in session.. miles benjamin anthony robinson 12.06.
by far the highlight of my day at stag & dagger last month, miles benjamin anthony robinson’s gritty, bluesy, folk rock came alive in a sweaty and packed packhorse pub. it really was something special.
i hadn’t seen miles before. i hadn’t had the pleasure. it was his first leeds date after all. indeed, his first ever stint of uk dates. i’d heard about him a few months before and had his album on constant play in the months leading up to the gig. i wasn’t going to miss it. but what i saw i couldn’t have expected. miles and his band stole the show completely. i’ve not seen a performance as intense since. were you at the wild beasts SXSW fundraiser in march? a little bit like that. but in a room that looks to hold about 50, overflowing with over 100.
originally from oregon, miles benjamin anthony robinson’s journey through his 25 years so far has seen him find himself in new york after years of finding himself through music. moving from the northwest to the northeast, miles has seen and been through it all. with all the trials and tribulations that come with the solitary singer-songwriter’s struggle, tales of living hard on hard-drugs and a mythically morbid recollection of life as it was come together in his music in the most beautiful of ways. miles’s emotional eponymous uk debut really makes you rethink your collection.
released on transgressive records in may, miles benjamin anthony robinson is a raw and gritty amalgamation of deep-rooted music and life, with love and loss and everything else that comes with it making an appearance somewhere along the way. the opening track, ‘buriedfed’, with its opening line, “this is my last song about myself”, bears testament to miles’s complete self-awareness: he knows what might be perceived of him as an artist, as a solo songwriter, but leaves no illusions to the fact that his life and the music that comes forth from it is shaped by more than a mere individual’s experiences. indeed, he doesn’t class himself as a solo artist and, whilst he writes all of the songs and plays most of the instruments on the record himself, “it’s not ’solo’ music”.
recorded back in january ‘06, and mixed in may of that year, the album is, what miles calls, essentially his “demo”. produced by chris taylor of grizzly bear, it was an album miles did “absolutely nothing” with but for hand-making a few silk-screened copies to give out in brooklyn. he didn’t expect it to get him his first “big gig” (being asked to play with/by tv on the radio) and certainly didn’t expect it to be picked up and released as his first album. but i’m glad it has. through its ten songs miles takes you on a journey parallel to his, whether through humour or his harking back to harsher times, and it becomes as completely engrossing as any good story does. it’s a record that has put his name - all four of them - on the lips of many. and deservedly so.
seeing the band at the packhorse was truly special. miles, whose stage show turns the volume up a bit from that of the record, sang as though his life depended on it. and, without wanting to sound too sentimental (mushy/pathetic/emo), it sort of it did. at some point, perhaps. in some ironic way. he pushed his vocals as far as they’d go and the energy exuded by the foursome was something special. (i think i’ve called it special three times so far.. do you get the point yet?) and it’s remarkable when you consider that this is the band’s first tour together. they’ve not been together long. miles found marques (toliver, violin) busking in a subway before bringing him in to record on his second, forthcoming album. and then marques suggested two of his own band’s members, david and will. but you’d think they’d been together for years, the way they played. a compelling chemistry between a band, if ever i’ve seen one.
but anyway. i met miles outside the packhorse on the night. they’d just arrived and so had we. but they’d not had anything to eat yet, so we said we’d meet at the studio the morning instead. 10am. after a day of gigging and a night of raving at the fav. i wasn’t looking forward to getting up and, as it turned out, neither were they. for starters, the pizza they had when we would have been recording wasn’t worth it and miles took a few moments to express his disgust during the show. (you can’t really compare a leeds pizza to a new york one, can you?). and, after the show, the boys found a sofa in the pub and stayed there for a few hours, drinking, before heading across the road to catch their label mate micachu & the shapes at the library.
