Robert Fleishman Shares EXCITING New Project At RockNPod with Nashville Rocks

Rocknpod provided the venue and the introduction. The Nashville Fairgrounds provided the location and Nashville Rocks first interview of the day was none other than Robert Fleischman of early Journey fame. Having written and performed songs like “Wheel In The Sky” and “Anytime,” Robert was part of the early days of Journey. He ultimately provided the building blocks that formed the band and it’s structure. I was excited to find out that RocknPod approved me to interview him and you get to see the results of that interview below. What would you have asked him if it were you with that microphone?

Download Robert Fleischamn’s newest release, “Emotional Atlas” HERE.

Get the vinyl HERE!

VIDEO

Transcription of Interview

00:00:09:16 – 00:00:12:23
Unknown
all right, you guys. Hey, it’s Jason here with Nashville Rocks?

00:00:12:23 – 00:00:31:17
Unknown
And we are at Rocknpod this weekend, and we’re super excited to be here. And we are blessed with the presence of Robert Fleischman. Thank you for being here. Thank you for having me. Appreciate it. Oh, yeah. And you got some new stuff that you’re going to be promoting, right? Yes. But before we do that, yes, I know you want to do the history, right?

00:00:31:17 – 00:01:14:12
Unknown
Yes. And you’ve away. You’ve had some huge, huge high points in your career. And starting off really in your career. Very young age. Right. Yeah. What were the tough times like before the first hits? Tough times. Oh, wow. Well, like it was independence. Always start there, you know? Yeah, it’s it’s quite a story, but, I probably to be too long, but anyway, I, there was a, booking agency in, Chicago, and they, heard my tape, a tape of mine, and they called me up and said, hey, would you like to come to Chicago?

00:01:14:13 – 00:01:34:15
Unknown
And we have, like, six bands, and I want you to check out the six bands. Okay? And, and you can pick any band you want to play with. So. So I did it. So they already recognized you as, like, a talented dude? I guess so, yeah. And so, you know, and living in California, it was all pay to play at that time.

00:01:34:19 – 00:01:50:11
Unknown
And there was this here was a situation where I could go and play and be paid. And so I took the opportunity. It was a guy named. What are we talking about? And we’re talking about like $300 hundred and 50. The reason I ask these questions is because I like to address the independent musician all the time.

00:01:50:11 – 00:02:21:11
Unknown
Oh, what was it like then? I think, like, I’d make, like, $300, you know, a show. Nice. And so I, I worked with this band for a while, and, I got a call from, a guy named Barry Fay who was a, promoter from, from Denver, Colorado. So Barry Fey and, Bill Graham, kind of, sliced up the United States like a pie.

00:02:21:13 – 00:02:39:04
Unknown
Bill Graham had the East Coast and the West Coast, and Barry had the Midwest. So Barry was a very big promoter. And so he, called me up and asked me if I’d like to come to Colorado and have a meeting with him. And I had the meeting, and, he asked me later if I’d like to do a showcase for CBS.

00:02:39:06 – 00:03:01:21
Unknown
So I did this. He said I had two weeks to get something together, so I wrote seven songs in two weeks. Put a band together, did the showcase. Three days later, I got a phone call asking if I’d come to LA, where I’m originally from, to have a meeting with the executives of CBS. So, I have this meeting.

00:03:02:01 – 00:03:30:19
Unknown
They say they got this band called journey. Have you ever heard of them? I said no, they’re a band. And this was. What year are we talking? 70 something? Okay, I can’t remember the year. So, they, they were, jazz rock fusion band. They played 15 minute songs. Okay. You know, so, because they saw what I, the showcase where I wrote all these songs, pop songs.

00:03:30:20 – 00:03:53:01
Unknown
So they thought, let’s see if we could put this pop writer involved with this band. So, they flew me up to San Francisco. I had a meeting with them, had lunch with them, and then we went up and and jammed for about two hours. And it was great chemistry. So chemistry is huge. Yeah, absolutely. It’s very significant.

