by John William
With the release of his latest CD Songs From Cabbagetown I wanted to do an interview with Rob Thompson and find out what makes him tock.
I met him on a bench in Riverdale Park on a warm summer's evening with cicadas droning all around. The park is featured in his recent work, indeed, this is the same bench he shot his infamous Riverdale Park Bench video, a video art piece where the viewer watches the video from the exact same location it was shot through four seasons.
It only takes a few minutes of talking to this guy to get the sense that beneath his affable exterior is a volcano of ideas threatening to spew creativity all over you. With a broad smile and self-effacing charm he begins to answer my questions that I have jotted down on a napkin from Timothy's Tikka House (I recommend the Butter Chicken).
I wonder if this attitude feeds into his notorious lack of self-promotion.
"Sure, typical artist. I know I should promote myself more but I get caught up in my next project. That's why it's hard for most independent artists to really break out cause, yeah, it's all about promotion."
A lot of Rob's songs are about lost love, being in relationships that are no damn good. I wonder at the genesis of that.
"I've always been attracted to complicated women, which often makes for complicated relationships! I realized a while back that I thrive on those dynamics, and it shows in my lyrics. The few times I've tried to sit down and write a happy love song...they just become sappy."
I ask him if Words Fail Me, one of his most popular songs, is about a particular woman.
"There was this one woman I would have gladly married, but things didn't work out. That song, the feeling was for her. You know where you reach that horrible point where you realize no words you can say that will get through. So the feeling of that inspired the song, but the specifics, those are from my past or wannabe past."
Wannabe past?
"As a teenager I spent a lot of my time listening to music, imagining this rich world from other people's songs. One of my favorite bands was the Irish group Tir Na Nog. They sing of the sea, and boats, and lovers, and that colored my life. So I often find those images seep into my own songs, like the 'seagulls circling round the ferry' in Words Fail Me. But now, I also try to give my songs a sense of place, and locale. I get tired of generic pop songs. In Songs From Cabbagetown I wanted to do something simple, honest, about where I live."
And yet the song Goodbye is about a street person?
"Well yeah, I think there's a street person in all of us. Certainly many artists I know have wondered if they'll end up there. I think we all pay a heavy price to live in this society and I think street people are the first casualty."
I ask him about some of the great lines from his songs like, "You didn't bring a lot, I wish you could have taken more."
He laughs.
"I probably shouldn't admit this, but some of my best lines are mistakes. I'm listening to someone else's song and I hear a line that blows me away and I hit the rewind to listen to it again, and realize, they didn't actually sing what I'd heard. So I jot down what I thought I'd heard, or maybe my subconscious heard, and stick it in one of my songs. That's happened a few times."
Rob's CDs cover a wide gamut of styles that he likes to refer to as fock-japop, folk-rock-jazz-pop. I wondered if he saw a progression in his CDs.
"I started off in folk-rock many years ago. But over the years I've gotten a little jazzier I think. Reluctant Lovers, that was my first CD that I recorded in Ottawa. I recorded it at my kitchen table as a road crew was working outside, so I had to keep waiting till they took a break. It was kind of an exploration for me. Songs From Cabbagetown is a step up I think in production value but still the "magic" isn't there for some of the songs. My next album (Flesh of the Olive) is a new way of playing for me and really shows a new direction towards this jazzier feeling. I'm also really taking my time in recording it."
I was wondering when the new album is out.
"I was hoping September of this year but like I said I've been struggling with the recording. There's a sound, a style, I hear in my head but getting it down is proving much harder."
Songs From Cabbagetown, it's a great album and I tell him I hope he gets the next one out soon, his fans are waiting! Rob smiles, shakes my hand, and then wanders off into the night. Think I’ll wander down to the Cobourg Lounge, have a beer, and mourn for lost love.