Chuck Shute Podcast
In depth interviews with musicians, comedians, authors, actors, and more! Guests on the show include David Duchovny, Billy Bob Thornton, Mark Normand, Dee Snider, Ann Wilson, Tony Horton, Don Dokken, Jack Carr and many more.
Chuck Shute Podcast
Robert Fleischman (ex Journey, ex Vinnie Vincent) Has Great Stories & a New Album
Robert Fleischman discussed his dual career in music and painting, emphasizing his 2,500-square-foot industrial painting space and a home recording studio. He reflected on his tenure with Journey, his brief collaboration with George Lynch, and his experiences with Van Halen and Tom Petty. Fleischman highlighted his latest album, "Emotional Atlas," which features synth-based music and was mixed in 5.1 surround sound. He also mentioned his interactions with notable figures like Gene Simmons and George Martin, and the challenges of the modern music industry, advocating for direct fan support through album purchases.
0:00:00 - Intro
0:00:20 - Music Career Vs. Painting
0:02:45 - Oni Logan & George Lynch Connection
0:04:50 - Guests on Solo Album
0:07:21 - Touring with Van Halen
0:10:40 - Being a Musician & Solo Record
0:11:21 - Emotional Atlas & Creative Evolution
0:16:11 - Influences & Inspirations
0:19:05 - Solo Career & Royalties
0:21:40 - Wheel in the Sky, Journey & Singing
0:26:05 - Working with Vinnie Vincent
0:33:35 - Relationship with Gene Simmons
0:37:35 - Legendary Producer George Martin
0:40:55 - Producer Jimmy Iovine
0:43:45 - Hanging with Tom Petty
0:45:55 - Bob Dylan
0:48:25 - Painting & Favorite Painters
0:50:20 - Unconventional Song Template
0:51:55 - Good Art & Craziness
0:54:45 - How Voices Can Change
0:56:15 - Journey's Music & Legacy
0:58:15 - Michael Schenker & Ritchie Blackmore
1:05:15 - Dee Snider, Legends & Success
1:06:25 - Emotional Atlas Album
1:07:48 - Challenges & Opportunities in the Music Industry
1:08:12 - Final Thoughts & Future Plans
1:11:40 - Outro
Robert Fleischmann website:
https://www.robertfleischman.com/
Chuck Shute link tree:
https://linktr.ee/chuck_shute
Thanks for Listening & Shute for the Moon!
Rock and rolling through the cool guitars. Chucks got the questions digging so sharp, feeling bad, layers hitting the heart.
Robert Fleischman:Thank you so much for having me on a pleasure. Yeah,
Chuck Shute:thank you so much for doing this. I appreciate you doing this. I don't think I was super familiar with you or your career, and then I just started going down the rabbit hole. And I was like, oh my god, he was this. He did this. Like, I got so many questions, and I don't repeat too many things because I listened to some other interviews, but wow, you got some great stories. You've done some amazing things and and also not music, things you're doing, painting and such. Yeah, yeah, that's exciting. Did you just so are you able to just fully focus on music and painting and only do creative things? Or do you have to do other things to help pay the bills and such. Or you just, can
Robert Fleischman:you just, I've, I've been blessed just to be able to ping pong between the two medias. Wow,
Chuck Shute:that that really is blessed. I mean, there's a lot of people that would love to just do their art for and and that's what all they had to do.
Robert Fleischman:Well, you know, it's like, painting is sort of like my, my silent music, and then, so when I, when I kind of just run out of musical, just energy, I'll just go and start painting, and then, and then I'll just go back to recording. So I have like, a 2500 square foot industrial space that I paint in that's about about nine minutes away from my house, luckily. And then I have a small recording studio at my house. Wow, that
Chuck Shute:is great. Yeah, it's like, I think I heard you say that you'll kind of, you'll get burned out on music, and then you'll do painting, and then you'll get really into painting, and then you'll get kind of burned out on that you go back to music. Yeah, exactly. That's perfect. Yeah. That's kind of how I do with my podcast. Like, I have a variety of guests, like, I'll do a lot of musicians, and
Robert Fleischman:then are we recording right now? Yeah, this is it? This? Oh, okay, I cut some of that stuff
Chuck Shute:out of the beginning, you know, okay, okay, yeah, but, yeah, I was just saying, like, how with my podcast, I'll interview a lot of musicians, and it's so fun. And then I'll get burned out on that, and then I'll just have, like, authors, and I'll get in these really intellectual things, and then I'll be like, Okay, this is, this is too much. I need something more fun. And then I'll talk a musician. I'm like, Oh, this is so fun. And I just ping pong back and forth so I know exactly what you're talking about.
Robert Fleischman:Yeah, great. I saw that. You know, I watched, actually, the video, the the interview you did with oni. Oh, yeah, are you? Are you friends with him? Yes. Oh, okay, yeah. I, before I joined journey, it's a funny story. I was supposed to go and have a meeting with, well, actually, I was supposed to go to San Francisco, and I they were still on the road. So they were gone. They were on the road for like, a month and a half, I think. And during that month and a half me being in Los Angeles and waiting to go to San Francisco to meet up with them. I got a call from George Lynch, and so I thought, yeah, go and play with them. So I played with George for a while.
Chuck Shute:Oh, yeah, I thought I heard you say something about you jammed with him. Mick Brown and Jeff pilson, yes. Like, was that, were you gonna, like, take over for Don dawkin? Was this gonna be a new band? This was,
Robert Fleischman:this was way before even that. Oh, okay,
Chuck Shute:so before Don dawkin joined or, yeah, okay, and so
Robert Fleischman:that was, like, he was just, they were just starting out.
Chuck Shute:Okay, did you guys have a name for that time? No, it was,
Robert Fleischman:it was like, for, you know, 10 minutes. Oh, okay. And then I got the call to go up to San Francisco, and I went up there to join up with journey,
Chuck Shute:yeah, did you say? I heard you say something about working with George, like it was hard to kind of corral him in, and you told him, basically, his songs needed to have structure. And later, he thanked you for that, right? Yes,
Robert Fleischman:yes, yes, yeah. I saw him sometime last year. Yeah, I saw him sometime last year at the end of the summer, and it was great to see him, and we talked about possibly getting together and playing. At one point, I wanted to do a record with a lot of friends that I've met through the years. And we always go, Hey, let's get together and play. So I was going to do all these little mini super bands, and I was going to go and record them, record and. And also go cam everywhere and just video, tape it and and I, unfortunately, I didn't follow up through that because my wife was very sick with cancer at the time. So I, I just, it just fell, fell through. The fell through. So, you know, maybe in in the future, or something like that, maybe I'll entertain that thought again. Yeah,
Chuck Shute:I think that is a great idea. Because the problem with music now is, of course, there's the streaming so everybody can put out an album, and it's really competitive. So I think one way that you get around that is you throw some big names on your record. Like, I don't know if you're familiar with Billy Morrison. I had him on. He was a guitar player with the colt, and so he's friends. He's got, like, Ozzy Osbourne and Corey Taylor from slip knot, like, all these huge Billy Idol and stuff. Like, on playing, helping out on his solo record, yeah,
Robert Fleischman:yeah, that's what I was basically going to do. I was Frankie Benelli was going to play, but you know what happened to him? And Frankie was my first drummer when I did my first album for Arista Records, perfect stranger album that I did for Arista, and I toured opening up for Van Halen also, and so Frankie was with me during that time, also playing drums. So I've known Frankie for I knew Frankie for many, many, many years. Yeah,
Chuck Shute:that perfect stranger album alone. I mean, you had some crazy guests on their Chris McVie from Fleetwood Mac and the sax player from Super Tramp, and, I mean, Neil Sean from journey, obviously, like, I mean, some great guests on that one too. Yeah,
Robert Fleischman:yeah, yeah, it was. That was my first kind of, like, my learning experience and being in the studio and spending, you know, months in a studio and just absorbing everything that goes on to make a record.
