Robyn Hitchcock's Still Learning To Rock

04/14/09 1:07pm

by Steve McLean (CHARTattack)

Robyn Hitchock has gone through four phases in a music career that's lasted more than 30 years. He played with The Soft Boys, led The Egyptians, was a solo artist and now, with his past two albums, is the frontman for The Venus 3.

This latest project also includes R.E.M. guitarist Peter Buck, drummer Bill Rieflin and multi-instrumentalist Scott McCaughey, and their new album is titled Goodnight Oslo.

"This tour with the V3 is fantastic, but we're still working on it," Hitchcock says over the phone en route to a show in Washington, D.C. "That's the great thing. I'm in my mid-fifties and I'm still learning how to rock."

Hitchcock wrote all the songs on Goodnight Oslo except for "Sixteen Years," for which Buck wrote the music. The two men have worked together on and off since Robyn Hitchcock & The Egyptians' 1988 album, Globe Of Frogs, and Hitchcock is full of praise for the musician's prolificity.

"It wouldn't be hard for him to compose an album a month, or maybe even a week. He gives most of it to Michael Stipe, but there's a lot of other stuff that doesn't get used or goes somewhere else, so that's good."

Hitchcock recently collaborated with a fellow Englishman who's also sometimes known almost as much for his quirkiness as his music: Andy Partridge. The former XTC singer, guitarist and songwriter doesn't work as quickly as Buck, which means the duo have nothing yet to show for their work together.

"We've started a lot, but haven't managed to finish anything," says Hitchcock. "He's quite tidal, Andy Partridge.

"Sometimes he's in and sometimes he's out. You can't always guarantee that he'll want to do something.

"And I myself am away an awful lot. Unlike him, I tour a lot and I can be off the map for months at a time.

"There are a lot of good songs that we've started, and there are bits and pieces on tape of various quality, and I hope we get to finish it.

"When we get together, we're able to get the ideas really fast. It's possible that we should be subjected to a producer, but Andy's a producer in his own right and I have my ideas, too. So I don't know who would be the right candidate and where they would put us."

Hitchcock took part in last autumn's Cape Farewell voyage to western Greenland to see the effect of global climate change on the glaciers and icebergs along the coast. He was joined by scientists, writers, filmmakers and musicians K.T. Tunstall, Jarvis Cocker, Laurie Anderson, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Martha Wainwright, Vanessa Carlton and Feist. You can read his expedition blogs here, and you may also hear some music that emerged from the project.

"There are two pubs in Greenland, and we played both of them," says Hitchcock, who anticipates a larger-scale Cape Farewell concert being held in London, England next January.

There were musical collaborations on board the ship as well, and Hitchcock recorded a couple of songs with Tunstall.

"I don't know if any of us will be able to write the great eco anthem or whether we can just contribute to a public service announcement saying, 'Turn off your lights if you're not in the room' and other energy-saving tips like that," Hitchcock explains.

"We need to do things to make people aware that there's a war on now, and it's against ourselves. I hope we win."

Next year will mark the 30th anniversary of the release of The Soft Boys' second, and best known, album, Underwater Moonlight. Yep Roc will reissue it and include some of its material in a Soft Boys box set similar to what they've done with the I Wanna Go Backwards and Luminous Groove retrospectives of other parts of Hitchcock's career.

"The Soft Boys wasn't much fun to do at the time, but I'm very glad we did it," Hitchcock says of the influential group and their blend of psychedelic rock, jangly pop and punk styles. "It was very much not what people wanted to hear back then, but it seems to have lasted, so I'm very proud of that stuff."

Hitchcock is also proud of Goodnight Oslo and its Venus 3 predecessor, Ole! Tarantula, and is looking forward to playing songs from them at Toronto's Mod Club on Thursday. His blue Stratocaster guitar was stolen the last time he was in the city, but that experience hasn't soured him on Ontario's capital.

"We're looking forward to getting up to area code 416 and seeing the trams and wandering around Queen and Spadina," Hitchcock says. "We get in the night before the show, so I'll have time to have a ride on the trams and go to The Queen Mother on the Queen groovers' strip, while Peter will go to the record stores."

UPDATE: Thursday's show at Toronto's Mod Club has been postponed due to illness.

You can see Robyn Hitchcock & The Venus 3 here:

April 14 Burlington, VT @ The Higher Ground Showcase
April 17 Ferndale, MI @ The Magic Bag
April 18 Chicago, IL @ Epiphany
April 19 Minneapolis, MN @ The Varsity Theater
June 6 Upper Darby, PA @ Tower Theater w/The Decemberists
June 8 Columbia, MD @ Merriweather Post Pavilion w/The Decemberists and Andrew Bird
June 9 Boston, MA @ Bank Of America Pavilion w/The Decemberists
June 10 New York, NY @ Radio City Music Hall w/The Decemberists
June 13 Manchester, TN @ Great Stage Park (Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival)