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​Reach for The Sky
Muirsical Conversation with Robert Fleischman
Picture
Robert Fleischman has had a fair old career in the music business.

But although the singer has released various solo albums from rock-orientated to ambient, been part of the bands Channel and the Vinnie Vincent Invasion and scored a number TV and film soundtracks, he seems destined to always be known as "the first front man of Journey" (preceding Steve Perry by nine months).

Hopefully however that often-used quote can now be superseded by “the front man of THE SKY,” the band project first announced by the singer in early 2009.

Because THE SKY are a breath of fresh musical air and their eponymously titled debut album blows the cobwebs off a somewhat stale musical state of affairs, certainly as regards current trends for glossy no substance pop and pastiche classic or retro-rock.

FabricationsHQ got together with Robert just after THE SKY released their debut offering to talk about the album, the band and the singer’s interesting and varied musical career thus far...

Ross Muir: First of all Robert, thanks for dropping by FabricationsHQ and congratulations on THE SKY, both in terms of the band itself and the strong debut outing.

Robert Fleischman: Thank you so much Ross for your interest in THE SKY, especially coming from Scotland! My pleasure.

RM: When I reviewed the album, I described THE SKY as "high-energy with a vibrant, open sound that gives the songs room to resonate." Rock music with attitude, as opposed to the all-too-frequent manufactured or formulaic music that seems to be dominating these days…

RF: This is the first time I've recorded a band live. In the past I usually just kind of piece together everything in the recording studio one track at a time, where I think you lose that human element and energy.
I think we accomplished capturing the spark. I would write three or four songs and pick the ones with the most energy and started compiling the record that way. It was a great experience having a band at your fingertips to workout ideas. So I loved the whole process of doing this record, more than anything else I've done.


RM: Vocally too, there is an attitude or edgy quality that suits the music…

RF: The Band really pushed me, giving me that adrenaline rush. Rehearsing for some time and doing a couple of shows before we went into the studio really helped me and the band a lot and gave me a lot of perspective. It's like trying to capture lightning in a jar. I would record songs at home then bring them into rehearsal and the songs would just explode with a whole new attitude and muscles. The band is just terrific.

RM: I’d like to feature a few songs from the album and it makes perfect sense to start with ‘All I Want,’ being the first song on the album and loudly and clearly confirming the “music with attitude” comment.

RF: I wanted to start the record out with ‘Broken Glass,’ because of the intro with the backwards guitars and all that, which would have started the record a little bit more dramatic and cerebral. But I think that would have lost the original idea, which was to capture the energy and hit you between the ears at the get go.

RM: The first few numbers on the album carry on from where ‘All I Want’ left off, keeping up the energy and intensity of the opener...

RF: The sequence of songs was definitely very important. Past records that I've done I would listen to later and thought why didn't I string all the songs with the most energy all together? Instead of a salt and pepper approach. So I didn't with this one. You live and learn.

RM: I also find there is a similarity between the THE SKY and some of the British guitar bands of the 90’s, such as the alternative rock of The Verve and the brash swagger of Oasis. Were such bands, or that musical movement, influences as regards the sound of THE SKY? 

RF: Those are terrific bands but no, they had no influence on me. I'm a bit older than those bands and grew up listening to The Beatles, Stones, Yardbirds, Kinks, The Who, Led Zeppelin, King Crimson, Peter Gabriel, David Bowie, Brian Eno, Bob Dylan, John Lennon. It's all great song writing and great guitar sounds in those bands. But today I like… Radiohead, The Killers, Noel Gallagher, Kasabian, Muse, Foo Fighters, The Shins, Keane, Damien Rice, Michael Penn, Neil Finn, Mellowdrone… but THE SKY music has been described as Modern Retro. Which I don't mind, because it has all those elements that I mentioned.

RM: 
I understand the group was formed in 2009 but can you tell me how THE SKY came together and the gathering of personnel?

RF:
 After receiving a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame with Journey I was asked to perform ‘Wheel in the Sky’ with them at the House of Blues in Los Angeles. Standing on stage singing to all those people made me realize how much I missed playing live. A day or two later my friend Andre LaBelle Called me we met while he was playing drums for Vinnie Vincent. We were talking and I told him I wanted to put a band together. He just came out and said that he wanted to be in the band and that he knew some great musicians where he lived in Richmond, Virginia.
So I went there with my friend Mike Weeks who played guitar on Look at the Dream, a solo album of mine. The band sounded great but then I had to go back to Los Angeles. So it was a lot of talking back and forth from California to Virginia ‘til I finally decided to move me and the whole family to make it all happen and I'm very happy that I did.
Picture
         THE SKY. "I'm fortunate to have found players that are so schooled and have a great  work ethic.
         And we get along so well. We get along famously."


