Janet Robin

Killer guitarist Janet Robin
finds liberation in her lyrics
By CHRIS KOCHER
Press & Sun-Bulletin
When it comes time for future historians
to chart the interconnectedness of
all rock musicians, as Jack Black did in
School of Rock, where will Janet Robin
fit in?
Well, that's a tricky one. The LA native
started her career in the late 1980s as part
of an all-girl hard-rock band called —
what else? — Precious Metal. Later, she
toured with Lindsey Buckingham of
Fleetwood Mac. These days, she's concentrating
on her own tunes, as well as
backing up fellow musicians such as
Meredith Brooks and Michelle Shocked.
“I don't fit into one category — which
I'm perfectly
happy about,”
Robin said. “I
want to be the
eclectic person
you can't put your
finger on.”
Wherever she
ends up in the
rock family tree,
one thing is for
sure: She's one
heck of a guitarist,
and a fine
songwriter in her
own right.
For years,
Robin would do
an acoustic set
during her shows,
and fans would
encourage her to record an unplugged
album. With After the Flood, her third
and latest CD, she finally fulfilled her
those requests.
“Usually it's been months and months
putting out a CD — but we went into the
studio for a couple of weeks and did the
songs,”Robin said. “The stress factor of
it was really low, and I learned a big lesson
from that.”
The relaxed attitude gives the sevensong
EP a fun, live-in-the-studio feeling
— but the most striking thing is the lack
of any pretense. While plenty of artists
hide their true selves behind heavy production
or a vague patchwork of lyrics,
with Robin there's no wall between you
and her. Each song is a beautiful, wellcrafted
dart that shoots straight for your
heart.
In her husky and seductive voice, Robin
isn't afraid to lay her feelings bare. Anti-
Anxiety Song tells of the stark pain of
moving on after a failed relationship; in
Leave Myself a Message, she has a need
for a friendly, familiar voice on the
answering machine — even if it's her own.
Another highlight is a passionate cover
of Patty Griffin's Mad Mission, with
some killer guitar riffs.
In Beautiful Freak, she sings: “I'm a
beautiful freak / in a mixed-up world / I
could try to be / just a beautiful girl /
When I see you smile / even just for a
while / I dream of your wonderful kiss /
that numbs all my loneliness.”
Like many creative souls, Robin bases
most of her work on herself and her experiences.
“I'm glad I can turn to music — it's a
catharsis. Because therapy isn't enough,”
she said with a laugh.
In her early years with Precious Metal,
some audience members wondered how
a high school student — a female high
school student, no less — was so adept
at a six-string.
“We got comments like, 'Are your
boyfriends playing behind the curtain?'
or, ‘You play pretty good for a girl,’”
Robin said.
Part of the answer: Her guitar teacher
was Randy Rhodes, then a member of
Quiet Riot who later gained fame as Ozzy
Osbourne's legendary axeman. Most of
it, though, is Robin's natural skill and
passion for the instrument.
After Precious Metal disbanded — a
casualty of grunge's ascendancy in the
early 1990s — Robin tried out for Buckingham's
touring band.
“I was just one of the luckiest musicians
around to get that gig,” she said.
But life in the “Buckingham boot
camp” was an eye-opener for her, too.
The Mac master's perfectionist tendencies
meant months of practice, sometimes
12 hours or more at a time, before
the band ever went on the road.
“That process of doing all that work
— I'd never truly been through that in my
life,”Robin said. “It taught me a lot about
discipline.”
When her time with Buckingham
ended, she found herself hungering for
a solo career, which she has built touring
on her own as well as with Brooks
and Shocked.
While Robin finds it nice to be the center
of attention, sometimes it's just as
fulfilling to play in someone else's band.
She sees a lot of precedent for it.: “People
like Bruce Hornsby sat in with the
Grateful Dead — I thought that was rad.”
Currently, Robin is on her own music
label — but she wouldn't mind getting
the increased exposure that a larger label
would offer.
“I'm not opposed to commercial
exploitation,” she said. “If there's a way
to do it and keep my artistic freedom,
that would be great. I don't think I could
give that up.”
ckocher@pressconnects.com
IF YOU GO
WHO: Janet Robin
WHEN: 8 p.m.
Saturday
WHERE:
Night Eagle Cafe,
6 Lafayette Place,
Oxford
TICKETS: $15; call
843-7378 or visit
www.night
eaglecafe.org.
MORE
INFORMATION:
www.janetrobin.com
Photo provided
Janet Robin divides her time between solo performances and backup work.