Chuck Shute:Yeah, didn't you say that Chris mcvee was drunk and you had to re record his like line, or whatever, his baseline?
Robert Fleischman:Yes, yeah, he was whacked. You
Chuck Shute:must have seen a lot of that throughout the years, like all these big names that you worked with, like touring with Van Halen, I'm assuming that was not, they were not in the 12 step program at that point. That was like when they were drinking and going a little while,
Robert Fleischman:yeah, yeah, yeah. I you know now that all the information about the band and all the turmoil and within the structure of the band, you know, looking at it from from now, and looking in the back past, it's it they didn't like him, even in the beginning. So Roth, you're saying, yeah, they, they just, they just didn't like him at all. I, I they were, it was the running with the devil tour. So that was a pretty new tour for them that we know them going out. And so Eddie and Michael and Alex would come, and they would watch me do like two or three, two songs, and they would go backstage and get ready for their for their set. And so I would, I would walk to my my dressing room, and they'd have their dressing room door open, and they would go, come on in here. Come on in. So I go in and I talk to them, and then we'd go, like, I wish we had you as our singer. I wish you were our singer. And I'm like, going, you got to be kidding me. I just didn't register or anything like that, and so, but they, they couldn't stand him, and I couldn't see why. Unfortunately, you know,
Chuck Shute:yeah, didn't you say he was kind of rude to you, like you never he noticed.
Robert Fleischman:He never said a word to me and everybody else with Van Halen the crew, everybody were just like, you know, like best friends to me, so
Chuck Shute:interesting. He is such a charismatic front man, though. Like, it's just interesting that, I guess it was like more of an act that, then off stage he was maybe, was he more introverted?
Robert Fleischman:No, I didn't find them to be introverted. I just found them to be very just a lot of ego. You know, ego stands ego stands for edge. Got out, you know what? I mean, yeah,
Chuck Shute:well, and that's a tough because the band is called Van Halen and, I mean, Eddie was kind of the musical genius behind it. But then David Lee Roth obviously had his talents too. But I mean, if they can, that was the thing, when they could just put the egos aside and just they made amazing music, and it was an amazing show. But yeah, even
Robert Fleischman:though, but even though, what all that was on the surface, interior wise, but. Yeah, it was, it wasn't good, right? And I think
Chuck Shute:that's the same. When you see it, look at a band I know, if you're familiar with, like Skid Row and and Sebastian Bach, I think is a similar kind of thing, where they made amazing music, but behind the scenes the band, it was, it was kind of similar, like it was Rachel and Dave were the musicians, and it was their band, and they they're kind of hiring Sebastian, but then Sebastian's like, well, this is my band. I'm the front man, you know. And it's like, it causes issues for sure. Well, yeah,
Robert Fleischman:it's, there's that thing called front man disease, you know, right?
Chuck Shute:You don't seem to have that kind of ego, even though you could, based on how good of singer you are and all the people you played with.
Robert Fleischman:I what for? You know, there's nothing different than me or you. You know, it's just I do something and you know, I envy doctors and lawyers. You know, I go, I wish I could do what you do, you know? And they go, Oh no, my wish I could do what you do. And I'm gonna say, No, you don't want to wish what I could do. You know, there's no, there's no there's there's barely a time that you have your hands on the wheel of life when you're a musician, you know, you can't really steer it where you want to go. It's just all sort of fate and and having somebody help you direct your your your vision,
Chuck Shute:interesting, so, but I mean, like with this latest, latest solo record, this is all your baby, right? You got to pick the music, the style, like the musicians that you all the cover art and all that's all yours, right?
Robert Fleischman:Yeah, I produced it all visually and musically. And so for about six years, I did nothing but paint, because I was just tired of music. I just was just so bored with it. And I had a I was at a dinner party with some friends, and everybody's going, when are you going to do another record? You know? And I'm saying, Well, I don't know. I don't know, you got to do another one. You got to do another one. So I'm driving home and I'm thinking about it. So I get home, and I get on my couch, and I grab my acoustic guitar, and I plunk it, and I just go, I I can't do this again. I can't do another. I can't do another album with the same ingredients, you know, electric guitar, all that stuff, everything's guitar oriented and not I mean, I've played with some great guitarists. I love guitar and everything. But it was at this point in my life where I just go, I'm so sick and tired of that. It's like getting white rice every day, you know? And so I in the early eight, in the early 80s. I, I grabbed a hold of some synthesizers. I had some friends who had different synths, and I, I borrowed them and I recorded on this, like, think of like a task, am 13 track or something like that. And so I did an ambient I did some ambient music, and I did, excuse me, some techno music. And so I did that in the at the very early 80s, but I didn't get to release it until like, oh, like 2004 so I had done that a lot, a lot. You know, I visited that realm. Because when I was a kid, I I used to hitchhike from from I lived in Torrance, California, and I'd hitchhike to Santa Monica in California, to Oberheim. They had a they had they assembled their sense there in this old bike shop. So I used to go there and watch them assemble these synthesizers. And they let me play around with them. And then they asked me, Hey, would you like to solder and all this stuff? I go, Sure. So I did that for a short time. And then I after that, I met Paul Beaver, Beaver and Klaus. And these were two guys that were that actually beaver introduced this, the Moog synthesizer, to The Beatles, and because the song, because is where I think the first time synth was used. And so anyway, he introduced it to and I got to meet him, and I went to his house, and he had this big brick barn, and he had all these synthesizers there, and he had all these disassembled harpsichords that he bought when he went to Europe. And so he was assembling harpsichords and and he was talking on the phone with Robert Moog when I was there, and it was just, you know, just being around that, being around that, you know. So when I got to the point where I just said to myself, I just can't do this anymore with a guitar in my hand, I decided I know what I want to do. I want to revisit my the synth. The stuff that I did in the past and and put it in song form. And so that's what I did. And I it took me about three years to to put it all together. I think I wrote like around 20 something songs, and I picked the best, yeah, you know, best out of the litter. You know, that's what I would do. I'd write, like, five songs, and then I'd look, I'd listen to them, and I go, Well, that one's a good one, and that one's a good one. So, you know, I picked two of them, and then I I'd write another batch of five, and then I picked the best out of that. So like, you know, building your string of pearls. And basically, yeah,
Chuck Shute:this the album is called Emotional Atlas. It's out now. I believe, right? It came out in November because I listened to Spotify, yeah, yeah, and, but there was a lot of the cover art, and then I think I heard you say, there's a short run of CD and vinyl. Is the CD and vinyl still available? Yeah?
