d long forgotten about, ‘The Back of My Mind’, is one. That’s the way round I like to do it.
When recording, I prefer to have performed the songs a few times, at least, so I know in my own head how it should sound on record and I’m delighted with the cello by Polly Virr! The day recording her parts was incredible. I would tinkle the melody I wanted on the piano and, impressively, she’d immediately repeat it back on the cello! What the record doesn’t capture is me lunging, waving and throwing ballet shapes at her in order to convey things like, “Louder here, quieter there”!
OSR: Once the pandemic has passed, do you intend touring? Where?
RM: Anywhere that will have me! Yes, that would be nice. I did have some shows booked that, obviously, aren’t happening now and I was chatting with my friend, Mike Wojniak, about doing some shows in the US this year. He’s an incredible singer from the States I’ve known since the Myspace days. I’d also like to play at The Halfmoon in London again. That’s where I first started performing, a long time ago, and kept returning to over several years until I moved up north. It’s a lovely venue and I haven’t played there since 2010.
OSR: Have you started planning your next album?
RM: Kind of, but I would like to do more with this one when it’s a safer time for everyone. I’ve written some new material but I won’t really know if I want to record it until I start performing it live. I’m thinking of slightly more instrumentation this time. I find it a bit clichéd to go with a band when recording if you’re predominantly a solo artist. It’s been done so many times before and gets boring. However, I had a bassist and drummer for a few tracks at my album launch, which was wonderful! We’ll see what happens. It was 10 years between my first and second album, perhaps this time it’ll only be 5.
Thanks to Robin Mukherjee for chatting with us! You can find more about him on his Facebook and Spotify.
