Latest / The Scene Projects / Robert Dixon's Musical Journey: Balancing IT, Creativity, and Future Projects

Transcript

Robert Dixon's Musical Journey: Balancing IT, Creativity, and Future Projects · The Scene Projects

• 0:02
  Welcome in to a very exciting episode of the scene.
• 0:05
  I am your host, Bubba Starts, and with me today is singer songwriter Robert Dixon.
• 0:09
  Welcome to the show, Rob.
• 0:10
  Thank you.
• 0:10
  Thanks for having me.
• 0:12
  Oh, this is great.
• 0:13
  Before we get too far into the interview and talking about what you're up to, why don't you
• 0:17
  go ahead and, introduce yourself and give us a little backstory?
• 0:22
  I'm Rob Dixon or Robert Dixon as we discussed earlier.
• 0:26
  I've been writing music for, oh, thirty thirty some years.
• 0:32
  I was thinking about this.
• 0:33
  This all started when I was in a car accident in 1990, and I was stuck in bed for, like, a
• 0:39
  month because I fractured my hip.
• 0:41
  And I remember my brother not having any cable TV, so I was stuck watching, you know, soap
• 0:48
  operas of the antennas feed.
• 0:52
  But one of the things I always enjoyed doing back in high school, this was post high school,
• 0:57
  like, two years out, was writing.
• 0:59
  And I really enjoyed writing.
• 1:00
  And so I got a notebook, and I just started writing.
• 1:04
  And so excuse me.
• 1:06
  And from that, I I end up picking up a guitar a couple years later, and and my cousin taught me
• 1:12
  some chords.
• 1:13
  And I was like, I'm good to go.
• 1:15
  And I just kept writing and writing and working on music.
• 1:18
  And and then I performed one of my first times in 9495 in a little coffee shop, and I was just
• 1:25
  nervous and scared and uptight about it.
• 1:27
  But, yeah, I I I did it, and I kept doing it.
• 1:31
  And then I it's it's been a fun journey for me as a songwriter, and I it's been healthy for me
• 1:38
  too.
• 1:40
  I have been performing on stage since I was a teenager, and I forget that for people that
• 1:47
  didn't grow up without the anxiety of being in your twenties already or even older, right,
• 1:54
  having all of your life history following you to the stage.
• 1:58
  Right?
• 1:58
  Like, my life history is being on stage.
• 2:01
  So I kind of forget about those nervous energies and everything coming up.
• 2:06
  So, yeah, nice to hear you touch on that.
• 2:09
  So a car accident gives you some downtime.
• 2:12
  You start writing.
• 2:14
  You pick up a guitar.
• 2:15
  Now you've been performing on stage and playing music ever since then?
• 2:21
  Well, I I I knew it was I would the time excuse me again.
• 2:26
  At the time, I was in Bismarck, and you don't get a record deal in Bismarck.
• 2:29
  So so I was like, well, I know.
• 2:31
  And I'm gonna get a full time job, and I went to IT, and I was able to do that as a full time
• 2:37
  job.
• 2:37
  But music's always been my my go to, my fallback to that's something I really enjoy
• 2:42
  doing.
• 2:42
  And now at at times when I'm for for me, for as it if you write music over time and you look
• 2:50
  back to what you used to write and how you write now, they're they're two different
• 2:55
  things.
• 2:55
  Because when I was younger, was just everything I wrote, I was just like, oh, this is the best
• 3:00
  song ever, you know, kind of stuff because it's perfect.
• 3:03
  And then as you get older, like, you know, I could rewrite this and it could be make it
• 3:06
  better or make it more focused, that kind of stuff.
• 3:09
  So you grow as a songwriter because you also, you learn from listening to other songwriters
• 3:15
  and how you grow off that stuff.
• 3:17
  So I don't know if there was a question there, but I'm I'll wander off and talk about myself
• 3:22
  forever.
• 3:22
  You know how musicians are.
• 3:24
  But
• 3:24
  That's why this show has been so successful, Rob.
• 3:28
  Yes.
• 3:29
  Exactly.
• 3:30
  Anyway, so yes.
• 3:33
  The songwriting is is been I I I joke with my wife.
• 3:37
  It's been my it was either either go to a shrink or or write music and write and write
• 3:41
  what I'm going through and what I'm dealing with.
• 3:43
  And what I see in society, how I think.
• 3:46
  And some songs that, you know, are good, some songs are bad, but it's it's always been the
• 3:51
  the trial and error of trying to get through what you wanna write and what you wanna try to
• 3:55
  get to.
• 3:55
  It's always been your expressive outlet.
• 3:58
  Yes.
• 3:58
  Exactly.
• 3:59
  It's the it's the way that you, diffuse the world around you and to tell your experience.