Robert Fleischman:There's some still left. Yeah, I hope to get rid of them because I want to do another run, different artwork on it, maybe different colored vinyl, sort of like building a collector's, you know, shell,
Chuck Shute:yeah. So the one song, name of the game to me that sounds kind of like a Peter Gabriel or like a Talking Heads song. I love it's got an awesome bass line, which I think you had chips enough helping out on bass. What you were going for Are we just creating music. And I'm just thinking it sounds like that.
Robert Fleischman:There was no, no intention to use anybody's template per se. It, everything just kind of came out like it, like it is a lot of time I would, I would start out with a drum program or a drum loop, and then I would put, like, three layers of drones of different tones. And so I'd have these, these harmonics. I would hear these harmonics, you know, moving between the three tracks. And then I'd put my headphones on and microphone, and then I would follow these harmonics, and then I would develop a melody over these harmonics. And then after that, I would put all the little, little, you know, spikes of this and this and this over it, on top of it, and then it would eventually assemble into this whole picture. Yeah, that's cool. It just starts out with this, like, you know, a sonic landscape, basically. And then I would, I would sing over that, and then I'd place the trees, and I'd place the barns, and, you know, the fences, and, you know, create this land, the sonic landscape.
Chuck Shute:Yeah, it's really great. I like the song too. House on fire, which, sadly, that's a little bit timely with the stuff going in LA, but that's a very Yeah.
Robert Fleischman:Chips playing that a lot on his show on Monsters of Rock.
Chuck Shute:Oh, oh, that's yeah. I forgot he has that radio show. Yeah, that's, that's a, that's a really good one. And then the song, great, Lake View. I mean, that's got, is that a real piano or it sounds like a real piano? But I know that sometimes you could do a synthesizer to sound like a real piano,
Robert Fleischman:yeah, that's all. That's all synth, yeah.
Chuck Shute:Is that, do you live on a lake? Or what is that? In reference to, I
Robert Fleischman:live right across the street from Lake Michigan. Oh, okay, so that's so nice place. So there it is. Can you see it? Yeah, that's beautiful, yeah. So, um, looks cold, snowy. It is. I was just out there.
Chuck Shute:Yeah. So this album is, is uh, is greater. And are you gonna, is this gonna be the continuation of your solo career? Is this more stuff like this. Are you going to just bounce around and do different things?
Robert Fleischman:I Well, right now I'm actually assembling. I'm doing an ambient piece. I'm doing I'm there's a label in the UK that puts out ambient albums. And so I'm, I'm, I got about three songs that I'm going to present to them and see about them releasing or taking that project. So I'll be doing that. And the other thing is, the the emotional Atlas album is also mixed it in Gobi Atmos,
Chuck Shute:okay? And then, or some of these songs, you think that you would use this stuff for TV and film and soundtrack, because you've done some of that work in the past, right?
Robert Fleischman:Yeah, that's what my manager. Is doing, and she's well versed in placing songs in movies. So, you know, selling your album on your website or Spotify and all that stuff, you make no money. Basically, you know, hardly any money. The only way that you can make money is getting placement in movies and all that. So you can get a big check from the from those placements
Chuck Shute:is that a majority of the royalties is from from your songs that you've written and recorded being placed in movies and TV. Will
Robert Fleischman:I been fortunate to have, you know, wheel in the sky anytime winds of March play on the radio for over 40 something years. So, you know, and it's played every day all over the world. So, you know, for all that time, I've, you know, received my royalties for all that, yeah. So
Chuck Shute:you get royalty when it's played on the radio, like Sirius is really good about that, because I have, what I'm getting
Robert Fleischman:at is convention, like, like, conventional radio, like in the day radio, a lot of these radio stations, they're all, you know, it's all tapes. So you have classic rock stations, and it's all tape looped and, you know, they put all those songs. So my songs are in those, those those loops, yeah,
Chuck Shute:and then other songs too, that, I mean, everything adds up, right? It's all just a nice little royalty check that comes in.
Robert Fleischman:Yeah, it's, that's what's given me the liberty to, just to be a creative soul, you know, yeah,
Chuck Shute:did I hear you say something too about wheel in the sky? You wanted to kind of re record your own version because you were upset that the song didn't have a bridge in it.
Robert Fleischman:Well, I just I had the bridge, and by the time I got a hold of everyone the song had already been recorded with, with Roy Thomas Baker, yeah, yeah. So I think songs are not, songs are not a song unless they have a bridge in them. That's kind of my, my Stickler,
Chuck Shute:right, yeah. And for people who don't know, I mean, you've told this story a million times with, like, how you got the journey. Thing was, like, you know, like, basically this booking agency, and they kind of set you up, but then it wasn't like you were fired or kicked out. It was just that someone else was really championing champion. Steve Perry, yeah. They just, it wasn't like you were like, Oh, you were because you got, you continued to even write with them after they after you left the band,
Robert Fleischman:right, right. Yeah. I went up a couple of times to write with them when they were, you know, after Steve left, and they were between singers and all that stuff. And I just didn't, I didn't want to do it because I didn't want to sing anybody else's songs, and I didn't want to be compared to anybody else, you know, it's, it's like, you know, Arnell has such a he's like, battling through the jungle, you know, with a machete or or, like a, like a kitchen knife, you know, because he's gotten so much negative. But along with it, he's got a lot of positive for him being in the band, you know. So he, he mentally fluctuates a lot, I'm quite sure, but I didn't want to go through that. I didn't want to be the karaoke singer. You know,
Chuck Shute:did you have an offer at that point to rejoin after Steve Perry left? Well, I we,
Robert Fleischman:let's put it that way. Yeah, I could have been,
Chuck Shute:I was just gonna say I interviewed Steve Jerry. Super nice guy. Yeah, it's interesting talking to him. And his tenure and journey was great. But then I think what happened was his voice started to burn out, like those songs are not easy to sing, and so
Robert Fleischman:it's, it's like a It's acrobatic. It's type roping. You know, you singing in that register for hours upon a time every day, or whatever it might be. It's, It's taxing, you know, it's not like you can have a fever of 100 and play guitar on stage, you know, but it's, it's such a physical thing. It's a muscle, you know, it's not, it's not like, you know, mechanical dexterity. It's not, it's not that at all. It's just, it's too it's very physical. Yeah, could
Chuck Shute:you still do that if, if you wanted to. I know it sounds like you don't really want to do that, but if you wanted to, could you sing 10 or 15 journey songs a night?
