Rob Rock is a great talent. The fact that Rock isn’t a household name in his home country is criminal. I first heard Rob Rock when I picked up the Project: Driver album which he recorded on Mike Varney’s Shrapnel Records under the name M.A.R.S., short for "MacAlpine, Aldridge, Rock, and Sarzo." While I might have lost track of what Rock has been up to since that time, his career has flourished abroad, landing gigs with some of the biggest acts in Europe. EarsplitPR granted Pivotal Rage the opportunity to talk with Rob Rock, and I was pleasantly surprised. While he is known for his powerful voice, I found a guy that was soft-spoken, easy to talk to, and a good interview. So kick back, relax, and read on. 

Garden of Chaos is a fantastic album. I’ve been spinning this one regularly. What has been the reaction to this album compared to the last record Holy Hell?

Well, thank you. You know I have been getting a great deal of email from the fans and other metal fans that they love this record. I think the reviews have been pretty good so far so I’m excited that people are loving the album. With Holy Hell it took about 6 months after it had been released for people to begin talking about it. It was released in Europe first then it came out a few months later in the United States and Japan. With Garden of Chaos we are already creating a buzz, so that’s great news. One thing that I try not to do is to repeat myself, I like variety but it has to be high speed and heavy those are two things that are similar about my solo albums.

What was the inspiration for the album title Garden of Chaos?

You know, it seems like every time you turn on the news there’s all this negativity, murders, killing, violence. I think to myself “this place is crazy, chaos.” We have come a long way from the Garden of Eden, you know?

I know I often found myself referring to this album as "Garden of Eden."

(Laughs) Right, right.

When you set out to write the album, was there a specific direction you wanted to go with it? To me, it sounds like NWOBHM. A retro album.

Not really. As I said, I don’t like doing the same record each time, though I can see what you’re talking about. I’m not a huge fan of keyboards; in fact, if they don’t add anything to the song, then they aren’t there! I’d much rather have heavy guitar riffs over a keyboard part any day.

When I said NWOBHM I mean like Maiden, Saxon, or any of those bands. They have a bare bones approach, and like you said, if there are any keyboards on their albums they are usually because they add something to the song, not to have them just to have them.

Right, that is what I mean. I understand.

Roy Z handled the production on two tracks. Was he considered for the production of the rest of the album?

Well, I began writing songs with Roy for what would become Garden of Chaos. They were all new songs. He was able to stick around long enough into the recording process for two tracks, and then he had to leave to make his other commitments. He had things lined-up with Halford, so his time was limited and we tried to take full advantage of the time we had. I think had we had him for more time, surely he would have wound up producing the entire Garden of Chaos album, but it just wasn’t meant to be. Maybe next time. Like you said, I did get him to produce two tracks and I was able to write seven great songs for the record with Roy.

My favorite track on Garden of Chaos is “This Time Is the Last Time.” This track reminds me of Racer-X, another Mike Varney act. What’s your favorite track on Garden of Chaos? And why?

“This Time Is the Last Time” could get airplay on radio. I think it has both classic and modern metal elements. I think we could get it played on XM (radio). They already play some of my other stuff. That’s a great song. I have a hard time picking just one, though.

I think you could also get airplay on Sirius, too.

I don’t have that, but that’s good to know.

I think we could get you airplay on Hard Attack, for sure. That’s the Sirius channel.

Cool.

What is like playing with guitarists like Tony MacAlpine, Chris Impellitteri, Axel Rudi Pell, and Roy Z? How lucky have you been to surround yourself with such great talent?

You know it’s great; I’ve been blessed. But I haven’t surrounded myself with this great talent. They have found me, believe it or not. Chris I have known for years. We are both from the New England area, and he in fact was in a cover band that I had. At one point, Chris elected to leave the band, and he set out on his own and move to L.A. as that scene at the time was buzzing and he wanted to give it a try. I was content at that time with the band I had getting regular gigs 5-6 days per week, and the pay wasn’t bad either. They’ve all been great guys to work with, and great friends as well. Gus G., for example, is a great guy that I got to know on a tour recently. What a great talent, but very humble.

I had a chance to interview the guy a few months back, and he was not what I expected. He was quiet, humble, and kind of introverted.

He is private and sometimes that could come off completely the wrong way. I got a chance to hang out and get to know him in a tour we did with him, and he’s a nice guy. There is no big ego with Gus G.

You were one quarter of M.A.R.S.  You guys recorded Driver, one of the first independent metal albums that I picked up once I began to explore American underground metal. How did that line-up get together, and what were the recording sessions like? It's a supergroup of sorts.

Yeah, that was good time. I got a call from Mike Varney, actually. He said he has this great guitarist that was from my area, and he’d like for me to fly down and audition for the singer slot for this band. Sure enough, I was on a plane, went to the audition, and nailed it. I got the gig and within a month we were in the studio recording, and we were done with the album relatively quickly, maybe two months. It was a great experience. Tony was an up-and-coming guitarist, and what can you say about Rudy Sarzo and Tommy Aldridge? These guys had been playing gigs around L.A. with various line-ups. I think Craig Goldy at one point was playing guitar. When Tony came into the picture, all they needed was the singer.

Why didn’t the M.A.R.S. project continue? It wasn’t meant to be a one-time thing, was it?