RM: So it was the get together with Journey at the Walk of Fame in 2005 that rekindled you interest in getting back into live/ band work?

RF: Yes! It was it that kick in the pants I needed. And my wife being so supportive.

RM: How was it fronting Journey again, albeit in a guest role, and singing ‘Wheel in the Sky’ after some twenty-eight years?

RF:
I was very surprised. They asked me at the sound check. Then that’s when the nerves kicked in. I was so nervous that I wouldn't remember the words. But once the music started it all kicked in.

RM: I’d like to ‘Journey’ back from the Walk of Fame to your nine months with the band in 1977.
You became the first front man for Journey when label pressure dictated the band should move from lengthy fusion-based pieces to vocally orientated songs with a more commercial sound. Although history shows it didn’t work out, primarily because of management issues, you were pivotal in what has become known as Journey’s transitional period. Are you proud of the part you played in that transition and/ or is there still a part of you that thinks “what if?”  

RF:
Yes, it was a short stay but a very fruitful one. We wrote some great songs together. ‘Wheel in the Sky,’ ‘Anytime,’ ‘Winds of March,’ ‘All For You’… had I stayed the music woulda been a lot more edgy than what it evolved into. And I am so grateful for having those songs being played for so long to this day.
So yes, I am proud of the part I played and have no “what if?” It's all given me the luxury to experiment and be adventurous musically. So I feel I'm a lucky guy.

RM: As much as your departure from the band was fairly amicable, certainly amongst the band, Journey has a reputation for… let’s just say not handling the departure of singers perhaps as well as they could (laughs). In your case there is the wonderful story of the deception where Steve Perry was brought in and tried out while you were still part of the band. He was pretending to be the Portuguese cousin of then-roadie John Villanueva?

RF: 
That's a true story! [laughs]. We were playing in Chicago at Soldiers Field where the Chicago Bears played football. The stadium holds over 80,000 people. We went on and he stood on the side watching me and the whole show. Little did I know this was going to be the guy to replace me.
We've met a few times during the years and had some good talks and a laugh; some people think that we don't like each other but that's not true.

RM: As you just mentioned, you co-wrote a number of great songs with Journey and there were notable performances such as the Crater Festival in Hawaii. Some of that show was filmed and bootlegged audio of the full set exists, providing a great historical document of that transitional period as described earlier.
It also features three songs that would not appear on a Journey album – ‘Diva,’ ‘Just Her Way’ and ‘All For You.’ There are a couple of nice G [above the tenor high C] notes on display but what was your top note back then?

RF: I was told a high B.

RM: And you were always in full voice and never used falsetto?

RF: Always full voice, to this day.

RM: That’s pretty impressive. In fact it’s very rare for male singers to be able to reach such countertenor notes without reverting to falsetto. You recorded ‘All For You’ on your 1979 debut solo album Perfect Stranger, which featured some great melodic pop rock and roll. Ever had the inclination to revisit numbers such as ‘All For You’ or even ‘Diva’ and are you still a falsetto-free vocalist?

RF:
Yes, I've had a falsetto-free life, thank you. I can still sing ‘All For You’ and all the other ones. ‘Diva,’ I would probably have to practice a bit for that one. I like the way I sing now than back then. I feel I have a lot more emotion going on now.

RM: And back then you were performing primarily in your upper register so I think you also have more depth in your vocal now.
I’d like to touch on a couple of other big-name bands you have been associated with, because they are interesting stories but not well known. But first, back to the present and another track from THE SKY.
In fact the song you considered opening the album with…
RM: A couple of years before Journey came calling you were being considered for Genesis after Peter Gabriel left the band…

RF: 
Yes. I was working with this manager in Los Angeles that knew the Genesis manager. So I was recommended and talked to the management couple of times. They were ready to fly me out to London when I got a call. Genesis management told me that Phil Collins had decided to take a crack at it and the rest is history.
I was so young then I don't think I had the depth to be in that band. Plus being American, not a matching tie and handkerchief, but it was quite an honour to be considered. Like being nominated for an Academy Award!

RM: It’s certainly a great ‘considered for’ listing to add to the old résumé, as is another association… at one point you were talking to Carl Palmer and the rest of Asia members about the possibility of becoming lead vocalist?

RF: Yes, Geffen Records sent me to London to play with Asia. I rehearsed with them for about a week.
The musicianship in that band was phenomenal. Carl brought me into the group. I met Carl while in Canada when Journey was opening for Emerson Lake and Palmer, so he saw me sing quite a few nights. Towards the end of the week I played the demo that they gave me to learn the songs from with John Wetton’s voice on it. I felt that he did a better job than I did and he was the voice of Asia. I told their management and I went back home to Los Angeles.
The record company wanted to do the formula rock treatment by putting a lead singer in front of the band like Journey, Foreigner, etcetera.
Picture
                      Much of the Millennium found Robert Fleischman in a recording studio but  by 2009
                                     the singer was fronting a band again... and reaching for The Sky.