Robert Fleischman:No, no, and I wouldn't want to. I don't think I could sing like, No, I it's like, it's all that stuff is youth. You. Know what I mean, when you're young, you can run, you know, can you still fit in your you know, size 29 pants, waist, you know, time goes by. Can you, can you still run the 50 yard dash at, you know, four seconds and you know, 4.5 seconds? No, you know, it's just time goes by and, you know, so for me, I've been really fortunate to have quite a spectrum of of octaves to sing in. I was like around four octaves or something at one time, you know, but it's just time goes by and you just learn how to use your voice differently and still get, you know, your message across, but in a different fashion. You know, I could never sing the Vinnie Vincent stuff again. You know, that was just that bombastic. You know,
Chuck Shute:yeah, it is cool because, like, I'm listening to the new stuff, and like I said to me, it kind of has that kind of has that kind of David Byrne, Peter Gabriel, kind of talking heads, lower registry, but then, yeah, the Vinnie Vince and stuff. I mean, that stuff isn't, I don't think I had really heard a lot of that, so I had to listen. I was like, first of all, you can't even find your album. It's not on Spotify, it's not on iTunes, but you go on YouTube and you can listen to it, and it's crazy. Even today, I feel like I don't know what you say if it stands the test of time, but it sounds insane how high you're singing and how crazy his guitars are. I see why that album has such a cult following. It really is, yeah, it's,
Robert Fleischman:it's, it's like a, you know, like a cult Halloween thing, you know? It's just, uh, it's wild. It's wild,
Chuck Shute:yeah. I mean, the song boys are gonna that's
Robert Fleischman:why I did it, because it was so wild. I mean, it was, for me, it was like getting a big bucket of paint and just throwing it on a canvas, you know,
Chuck Shute:yeah. I mean, the song boys are gonna rock. That is such an awesome song, crazy vocals, crazy guitars. And I'm so I'm looking at the track listing, and I was like, wow, that's a really cool song. And then, I mean, I laughed out loud when I saw this one. There is a song on this album. I don't know how you guys got away with this. The song is called shoot you full of love. I mean, that might be the greatest song title that you could probably even get away with. Putting that on FM radio. There's
Robert Fleischman:no, that's a Vinny for you. Yeah. I mean, when
Chuck Shute:you saw that title, did you laugh a little at the time?
Robert Fleischman:I laughed at a lot of stuff. There was things that I would not sing. I said, You got to change the lyrics on this. I'm not singing this. No guy should sing this,
Chuck Shute:really. What was that? Do you remember? Oh, we
Robert Fleischman:said some, like, cream in your pants. I go fucking cream in my pants.
Chuck Shute:I mean, Vinny just seems like such a character, like, I just heard you telling stories about him and how he drives with his legs crossed and just like it just seems like such a funny guy.
Robert Fleischman:Hey, I witnessed it. Yeah. I mean, he was
Chuck Shute:smoking, you said he was smoking weed in the or, you know,
Robert Fleischman:he No, no, no, no. He never smoked weed. He didn't, but he wanted the contact
Chuck Shute:high or something, right? Yeah, I would, yeah. After
Robert Fleischman:a while it was like, you know, being in the studio was getting a little bit bombastic, and so I, I'm just going, like, I'm going to fucking roll a joint. And so I roll his joint, and I'm smoking it inside the studio and and he's like, going, ooh, what is that? And I, then I go, like, and then he I'd be blowing it over there, and just keep blowing it. And then he's going, Oh, I feel kind of little, little, little tipsy, you know? So, okay, Dorothy, here's some more.
Chuck Shute:It's just getting, just the contact was enough for him. He seems like maybe he was a little drug sent, like you said. He just drank a little wine occasionally, like he
Robert Fleischman:was, yeah, he his blood, like spring water, you know. No, he, you know, everybody thinks he's like, you know, must be a dope addict or whatever. But no, he completely straight. Yeah. You
Chuck Shute:really said some you've stuck up for him in a lot of the interviews I heard. And one of the things that was interesting is that you said a lot of his bad rap is based on the people he's surrounding himself with, management and stuff that people that want a piece of the pie or whatever, and they're kind of manipulating him. Yeah? Yeah.
Robert Fleischman:You know, I would tell him, I said, look at, you know, I said this before you got to have your hand on the steering wheel of life, you can't just hand it over to somebody, and then they, they crash the car, and then you, you bitch about it, or you don't like the direction they're going, and you bitch about it, but you don't take the damn steering wheel back, You know, to put it back on the road. So that was kind of unfortunately, what would happen around him. He would just get these people who just thought, oh, somebody from Kiss. So they glom onto on him and just say. Anything they could to to, you know, make them feel happy or great, or whatever it was, or Phil's ego, and then they would, and then it was the Titanic, you know,
Chuck Shute:do you think we'll ever see him come back again and make
Robert Fleischman:him I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I, you know, I told him, I said, Why don't you just go out and be like Steve Vai and just do instrumentals and forget being with a singer. I mean, he's so talented, you know, you could just do that, and you'd still, you know, Hail be hailed.
Chuck Shute:Yeah, because you thought that he could have sang those songs himself. He just didn't want to.
Robert Fleischman:He just didn't want to. And I even told him you should do it several times. You know, you should just do it yourself.
Chuck Shute:Yeah, it sounds like he almost needs somebody like yourself that's going to come in and kind of mentor him and kind of help him out and not screw him over.
Robert Fleischman:Well, yeah. But then even when you try to help him, he he thinks you're trying to screw you screw him.
Chuck Shute:Yeah, that's too bad, yeah, because he's just, he is so talented. And now that I'm discovering the old Vinnie Vincent stuff, I'm like, wow, this stuff really is amazing. I see why people always still bring him up 40 years later in this album and stuff, because it is pretty crazy. Yeah,
Robert Fleischman:we after the, I guess, the slaughter stuff and everything, he called me up and wanted, he said he had a bunch of songs, and would I come in and, you know, sing on them. And so he basically just give me the track, and then he would give me the lyrics, and he would kind of run through it a little bit, but basically it was just kind of just improvised at the moment, and he would record it. And so then I would listen to it. I go, Okay, I hear this. I hear this. And, you know, let's make the second verse the same as the first verse, because it's more in focus now. So we do that. But a lot of the time, a lot of songs didn't get to have that, that process with me, and he just kind of took over it. And so a lot of the vocal stuff on there, I cringe, but that, I think it was called Armageddon, or something guitar, or something like that. And, and then I heard recently that he had gone in the studio and and mixed it, and, but I had, I had somebody said they heard it, and they told me that they heard it and sound great. And I just, you know? I thought, well, you know, we'll see what goes on, but it's never, it's never seen the light of day,
Chuck Shute:okay? I thought, yeah, because I saw something like euphoria. Is that like,
Robert Fleischman:yeah, yeah. It's got all these different names for this, yeah, but it's just basically demos that were never really solidified by me, basically.
