HEADLINES

A Rock Artist With an Uplifting Lyrical Pulse, Walk “Between the Lines” with Shameless Rob

October 03, 2019
Shameless Rob has artistry running through his veins. He grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area in the 70’s and 80’s. His Father was a visual artist who graduated from an art school in Chicago, and has sketched and painted hundreds of pieces of art. His Father was offered a position with Walt Disney in the 1950’s, but turned it down to his later regret. Shameless Rob’s Mother had vocal “chops”, recording a gospel album in San Francisco in the late 1950’s. 

Rob’s early years consisted of learning piano at age 8, turning to drums at age 11. Rob continued to play drums at his local church, high school orchestra and marching band, and later in college. His true passion was writing music. He picked  up the acoustic guitar at age 14, self taught, and began writing his first songs. He’s continued to write music and perform on occasion into adulthood. By the age of 21, Rob attended a Christian College, and graduated with a Theology degree. His goal was to become a minister, but he was conflicted with religious beliefs and theological contradictions. Rob described this experience, “I lost my religion, but kept my faith. My own acceptance was more important to me than religious groups or family acceptance.” 

Just as his Father served in WWII, in Rob’s early 20’s, he enlisted and served in the US Military. He was stationed at Ft. Lewis, WA, and overseas in Germany and Italy during Desert Storm. He recorded his first song overseas, “Depths of Hell”. “At the time, I was so proud of recording my first song. When I played this for family members, the reception was underwhelming,”  Rob indicated his lyrical content seemed somewhat conflicted with his religious roots. Rob continued to hone his songwriting, towards creating relatable, “human” lyrical content while maintaining honest integrity. 

“Being human can often be grimy and sometimes shitty. I want to help channel open honest dialogue through my music. After serving, and returning to civilian life in Seattle, it was really difficult for me to adjust. I didn’t realize until much later, that a lot of my Father’s behavior and my own was related to PTSD. My Dad had been in a coma for over a week after having been impacted by mortar fire in Germany during WWII. Although my experiences were different than his, I don’t believe one has to be in actual combat to be at war internally.”

Nevertheless, life continued to take over from there, Rob began raising three children, working a variety of jobs. Rob’s songwriting continued, where he performed for local parties, small Seattle venues including Alibi Room, Murphy’s Pub, and in Portland at the Sundown Pub, and St. James Irish Pub. “Songwriting became my outlet to break free. I started ‘Dining with Ghosts’ again” and would play for whomever would listen. 

Rob began taking his vocals much more serious, enlisting one of the most unrivaled vocal coaches in Seattle, the late Maestro David Kyle. Rob was familiar with Maestro Kyles resume’. This included amazing artists such as; Geoff Tate of Queensryche, Layne Staley of Alice in Chains, and Ann Wilson of Heart. After spending some time in vocal training, Shameless Rob emerged with a greater sense of confidence, vocal tone, pitch and range. 

Rob later formed a band project in 2012, recording and performing around the Seattle area. Shameless Rob performed rock with an “bluesy” edge at local festivals and venues including Studio 7, The New Orleans and Skylark Cafe. Rob’s project took him to ButterSound Recording Studios in Everett, WA. Chip Butters, the owner and engineer, had done projects with members of Soundgarden, Guns N Roses, Pearl Jam, Alice in Chains, and The Posies to name a few. Shameless Rob’s first project at Butter Sound consisted of six tracks; Breathe, Whiskey River Blues (Morrison Blues), Dining with Ghosts, Stay, Shame on You and Your Crazy. Rob was accompanied by some amazing players including Frank Outhet on lead acoustic and electric guitar, violin, mandolin and background vocals, Mark Schornack performing bass guitar and background vocals, and Markus Kamp percussionist, background vocalist, performing Djembe on “Breathe.” 

In July 2012, Shameless Rob released his first single, “Whiskey River Blues.” This song received US and International airplay.  Rob had his first-ever two hour radio interview by a UK radio station, The Cat. Once again, life took over with the loss of family members, getting engaged, custody issues, and experiencing the loss of one of his best friends from suicide. The “band” project soon fell to the wayside. 

There was a significant amount of work to be done on previously recorded tracks, so Rob continued to spend time at ButterSound studios on his own, laying down multiple acoustic and electric guitar tracks, organ tracks, background harmonies, mixing and eventually mastering his album, “Between the Lines.” His first album was later released on Rob’s birthday, July 3rd, 2019 (7 years after he had started the project). Maybe one of the best ways to describe Shameless Rob’s first album is having, "Elements of heavy percussive rhythm, with an intimate pulse of heavy rock guitar landings, inspires and captures uplifting movements towards freedom through thoughtful lyrical visuals." Since releasing his first album, on ReverbNation his album reached #1 on Seattle, WA Rock Charts, and reached #70 on the National Charts.

Rob is often asked to describe the origin of, “Shameless Rob.” It was based on a time in  Rob’s life when had lost nearly everything. After his divorce in 2005, he lost his home, family member support, friends, often having an estranged relationship with his three kids, “drowning” in debt, and “all I got from the divorce was a piece shit Minivan. The transmission went out the first week I moved out. From that point on, I declared ‘I will always have a newer car.’ What I did have, was a good job. The culture where I worked offered me compassion, and a real support system to weather this difficult time. Coupled with a small handful of ‘Angels’ along the way, a great counselor, lovers and friends who literally gave me the shirt off their back, and taught me how to love again. They inspired me to write such lyrics as, ‘Sometimes I want to be free, to love you, the way I want you to love me.’ I think we need to hold out for those who want to understand us, for those who want to come alongside us, those relationships willing to really get us! These deeper connections come out of the ‘clay,’ thousands of generations before us who struggled in the gritty, painful side of things and survived. I think the term ‘Shameless Rob’ came from working on my own ‘bullshit,’ facing my own cathartic experiences to emerge a better person than when I started. I learned that there was ‘no shame in love.’ I see things differently now. Where there was unforgiveness and judgement, there’s now understanding and acceptance.” Rob's a "penny poet," with the goal of implicating the importance of honesty and self-love, a springboard to hope in a “human” journey, moving away from guilt, shame and loneliness towards that of loving ourselves and others. ”I think it’s amazing how far one act of kindness towards another can go…it’s up to us to change our family trees” 

Rob went on to finish his Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology. He was later engaged onstage with the band, “Journey” in Mandalay Bay, Las Vegas, and remarried in 2015 to his “forever.” Shameless Rob has in his sights a second album, with hopes of release by 2022, and plans to start touring at that time.
Though he was featured in recently released Lifoti's September 2019 issue 09, you can check it from below link's for your country:

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