ROBIN MCAULEY Talks 'Gritty' Four Decades In Rock With MICHAEL SCHENKER And Solo Career

By David E. Gehlke

Veteran rock singer Robin McAuley has long been associated with German guitar hero Michael Schenker, first in the eponymous MCAULEY SCHENKER GROUP during the late 1980s and early 1990s, and more recently in MICHAEL SCHENKER FEST. It’s a natural pairing — McAuley‘s soulful, gritty voice helped bring Schenker some long-overdue commercial recognition with the 1987 single and video “Gimme Your Love”. This exposure also helped McAuley find future work when grunge emerged and reshaped the genre for the remainder of the decade. Much to the Irish-born singer’s delight and even surprise, the demand for MCAULEY SCHENKER GROUP material persists.

The man’s fourth solo foray, “Soulbound”, continues in his tradition of belting out tried-and-true, hooky rock. The effort is McAuley‘s third as part of the Frontiers Records stable — a working relationship where the frontman appears to thrive. With the release of “Soulbound” in mind and more live action with Schenker on the horizon, BLABBERMOUTH.NET caught up with the affable frontman when he was relaxing at home.

Blabbermouth: You stepped away from rock and metal for a stretch in the 1990s. Can we revisit that period? Did you miss it at all?

Robin: “I stepped back because my wife and I had twin boys. In addition to that, we, together with Michael Schenker, finished our last studio album [1991’s ‘M.S.G.’]. We had done a bunch of shows, then, of course, it seems like forever — and it is forever ago — but grunge came out of Seattle, and alternative kicked in after that. Nobody wanted to have rockers around. [Laughs] Some people went away and cut their hair, and they thought it would make a difference if they had short hair and could blend in. We’re a classic rock thing and didn’t do any of that. Then, my twin boys came along. I was doing a bunch of shows in Japan. Long story, I missed my son Jamie‘s first steps and it bummed me out. I came home and said, ‘You know what? It’s not like we’re crazy busy right now. Let’s pull the plug. I’m done.’ I’ve always had an interest in art and graphics. I went back to school. [Laughs] That was weird. I went back to school and got into computer graphics. Over the next 16 years, I became a senior production artist. To finish that joyride, I had medical insurance for my kids. I had a regular paycheck. I had dental insurance. I had all of the stuff that all of these musicians — true story — were calling me, ‘Dude. How do you do that?’ I said, ‘I knew the phone wasn’t going to be banging. I have kids. I have responsibility here.’ That’s basically what I did. I changed gears.

“When my boys were five, I got all of these calls from the SURVIVOR camp because I had worked with Frankie Sullivan at the end of the MCAULEY SCHENKER period. We wrote a record, and it sat there because it wasn’t what people wanted. People didn’t want any of that classic rock stuff. I had a call with Frankie, and he goes, ‘Hey. Are you ready to pick up the phone and do some work now?’ I never thought that SURVIVOR and I were a fit. He did. Then I was with SURVIVOR from 2000 through 2011. I had to do weekend warrior stuff. I got to be at home with my kids. I had a real job that was very boring, but it was a real job, and I had a real paycheck. I did a show where John Payne from ASIA was on the bill. John came up on the side of the stage. I’m on my way home the next day; I got my kids in the car because I just picked them up. John calls, ‘Hey, that was really cool seeing you. Your voice is great. I’m working on this project with the onus of getting a shot at Vegas.’ Well, fast forward, I became one of the original singers with a show called ‘Raiding The Rock Vault’. I spent about seven solid years and about 1,500 shows in Vegas doing ‘Raiding The Rock Vault’. And SCHENKER FEST happened, and here we are!”

Blabbermouth: You should be commended for not cutting your hair and wearing flannel.

Robin: “The clothes and hair don’t make the man. I put my priorities in place. I regret nothing. I made a huge number of tribute records, so I was in and out of the studio. I did a couple of movie soundtracks. I was always back there somewhere involved with music. My wife, I swear to god, said, ‘I hope the phone starts to ring pretty soon. You are a real pain in the ass when you are home. You love doing what you do. I love having you home, but as soon as you leave, I’ll miss you more than ever.’ In October, we’ll be married for 31 years.”