Chuck Shute:So yeah, how does that work? Do you sign off on it, and then he can do whatever he wants with it? Or, I mean, you want to sue him for
Robert Fleischman:I would just, I would just have him pay me to do the songs. Because you I just would, I just didn't have the faith of it, seeing any, any monies in the futures, in the future of it, right? No, I would just take for whatever I had, you know, I asked for at the moment. Yeah, well, speaking
Chuck Shute:of the kiss connection, I found it interesting. So Gene Simmons reached out to you because he had some song that he wanted the title. And then you guys got to write a few songs together. Yeah, what's he like in that sense? I mean, he's so successful, is he just really serious down to business the whole time? And,
Robert Fleischman:yeah, it's just his nature, you know? He, he just, he just runs between those two walls, you know, and, and he's very focused, man, he, you know, he's absolutely, very opinionated. But I got along with him really great. You know, he would call me up. Sometimes he'd be in New York and just just say hi, or if I called him and I left a message, he'd get back to me within an hour or two, or whatever. So he's always been great. And his kids and my kids went to the same school, and so we went. The kids went to Brentwood school in Brentwood, I can't remember Warner was the name of the school, and so they would have Warner was a school where a lot of movie people. Kids went to a lot of production, lighting, people, writers, all these, all, you know, film scores, everybody, all their kids went to the school, and his kids went there. And so they would have the most outrageous Halloween presentation at the school at this big Halloween thing. So they get this auditorium and divide this auditorium into like seven different little cubicle rooms. And so they asked me if I would do music for every room in the in for the Halloween thing. So I did music for all these different rooms, and then, and then gene and Shannon were frank The Bride of Frankenstein and Frankenstein. So you would go in this room and there would be gene, you know, laying out on this table and and doing the whole Frankenstein thing like that. So we got we, that's how we kind of like, got to know each other. You know, a bit more there. But he did call me up because I had a band with Tony Franklin and and and rusty Anderson, who plays with Paul McCartney, and a guy named Gary Ferguson played with Gary Moore or whatever. But anyway, I had a band, as it was, called crown of thorns, so that's what he did. He called me up and asked me if I was still using that name. So I said, No, I'm not using the name. You're more than welcome to it. So I let him have the name, and he I guess he had some band he was working with, and that's what he wanted to name the project. And then after that, he asked me if I wanted to write with him. So I wrote with him during the Psycho Circus.
Chuck Shute:Oh yeah, I kind of like that. I like that song. Anyways, I don't know about the whole album, but I
Robert Fleischman:that's they were working on that album when I was with, you know, writing with gene and gene and I wrote a song, couple of songs together, and then he used one of the demos that we did, which was a horrible demo, but he I was, you know, flattered that he put it on the vault.
Chuck Shute:Oh, yeah. But see the kiss fans that you say, it's horrible, but like to a kiss fan, they love anything he touches. So,
Robert Fleischman:I mean, yeah, I would be like getting a, you know, hearing a Beatles, you know, bootleg or some outtake, you know. Well, yeah. And speaking, I get it. I get
Chuck Shute:it. Can you tell my audience the story that you actually got to meet George Martin and he gave your music the thumbs up? Yeah. Yeah,
Robert Fleischman:I think it was right, 19 years old or whatever. And I had a friend who had a four track, and I recorded four songs on it, and and I got a meeting with chrysalis publishing, which was in Hollywood on Sunset, so I had this meeting, and I go there, and I can't remember the guy's name, but I go in the office, and I give him my reel to reel tape, and he he puts it on, and he's sitting across from me, and he's listening to my music, And he keeps looking over my shoulder, and I'm wondering, like, What's he looking at, you know? And so at the the last song was over, he looks over at the behind my shoulder again, and I turn around, and there's George Martin. And he goes, you have some good ones there, lad. And he gives me the thumbs up. And so then after that meeting, I just, I just went. I left the building, I walk out on the sunny sidewalk on Sunset. It's beautiful day, and I got this big warmth of Sun on me, and I just go, I'm going to be a songwriter. That's what I want to be. I'm going to be, that's what I'm going to do. I'm going to be a songwriter. And I just got the thumbs up from the Pope, you know. And so that was, that's what drove me to this day, you know, getting the thumbs up from George Martin. And I got to meet him a couple of times afterwards, too. And he remembered the he remembered, you know, doing that. Wow, that
Chuck Shute:is such an inspirational story like that. I love hearing things like that. Did you think you've ever had that effect on somebody where you gave them the thumbs up and they were so enamored by that that they pursued a career in music?
Robert Fleischman:I don't know. I don't know. I wouldn't want to take that kind of credit.
Chuck Shute:I'm sure you have with either directly or indirectly. I mean, like I said, you
Robert Fleischman:know, you're told you've told certain things. You know, it's like, you know, I've had people go, you know, we got married to the song wins. Of March that you did with the, you know, journey. Or, or we were, you know, anytime we got or we got married to wheel in the sky or, or I had, you know, wheel in the sky plane when my kid was delivered in the, in the, you know, at the hospital, you know, you know. And it's like, wow, you know, those are big milestones for those people and and thank you very much for, you know, including me in your life. You know, when you
Chuck Shute:wrote wheel in the sky, did you? Did you think that I didn't seem like I guess I'd have to study the lyrics a little bit more. But what is that song really about? Because I didn't think it was a love story.
Robert Fleischman:I um, it was just basically like some guy on the road, you know, with this thumb out hitch hiking through life, you know?
Chuck Shute:Yeah, okay, that's simple enough. I wanted to ask you too. So I think you're the so the perfect stranger, solo record that was produced by Jimmy ivine, right? Who, yeah, who? Don't know? This is an, if you're a fan of music, this is a name you should know, because this guy's produced your record of also you two Tom Petty, Stevie Nicks. Then he goes on to found Interscope Records. And then he also started the Beats by Dre and I think that they did the foundation for, like, Apple Music. I mean, this guy's got to be at least a multi millionaire, if not billionaire. Is this guy just really brilliant? Is he an amazing hard worker? Is he or is he just really lucky, or it's like combination of the three. I mean, I'm just fascinated by this guy that you got to work with directly. I uh,
Robert Fleischman:yeah, kind of a guy that will stab his way up the ladder of success, huh? Yeah, you know, he's all involved with that P Diddy crap too, really, oh yeah, I was just, it was just a matter of time when I, when I look at the story, it's just a matter of time that something would happen.
Chuck Shute:Why did you see things like that when you were working on the album with him?
Robert Fleischman:Oh yeah, yeah. He was, he was quite the schmoozer,
Chuck Shute:like underage people, stuff or
Robert Fleischman:No, no, no, not that kind of stuff. No. He was just, he was just, he schmoozed everybody in the record industry and all that stuff, you know.
Chuck Shute:But also you're saying it was not just the schmoozing he
Robert Fleischman:had. He had this guy. He had the engineer, Shelly yakis, and shell yakis was really the nucleus of, of, of of his success.
Chuck Shute:Ah, okay, so sometimes those people kind of know how to, like, it's like, it reminds me of a football coach that that I'm looking at that I think he just, I don't know that he was really that good of a coach. I feel like he just hired the right people to do the work for him, exactly, exactly, yeah, exactly. That's what it sounds like. Okay, so,
Robert Fleischman:yeah, absolutely. And I saw him play the game and everything like that. It's, it was a great experience, like I said, you know, I spent all that time in New York. And then later on, we came back to LA and then we worked out out at Sound City and and so he would work with me like around we'd start around 10 3011, o'clock, and then we go until about 630 and then around 630 Tom Petty would come. And so I would, you know, Tom Petty would come, and then they would start the sessions for was it? Damn the torpedoes. Yeah, that sounds right. Yeah. That that album. That's what the album that he was working with. And so Tom would come in early sometimes, and he would hang out with me and stuff, and we played pinball and and we had a very mutual friend, Roger Lynn, who invented the lindro machine.