Oh no. In fact, Rudy was making some phone calls in January of 1987 trying to get M.A.R.S. on a tour and get our name out there. It was around that time that he got word that David Coverdale was looking for musicians to audition for Whitesnake. Needles to say, Rudy and Tommy got the gigs and M.A.R.S. dissolved, but the plan was to make this a band situation and record many albums together. After that, I went on to sing for a band called Joshua, who had a major deal with RCA. I thought that I was set. That wasn’t the case.

I have heard that there will be a "Driver" album. Now is that stuff left over from the sessions from M.A.R.S.?  Is that stuff from the band Driver that you were in with Roy Z?

No, there is not leftover or unfinished material that didn’t make it onto the M.A.R.S. Project: Driver album. This is an entirely different band, which I did at one time and also included Roy Z. In fact, the original line-up included me, the bass player and the keyboardist from the band Joshua, and then we found Roy Z, who was a kid at that time. He must have been about 19 years old or so back in 1988. We played local gigs and we were getting a great following. We recorded a demo and even played at Foundations Forum in 1989, I believe, and things were looking up. We wound up splitting up, but people still to this day mention the demo that they either have or use to have. In fact, I recently signed a deal to get the original demo tape remastered and re-release it, but Roy and I are recording additional material that will be included in the release. The songs will sound just like the stuff you hear on the demo, in the same vein.

So it will be seamless? Like they were recorded during the same sessions?

Right. That is what we are aiming for. That should see the light of day in the summer of 2008.

You sang on the Code of Life album. How did you to join Warrior? Did you have to audition for that job?

Well, I was working with the guitarist from Warrior, Joe Floyd, on one of my records at Silver Cloud Studios, which is operated by Joe. One day, we were mixing the album and he asked me what other projects I had going. I said, well, after the record, probably just live shows. He asked me if I’d like to sing on the new Warrior record. I took him up on the offer, there was no audition, and I think he was impressed with my work ethic while we were recording my album. At that point, they had one song written which was “We Are One.” Everything else was written when Joe, me, and this guy Warren Croyle came together to write songs. We would throw out ideas, and they would either evolve into a song or not. I found that way of writing to be challenging as I had to fight for my ideas, but to be fair, so did the other two guys. It was different. I think all in all the record turned out well. Warren released the album on his label Reality Entertainment.

When you set out to write an album, do you contribute to the music, or do write the lyrics and melodies?

That’s a good question. For my solo albums, I pick the riffs and then I sing some melodies over them that evolves into writing the lyrics, and that’s how the process goes for a solo album. When I have worked with Chris Impellitteri, for example, he plays something and says “that’s what I’m doing for this song,” and I would come up with my melodies and lyrics and work them into the song. For Garden of Chaos since I pick the stuff that I like, I was sent three demos from Gus G. and I picked the one that I liked and that turned out to be “Ride the Wind.”

Any plans to do some live shows to promote Garden of Chaos in North America? Are you getting support from your label to do some gigs in the USA?

Right now, we are looking at doing some live shows in 2008. There are a couple of festivals that that look promising in March and April of 2008. We’re also looking at our options for a tour of South America, Sweden (as that’s where the band is based out of), Mexico, and then it looks like we could swing by the U.S. for some dates. I think we have to see what the label is willing to do for us to support Garden of Chaos.

What's been the most memorable solo record of your career and why?

Hands down, it has to be my first solo album. I was driven to make my mark on my own. At that time, it was what kept me going, and I knew I could do it. I had a vision. I think, looking back, everything turned out pretty well considering the high risk involved in doing this all on your own.

Is "Rob Rock" a real name or a stage name?

(Laughs) It’s my real name, Robert Rock. When my parents adopted my brother Bobby, they began to call me Rob. So they had Rob and Bobby.

I was looking at the Wikipedia entry on you last night; it states that you are a Christian singer and songwriter. I have heard this before. I was a diehard Stryper fan years back, and Rob Rock was mentioned as a singer to check out. I thought to myself, is this the same guy as the guy that sang for M.A.R.S.? If it’s on the internet, though, that doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s true.

(Laughs) Yeah, it’s me! To be honest, I couldn’t get signed to a Christian label. There are a number of things that I would need. I would need the support of a ministry and a church and various other things that make it complicated. I’m just here to rock. I was placed in this secular world, I was given a gift, and I want to use it. I have always used biblical imagery in my lyrics. I can be a heavy metal singer without offending people that are Christians and get the message across to people who aren’t without offending them either, as well as staying true to myself and my own beliefs. Some of the Christians were offended by the title of my last album Holy Hell, but that title came to be when my wife was going home to see her parents in a town called Holly Hill. She said something like, “well, I have to go to Holy Hell to see my parents.” It stuck, and I thought it was funny yet, it was something I’d use for a record, so it stayed. So I’m a Christian, and I’m a singer and songwriter.

Thank you for taking the time to answer some questions, Rob. I hope to see you out on the road promoting Garden of Chaos. As I said, it’s a great record and I hope people get a chance to hear it.  

Thank you very much.

Please check out the review of Rob’s new album Garden of Chaos in our reviews section. It’s currently available in North America on Candlelight Records. And for all things Rob Rock, check out his official website www.robrock.com. And lastly, a heavy metal thank you to Dave at EarsplitPR for keeping Pivotal Rage on his radar.