Volbeat [Interview]
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Interviewing musicians can be a tricky business – especially when you know they’ve sat across from countless others before you and been subjected to endless barrages of identical questions. For ex-Anthrax and current Volbeat guitarist Rob Caggiano, who left the former on good terms to pursue his own path and joined the latter after taking on production duties for 2013’s Outlaw Gentlemen And Shady Ladies and finding that all-important chemistry sparking in the studio, that’s meant explaining the above over and over again. After touching briefly on what I referred to as “the Anthrax question,” Rob proved a fascinating and engaging conversationalist…
The new Volbeat record Seal The Deal And Let’s Boogie is coming out on June 3. How’re you feeling right now – besides excitement, which is what everyone says?
Hmm…anxious, maybe?
I mean, we can’t wait for the album to come out and for the fans to hear it. We just did a two-week tour in America, based around the Coachella Festival – but what I consider our first proper touring adventure starts on June 3 at Rock AM Ring. That’s a whole European festival run. So we can’t wait to get out there and play these tunes for the fans. It’s all good – I feel really good about everything.
Awesome. So when you’re working with Volbeat, what’s your creative process? Do you deal with them differently compared to other projects?
Yeah – I guess it depends on how you look at it. On a production level, Volbeat have been doing things a certain way for a long time now. On certain things, I have my own way of doing things, a different way of doing things – and just trying to incorporate that into the mix with everything else can be challenging sometimes. But in the long run, it actually works out.
Okay, cool. How do they get a song from idea to reality, and a finished product?
There’re a couple of things. On this record, we spent a lot of time in the rehearsal room, going over song ideas and hashing out arrangements and song structures, and just making sure we had the best material going into the studio and that we were all prepared, everybody’s parts were working.
Basically, pre-production! A lot of times Michael [Poulsen, vocals] would come in with some ideas, and we’d jam them, see what’s working, what’s not working. Sometimes a song would be killer, top to bottom; sometimes I’d bring in a song idea, and we’d work on that, tweak it, do whatever we needed to do.
One cool thing we did on this album that’s very different from what they’ve done in the past – I don’t think they’ve ever done it, actually – was we demoed probably about six songs before we went into the studio. I had a mobile recording rig set up in my hotel room. So we’d work on these tunes in the rehearsal room, and get them to a point where we were somewhat happy with them, and I’d put the track together and build it in the hotel room.
I had to play the drums by hand, with pads or whatever, and then lay down bass and guitar. We didn’t have a bass player during this whole process.
So we basically laid these tracks down, and then I would go into the rehearsal room with Michael and he’d sing them, and we’d have something to listen to. I think that was really helpful, because we could figure everything out, is it working, is the tempo right, is this section right…I know some of Michael’s lyrics changed for the better for the final version. I think it was a really healthy, positive thing for us to do that, and like I said I don’t think they’d ever done it before.
A completely new way of working…
Yeah.
You’ve got this big European tour coming up; what’s the weirdest thing you’ve ever seen at one of your shows?
Oh shit [laughs]!
I don’t know…
[Laughs] We could just stop there, just with those two words…
[Laughs] Okay! Yeah, I mean…I’m from New York City, and I’ve been touring the world for a long time. It’s gotta be really fucking weird for me to say something’s weird! [Laughs] So no, nothing comes to mind right now…
You’ve seen everything at this point, so there’s just nothing at that level…
Yeah! [Laughs] I don’t even know what I would consider weird at this point.
On a completely different note: How would you like to see the world change? When you tour the world, you see everything…
That’s a deep question. Obviously, the world is really fucked up right now.
It’s sad, and it’s also very stressful. It’s stressful for anyone who’s a traveling musician, you know? You’ve always got to be conscious of what’s going on around you, and you almost need eyes in the back of your head, really.
It’s just mental. Mental. Planes are disappearing…it’s crazy what’s going on these days. Right now, it’s mind-blowing.
What I would like to see is for all that to stop [laughs], and for everyone to just get along. It just seems so senseless and pointless, all that violence.
I completely agree on that point. So what’s the most difficult thing about pursuing a career in music? You’ve been doing it for a long time…
As with anything, to get anywhere in life you need to work hard at it. Whether it’s music, or trying to be a doctor, or whatever it is you want to do, you know? But the thing about this profession, being a musician – I don’t feel like I chose this, and went after it. Even though I did do that, I almost feel like I had no choice.
This is who I am, you know what I mean? I wouldn’t know what else to do. This is in my blood. I’m a musician; this is what I do.
So there’s that whole element to it as well. And I love what I do. Even though a lot of times it’s hard work, and it can be really stressful and it’s definitely a fucked up crazy business, I still love what I do. I never get sick of it.
Totally, yeah. But is there a particular challenge that you’ve encountered that stands out?
Well, one of the most obvious and cliché ones is touring the world and being away from your family and your home. It puts a huge strain on relationships. That’s why I’m single [laughs]!
It works the same way for writers as well…
Yeah [laughs]! The bottom line is, like I said a second ago, it’s who I am. I can’t change that, you know?
Yeah. We’re almost on the last question: What’s on your bucket list? You’re in Volbeat; you’ve worked with Anthrax, who were one of your favourite bands, you’ve done all these crazy things – is there anything left?
I have two things that pop into mind right off the bat. I want to meet Eddie Van Halen. I’ve never met him, and he’s my favourite guitar player. And I want to play Madison Square Garden in New York City.
I know Volbeat’s played there before, but it was before I was in the band. Growing up in New York, that’s like the legendary venue. Although I did play Yankee Stadium with the Big Four – and that’s actually even cooler than the Garden [laughs]!
So your bucket list is actually a step down…
[Laughs]! There was one other thing on my bucket list, and I’m really bummed out about it. I always wanted to see Prince live, and I never saw him. He’s always been one of my favourites…
That was on my list too…
For whatever reason, I was never in town when he was playing. It’s crazy; I’m really bummed out about it.
If you had to choose a highlight of your journey so far, just one moment, which would it be?
I feel blessed in that sense, because I’ve had a lot of cool things happen over the years. Most recently, I got to work with Brian Johnson from AC/DC, who’s one of my favourite singers. He sings on a record that I just produced and played on – the artist’s name is Jim Breuer.
As a kid, Back In Black was the first record I got on vinyl, and that’s what really got me into music. It was two records: Back In Black and Van Halen I. Those two albums really put me on this course – and Brian’s been my favourite rock singer since that day!
So now fast forward all these years later, and to have been able to work with that guy in the studio, and he’s singing over my guitar riffs, and singing my lyrics, and I don’t even think it’s properly hit me yet, you know? But I’m really proud of it, and he’s one of the nicest people I’ve ever met. Super cool, I got to work with him, then we went back to his house and he cooked us a steak [laughs]! It’s like, the most surreal, crazy thing.
A “circle completing itself” moment, that kind of thing…
It was amazing. Absolutely amazing. And the track came out phenomenal – he sang his ass off. That record actually comes out May 27. That’s definitely one of my highlights.
That looks like everything! Thanks for your time, that’s absolutely fantastic.
No problem! Awesome. Nice to meet you, man.
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