Graham McRobbie
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In his own words
- Describe your first OOTB
- I remember even the thought of playing practically had me crying with terror so I was actually relieved to find the place pretty dead. Jim Igoe wasn't there that night so Nelson kicked off with a Flowers for Algernon song all by himself - I think it might have Cowboy Song II - and I thought his singing was mightily impressive.
- What's the best piece of songwriting advice you've ever been given?
- I know it's horribly cliched but "be yourself" is something that is incredibly important when writing a song. When you look at all the great songwriters like John Lennon, Bob Dylan et al, they stole a lot of things from other musical influences, but their greatest numbers are always those that appear to have just popped out of the imagination without trying to be anything else. If you base a song on an existing structure that's one thing, but to just have something come into your head that doesn't sound like anything else you've heard before is so much better.
- Your favourite song(s) of all time ?
- Rock n Roll Suicide - David Bowie
- How would your best review sum you up?
- It would say something like - "An unpretentious symbolic narrative, like a Hemingway story in song".
- How would your worst critic sum you up?
- Can't sing, play guitar or write songs. Might as well kill himself.
- The consumer question: album, book or film you've enjoyed recently.
- The last thing I really enjoyed that still sticks with me was the book "The Double" by Jose Saramago.
- Who is the funniest person you ever met?
- Our keys player, Philippe, is pretty funny actually (but not in a ha ha way).
Which OOTB performers really rock your boat?- I really like Chris Brown, Lee Patterson, Norman Lamont and Gingergreen (RIP?) were always perfect. It's always interesting to hear performers who come along from other countries which I think is one of the things which makes OOTB so interesting...I'm hoping The Androids are going to live up my expectations.
at OOTB
(Jan 2003)
Someone who has thankfully returned after his debut a while ago, is gravel-voiced gutster Graham McRobbie, newly be-hatted in a splendid piece of black headgear. Not only was he sporting this piece of magnificent millinery, he also wore a neck-brace with which to play harmonica, and very fitting it sounded for his songs, too. Played a little in the "Bob Dylan" style of harmonica playing, it merged seamlessly with Graham's tales of ramblin' on the railroad, moonshine, honky-tonks, and hard livin', to punctuate his singing perfectly. Graham's distinctive style of deep south Americana via Scotland is also due to his "lived in", honest-yet-gravelly voice, a surprising sound for one who looks so young, but he carries it off well. His landscapes are often peopled with lonely figures, losers and slightly desperate people, but you get the feeling that there's a chance of redemption for them there somewhere. Stirring stuff.(March 2003)
Graham McRobbie grasped his chance to play three songs tonight firmly with both hands. For one so young he has a surprising blues-drenched gravel snarl of a vocal which sounded amazing when he sang the humourous lines 'tell your boss what you think of him/ and get out of sight'. "Singing Into The Night" set the themes of US literature and film to music. This was about a man living through the decades of the 20th century from the 1930s onward and the incessant guitar gave the lyric even more power. "Deep Blue Sea" was droning, elegiac, rambling, rolling, vaguely-stream-of-consciousness and featured some effective harmonica playing. As Nelson said, he creates an entire landscape - not just a sound.