Interview with…Eric Roberson

Thank you, it’s been my third year. A great marriage and we just had a son who’s eleven months.

Business, but I do try to add a bit of pleasure in there also. I brought the family because I know I’ll be out here for a while. But I just did this Stevie Wonder tribute and I’m promoting the new album.

I love it! I’ve got a lot of friends here. A good friend of mine had a baby three days before ours, so my son’s got a little play buddy out here. And yeah, good times. I love to perform out here; I know all the stages pretty well and musicians too. I love Tinseltown, that’s the spot! And Nandos! We eat, we shop and we enjoy it.

Wow! That would be Grease in high school. It was a high school production. I played Kenickie. You know the one who goes go ‘greased lightning!’…and stands on the car?It was a fun experience.

Well I got a scholarship to Howard University. So it kind of made sense not to go to school for political science as I was going to school for free, and my parents have always been really supportive so they were like go ahead. At Howard we had Donny Hathaway and Roberta Flack, so there was a history there. And the group ‘Shy’ (sings and if I ever fall…), they were friends of mine at Howard and they got signed and sold millions of records. It was the right environment to get a taste of what was going on and I ended up getting a record deal before I graduated with Warner Bros. and I did an album and then I went back to finish school.

Well I was probably singing before I was song-writing. But song-writing and singing were always the same thing. I had a good career as a song-writer but I had desires of having my own career as well. I had these songs that I wasn’t willing to sell, because they were very personal to me. So that’s what kind of lead me into going in my independent direction.

Singing isn’t that fun without the song-writing part. I have a connection from a song-writers perspective even to songs that I don’t write as you have to add a character to the portrayal of what the music holds. I would go crazy if I couldn’t write, because I wake up with ideas in my head.

It’s literally all the above. I write about my personal life a lot. And I think that it helps a lot. I am very observant and I don’t believe in writers block. I don’t think it should ever happen. There’s literally joy and pain everywhere you look.

Oh yeah, a big part, on the good and the bad…

I call it honest music. I don’t really lean on genres or titles too much. It’s really what I honestly feel at the time. I have no problem doing a complete Rock ‘n’ Roll song in the middle of a soul album. I have no problem blending them all together. If I feel it’s from an honest place then I go with it. But I will say that my music is deeply rooted in Soul music.

There’s so many to name. But I’ll tell you the three that to this day I am mixing together to make a perfect Gumbo. Stevie Wonder is first. Secondly the Commission – a gospel group from Detroit. I heard their music for the first time when I was thirteen and their music was like punching me in the chest. Their lyrics were so passionate and thought-provoking. And then a Tribe Called Quest, a Hip hop group from Queens. An amazing rap group. They were the first people who in my opinion were like sampling African drums and Jazz music and they just mixed things together.

There’s an artist from back in the seventies named Bill Withers (sings Ain’t no Sunshine when she’s gone…and lean on meee). I feel like I relate to him as he was older when he started. He wasn’t really too much caught up on getting his elbows in as he stayed a family man. One day, he had a couple of kids and he was like ‘I’m good, I’m just going to stop.’ I’m not really into changing myself to get a new crowd. And I think that with Bill Withers, from the moment he realised he wasn’t being him, he just stopped. But he had a ton of hits and he’s got royalties cheques for days.

It’s just a version of the happy face. We had an idea of how you’d give Mr. Nice Guy a sticker. And so we thought what if we change it up. I’ve had this little parting in my hair for a while, and I wear these glasses. So we said let’s see if we can make a happy face out of a rendition of me.

The beautiful thing about Jersey was Hip Hop started in New York and we’re not in New York but we’re right across the water and we can hear what’s going on.

You know you grew up in Church and all day everyday was like choirs. But you know from a household rhythm and blues was just there. You know my father, he loved music and I took completely after him. He would come home with a country album, a rock album, he pretty much would stop at the record store before he came home everyday. So when he put the records on, we’d be like ‘yo, this is crazy.’ I just remember that if it was good, it was good. Like yeah, I’d want to dance to that. Then only when I started studying who’s Stevie Wonder? Who’s Marvin Gaye? That’s when I really started embracing rhythm and blues. When I was younger I was holding everything.

You’ve got to be focused on what you love because it’s going to test you. Whether you’re an independent artist or a major artist, even like Lady Gaga or Usher it’s tough. You’ve got to work really hard to maintain what you have. For me, I would say that the easiest part is getting in there, staying in the industry is the hard part. I was always focused on my overall goal whilst not having to compromise too much.

No, not really. At the time, when I was probably picking myself up after running into a brick wall I might have thought I wish I never did that. But I can almost look back at every problem and short coming and laugh at it. You’ve got to respect the downs just as much as you respect the ups if you ever plan to grow.

So for pleasure I listen to a group called King from LA. An amazing group with a new EP out called ‘The Story’. And then there’s this weird band out of New York called Francis and The Lights and they’re just really fly. But at the same time I’m digging the new Kanye and Jay-Z album.

Man, I’m currently working on getting my son to walk. And then you know, getting this album to connect with the vision that we had and get ready for the tour. So yeah we’ll be out here October 13th at Indigo2.

You just never know. I never know what I’m going to do tomorrow. But I have no problem mixing it up. I think it gets faster as we go. Like back in the day it was definitely more focused on the ballads and being slow, and we seem to be getting a little bit faster, bit by bit.

This visit I kind of met off-and-on, but I had a good chance to talk with Omar, an amazing, legendary Soul singer from London. And that is pretty much it.

Spending time with friends, did a little shopping the day before yesterday. My favourite shop when I am in London is Muji.

I love G-Star and Hugo Boss. Outside of my sneakers I probably have on all Hugo Boss right now. I’ve got to look for things that make me look sexy. So just comfortable but fly!

It’s a tie between Omar and Lewis Taylor. I keep my eye for a lot of acts that are out here and I’m really impressed with Donnie, and I keep an ear out for Chipmunk, he’s got a dope song with Chris Brown. And Wretch 32’s dope!

Just a Jersey kid who still loves music. Loves family and people. I like to sit down and eat with my friends, and have a good laugh. And I’m a big sports fan too.

I wouldn’t mind more kids and a couple more albums just to be productive and to continue to grow.

Interesting that you ask that, we were boyfriend and girlfriend for a long time. And she told me that she wasn’t necessarily into marriage. So my wife actually proposed to me. So she took me on a trip to Mexico and while we were out there she proposed to me. So about a year and a half later we went to our favourite restaurant, called Booticons and we mainly love the donut deserts which come in a little Chinese take-out box. So we went there and after we were all stuffed, they brought the donut box out with the little ring box inside it. So I get down on one knee and she just lost it. And from there I couldn’t do wrong for about another two days!