Chuck Shute:Wow, yeah, playing pinball with Tom Petty, like, your life is, like, pretty amazing, and you think about it, right? Well,
Robert Fleischman:I don't know. I think there's a lot people, there's people out there that have a lot more exciting stories, and, you know, have schmoozed with, you know, a lot of different people. But, you know, I've had my fair share of run ins with with the famous and unfamous.
Chuck Shute:I mean, Tom Petty. That's a guy that I'm so mad at myself. I probably told this story a million times, but I was gonna go see him, and he was playing at Red Rocks. I'd never seen a concert at Red Rocks. I wanted to go, and I saw who was playing. It was Tom Petty. And I thought, Oh, wow, this is gonna be so great. The tickets were like, four or $500 and I was like, I can't afford this. And I wish I would have just pulled the trigger, because he. Like, six months later, I was like, Oh
Robert Fleischman:man, yeah. I was really sad to hear him go. I really was. I thought he was such a sweet person, just for even the short amount of time that we got to know each other, I felt like, you know, he felt the same way about me so. And I thought, What a brilliant songwriter. Just incredible, brilliant songwriter, um, have you seen, um, wild flowers that that documentary? No, is that about him? Yeah, it's about that whole album. It's, it's amazing. Oh, you definitely do,
Chuck Shute:yeah, yeah, you're right. He's such a good songwriter. And it's not like he just wrote like, one hit. I mean, he has so many. Even the songs that aren't hits are great, yeah, and,
Robert Fleischman:and I love that. I loved when they went out, the whole band went out with Dylan, and they played with Dylan, and the when they played with Dylan, it sounded so great. Oh,
Chuck Shute:I didn't, yeah, I didn't know about that. I just saw that movie about Bob Dylan. It was really like it. Yeah, I did. I went. My only complaint was I wanted more. I think it should have been like a mini series or something, because that guy has such a, you know, long career, and they only focused on, like, a five year window. Yeah, I
Robert Fleischman:thought I loved it. I thought the ending was not to my liking, really. I think that kid, I think Timothy, whatever his name is, yeah, that guy did a great fucking job. Hey, you know, they spent five years to do that, that that movie, yeah, during that, during that five years, you learn how to sing and play acoustic guitar, and so did the girl that played, yeah, Joan Baez, yeah, her too.
Chuck Shute:She's beautiful. Do you think that was an accurate portrayal of, kind of the life of a musician, how he's like, you know, kind of tinkering and, like, he comes into New York with, like, basically nothing, and then he's living at this girl's place, and he's kind of bouncing around and, you know, he's, yeah,
Robert Fleischman:yeah, yeah, absolutely. I mean, during that time era, yeah, I'm, I'm pretty old. So yeah, I gotta be 72 soon. So yeah, I've, I remember that whole, that whole era, I had a English teacher that turned me on to Bob Dylan and and Simon and Garfunkel and, you know, at the time the other Beatles and The stones and stuff. So between all those, those those people, that element, incredible lyricists. So I always, I always gravitated towards the lyrics, and I, and I, you know, I've always had fun with, you know, twisting words around and all that stuff all my life. My when I was a kid at the dinner table, it was all just, you know, play with words and puns and all that stuff. So we're all kind of like, you know, very witty and just ping ponging, you know,
Chuck Shute:shoot your full love. I think the funniest song title, I mean, yeah, I mean, I can appreciate that. And Bob Dylan, I mean, that's full spectrum. That's what's so great about music is, I think you feel the same way in terms of, that's why your your new album is more like synths and things, because you've done the guitar thing like music, isn't you don't want to just be pigeon holed into one thing. It gets boring. No,
Robert Fleischman:exactly. I mean, I never know when I go into paint, I never know what I'm going to do. I know sometimes I'll think about a couple of colors that I'd like to work with, and then I go into the studio with those colors in mind, and then everything is just kind of just off the cuff, you know. Just improvise at the moment. Like Jazz, you know, you just improvise.
Chuck Shute:You have a favorite artist. Because for me, I think it's Salvador Dali. I think that guy is freaking brilliant. I think he's weird, and I love it.
Robert Fleischman:Well, Salvador Dali, yeah, there's nobody like him. I mean, he was an odd child. He he, he would, when he went to school, he would stand everybody, all the kids would be down in the playground, and he would be the last one to go down to the playground, and he would stand on the top of these steps, and he would wait for everybody to look at him, and then he would fall down the steps.
Chuck Shute:I didn't know that. That's an interesting story.
Robert Fleischman:Yeah, he was, he was he was odd. I've read many books on him. I've my my favorite era is the Impressionist era, in in in Paris. And so I, I've read many books on him and Picasso and and, you know, English painters like Francis Bacon and, and, you know, I love, you know, Frida Kahlo from Mexico, and Diego Rivera and, and then Americans. I like Julian Schnabel. And then I like. Whole abstract expressionist movement during during the 30s, also in New York. So I'm, I've always been a big art literature fan, you know, reading a lot about different artists and stuff like that, and and I've always, so that's what emotional Atlas is about. Emotional Atlas is like not being a musician. I just, I put on a painter's cap on that. I tried not to do anything that was, you know, conventional. I didn't use the usual song template that I do for all my other songs, it was just very, very free, free form and and so there's some songs on there that don't have any chord changes, but because of the melody that I'm doing over it, and the lyrics, and the in the in the chorus lyrics, it gives it that impression that there are chord changes, but there really isn't any chord changes. That's
Chuck Shute:fascinating, yeah, because I I played guitar for a couple years, and I sucked, and I gave it. That's why I'm doing this, and I'm interviewing people. I feel like I'm better at this than playing music, but it is so fascinating to see how it's made and put together and and, I mean, yeah, people can listen for themselves, and they can listen on Spotify, and if they like it, they should buy the vinyl and support you. But, yeah, I mean, the music is, I don't know how you what do you call it, what you say, but it's good. It's catchy. I like things that I can sing along to, like, I feel like, if you go to free form, then it just like, set like, I don't know, like the band, these jam bands, like fish, like, that's not really my cup of tea. But this doesn't, it doesn't stray that far.
Robert Fleischman:No, it's, very song oriented. I've always been very song oriented. It's just sort of my, you know, my way of operating,
Chuck Shute:yeah, do you think there is a line between good art and craziness? Like, I mean, we talk about Savar Dali. I mean, you look at the Bob Dylan, like, you know, even the movie, like the girl, the girl says to him, like, you know, Bob, you're kind of an asshole. Like, he's kind of a weird guy in the movie. And I obviously it's based in real life. Like, do you think that somebody, the greatest art is made from assholes, or assholes, or, like, what? But just, or just, like, I feel like a guy, like, Tom Petty. Like, I don't think it sounds like he wasn't an asshole, but I
Robert Fleischman:think No, Tom, Tom was, Tom was very, very humbled man. Yeah, he's a humble guy. Yeah,
Chuck Shute:because I heard that he he did not like being famous or what I like, he would go to a restaurant and everyone would be like, Oh my God, it's Tom Petty, and it made him very uncomfortable. So he just stopped going out, and I think he kind of hid, and I think, I don't know the details, but didn't, he didn't, he have some sort of issue with pain pills or something like, I think he was suffering.