00:03:53:07 – 00:04:25:17
Unknown
And so, I, started writing songs with Neil and now, they’re like a four minute, five minute songs, right? More commercial, more commercial. I had to tell Aynsley Dunbar, the drummer. Now you have to play for, for, you know. So don’t make it so difficult. Well, I was really nervous because here’s this kid coming, and now I’m rearranging the furniture, you know, for the whole band, so I.

00:04:25:19 – 00:04:46:06
Unknown
Who’s this guy? I think he is. Yeah, exactly. And that’s how I felt. But I knew what I was doing was the right thing to do, and it was. And we thank you for it. Well, it was the template, you know, for, for, the band to continue and, and unfortunately, Steve Perry came from the songwriting aspect.

00:04:46:09 – 00:05:04:14
Unknown
So it continued so that I was like, sort of like the architect for the, the sound of, of the template of the structure. It’s such a great love that such a great story. So, you know, here’s a 15 minute jazz rock fusion band now playing, you know, what would you be a rock n roll? Would you. Oh, okay.

00:05:04:14 – 00:05:23:04
Unknown
Proper I, I was going to say, what would you call it now if you had to put it in a genre of rock and roll? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So, and when did the writing take place that led to, like, wheel in the Sky? I think wheel in the Sky. I think Neil was fooling around with it on acoustic guitar for a while.

00:05:23:08 – 00:05:47:02
Unknown
And then at rehearsal, he, plugged in his electric guitar and and started playing it on the electric guitar. And then, I just kind of made up the melody and started writing lyrics, right? Spontaneously. And so, What? Okay, so you got the song written at this point, you probably you probably played it out. You decided to record it?

00:05:47:04 – 00:05:53:20
Unknown
Yeah, we did a demo of it. Yeah. Was there a moment when you were like, we’ve got something here.

00:05:53:20 – 00:06:12:01
Unknown
You know, people ask me that and I sit. I have no idea that it was going to take off, like the way that it took off. And, in April, of this year, the eighth was, wheel in the Sky was, released.

00:06:12:02 – 00:06:38:21
Unknown
So that’s 47 years that song has been in. And you still hear it on the radio. Yeah. And so I had no idea that it would still be significant the way it is now and have such heartfelt feelings by people, you know, I mean, I have people coming to you. Oh, well, you know, like Winds of March. Oh, we we played that music in the, when my daughter was born or, or we had we weddings and all this stuff.

00:06:39:00 – 00:06:42:23
Unknown
And you just go, you just. I don’t know, I just

00:06:42:23 – 00:06:58:07
Unknown
it’s hard to, That’s how people identify with music. I know music is a time capsule 100%. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, you listen to any song that you do, songs that you really love. You just remember where that took you back 100%. Yeah, yeah. You remember where you were.

00:06:58:07 – 00:07:19:00
Unknown
You remember who you’re with. You might even remember the smell in the room and. Yeah, exactly. You know, or the taste or. Oh, remember that night? So. And so did this, you know. Yeah, exactly. They’re landmarks there. Yeah. So do would you say that you’re songwriting? No, I have heard some of the new stuff and I’ve listened to it.

00:07:19:01 – 00:07:36:04
Unknown
Oh. Thank you. How would you say that? You’re songwriting from back in those days when you’ve got people introducing you to, to the guys in journey to now, how would you. What’s that evolution. What does that evolution look like or what

00:07:36:04 – 00:07:45:15
Unknown
would you. Well, my, my my whole, approach, I’m an artist. I, you know, since I was 13, I painted.

00:07:45:20 – 00:08:03:02
Unknown
Then later on, I did music, and then I paint and I do music and I go back and forth. So I always have the painters cap on. I get that. So it’s like either it’s like, you know, you’ve got an image in your head. Yeah. Or whether it’s a, it’s like a visual shape or portraits and then abstract and all that stuff.