i got there at 10am, on the dot, incredibly impressed with myself. miles hadn’t showed up yet and i took the time to get the studio set up. i found a little book of ’stupid laws’ and had a little read. and, an hour later and suitably hungover, miles benamin anthony robinson and the guys turned up. we chilled out for a bit. marques and will checked their email and, because they’re regular dudes like you and i, facebook too. miles was tuning his guitar, the same one he’d given up on during the show the night before. i can’t remember why, but it wasn’t playing ball and he didn’t use it. but he did today. and he got marques to play fiddle, too. we recorded two songs, a beautiful new one and a thin lizzy cover, and talked about everything from learning to play on an unamped electric guitar with two-strings to growing up listening to prince and george michael. the mbar session is certainly one of my favourites and amongst the best i’ve had the pleasure of recording. i’m sure you’ll enjoy it, too. have a read. and don’t forget to download the two songs afterwards.
miles benjamin anthony robinson. who named you man.. mum, dad, grandma?
my father.
did he give you all of the names?
he did. his name is miles terry anthony robinson. he changed one so he can say i was named after miles davis.
when you were growing up, like at school, did you have a nickname? can someone with four names have a nickname..?
well, my mother hates my father. so she never called me miles. she called me ben until i was twelve or thirteen, and then it was a pain in the ass to get it switched on forms and stuff. ’cause it was ben, but that wasn’t my name. there’s too many names so i’d always end up mis-ordered on forms. anthony r.. robinson m.. benjamin..
what do you go by then, miles?
mmhm. [one of those american grunts meaning yes]
cool. so, your first trip to the uk.
yeah, first trip to the uk. having a great time.
second night, tonight, in leeds?
ah, no. we’ve been here for a little over a week. we played london a few times. we played brighton.. the great escape, down there.
any highlights so far?
the women. [laughs]
what kind of women?
all of them! you have lovely women over here.
do you like english women?!
yeah. quite. [laughs]
most americans don’t seem to.
i know. all of my friends in bands absolutely hate coming to the uk and touring, and they’ve actually said to me the women are terrible. i don’t know what it is. i have a real thing for english women. [laughs]
english women are cool. so the album, self-titled, your debut on transgressive. took a while to come out..
..took fucking ages for it to come out! [laughs]
how long did it take? when did you start recording?
umm.. i recorded it in january of 2006.
fucking hell..
mixed it in may of that year. and then did absolutely nothing with it. i used to hand-make copies, silkscreen them, give them out in brooklyn. which was fine, got me a a bunch of gigs in brooklyn. got me a big gig with tv on the radio. and then they offered to produce my next album. so the album that’s out now i never thought anyone would hear. it’s like my demo. [laughs]
so, what, mbar that’s out now, that was your demo?!
yeah. i mean, basically. i thought it was like a small release, and then the one that.. my next one is produced by kyp [malone] from tv on the radio and i figured that would be the one that would come out, that people would hear. and people might get to come back and hear the first record a little bit.
and the second record’s the one with ‘gold and grey’?
yeah yeah, second record.
who helped to produce the first one, was it chris?
yeah yeah, chris [taylor] from grizzly bear.
how’d you guys hook up?
you know, we’d just been playing in different bands in the scene and we were in bands that had been playing together a lot. and i’d been planning on asking them, because i was gonna leave my band, and i wanted him and chris [bear] to be my rhythm section. and actually when i was gonna ask him to do it, he jumped and asked me if i wanted to do a solo record, when we were sitting there and i was about to ask him. was funny, i was like “i was just about to ask you..”. but then i had figured on using them to play live, too, but then in between us deciding on doing that album, and actually making it, grizzly bear happened. which sort of.. you know. so..
yeah, that’s taken off innit.
yeah, it’s taking a bit of time.. [laughs] to get everything together.
you’ve mentioned the solo thing. but you’ve been in bands, haven’t you?
yeah, i used to play i bands. i haven’t played in, like, a band-y band for like.. six years? six years i think. which is when i quit.. [laughs] i quit music. i wasn’t gonna play in bands anymore. and then i made that record, but didn’t then play in bands. i sort if sat around and kept writing.
do you enjoy doing the solo thing?
it’s fine. i prefer.. i mean, the thing is i write all the songs myself and i generally record them with the help of one collaborator. i play most of the instruments, but it’s not “solo” music. i mean, i can do it now with an acoustic guitar by myself, but i prefer to have a full band as you saw last night. i think it suits the material a lot more.
i was speaking to the boys last night, will, marques and david. you guys have really good chemistry, but you’ve not been playing together for too long have you?