Robert Fleischman:Yeah, he was, unfortunately, I guess one of the roadies got, got him something, and that's what did it,
Chuck Shute:yeah, it's just sad to see. I mean, it's just, there's so many of these geniuses that are, in my opinion, I think they're like musical geniuses and but they're just, there's the suffering. I feel like some of, some of that suffering creates good art, but then I think there's a point where the suffering becomes too much, and even creating art isn't enough to relieve it. Yeah,
Robert Fleischman:um, I don't know, not for me. I mean, I'm just too strong willed, you know, I don't, I don't jump in the pool because I'm supposed to jump in the pool. Or people think you should be that way or this way or that way. I can't do that, you know, I just kind of pretty, pretty conservative, actually, you know, pretty So, pretty much in the center, yeah,
Chuck Shute:well, and there is that too, because it's like Aerosmith. I mean, they were all messed up and they made some good music. But then they got sober, and they got their shit together, and then, arguably, they made what some people would consider better music, and they sound great, and I think Steven Tyler can still hit a lot of those notes. Oh yeah,
Robert Fleischman:yeah, that's another band. I mean, they're one of the greatest rock and roll, American rock and roll bands, you know, truly, I mean who? I mean in America, who eclipses them?
Chuck Shute:I don't know. For me, personally, I'm a huge Guns N Roses fan, so I don't
Robert Fleischman:but that's over. No,
Chuck Shute:they're still touring arenas right now. I mean, in terms of, are you saying new music? Look, look,
Robert Fleischman:Steven Tyler pretty much sounds, pretty much the way he did in the very beginning, even now.
Chuck Shute:Yeah, that's, He's a freak of nature, I think, right, but, but
Robert Fleischman:the other guy in Guns and Roses, yeah, it's, it's over, you know?
Chuck Shute:He. When he was in his prime, they said he had the the biggest range of any singer ever, or something like that. I think,
Robert Fleischman:yeah, yeah. But, you know, to keep that up forever, after years of abusing yourself with drugs and and lifestyle and and not giving a flying about anything, that's what happens, yeah,
Chuck Shute:that does affect your voice, right? Smoking, drinking and that kind of thing. Yeah,
Robert Fleischman:that's one thing I hated about being on the road with journey and all that stuff, because I had to live like a nun, you know, everybody else would be going out and I go, Well, I can't have air conditioning in my room. And, you know, like I gotta worry about, you know, tomorrow, and, you know, hot, you know, taking hot showers and cayenne pepper, and, you know, spicy soups and all that stuff and, and just being afraid of, you know, being a germaphobic and, and just because I it would kill me If I went the next day and I couldn't do what my head says to do vocally, right?
Chuck Shute:Yeah, that is really hard. And again, like we said, those songs are not easy to sing. No, no, no. Do you ever hear people like, Do you ever go to like a bar or something and just hear journey being butchered and karaoke? And,
Robert Fleischman:yeah, I have many times,
Chuck Shute:yeah, because I've heard that many, many times. So I mean,
Robert Fleischman:hey, I I've been so blessed to be with something that has gotten so much love and notoriety, and to be, you know, associated with that is great because, you know, before I joined the band, the band was a, you know, they did 15 minute songs. It was a rock fusion, jazz fusion band, you know, and then when I got into the band, it was like, Okay, here's, we got a template. Here we got song structures. We got, you know, songs that are under five minutes, you know, here's how it goes, you know. And and I, and I, I came in and I rearranged the furniture for that band, you know. So I kind of find myself to be the architect of that, that sound. And fortunately, when I left, they continued it and became a big success,
Chuck Shute:right? Because their initial stuff was was much more like jazz rock, wasn't it longer songs like eight minutes, 15
Robert Fleischman:minute songs, yeah, wow, yeah, because wheel
Chuck Shute:in the sky. I mean, that's clearly one of the best journey songs. And it's what I like about it too, is it's not as overplayed as you know, the one at the end of sopranos. Like, did you did you notice a bump in your royalties after that song came out? Because then people are going back and discovering all the journey songs.
Robert Fleischman:Yeah. I mean, they even had, uh, wheel of sky was on, uh, sopranos too. That's right,
Chuck Shute:yeah, that was on an episode as well. Yeah, yeah. That helps. That helps. That's nice. Yeah, you've done so many things that I heard too, that you, um, tell me about this one you once played with Michael Shanker and cozy Powell. What was that project?
Robert Fleischman:Um, wow. You know who John clodner is,
Chuck Shute:yeah, yeah, isn't he the guy from the Aerosmith videos with the big, long beard? Yeah,
Robert Fleischman:he's an R guy for Geffen Records. Yeah. So he used to, he called me up and asked he would call me up and just go, hey, you know, I want you to go to England and play with this band. He, he called me up and go, Hey, I want you to go to England and play with Asia, you know, he would like, it was always like, he was, I was, he was like, I was always, like, the round peg trying to be in, put in the square square hole, you know, or the square peg in the round hole. Yeah, I went to England, and I played with Michael Shanker and cozy and and Michael was very, very much a mess, a mess. And so he he was kind of, he was pissed off at the management because I was picked up in some limo at at the airport at Heathrow and and so he was like, pissed off and saying in right in front of me, saying that he was pissed off that I was picked up in there in front of the management. And so it was like, you know, kind of like he didn't he had a grudge towards me, or it wasn't a good, clear picture with me. And so anyway, we went in and rehearsed, and he would just swap down all this vodka, and he'd go in the back and do some whatever, and, and all that. So then we had a we'd have a break, and so me and cozy went. We'd walk across these railroad tracks to this pub that was at the at the train station. So we'd have a couple of beers, and we'd come back. And so on our way coming back, we the bobbies came and raided, raided the the rehearsal room that we were in, and I guess they were after Michael for something. And I don't know, I'm not going to say okay, but you can come up with your own conclusion. But anyway, yeah, so I did play with him and and, you know, it wasn't, it wasn't very good. I He had a hard time communicating, because he was from what, from Germany, so it was really hard, a hard thing to do. And he was just a he was just a mess. So I left that situation. Yeah, and then, and then I was sent again to play with Asia,
Chuck Shute:yeah, and that one, and then you also wasn't there a brief time you were possibly going to become the new singer of Genesis after Peter Gabriel left. But then they got Phil Collins to take over vocals,
Robert Fleischman:yeah, yeah. Yeah. At that time, when that was presented to me, I was too young. I was like, I was too young to be able to, I mean, Peter Gabriel, you know, like fucking rocket science, you know, scientists. And if I had come in there, I'd be like, some kid that played, you know, drew with Crayola, you know, he was just so much deeper than I at that time in my life. You know, I was very young. I was like, 1920 years old, you know, I wasn't literally, I hadn't read enough books yet, you know,
Chuck Shute:yeah, is there any other ones that got away, that you got that got away, or people that you turn down, that you could say without getting in too much trouble, because I'm sure there must. I mean, if these are the some of the ones that I've heard you talk about, there must be some other ones that you know you just Well, I did. I did
Robert Fleischman:go play. I did audition for Rainbow just before do? I did. I did do that. Richie Blackmore was an idiot, and why? He was just, he was just this idiot. He was just, he was so he was just so disconnected from everything he would, his, his, his, his big stack of Marshalls would be here, and he'd be standing over on the other side of it with, like, like a flamingo, you know, with one leg and his other leg resting on his on his kneecap while he was playing guitar, you know, like, Like, really weird. And so anyway, I did that. I I was asked by Kansas when they decided that they wanted to come back and do a record. They did some tracks with Ken Scott, who was engineer for the Beatles, and so they, they were working with him, and I was called in to do some songs, and I think I did like three songs. I sang three songs or two songs, but nothing ever came about that about with that either. And because they did, they never put the band together until way, way, years, years, years, years later. But I had a great time being with with Ken Scott and talking to him about him recording the Beatles. So that was kind of cool. Yeah. And then, who else? A fog hat one time they called me in to play with them, and that didn't work out, because they were playing in in these drop tunings, and I couldn't sing that low. So it was like, you know, and I'm I didn't understand what was going on, why I couldn't connect. And so then later on, I found out they were tuned to, you know, a whole half step down, or whatever it was, and, and, but during that time, he's going, Oh, you may. You should learn how to sing. Maybe you should go get singing lessons. I'm just going, like, Fuck you, you know, so, yeah, but it was all because they have dropped, you know, dropped the key. I I can only sing in the regular tuning. You know, it's like, yeah, I know where my sweet spot is. And that was the same thing that happened with Asia. They had they dropped their tunings also. So I couldn't, I couldn't connect with those songs. I couldn't, I just couldn't do it. And I just didn't have the nerve to go, Hey, can you guys? And I didn't know that. Had dropped the tuning, and so I just didn't have, I just didn't know to say, Hey, can you put it in a regular tuning, and can we try it this way, you know? So that's, you know, to situations like that that occurred.