00:08:03:03 – 00:08:18:06
Unknown
It’s just I hit all those things with that music, with that art and music in mind. Yeah. You know, I sort of fuze the two together in a sense. And so that’s what, emotional Atlas is really,

00:08:18:06 – 00:08:25:04
Unknown
and that that’s been the, the evolution of the whole thing is that. Yeah, you’ve always had this image and I’ve never done I’m never done.

00:08:25:06 – 00:08:52:01
Unknown
I never do albums that are the same. Right. I have one album. Dreaming in tongues, acoustic guitars and cellos. Nice. You know, so, you know, it can be pretty awesome. Oh, yeah. Absolutely. Yeah. Love them. And, and then, I did the sky, which was more like the first album was very garage like, very, English kind of, tone to it.

00:08:52:01 – 00:09:16:04
Unknown
English pop rock and then, majestic sky. Majestic, very much more produced. So everything I do is just different from the last one. I just, I can’t stand to repeat, you know, something new. Yeah. Because, you know, it’s like when these bands get signed up and they. They got a big hit, and then it’s like, well, we gotta recapture the first album for the second album, right?

00:09:16:04 – 00:09:40:08
Unknown
And it’s like, why do I repeat, yeah, yeah, yeah, give yourself a chance to expand your creativity where you know what you would, you think you have. Yeah, 100%. And so I just, I, I’ve been fortunate to be able to be in that position to do that and and not have to worry about, what anybody thinks it’s going to.

00:09:40:13 – 00:10:03:20
Unknown
Yeah. You know, by, by executives and stuff like that. So I how do you think, taking a totally different mantra up here, but how do you think the road has changed, like when you’re doing performances now versus. I don’t perform then you’re just done performing. Studio I have haven’t I’ve always been, elaborate. Okay. Yeah. I don’t really care about playing or having to be up in front of people and stuff.

00:10:04:00 – 00:10:19:21
Unknown
My my whole thing is being in the laboratory nice and experimenting and and doing your own studio at the house. Yeah, I do have I don’t even have to leave the property to, to go record. I do. Exactly. That’s fantastic. Yeah. That enables you to kind of experiment with something. You get something hit, you run to the studio.

00:10:19:22 – 00:10:41:19
Unknown
Exactly right. And my, my, my, you know, my peers in my head are like, you know, Bowie, Peter Gabriel, right? You know, Lennon. And I can hear a little Peter Yarrow in there. I can hear all that stuff, but it’s not said. I’m not trying to emulate anything. It’s just, all my life, it’s inspiring. I’ve just had,

00:10:41:21 – 00:10:57:13
Unknown
It’s just my style. Yeah. You know, I just have a style. Yeah. And I. And I, and I, and I tried, I tried to change it up all the time. So are they like babies? Are your songs like babies? Of course they’re like babies. Okay, let’s find the ugly baby. No, that’s not, that’s not that’s not what I’m.

00:10:57:13 – 00:11:07:22
Unknown
I’m trying to figure what I’m going for is the pretty baby. Do you have, like, on your new release? Do you have something that is like, your favorites, like your prize? Well, I really love everyone.

00:11:07:22 – 00:11:17:22
Unknown
I really love, great Lakeview. Great lady. Yeah, yeah. The first song, side by side down. Which one? I’m on a side by side.

00:11:18:00 – 00:11:27:12
Unknown
Side by side. Is is really shows my voice off. And then it just kind of kicks in and. Okay. And, Yeah. So

00:11:27:12 – 00:11:41:07
Unknown
yeah, the this album is very similar to the five the Pretty Babies. That’s. Yeah. Well, I think the whole the whole album is my, my Beautiful baby and see and that’s from, that’s from someone who lived through an era where you put out an album.

00:11:41:08 – 00:12:03:23
Unknown
Right. And I feel like nowadays and you know, how the music business has changed and evolved over time is all about immensely. It’s about singles now. Yeah, Spotify. It’s about and it’s about being 12 years old. Yeah. You’re social media, you know. Yeah, I totally get that. But you lived through that time where you did put out an album and you’ve still chosen to do that, right?