[laughs] no. marques actually moved to new york. he played on my second record. kyp saw him busking on the subway, brought him to the studio, he played on the record. took him like an hour to do all his parts because he’s fucking brilliant. and, err, then, you know, i had the series of bands that i toured the states with for the past year that fell apart. and so i just became depressed. i was gonna.. i AM moving back to portland for a while. but, umm, marques was like “ah, you’re going down to south by south west? i’ll come with ya!”. and i was like “oook, i guess”. and he was like “let’s get together and rehearse”.. and i’m like “iii guess”. and then he was like, “you want a bass player?.. want a piano player?!”. i was like, “urrm, i suppooose”. [laughs] and then so he brought in will, who’s great too, and who i love playing with.
how did they hook up? because will’s from london, isn’t he?
yeah, they play in my friend holly miranda’s band in new york. she’s going to have something out on xl, i think, next year.. ..
..sorry, i just interrupted!
no no, it’s fine. i’m just hungover! [laughs] we, err.. i was gonna go to portland to put together a band for this tour, but then it turned out will and marques could do this one. and they were like, “ahh, you need a drummer too?!”. i was like, “yeahhh, i’ll look for a drummer i guesss”. and i never actually did it. and then they pulled david from holly’s band as well, and we just got along. you know, i didn’t actually hear him play before i hired him. well, i had. i’d seen him play with holly. but, err, he just sort of came over and looked at my records and we had similar taste in music and he sat and drummed along on my bed while i played acoustic guitar. and i was like “ah, i suppooose that’ll work”. [laughs] and then we just rehearsed, you know, six times maybe before we came out.
it’s kinda like last night, when you were tuning your guitar, they were doing a little dj section with the synth and shit.
yeah yeah, jamming! [laughs] it’s good. it’s like when i break strings, like at SXSW, i’m just like “marques, play some beautiful violin! do a jam!”
he’s real tight.
yeah, he’s a star.
do you think you’re going to be together, like..
i hope i can tour with them as much as possible. i’ve learnt.. i try not to get too attached to anything anymore. every time i think i have a permanent band.. i try to play with as many people as possible so whenever i tour i can hire some combination of people i’ve played with. and so, for me it’s about meeting more and more musicians. you know.
i’m sure you’ve been asked this a million times, but how did you get into music?
[laughs] it’s really my only interest, you know.
what did you listen to growing up?
ahh, everything. i mean, i was like anyone. i listened to pop radio when i was a kid. prince, tom petty. my mum likes george michael. [laughs] i would like what my mum would listen too. and then i got a little older and i guess i came of age right when things like nirvana were really big. so like all my first cds were like nirvana, smashing pumpkins, oasis. that sort of stuff. that kind of era.
when did you first pick up a guitar?
i first got a guitar when i was about thirteen..? twelve or thirteen. got my first electric guitar. didn’t get extra strings or an amp for a year and half, so i was trying to play an unamplified, two-string, electric guitar in my bedroom. whatever.
..a two-string guitar?
yeah, where i would break strings and i didn’t know where the guitar store was to go get more. and being a little bit of a shut in, so.. [laughs] but, err, yeah.. just played guitar and didn’t start a band really until i got to new york.
i’ve read you saying, i can’t remember what the exact words were, but something about it being a cliche with regards to when you were living rough..
[abruptly] ..which has nothing to do with anything.
well, that’s what i was going to ask! [miles laughs] does it reflect on your music at all?
