Rockin’ in the region
Roblock eludes genre; ‘we set out to be ourselves’
In its infancy, a band is a blank slate. No set list. No talks of touring. No angry discussions of whether the music should be considered chamber pop or twee. At the beginning, a band is just a few late-night, beer-fueled jam sessions among friends looking for a little musical chemistry. For local rock outfit Roblock, memories of those early days of banddom (bandness?) are what keep the group’s music in check.
“This time around, we set out to be ourselves,” guitarist Dave Grant says. “Not to sound cliché about it, but we didn’t go into it trying to sound like someone else.”
“We wanted to have fun playing,” bassist Dave McCall says. “We wanted to keep that purity and not try to be anything at all, really. Everyone is trying to sound indie these days. So it’s cool to have a three- or four-chord song where there’s seemingly no ‘art’ involved. Nothing abstract and mathematical. Because that’s not always easy on the ears.”
The band – McCall, Grant, vocalist Joel Squires and drummer Tom Wagoner – is adept at not allowing its genre-free music to spiral out of control. Rooted in ’80s jangle pop, their music is peppered with athletic ’70s-era guitar riffage (complete with nods to Mountain’s “Mississippi Queen”), thundering rock drums and confessional lyrics. Add to this a few well-placed electronic flourishes and the result is a fresh take on the lean, confessional rock of the college radio era.
“I don’t think rock is defined by keeping it as raw as possible,” Grant says. “There are ways to contribute to the rock sound – with more ambient looping – that keeps it new. Plus, we’re still writing. It will be interesting to see how our sound is affected as time goes on.”
Including electronic looping in the band’s music was not a decision the band struggled with. Although the band set out to take rock back to its original elements, it wanted to avoid sounding like a tribute to a bygone era.
“We’re still a four-piece band,” McCall says. “We have that stripped-down sound, but with a lot of loops, too. Rock is expansive; we weren’t going to give ourselves rules before we even began.”