home back to interviews	The New Boy Rob Sowden July 1999
	May 15th. An important day in the history of Arena and The Cage. The release of our new fan club CD. The first real acquaintance with vocalist Rob Sowden. Just before he will go on stage we sit down to ask him some questions in order to get to know him. A broad, warm smile and twinkling eyes greet us while Arena's tall new front man takes a seat, eager to answer our questions. Who is Rob Sowden? What did you do before you joined Arena? You mean musically? Well, I still kind of have a band I put together myself about a few years ago. Obviously Arena is a bigger and more serious thing, but I've always been involved in music. I've always sung in bands. What kind of music? My first ever band was a progrock band, like this, but I've done all sorts of different things. I've sung all kinds of music you can think of, also music that I wrote myself. I wrote a lot of different styles of music. Sometimes acoustic music, I've written a few what could be called progressive rock kind of songs, and also contemporary music, pop music. You're still in a band at the moment? Well, it's my band and it's going to end up just being a project more than anything else. Obviously, I've got to concentrate on Arena,; that's the most important thing, full-time thing. What's the name of your band? And have you recorded any albums yet? Red Mercury, but we haven’t really recorded anything. Well, not anything that has been put out through a record company or anything like that. Nothing like that. We understood that your musical influences are very varied, going from Abba to Rush. Yeah, from one extreme to the other. I like every kind of music really, I suppose. It's easier to name bands I don't like. Could you name a few bands you do like? Led Zeppelin. There's a band not many people have heard of, called Swervedriver, I really like them. They're a good band, complicated, interesting music. To tell you the truth, there aren't a lot at the moment. I don't really like most of the music nowadays. It's just not my kind of music at all. I like jazz and I like drum 'n bass and that's about it. What's your audition story for Arena? How did you join? A long time ago John [Mitchell - ed.]- eds.] told me - he's produced every kind of re-cording I've done with Red Mercury - a long time ago he mentioned he was in Arena and not so long ago, three months ago I think it was, I can't remember actually when the time was, he just sort of came up to me and said ‘Would you like to audition' and that was it really, quite simple. And you went up to Shutteroaks? Yeah, that's right. Clive and Mick were there. They just wanted to hear my voice and see whether I could sing or not. You didn't send them anything at all? I think John had played them some music that he had of mine. I think he played it be-fore I even knew anything about it. Obviously they wanted to hear my voice live and it wasn't just like that, you know. I had to go and see them quite a few times before they made a decision. It's a big deal for them. They didn't really want to lose Paul. But that's a different story. How was it to sing someone else's songs? Very difficult for me, very difficult. Learning Clive's lyrics, he writes so many lyrics. I mean, that's obviously an attractive feature of Arena's music. It's very theatrical, a lot of lyrics, a lot of information coming through. It's a very creative picture. That's the attraction of the music, but it's hard work for a singer who's in it for two months. You sing it very naturally, or so it seems. Thank you, thanks. I do my best. I'll try not to let you down tonight. Do you know all the Arena albums at this moment? Well, yeah, I've got them all and I've listened to them all. I don't know the words to all of them. Any favourites so far, to sing or to listen to? That's strange actually, isn't it? Sometimes you think ‘I like that song', but then when you come to sing it you don't really enjoy singing it as much as listening to it. For instance, Midas [Vision - ed.]- eds.]. I don't enjoy singing that as much as listening to it. There's a lot of sounds going on... I like most of The Visitor. I think The Visitor is a really good progression and I like where The Visitor was going. So I like virtually all of that. I'm a kind of a romantic, so I do like the gentler songs. They're best for me to sing as well. But, you know, live, I haven't had that experience yet. To jump up and down and really go for it and go with the crowd. And again, tonight, it will still be very laid-back, it's not going to be full arm. I look forwards to go for the full arm, you know, with the whole backing. And by then I will know the words more. You mentioned the theatrical aspects of Arena's music. We understood you have some experience with theatre. No, I've always wanted to do that, but it's not something I've ever done. I've been a lot on the stage a lot,; as a vocalist you like that anyway really. Actually, I mean, the thing that I dislike about a lot of bands that you see nowadays, like Oasis and all of these people, is that they're boring to watch. I went to a festival a few years ago and Oasis were there - I wouldn't go and just see them, that's not my kind of music - and they were just so dreadfully boring to watch. I can't understand there are just no exciting people. If you compare David Bowie for instance, he's great to watch, a lot of charisma and, great movement. Where are all the rock stars? There are no rock stars anymore, nobody exciting. How many people who follow music know every member of a new band, stuff like that. Nobody. I remember when I was a kid, you knew the names... It's a funny thing, because although for a long time I didn't listen to progressive rock music, when I was a kid I did, (back when I was like twelve, thirteen years old). And I'm actually working with these people that I used to listen to. Sometimes I have to pinch myself, you know. Like, is this really happening? Yeah, well, it still doesn't seem real until I've actually done a gig, like tonight. What do you expect from tonight? I'd just like to get through it [laughs]. You just want it to be tomorrow? Well, tonight. I want a few beers later. It'd be nice to relax afterwards and sit down with all you guys. We're all going to go for a drink, aren't we? That'd be really nice.  