• 4:07
  Right?
• 4:07
  Which is what songwriting is to all of us.
• 4:10
  I have a lot of these conversations.
• 4:12
  Sure.
• 4:12
  And, it all kinda comes back to the thing is that, like, you almost sort of a choice if
• 4:17
  you're chosen to be a songwriter, whether you do it, you know, professionally or it's just
• 4:23
  something that you do your whole like, you were chosen for this.
• 4:28
  This is the way that you are going to be, you know, expressing yourself.
• 4:33
  I don't think I I go chosen.
• 4:35
  I think everybody can if they want to.
• 4:37
  I think you you're you you get to a point where in your life, you were you wanna say something,
• 4:43
  you wanna express yourself somehow, and you're able to open open this pipe up a little bit and
• 4:47
  let some of those ideas flow.
• 4:49
  And in that, you'll discover more about yourself and more about creativity in yourself.
• 4:55
  And as you open that gate a little more and more, you discover more and more talent that
• 5:00
  you have.
• 5:01
  And this is just a great example of this was two months ago, we ended up moving a piano in
• 5:06
  our house, and I haven't played piano since I was a kid.
• 5:10
  I've been playing guitar all my life kind of stuff.
• 5:12
  And I was like, well, I'll play around the piano and now I'm I'm I'm just in love with
• 5:17
  this instrument that I've never played and never got involved with before.
• 5:20
  And I'm and I'm in I'm growing on it.
• 5:23
  I'm I'm I'm experimenting on it.
• 5:25
  I'm I'm my synapses are are just bouncing all over the place.
• 5:30
  And then and I think that, for me, especially, has always been something I've always kinda
• 5:35
  pushed myself forward trying, like, what else can I do?
• 5:38
  How else can I write this?
• 5:39
  What else can I can I write about?
• 5:44
  So
• 5:45
  And and for me, like, every time I pick up the guitar, I kinda write a new song.
• 5:49
  I'm always just kinda noodling around and doing different things.
• 5:53
  And as the, you know, the experience, I've been doing it for twenty five years now, you know,
• 5:58
  to pick it up and get going, then you can kind of hone that craft of the songwriting into
• 6:04
  whatever it necessarily is that you might wanna speak about that day or whatever emotion is
• 6:09
  bubbling up under the surface.
• 6:11
  And so to have a new instrument at any point in your life can be, can unlock that.
• 6:17
  Like you said, those new synapses and and just firing.
• 6:21
  Yeah.
• 6:21
  And my my my favorite story of of when I wrote a song was I was I had, like, writer's block in
• 6:28
  a very few times.
• 6:29
  I was just like, I I I got nothing.
• 6:31
  I just I was like and I it's happened occasionally every couple years.
• 6:34
  Like, oh, I'm done.
• 6:35
  I I can't do anymore, and I'll just put all my you know, sell all my guitars and just walk
• 6:40
  away.
• 6:41
  But I was I was I was sitting there, and I was I had this large arcade that I built.
• 6:46
  It had a bunch of arcade games from the eighties on it.
• 6:49
  And I I was like, I gotta I wanna write, but I can't write.
• 6:53
  I don't have I don't have anything.
• 6:55
  And so I thought of artists who, you know, may you know, painters have a bowl of fruit, and
• 7:00
  they may paint a bowl of fruit maybe to recalibrate their their attention to detail and
• 7:06
  stuff.
• 7:07
  And on the arcade was a a game called Miss Pac Man.
• 7:11
  And so I was like, well, I'll I'll write a song about miss Pac Man.
• 7:15
  And so I wrote this song called Ghost That Followed, and it turned into this this story of
• 7:22
  you could if you didn't know the the story, you would think it's about a girl, a woman who was
• 7:26
  having drug problems because she's, you know, going she's these things are chasing her.
• 7:30
  She's always focused on, you know, these these pills that she has to get.
• 7:36
  She's she's on on in an environment that was once owned by a man, Pac Man.
• 7:40
  And it was just it was all these ideas that flowing in and has created this whole song
• 7:44
  called the ghost that follow.
• 7:45
  And I just like when I did it, after I wrote it, I was like, okay.
• 7:49
  Okay.
• 7:50
  I can still do this.
• 7:51
  This is good.
• 7:52
  So a lot times, I think you you may even lose confidence in your ability over time, and all
• 7:56
  of a sudden, you, like, you it all the synapses, all all the things, ideas come
• 8:00
  together, and and you create a song.
• 8:03
  Well and something you kinda touched on a few minutes ago was that, you know, you're not
• 8:07
  really chosen that anybody can do this.
• 8:10
  Have you ever considered, you know, helping others write and having small groups of writing
• 8:17
  sessions?