Blabbermouth: That’s an anomaly in this business!

Robin: “Well, it takes two to tango, and I could never have tangoed without my wife. I have two great boys; one of them is married. We became grandparents for the first time about three weeks ago.”

Blabbermouth: Did you have any withdraw from not being on the stage?

Robin: “Even though I was onstage mostly five nights a week when I was doing the Vegas residency, and I know it was some years later, but once that started and once those live audiences were there every night and once SCHENKER FEST kicked in and now we’re doing these enormous festivals—I’m seeing 50, 60, 70,000 people and I’m going, ‘Ah, man. Do I miss this!’ It wasn’t an ego thing. It had nothing to do with that. I was now with some of the original guys from MSG. There was great camaraderie. We all said, it almost became unspoken, ‘This is what we do. This is what we love to do. Let’s keep doing it.’ Then I pulled right out of the residency in Vegas, not to say the least that the pandemic kicked in. And my wife, she’s never satisfied, and she always loves to progress. She became a nurse during the pandemic. She goes, ‘Well, you’re home all the time. I have a little bit more time on my hands.’ It was on her bucket list. She took a two-and-a-half year study for nursing and became a nurse. It’s a process. It’s hard work, but it’s good work.”

Blabbermouth: Moving over to “Soulbound”. This record is right in your wheelhouse — the soulful, gritty material is where you are at your best. Was this something you requested from Frontiers?

Robin: “I was a huge FACES fan. The early Rod Stewart and FACES material is what I played when I was in clubs and pubs. I always go down that rabbit hole because that’s what I love. Then Paul Rodgers came along and that kind of gritty singers and I went, ‘Yup. That’s my wheelhouse there.’ I don’t know how to write any other way other than with a melody and hooky lyric. I just don’t. Sometimes, I’ll pick some songs that someone else wrote because it was a hooky melody and had some sort of grit to it. I go, ‘Yup. That’s what I feel most comfortable with.’

“On ‘Soulbound’, as opposed to the first one, ‘Standing On The Edge’ and ‘Alive’, my guitar player on those records, Andrea Seveso, is just a great player. He’s a young kid. Great melody sense and great tone. He got more involved during the writing of ‘Soulbound’ than he did on the previous two. I guess he did his apprenticeship. [Laughs] I wanted to push him front and center. I said, ‘I want to hear more of you on this record.’ He goes, ‘Really? I’ll still be there.’ I said, ‘I want to get those gritty, edgy guitar solos and tones more up front.’ Then, Alessandro Del Vecchio, who produced and co-wrote the first two, bails in the middle of the third one with the label. Then, I got involved with Aldo Lonobile, the new in-house guy. Aldo and I sat. I had all 11 songs submitted, and Aldo goes, ‘Eh, I think maybe this, this and this. Maybe you can visit and throw some songs around?’ He wanted to put his stamp on it. He sent me a bunch of stuff. ‘Soulbound’ was one of them. I liked the demo but wasn’t crazy about it. I said, ‘Can I cut this and see what I can do with this? It’s the only keyboard-y sounding track on the record. I want some light and shade.’ He said, ‘Take it and run with it.’ I sent it back, and he liked it. I liked the title. It’s a good song. I’ll take it. For the rest, we needed to swing the pendulum in a different direction. There’s Andrea all over it, and there’s another guitar player, Alessandro Mammola, who’s a great guy. Of course, Aldo is a great guitar and bass player. I had the best of both worlds. And Alfonso Mocerino is on drums. It’s funny with the drums. When I was cutting some of the vocals at the beginning of the recording, I said to my engineer here in L.A., Andy Zuckerman, ‘Andy, I hate that drum machine.’ It’s so awful. He goes, ‘I hate it too.’ I’m on the phone with Aldo, and he goes, ‘Hmmm. What drum machine?’ I went, ‘That drum machine that’s all over those damn tracks.’ He goes, ‘No drum machine. That’s one of the best drummers in Milan.’ He goes, ‘I enhanced the demos with my drum triggers.’ I said, ‘Take those damn triggers off.’ He said, ‘You have good ears!’ I went, ‘I’m not deaf!’ It pulled it back. I’m pleased with it. I always tell Frontiers, ‘Nobody is going to listen to my record anyway. Go ahead and do it!'”