I'm not really nervous, but I can only be honest with you: I haven't had enough time to learn the words and that really bothers me. I know performance is a big thing. You want to see me perform. I'm not making any excuses, I'll do my best. I think I might make a joke of it some time and then. I'm confident about my voice and I'm confident about my ability, but I hope I can show that to you. All eyes are always on the vocalist, the front man. I'm used to that, I'm not worried about that. You seem to sing very easily, like it's something you do just like that. Well, I never feel I do. I've got a lot of practice singing. I have a night I organise every week, in the town where I live. It's a night for other people, it's not for me to sing. I do sing, I start the night and I finish the night. I invite other singer songwriter type people, people who play acoustic guitar and sing, I get a saxophone and a bit of percussion. It's like this, an acoustic night, and it's for people who don't get a chance or are nervous about playing. They might have just written a song that week and decide they want to do it. So that's what I do and of course I sing every week then. Every single week I'm per-forming live. So I guess I'm very relaxed. It doesn’t show, does it? [laughs] Do you play any instruments yourself? I play guitar. Are you going to play guitar for Arena in the future? We'll see, won't we? I don't really know what the situation is. Did you already talk about writing for the new album? I think they want me to be involved in the writing of the new album, because I played them a couple of songs that I think might be interesting for Arena and they did seem interested. They might tear them apart and put them back together again with other people's ideas, stuff like that, but I think I will be involved, I'd like to be involved. I'm a creative person. They're really open for that, because John wrote Elea and it appeared on The Visitor. It was a song he already had for quite some time. Yeah, that's right.  It might work out with some of your songs. I'd love that. I am a little bit precious. If I had a song that I'd think would be really good and then suddenly it got taken to pieces, perhaps I wouldn't want that, I don't know. We'll have to see. Sometimes other people's ideas can be an improvement, sometimes you're not so sure, you have to think about it. Do you have any ideas for the new album? I've been thinking about it, but nothing's really come out yet. I don't know how much involvement I will have at this moment, but in time - hopefully I will be with Arena long enough time to get involved. And do you write lyrics as well? I like writing lyrics. That's my main thing really. I think Clive's are excellent arrangements, that's something I picked up, excellent arrangements. I really like the guitar work on The Visitor as well. You can just tell, I just knew it was him [John Mitchell - eds.] straight away. He has a style I've always liked. Everything he's ever done. Actually, a long time ago we did a song together. He wrote a song that he was recording in the studio. It was just him and an acoustic guitar and a lot of effects. It was a beautiful song. He asked me to do some backing vocals. We've worked a lot together over the years. It's nice. Good things. We're going to name give you some words, just words and we would like you to react. Ah, psychotherapy now. We're going to start off with ‘Melanie Sykes' [Rob mentioned this name various times in his personal file… -eds.]. She's really an honest person. It's very funny, her accent, she's from the North in England and she talks like this you know [starts to talk with a heavy accent]. She's very blunt and straight and they use her on advertising for Burlington’s Bitter. It's from Manchester and she's from Manchester and she goes ‘Burlington’s Bitter is the cream of Manchester'. And she says things like ‘Do you want a flake in that' and that's a big catch phrase. It's just the way she says it. But she has such a charm as well, she's beautiful. I like the dark, sultry look. So if you know anybody... No, I do have a girlfriend. I should say that. ‘Visitor'. Straight away I felt a kind of an alien thing was running through it. I don't know whether that's because I'm interested in that kind of thing. I love the paranormal, the UFO's, un-explained kind of scenarios and all that. I just kind of felt in the album... A strange presence... Yeah. I've got some ideas. If we do perform The Visitor live, which I think probably will be the intention... I don't know whether I'm giving things away, but obviously you know we've got some gigs lined up for October. I believe that sort of will be leaning towards The Visitor. And yeah, I've got some ideas for the performance. You will find out. ‘Music'. Generally? It's a difficult one. It's a bit of a broad