00:12:03:23 – 00:12:23:16
Unknown
Yeah. So tell us about it. Let’s get it up here. I want to see this thing. He’s got it on CD as well. Yeah. Watch out. There’s, Yeah, there’s a lot of moving parts there. Moving parts. So this is what we got here. You see that? Yeah. And I’m gonna put my mic down. Okay. So I can handle this thing.

00:12:23:18 – 00:12:49:01
Unknown
Right. So you can stand up it. Open it up. So you go and see that’s, you know, I’m not on mic anymore, but that’s that’s the image. That’s your artistry right there. Yeah. But you’re also looking at the technology. Yes. And, here’s the, album. Oh that sweet yellow. And the other one is blue. A blue I don’t will never die.

00:12:49:07 – 00:13:12:00
Unknown
Yeah, I hope, I hope, it’s a very expensive package to put together, but I didn’t care because I wanted I wanted the outcome. Well, it’s visually stunning. Absolutely. And there’s the blue one. The blue bottle is really fantastic. It’s a CD two that’s like a an almost like an album. Yeah. That opens up as well. And I really like the new stuff.

00:13:12:00 – 00:13:31:17
Unknown
It’s kind of, I don’t, I might age myself, but it’s kind of, it’s kind of almost trippy. Can I say. Yeah, it’s trippy. It’s, it’s kind of like an experience. Yeah. I mean, you’re going to go like we’re in a metal thing, right? That we’re not going to bang our heads to your new stuff. No, you’re not, but but you’re going to take a mental ride.

00:13:31:22 – 00:13:46:19
Unknown
Yes. You know, 100%, a lot of people say it reminds me of Pink Floyd. It’s a kind of an album that you. You put down the needle and you just kind of go with the flow of the whole thing, and you listen to it all at once. That’s the experience. So you got to listen to the whole thing.

00:13:46:19 – 00:14:10:10
Unknown
Yeah, 100%. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Me too. So, as far as, like, the writing you were talking about, one of your favorite songs, when you’re. What does your writing process look like? Like you do you hit that spark, you run to the studio. Do you have a specific direction that you go? Do you have a specific thing that almost happens first every time or

00:14:10:10 – 00:14:11:03
Unknown
no.

00:14:11:03 – 00:14:37:10
Unknown
And it differs all the time. But on this one was kind of, a very like I said, it was like putting on the painter’s cap. Yes. And so, there are songs on there where I would, record, a drone overhead, sort of a sound. Okay. And then I would put another drone on top of it, and then another one and then I put the headphones on, and then I would hear these harmonics going, yeah, yeah, yeah.

00:14:37:15 – 00:15:06:04
Unknown
And then I sense a pattern to it. And then I would, I would start seeing over that, that melodic pattern. And then later the chord. Exactly. Yeah. Exactly. Yeah. And so some songs, there’s really no chord changes, but there’s because of the way the lyrics are, stamped. Yes. You know, and then, you know, basic lyric verse, b section chorus.

00:15:06:04 – 00:15:15:06
Unknown
So I have that there and so by that it would give the impression that there are chord changes. Right? But there aren’t any chord changes. Right, right.

00:15:15:06 – 00:15:32:03
Unknown
But and that’s what I really loved about it because it’s such, it’s such a beautiful, orchestrated accident. Yes. Yes, I like that. I like that a lot. So, let’s talk about where we can get you can get it at, Robert flashman.com.

00:15:32:03 – 00:15:52:02
Unknown
Okay. And you get it there and it’s on Spotify. And, you know Apple. That’s where I listen to it by the way. Yeah. And then you can listen to it on, on YouTube also and on YouTube they have it in Dolby Atmos. Okay. So yeah, I mix the album in Dolby Atmos. Oh, so that’s the experience right there.