Blabbermouth: There’s always much ado about Frontiers and their process of creating records. What’s it been like for you?

Robin: “That’s a great question because on the other side, I have BLACK SWAN. We just finished record number three. The drums just went down with Matt Starr. On the solo side, it’s now record number three. I never wanted to do a solo record, but now we have six [total with Frontiers]. It’s a lonely world on the solo front. I get all the music thrown at me. Out of 15, 16, maybe 20 songs, I’d say 11 get picked. You always question it: ‘Is that the magic 11? Should I have picked other songs?’ I spent a long time writing, trying to make the lyrics and melodies interesting. Frontiers likes the classic rock. It has to fall into that genre, if you will. For the most part, with the solo stuff, they’re really good. They go, ‘Do what you do. We’re going to love it.’ Of course, Aldo and myself, we’ll go, ‘Let’s do a little tweak here and there.’ The same goes for my video on ”Til I Die’, which is how we led off. People said, ‘You’re a cowboy, really?’ Literally, the day before the video, I was listening to MOTÖRHEAD‘s ‘Ace Of Spades’. I said, ‘I’m going to channel my ‘Philthy’ Taylor [drummer Phil Taylor] with the cowboy look.’ They go, ‘Sure. Whatever.’ I showed up in my outlaw stuff. They go, ‘This is really cool.’ Off we went into the desert. I spent all day shooting.”

Blabbermouth: You’re doing a lot of running in the video. How was your cardio?

Robin: “Yeah, thanks! [Laughs] My son, Casey, said, ‘Dad. Those assholes made you run in the video?’ I said, ‘Well, Casey, it was either that or getting on a horse.’ He asked, ‘How far did you have to run?’ I said, ‘Until I stopped.’ It was easy. [Laughs] I walk about two miles every day. What’s a bit of stretching between friends? I kept losing my hat during the video. It was windy out there, so the production crew kept running after it. I wasn’t about to. We lost the hat too many times. We were going to need to show someone picking up the hat, and we didn’t have anyone.”

Blabbermouth: For Schenker, you’ve been such a pillar in his career for so long. What makes it click?

Robin: “I think Michael‘s happy when you can go out with him and do the show. We won’t see each other for months on end. Then, there will always be, ‘Hmm. Are you good?’ He is playing like an absolute demon. We played Sweden Rock in the middle of last year; then we did Barcelona Rock. There were thousands of people. And WINGER was on the other stage, so there was Reb [Beach]. He goes, ‘Dude! That’s fucking badass.’ I go, ‘You know, you get up there.’ We didn’t even rehearse for Sweden Rock. We went up there and did it. There were a bunch of Swedish promoters at the show. They, I now know, came away going, ‘No MCAULEY SCHENKER songs? That’s why we came here!’ It’s such a well-run festival. It’s magnificent. On Sunday of this week, I came back from Sweden from a solo show. These promoters called and said, ‘We need you in to do a show of just MCAULEY SCHENKER material. I have a band out of Gothenburg called GATHERING OF KINGS. Amazing. We had two days. Not even two days, well, two four-hour sessions on Thursday and Friday rehearsal. I’m jet-lagged to no end. The show is on Saturday, and I’m back home on Sunday. These guys absolutely nailed the songs. It was like the record. I got invited back in August for another festival that I played two years ago with Schenker.”

Blabbermouth: The MCAULEY SCHENKER material has indeed stood up well. It’s nice to hear there’s still a demand.

Robin: “I tell you, it was a little emotional. When I hit the stage Saturday night, you don’t know what’s going to happen. It was an amazing venue. There were 1,100 people, sold out. As soon as we did the MCAULEY SCHENKER songs, I could have held out the mic and let them sing. They took the roof off. I’m going, ‘Wow, you think this stuff is so far gone.’ People are coming up, ‘Oh, dude, me and my wife…’ It was wonderful to hear. Be careful when you put what you’re writing on paper because you never know the effect on some people.”