This interview with Robin Frederick took place on November 1, 2001. It started out to be just biographical information but we ended up talking about music, Nick Drake, Zoobilee Zoo and even the Smurfs. I thought it was all interesting. So here it is...


Jaye: Let's start with something basic like "Where were you born?"

Robin: Studio City, California. It got its name from all the movie studios that were around there. Now it's nothing but wall-to-wall houses and mini-malls but back then there were acres of orange groves and horse ranches. We lived next door to Roy Rogers. I remember wandering into the Rogers' corral when I was about three years old and being scared to death when one of their horses reared up. I think I had a close encounter with Trigger.

Jaye: Did you grow up in California?

Robin: No, we moved to Coral Gables, Florida when I was about four years old. That's when I started playing piano. I took piano lessons from the time I was five years old. I wasn't very good at it, hated practicing, and never learned to read notes very well. Then we moved back to Los Angeles when I was thirteen and I started playing guitar.

Jaye: How did you start writing songs?

Robin: I began writing when I was very young. I wrote plays first. When I was about eight I wrote puppet plays that were put on at my school. Then I began writing short stories and poems when I was ten or eleven. I didn't start writing songs until I bought my first guitar at fourteen and I got into traditional folk music. It was very easy to switch from playing folk songs to writing folk songs. My first songs were just lyrics written to traditional melodies. In the American folk song tradition people often change or add new lyrics to existing songs, so it just seemed like a natural thing to do. Then very quickly I started writing my own complete songs. I was attracted to blues-y songs like "Frankie And Johnny" and "Cocaine Blues." There was a singer named Judy Henske whose album I loved. She's not very well known but she had an enormous influence on me. She had a very husky, unique voice and I thought she was just phenomenal. Years later, when I was working at Rhino Records, we were doing a compilation album that included some of her tracks and I got to meet her and tell her how much she influenced me. She was probably bored.

Jaye: Who were some of your other musical influences?

Robin: Oh lord... there have been a lot. I mean, just about any music I really like has been an influence, even music I don't like. I was still in my Judy Henske blues phase when I wrote "Been Smoking Too Long" which Nick Drake picked up. After that I was heavily influenced by The Who's "Tommy." I had always loved theater and was crazy about the idea of mixing theater with rock songs. I've written a couple of musicals that have been produced here on the west coast. Eventually I ended up writing music for television which combined my love of theater with this strange ability I have to copy almost any song style. I did a New Age album after listening to Enya's albums. But it wasn't until I seriously began listening to Nick Drake's songs a couple years ago that I found someone who profoundly changed the way I write. Lately I've been listening to a lot of Dusty Springfield which has changed the way I sing.

Jaye: I love Dusty Springfield. You do sound like her.

Robin: Thanks for saying so. I don't have her power or range but I've learned a lot from listening to her phrasing, mostly about relating to the groove vocally. She had a great relationship to the beat and I've got a little of that down now. I'm pleased with the vocals on my new album.

Jaye: I only just found out about you when I heard "Water Falls Down." Have you made any other albums?

Robin: None that I care to mention.

Jaye: Really? You don't like anything else you've done?

Robin: I've moved on. I've learned a lot and my taste has changed. When I listen to songs I recorded in the past I immediately want to change them. I could spend my life re-doing old songs! At some point I just have to let them go. This is me letting go.

Jaye: You mentioned writing songs for television, when did you write for Zoobilee Zoo?

Robin: I did that about four years ago. I wrote a theme song and 26 additional songs for some new segments that were added to the original shows. I didn't write the original theme song , that was David Pomeranz. I really enjoyed working with the cast. They are amazingly talented people. Before that I did a lot of songwriting and music producing for television, mostly for The Disney Channel. I wrote a couple hundred songs for Welcome To Pooh Corner and Dumbo's Circus. I also wrote and produced music albums with the Disney characters. It was fun to get to say things like "Goofy, take that again." I've worked with the Looney Tunes, Flintstones, Little Mermaid, I even worked with the Smurfs.

Jaye: I'm impressed.

Robin: Sometimes I am too.

Jaye: I'm a big fan of Nick Drake...

Robin: You have good taste.

Jaye: What was it like meeting him?

Robin: Well, what can I say.... I've written about that a bit in the article called "Place To Be". I'm more interested in talking about Nick's musical legacy these days because I think that's what's important but I know people are interested in what he was like as a person. I don't honestly know that I can add anything beyond what's right there in his songs. I think Nick was able to communicate best through his music. He said it: "If songs were lines in a conversation the situation would be fine." I'm certain his songs were his way of carrying on a conversation with the world. When I listen to the songs I hear an incredible emotional intensity. I mean, just listen to Fly or Place to Be. But when I was around him, I never got the feeling there was a great deal going on emotionally. He was always so very quiet and restrained. So I have to think there were two sides of him that were pulling very hard in different directions - the side that had been brought up to refrain from any display of emotion and the side that needed to pour those intense emotions out into his songs. It's pretty obvious why he would have trouble performing live except when he was with friends. Baring your soul in front of strangers is hard enough, for Nick I think it was simply impossible. Yet, if he didn't, there was no chance of a career. What a miserable catch-22.

Jaye: Do you think that contributed to his depression?

Robin: I think there were a lot of contributing factors. In the documentary, A Skin Too Few, Nick's sister reads a poem written by their mother, Molly Drake. The poem certainly gave me the feeling that Molly had dealt with depression, or something like it, in her own life and used her songs and poems as a way of expressing it. So possibly there was a genetic component as well. There's been some research lately indicating that a tendency toward depression may be inherited. But what's important to remember is we wouldn't even be talking about Nick if it weren't for his music. He achieved something unique, truly marvelous, and I think he knew it. That must have brought him a great deal of satisfaction.

Jaye: What's coming up next for you?

Robin: I'm going to continue what I started with "Water Falls Down" but I want to try some very 'bare bones' arrangements, maybe some vocal looping and minimalist drum parts. I'll never stray too far from melodic songs. It's what I love. I just like the idea of juxtaposing that with left-field arrangements. I have no idea if I can pull it off. I'll probably do an EP, just five songs to start, like I did with "Water Falls Down."