00:15:52:02 – 00:16:11:13
Unknown
Yeah, in Dolby Atmos. It really is an experience. So it’s all the new cars that are going to be coming out. They’re all going to be set up with Dolby Atmos systems and all the new cars, and everything is going to be transitioning to Dolby Atmos. Nice. And so and so. You’re also an engineer? Well, I to a certain degree, yeah.

00:16:11:13 – 00:16:34:08
Unknown
I mean I’ve been in the studio so long I what’s the what’s the benefit we’re going to get from Atmos. The it’s more of a, of a, immerse. It’s like 3D music. Okay. You know, it just like this is the same thing as, like, mixing five 1 or 7 walls. It’s there’s just more. More definition and playing with the atmosphere.

00:16:34:09 – 00:16:56:13
Unknown
Okay. Yeah. It’s immersive okay. Yeah. So all the new, all the new, all the, record companies are asking bands to do everything in Dolby Atmos because that’s going to be the setting in the future. Right? So I’m a little bit ahead of the curve. Okay. But that’s okay. He says. Going in vehicles and all that kind of stuff.

00:16:56:13 – 00:17:16:14
Unknown
Yeah, that’s going to be great. Yeah. And a and an album like yours is going to sound fantastic in an environment like that. If you have five speakers in your car and you listen to it on Apple or whatever, you’ll get, you’ll get the, sensation of it. Nice, nice. Now, did you were did somebody come to you and say, hey, you should mix this and Atmos or were you, like, looking at.

00:17:16:15 – 00:17:21:00
Unknown
No, I knew about yeah, I knew about, yeah. You’re like, hey, I want to be. Yeah. On this.

00:17:21:00 – 00:17:37:02
Unknown
Yeah. My my my my friend Allen Doucette. He’s, he, mixes, movies for, Disney nights. So he has a whole, Atmos system at his house. So I, I flew to, So do you take your tracks and then you go, I yeah, I go to Woodstock.

00:17:37:08 – 00:17:41:14
Unknown
Woodstock, New York. I go there and, and we do it

00:17:41:14 – 00:18:02:18
Unknown
nice. That’s fantastic. How are we doing on time, you guys? Are we? Lights? Well, I’m not worried about him. I’m wondering if he’s got to go somewhere else. How are we doing on scene? We, we have more time and more as we can. We can nerd out for a little bit.

00:18:02:20 – 00:18:28:07
Unknown
Okay? We got to what, about 3 or 4 minutes or so? Okay. Okay, so let’s talk about the nerdy side of this thing about about your about your engineering. Because I’ve, I’ve got a technically a degree in music, engineering. So you’ve gone obviously from analog to inch tape to digital to digital. Now everything’s on a hard drive.

00:18:28:07 – 00:18:30:22
Unknown
You’re you’re taking files and you’re doing Atmos.

00:18:30:22 – 00:18:49:18
Unknown
So I’ll tell you. Okay. I was going to say I have a question I don’t I don’t even use a computer. Okay. I just have it on. Duh. And I have one of those Tascam 32 tracks. Okay. So I recorded everything on on the 32 track, and then I take that and I dump it on to Pro Tools, okay.

00:18:49:21 – 00:18:57:03
Unknown
And then I do editing and I’ll do vocals and stuff like that in the studio, because the most important thing is to have the proper equipment to do

00:18:57:03 – 00:19:08:16
Unknown
vocals. You said you don’t use a computer though, so are you doing Pro Tools with like actuators and stuff, or are you using an actual like desktop station? What I do is just I transfer everything onto ProTools.

00:19:08:18 – 00:19:27:12
Unknown
And so then, and then after that I do some editing and sweetening up, and then I give it to, it’s Adobe Atmos. Okay. And then you go and mix it in the Atmos lab. Yeah. Right. Yeah. That’s fantastic. That’s awesome. What? So was it the album is not in Dolby Atmos. It because you can’t do vinyl.