Chuck Shute:Yeah, did you work with D Snyder on an album too? Like you produced and played. Oh no,
Robert Fleischman:I sang backgrounds on on one of his songs. On it was just
Chuck Shute:one song, okay, yeah, yeah, yeah. So did you get to work with him? He said, kind of an interesting guy. I've had him on the show a couple times. He's
Robert Fleischman:a nice guy, yeah, yeah. I, I he wasn't there during the sessions. I was only working with the producer. That was work, you know, do working with the Allen, but eventually, I did meet him a couple of times, and he was a very nice guy. Yeah,
Chuck Shute:it's interesting when you meet all these legends, like some of them are, are so genuine, and even though they're maybe they're a little off, or whatever, like Bob Dylan, but I mean, they're just still so interesting. And then, like you said, like, with the with the producer guy, Jimmy ivine, like, that's like, maybe a little bit darker path to success, I guess. Yeah, yeah, interesting,
Robert Fleischman:yeah, time wounds, all heals, you know,
Chuck Shute:great stuff. Well, again, the album is called Emotional Atlas. It's available now here. Here's a the album cover. I love that album cover. It's so cool.
Robert Fleischman:I really appreciate it. Yeah, it's, it's done in, it's all glossy paper. So, you know, like the old English albums in the 60s, and they have that photographic shine. So it's all, it's all very glossy like that. And it's a colored vinyl, and has a poster in there with the lyrics also. And it's a double album, because the album's like an hour and eight minutes, and so I couldn't get it all on one out on one disc, so it's a two disc.
Chuck Shute:So cool. Gotcha well, I'll put that link in the show notes, so people could just click that link and and buy that stuff. And I don't think you're doing any, I don't want, I would promote tour, but I don't think you do a lot of live dates, right?
Robert Fleischman:No, I don't. I don't do that anymore. I mean, it's just, you know, it's like George, for instance, you know, I go see George, and I remember, in the day, they were all traveling around in a bus, and, you know, things were better. And then you go see them now, and they'll climb into a freaking van and drive a million miles to get to the next gig, you know, and it's just, it's just not the same. It's, it's so, it's rough, it's rough. So, you know, people that go out to see these bands really should, re, you know, just realize the effort and the sacrifice they're doing just to play in front of you. Because it's a rough, it's, it's very rough. Now,
Chuck Shute:yeah, that's what it sounds like musicians I've interviewed, yeah
Robert Fleischman:and and Spotify, doesn't, you know, pays you pennies. You know, so you know when you buy, when you buy an album from, from an artist you're, you're helping them so much, they would have have to have so many airplays on Spotify or iTunes to get that $25 or that $50 for, for that, for that particular item. I mean, it's just, it's a shame. It really is a shame. And so it seems like the industry just seems to just want to make it so difficult for people to to be artistic and to put out music you're raped before you even put it out. So support everyone you know, support artists that you like and buy their CDs or buy their albums or buy their merch because they they don't make any money through Spotify. And everybody listens to your music for free, you know. So just give back a little bit, you know. And, and I think it's terrific that there's people like yourself that go in and champion us, you know, to musicians and their projects. So, you know, big kudos to you, too.
Chuck Shute:Thank you. Yeah, I do my best. I'm hoping to grow the show and get it bigger so that I can help more people out. And that's my my dream one day is to be like, big enough where people are wanting to come on my show that it gives their stuff a bump, you know, like a big bump that's noticeable, so hopefully a little bit. Yeah. I always try to support artists by having them on also, yeah, same thing, like I go to concerts, I buy the merch because, yeah, you're not really making any money off of the Spotify streams. Unfortunately, yeah.
Robert Fleischman:And you know, people go to go to Starbucks in a whole month's worth of Starbuck coffee, could buy a great album, and you can have that and play it anytime you want.
Chuck Shute:Yeah, I think it's cool. There's some people that really like having those physical copies, and so that's great that you're selling that for those people too. Because I mean that, and that's not only just a big money maker, but also, like, it's just cool for those people that have that piece of history and collect it and stuff, it's really neat. Yeah?
Robert Fleischman:I mean, it's, it's, you know, supply and demand. I mean, it doesn't matter if it's a Twinkie, you know, you got to buy it,
Chuck Shute:yeah? Well, thank you so much for doing this. Anything else you want
Robert Fleischman:to promote? No, just keep what you're doing. Really appreciate it. I really, you know, like your your channel, that you have, you, you've interviewed some neat people, and just keep it up.
Chuck Shute:Okay, thank you so much. Hope to see you again sometime soon. Yeah, anytime, let me know. Next time you want to come,
Robert Fleischman:are you gonna go to that pod? Rock and pod? I didn't
Chuck Shute:have plans to, but if you want me to go, I'll go, Yeah, well,
Robert Fleischman:I just figured, you know, there's going to be a lot of people like yourself there. Okay, are you? So I was, I was invited to go there, so I will be there in April at the rock and pod in Nashville. That's a sign come
Chuck Shute:and say hello. Okay. Okay, nice to meet you.
Robert Fleischman:Cheers. Here, from the
THEME SONG:rockets to the wise men you.