[nonchalantly] not at all. i just, you know.. it’s a very strange thing, but journalists are very lazy and it is part of the buy-out, but i’m not all together happy.. i wish that i had known how much people rely on press releases before i let my publicist put that in the press release, because people just write that this album is about “drug addiction and homelessness”. i’m like, PLEASE, i beg anyone, point out a single fucking lyric on this album that’s about drug addiction or homelessness. [laughs] i mean, maybe drugs, but it’s not about that. it’s not ‘about’ anything.
it’s just interesting. the character make up of a person, what they’ve been through, regardless of whether it’s a drug addiction or a gambling addiction or whatever. it can shape someone’s character.
yeah, i guess so. i mean i guess my main point is that it’s not.. none of it is meant to be especially tormented music. i try and make my songs funny. every other line is a joke, in every song i have. maybe that’s a product of actually having been through some real shit. because people who haven’t are overly morose and, you know, you can tell whether or not someone’s for real, ’cause if things are truly that bad you can either kill yourself or laugh it off. so like, either you haven’t been through real shit, or you’re dead, or you’ve learnt to laugh it off. the three options in life. [laughs]
talking about laughing, i found this book in the studio just laying about, called the world’s stupidest laws. shall we talk about new york or oregon?
how about not being allowed to walk around with your hood up in islington in london without being stopped and searched. arrested. it’s fucking cold, like, it was raining, i had my hood up. raining! [laughs]
well, let’s have a look. i tell you what, there are eight funny laws here. let’s see how guilty you are.
ok.
“a fine of $20 can be levied for flirting. this means a man can’t look at a woman ‘in that way’”. [miles laughs] guilty or not guilty?!
very, very guilty.
[i have me a chuckle, too] “it’s a crime to throw a ball at someone’s head “for fun’”.
i would never dream of such a thing. innocent.
i wonder why you’d want to throw a ball at somebody’s head for fun..
nawh, you’d throw a pint glass. much more effective! [laughs]
i’d imagine so! apparently, “the penalty for jumping off a building is death”. if you didn’t kill yourself.
really?! [laughs]
crazy. these aren’t really as good as they made out.
they are quite stupid. i mean, it does purport to be the world’s stupidest laws. that is fairly stupid to kill someone for jumping off a building. well, i guess that’s a bonus. you know. if you couldn’t.. they’re helping you out i suppose.
well, on the next page, north carolina, it’s “illegal to sing out of key”. you better not be singing out of key in north carolina.
i better not be singing at all then! [laughs] ’cause i’m certainly generally out of key.
ha. cool, man. so what sort of plans have you got. you’re off to scotland now..
yeah, going to scotland, then going back to london for a couple days to play one last show. then it’s back to the states for the time being.
and you said you might be moving back to portland?
i’m gonna go there.. i haven’t seen my family in years, really. i’m gonna go and spend a little time with my mother and my sister. just, you know, before i go off again.
do you tour much in america?
yeah yeah, i spent the whole year on tour this past year.
do you find the people know you better here or there, or..?
it’s a mixed bag. america’s so big, you know. it’s like, once i got to the west coast, if i’m one of the coasts, you know, we get good crowds and people know who i am. but, err, in the middle it could be a crap shit. i also had some real.. iffy bands this year. [laughs] i think i’ve upset a lot of my fans across the country. it was hard.. i had just finished recording the second album when the first one had come out and my band only new the songs from the second album. so we sort of did new versions of the ones on the first album and people hated the new version, you know. whatever, i can’t be bothered!
what are you doing this summer? playing any festivals?
yeaaah. i hope so. i originally told my booking agent that i was quitting for the summer. i’m constantly quitting music for ever. just.. i don’t know. things fall apart. but then, who knows. i try not to make plans anymore. if i have a show i try to do the best job i can. the rest of the time i just write songs and try and record them. let other people worry about the rest of it.
and off they went to scotland. if the show up there was anything like the one in leeds, i’d worry for miles’s health!
the album, just over three years old, came out a couple months back here in the uk. if you’ve not heard it you’re really missing out.
miles left me with a taste of what’s to come, a new song ‘gold and grey’ he said would be on his new record. i can’t remember when he said that was being released, but i’d imagine he’ll be back in the uk soon enough and a string of dates to promote the new stuff would be incredibly welcomed. if i remember rightly, he’s back sometime in autumn.
anyway. miles and marques, guitar and violin. two beautiful songs by two incredibly talented guys. have a listen.. and get the album if you’ve not already got it.
in session with.. miles benjamin anthony robinson
miles benjamin anthony robinson - gold and grey
miles benjamin anthony robinson - running back (thin lizzy cover)
enjoy.. x