• 8:17
  And
• 8:18
  I've I've recently done that.
• 8:20
  We have we have we have some artists that on Mondays, we have an open mic at the terminal
• 8:25
  bar, and we've I've met some musicians, amazing musicians.
• 8:28
  And we've gotten together, we've written some stuff before and hung up.
• 8:31
  Yeah.
• 8:32
  That's that's always fun because it's it's we may see something that you don't.
• 8:37
  And and collaborating is something I've always enjoyed doing.
• 8:40
  It's it's it's a kind of a it's it's fun because it's like you can take a song, one of
• 8:44
  my songs or something else, and bring in other musicians, and it turns into something
• 8:49
  completely different from what it recently started with.
• 8:52
  So and that's always a fun thing about music.
• 8:54
  You can it can be adjusted.
• 8:55
  It can be changed.
• 8:56
  It can be molded, know, and and recreated kind of stuff.
• 9:01
  Except the ones that are really good and you don't wanna touch ever knowing you'd given it.
• 9:05
  Only play it this way.
• 9:06
  Yeah.
• 9:08
  I don't know that I have that.
• 9:09
  The way that I've run my band for the last twelve months or so has pretty much been
• 9:13
  showing up into the different towns, finding local guys to play with, and throwing out the
• 9:18
  cover sets and letting it hang.
• 9:21
  It was really the only way that I could keep it interesting for myself because, you know, my
• 9:26
  band typically plays, you know, a four hour bar set, and, you know, you're filling that up with
• 9:31
  mostly cover songs.
• 9:32
  Right?
• 9:33
  And the the set list, because I was playing with different guys all the time, I couldn't
• 9:37
  really afford to just change the set list all the time.
• 9:40
  I didn't wanna think about it.
• 9:41
  So in some ways, I kinda put that on autopilot.
• 9:44
  And then the way that I was keeping it fresh for myself is that I was playing it with
• 9:48
  different people every time I was playing.
• 9:51
  So I was keeping it fresh.
• 9:52
  Case in point, when I was in Minneapolis last month, I played, you know, two shows, one at
• 9:57
  the Sherwood Lounge in Saint Paul, and then I was at the Midway Saloon, you know, a Friday
• 10:01
  and a Saturday, and I played with a different bass player and drummer both nights.
• 10:05
  Pretty much the same show, but with different players.
• 10:09
  It was a totally different energy and, you know, special guests and different things
• 10:12
  happening too.
• 10:13
  But, it kept it fresh for me.
• 10:15
  But that's also not a I don't know that that's something you can do with any longevity.
• 10:21
  You know?
• 10:22
  If I could do that the same way again next year, especially coming back and playing some
• 10:26
  of the same venues for the same people.
• 10:28
  Like, I can trick you the first time.
• 10:30
  Like, oh, that was cool.
• 10:31
  Can't believe you guys just met, but coming back the next time now that you've established
• 10:35
  this expectation and you want to exceed that, you kinda have to maybe show up with a little
• 10:41
  bit more rehearsal time or a rehearsal at all.
• 10:45
  Well, yeah, when I had occasion when I go back to Bizmarck, I'll I'll be able to hook up a
• 10:49
  show and do some I'll do a show there, and I'll contact musicians I know there.
• 10:54
  But they also know my music.
• 10:56
  They a lot of times have been around me enough where they're like, okay.
• 10:59
  And we can rehearse for an hour and just go through the stuff like, oh, this song, all that
• 11:04
  song, that kind of thing.
• 11:06
  And it's that's that's the nice thing.
• 11:08
  Plus, when they have it recorded, when you have, like, either Bandcamp or you're getting
• 11:11
  music online, you can just, like, here's the songs we're gonna do.
• 11:15
  Here's here's what they sound like.
• 11:16
  So
• 11:17
  There it is.
• 11:19
  So, Rob, you mentioned the terminal bar.
• 11:21
  I know you got a show coming up there, January 24.
• 11:24
  You wanna tell us about your spot there?
• 11:27
  Well, I just played there last month, and we did a a a kind of a band format.
• 11:32
  And I'm I'm I'm lucky where I can I've been there going there, like, the last three years
• 11:38
  every Monday.
• 11:39
  And, again, amazing musicians and fun people.
• 11:43
  So I can kind of pull and and drag whoever I want to come jam with me if they if they're
• 11:49
  available or come play with me.
• 11:51
  And the the last time, I'm not sure exactly what I'm gonna do this time, which is kind of
• 11:56
  fun.
• 11:57
  I can do a whole show myself.
• 11:58
  I can have a a friend of mine, Royce, who's an amazing guitar player.
• 12:02
  He can join me.