topic. Tell me something else. ‘Ambition'. I've always been very ambitious, especially towards music. Music is the only thing that I ever wanted to do since I think I left school. When I was in school I didn't realise I could do something like music and survive. I didn't learn the guitar until ten years ago. I left school a long time ago. I started playing the guitar cause I wanted to write. My first band was when I was seventeen years old. This band was called Sahara, and that was it. I think probably from a very early age I wanted to sing, but I never realised I could. With my first band, I had this dreadful voice and it was just like [makes a shrieking sound]. But I stood with it. Maybe it was a childish thing at the time, a dream, you know, a fantasy, but I stayed with it and I've always played music. I've always been involved in music and I've always tried to be successful with a band, so this is the best thing that's ever happened. It's the best thing in my life so far. ‘Politics'. I'm not very confident with how things are being run generally worldwide. I think that politics are all over the place. You know, capitalism with a heart maybe. I'm not really a socialist, I'm not a militant minded person. But at the same time I'm not conservative, I'm very liberal, I suppose. It's difficult. Every country's different. In England at the moment, for someone like me, being a creative person, bit of responsible sometimes, it's difficult to toe the line. I mean, in our country you pay tax on tax. You're taxed for everything, but I'm not sure this is correct. I don't trust the government. I don't believe the money is getting spent in the right places. I think the big problem is the short-term view on everything. I think that's a problem worldwide. In most countries they don't think beyond two years, four years, a parliamentary term. That's all they think about. And I don't think it's long enough. People don't plan far enough ahead. I think that's a big problem across of all, from music to the structure of society, everything.  When you look at it from a musical point of view, it’s about the very nature of the kind of cheap, throw- away pop music , that only has a life expectancy of three years. They don't want a band to last longer than that. They want a blast of money coming in. They don't think about big bands that used to stay around forever, like all of these bands that are still around. One big hit single is all they want. Yeah, that's all they care about. Like I was saying earlier, you used to remember the name of every member of the band and these guys would be around for ten years, twenty-five years. Fleetwood Mac, Led Zeppelin. And all of these bands are coming back as well. All of these bands are still playing. Seventies bands like The Three Degrees and all these tribute bands for Abba, you know. What's wrong with the music industry is the short-term view. Money, it's all about money. Yeah, but the ironic thing is they would make more money backing longer-term projects. ‘Miracle'. Miracle. That's yet to happen. Tonight [laughs]. If I get through this, it's a miracle. ‘Monday'. Back to work. I'm afraid I do have a job at the moment, nine to five, office, but it's okay. When you've got something like this to look forward to you can bear it. ‘Mirror'. Yeah, I've been doing a lot of that actually, lately. Looking at myself. Cause the boys in the band have been trying to explain what would be expected of me and that I had to be more self-conscious. In my own bands I can do what I want, it's just me. Whereas with this, like with this interview, I want to really think about what I'm going to talk to you about. Obviously avoid certain subjects. So, yeah, I've been a bit self-conscious lately. Looking over my shoulder [laughs]. ‘Arena'. Like I said, it's the best thing that's happened to me. I'm excited about the whole thing. And I'd like to stay with it. ‘Home'. I don't get homesick. I like to travel with Arena. It's a shame when you've got a tour - I've never done a big tour or anything, only in the UK - it's a shame that you don't have more time to spend at each place. Obviously you go from one town to the other very quickly. But home is the world. The whole place. So I'm happy wherever I go. Something that struck us is that in your Personal File you mentioned you would like to cover the song Vienna by Ultravox. That's what the boys fancied. I think they changed my thing a bit. I've put something silly down, like Sugar Sugar [starts to sing] Sugar do-do-do-do [laughs]. John Jowitt probably changed it, cause it's in his Personal File. Was it? Okay, I suppose it would be interesting to do Vienna. Quite a demanding vocal line. I don't know what I'd like to cover really. I really enjoyed the IQ gig in London. They did Mamma Mia. It was superb! It was so good. Everybody was jumping around. It was really fun. Something like that I think would be great. What do you think of the Marillion covers Arena did some years ago? Don't know a lot about it. Forgive my ignorance. The whole nature of the word progressive rock is you move on, I think. Clive once said that there's nothing more regressive than prog. It seems to be like that, but I felt that The Visitor had something of a progressive nature about it. I'd like to see, without losing the core of what progressive rock is,. I'd like to see a progression in the use of sounds or whatever., Like Clive's used on The Visitor. Fantastic album. I only wish I sang on it really. Well, that's it for now. Thank you very much. Well, thank you. By: Marcel Kolenbrander & Erik Beers By: name