00:19:27:12 – 00:19:53:04
Unknown
Can’t do that yet. Yeah. But the someday the digital file. You’re correct. Correct. So when when you know you got started, at what point did you realize that you would move from writing and tweaking on your amp? Right. To I’m going to mix my own stuff. I’ve done it all my life. Just I mean, even when you were doing like a 40, you didn’t what I had, like, even when I had those four track cassette.

00:19:53:06 – 00:20:18:08
Unknown
Yeah. You know, ones. Right. I can’t remember what they called them, but I would, I would do those and I would playing for people go, where does he get all that? Onto a cassette. Yeah. And because it was just a matter of your ear and balance and, and your, your, your whatever your style is. Right. And and that’s what you did was that before they recognized you and wanted to, to introduce you to jury?

00:20:18:10 – 00:20:43:15
Unknown
Yes. Would you. We’re already doing that. Yeah. I went to an engineering all this time when I was a kid. I got a little Norelco tape recorder, little reel to reel with a tiny microphone. And, and my parents had a big, Magnavox stereo system in the living room, and I could. And I didn’t have a record player in my room or anything, but I had this recorder, and I used to record the Beatles, you know, on there.

00:20:43:17 – 00:20:59:16
Unknown
Yeah, like the first Beatle album. Yeah. You know, I got it for Christmas. And so I would record it, and then I would listen to it in my, in my room, and I would sing along with it. So then finally I would, you know, when nobody was around, I would turn, crank it up, turn on the tape recorder and sing along with the Beatles stuff.

00:20:59:21 – 00:21:19:17
Unknown
Yeah. And so I would blend in. I would just, I just could blend. Right. Another artist also, you know, influenced by the Beatles. Yeah. So. Yeah. Oh, absolutely. Yeah. So. So I would just blend in. And so then later on I, I saw that a girl friend of mine, her dad, had a tape recorder, you know, reel to reel, and he’d let me borrow it.

00:21:19:17 – 00:21:39:10
Unknown
And then I’d do that and then I would borrow somebody else’s. And and then I would get another one and then play any scene. And then I turned on the other one and do the and do it over. Anything you could do to get your, your idea, your image. Yeah. So it was just all these pieces of little tape recorders like, you know, making it into one, right?

00:21:39:10 – 00:21:58:02
Unknown
Yeah. That’s so I don’t know how I even came up with the concept. It was just like it was just meant to be. Yeah. You know, that’s fantastic. So it was all by accident, and I looked and I heard my junior and I heard my voice at a very early age. So, you know, a lot of musicians, singers especially, I hear their voice now.

00:21:58:04 – 00:22:13:07
Unknown
Exactly. It’s like when you, when you used to have those, boxes for your messages, you go, hi, this is so, so. And, and then you play it back, and that’s what I sound like. You know what I mean? Yeah. You would get that, like, the sound of my voice. Exactly. So I were like, I think I like this.

00:22:13:09 – 00:22:32:21
Unknown
Well, I went through I went through all that, you know, in my own way. Yeah. So it was all so accidental then. And the outcome is, like you, I am, you know, it’s art and you’ve your career has been all about art and sharing it with everybody. And it’s just it’s just I’ve been really lucky to, to be that.

00:22:32:21 – 00:22:39:19
Unknown
I feel privileged that you took the time to come and talk with me today. And don’t forget, you guys.

00:22:39:21 – 00:22:57:23
Unknown
Yeah, there’s a hole in it, right? There we go. That’s the that’s the, poster. Oh, that’s the poster. We go. It’s bigger than the suite. Is this inside the vinyl as well? Yeah, yeah. And then all that, and then all the lyrics are on the other side and you get the lyrics. Check that out, folks. Yeah. Make sure to check out Robert Fleischman, on his website.

00:22:57:23 – 00:23:15:18
Unknown
www.Robertfleischman.com and Spotify. Listen. And you got to listen to the whole thing. Don’t listen to one song and walk. You go. It’s not fast food. It’s not fast food. This is an experience. I got an album and this is an experience kind of an artist. Thank you so much, so much. Thank you. Thank you so much.

00:23:15:18 – 00:23:35:04