• 12:03
  I found this bass player who's a a college professor who who does amazing blaze parts on
• 12:09
  my on my on my songs that just change them completely.
• 12:13
  So it's it's I haven't decided what I'm gonna do, but we'll be playing on the twenty fourth.
• 12:19
  And then plus I have I have new songs, and then I added the piano.
• 12:22
  So I'm gonna bring the piano in and and maybe do some piano songs.
• 12:25
  Maybe do some acoustic songs.
• 12:27
  Maybe do a band song.
• 12:28
  Maybe I'll yeah.
• 12:29
  So it's you know, I would never imagine I would ever get to this spot where I was able to do
• 12:35
  this and then throw in cover songs as always if if you want to kind of thing.
• 12:39
  But being able to get to point where I'm playing all these instruments and I'm I'm able
• 12:43
  to connect to what what I'm feeling in my head when I when I'm writing to what what I wanna
• 12:48
  perform.
• 12:49
  And there's a song I wrote on the piano or wrote before the piano, but Four Roses that's
• 12:57
  on the Bandcamp site that probably my best song I've written in a long, long time.
• 13:03
  And it just, like, it feels so alive.
• 13:05
  And it it's a really I'm really proud of the song just lyrically and musically.
• 13:10
  So it it's stuff like that that makes this that what I do is worth it.
• 13:15
  And you're giving me a lot of confidence that maybe there is some longevity to the way I've
• 13:19
  been doing things.
• 13:20
  You just gotta, you know, reach out early and and meeting more people.
• 13:24
  You know, all the guys I played with last weekend were like, yeah.
• 13:26
  Whenever you're back in town, hit me up.
• 13:28
  And if the schedules work, they work.
• 13:30
  And if not, well, then you move down the list, I guess.
• 13:33
  So Yeah.
• 13:34
  Nice knowing that I'm not the only one out there doing it, and and, it it's a lot of fun,
• 13:39
  man.
• 13:39
  I mean, it's just so cool to get to go out and play our songs for people and and to have a
• 13:43
  spot like, sounds like the terminal bar has been.
• 13:47
  So every Monday, they have open mic, you're saying?
• 13:49
  Every Monday, they have open mic, and I'm always there early up to set up and stuff.
• 13:53
  And then, I usually go on first because it's like, no one ever wants to go on first.
• 13:57
  Right.
• 13:58
  And I'm like and then and then I and then I bring other music musicians up and we jam out
• 14:03
  or I try out new songs.
• 14:05
  So it gives me the chance, like, to to play around with new stuff and and and say, oh,
• 14:10
  let's do this.
• 14:11
  Let's do that.
• 14:11
  And whoever's there.
• 14:12
  And it's a great again, amazing musicians and fun people.
• 14:16
  And yeah.
• 14:18
  I I love it.
• 14:19
  Coming up, I I ran a couple open mics back in the Black Hills Of South Dakota where I grew
• 14:24
  up, and I've always loved that.
• 14:26
  I live kind of out in the sticks now in farm country, so it's a little less, feasible.
• 14:31
  But we do run a weekly in Sioux Falls, South Dakota that's kinda turning into that.
• 14:36
  We're calling it a roundtable right now.
• 14:37
  It was our weekly home of our songwriter showcase, which we did, up at the Midway Saloon
• 14:44
  recently as well, kind of in a more of a marathon format where I did six episodes back
• 14:49
  to back to back.
• 14:51
  And that's something that I would love to feature you on in the future as well, Robert.
• 14:56
  Anything else you wanna plug before we let you go?
• 14:58
  Make sure you get the website and everything out there.
• 15:00
  Yeah.
• 15:01
  The website is the robertdixon@bandcamp.com.
• 15:06
  Yeah.
• 15:07
  Robert Dixon.
• 15:08
  I'm on under Robert Dixon.
• 15:11
  I'm under Spotify and all the streaming services kind of stuff.
• 15:14
  So have a listen if you if you if you choose or you want to.
• 15:18
  It's I've got I've written no.
• 15:20
  I lost track.
• 15:21
  How many songs and albums I've done?
• 15:24
  I guess seven albums.
• 15:26
  I'm working on two possibly two albums now where I wanna do kind of a piano organic kind
• 15:33
  of album of some of my older songs and see how they collaborate or work with the piano.
• 15:39
  And then I have a bunch of new songs I wanna I wanna create a kind of more of a rock album off
• 15:44
  of.
• 15:44
  So
• 15:44
  It's gonna be an exciting year for you, Robert.
• 15:47
  I'm looking forward to it.
• 15:48
  Thank you.
• 15:49
  Well, hey.
• 15:50
  Thanks for being part of the scene.
• 15:52
  Thank you.
• 15:53
  Thanks for letting me have you on.