RM: In the 80’s you were part of the band Channel and later vocalist with the Vinnie Vincent Invasion, but for most of the 90’s you were posted missing as regards the band-album-tour musical cycle.
Had you become jaded of that lifestyle and the music business or did you just decide to step away to concentrate on studio work?

RF: Kind of all that. Channel was a bit of a disaster. It was a studio band, not a live band. Vinnie Vincent Invasion, that was the house on fire. Then I became a staff writer for Almo Irving publishing, part of A&M Records, for a few years. Then my son Austin was born and then the years kinda flew by.
But I had a recording studio at home and I was constantly writing and experimenting with electronic music, wrote a piano concerto with orchestra and started the idea for a musical that I still work on called CobbleTown. I recorded a CD called Dreaming in Tongues, all acoustic guitars and cellos.
That was a very orchestrated sounding CD. I loved doing it, with Cameron Stone playing cello. He played with a girl named Poe. Anyway, you should check it out.


RM: I actually have a copy of Dreaming in Tongues; I love the contrast it provides to your more rock-orientated releases. In fact that leads me nicely to your musical activities in the Millennium, which has seen some half dozen releases including THE SKY. 
It started back in 2002 with the release of World in Your Eyes, your first solo album since Perfect Stranger. That’s a great hard melodic rock album but I recall comments from you where you mentioned you wanted a sparser and more modern sound than you ended up with…

RF: Yeah, the project was taken away from me by Frontiers Records who kind of re-produced it and mixed it.
​I think they did a horrible job with it. That label to me is like a Venus Fly Trap. It just devours all these dinosaur bands.


RM: You certainly achieved that sparser and more modern sound on later releases like Look at the Dream.
The title track, which first appeared on World in Your Eyes, remains one of my favourite Robert Fleischman songs. 

RF: I totally forgot it was on World in Your Eyes. I like the Look at the Dream version much better, a lot more pop to it...
RM: You have also released a couple of ambient-instrumental solo albums and scored for TV and film soundtracks. You clearly have an eclectic taste and an appreciation for many forms of music – what music do you listen to or find inspires you?

RF: I used to listen to certain genres of music, for about a year, like African Jùjú music… King Sunny Adé. Ambient music… Eno. Classical music… Rachmaninoff, Aaron Copland, Prokofiev, Mozart, Shostakovich. Blues… Robert Johnson, Muddy Waters, Elmore James.  After some time you learn the formula, the accent of all those types of music. Which build your musical vocabulary. 

RM: And music is not your only creative medium as you also paint and sculpt…

RF: Yeah and I've been doing collage since I was 12; still do. 
I still paint but I haven't sculpted in a while.

RM: Do you paint and sculpt for your own pleasure or is any of your work on display?

RF: I do it for my own pleasure but I had a couple of shows in Los Angeles. Actually had a show with Jerry Garcia of the Grateful Dead. My wife wishes I would have a show and sell most of my paintings because they're all over the house, stacked against the walls. I just have a hard time giving my babies away!
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                                'THE SKY' collage, one of Robert Fleischman's many artistic creations.

RM: As we near the close of this conversation Robert, I’d like to finish as we started and talk a little more about THE SKY. We haven’t had much opportunity to hear the band in the UK but I have seen some live video. Tight band and it sounds like you have a genuine comradeship and musical chemistry there...

RF:
I'm so fortunate to have found players that are so schooled and have a great work ethic. And we get along so well. It's a breath of fresh air because I've been in bands with a lot of drama. We just get along famously. Plus Steve Barber, who plays bass guitar, is also a recording engineer. He also mixed the album at his studio called the Freezer here in Richmond, so we’re a pretty self-contained band with me producing and writing and him engineering. It's great having all these elements in the band.

RM: I’d like to end with another song from THE SKY and appropriately it’s the album closer, ‘Sunshine.’
A slower but very uplifting number with a very Lennon-esque vibe and lyric…

RF: I wrote ‘Sunshine’ after the album was almost done to prove that the band was not one dimensional. Not only could we rock but we could do great ballads also, because your band is only as good as your songs.
And I think this is a pretty good band!
RM: THE SKY has already performed live but are there any plans to get this band out on the road in 2012?

RF: Absolutely, I can't wait ‘til this band goes on the road. We’re looking into booking agents right now.
So if anyone on your side of the pond would be interested, give us a shout!

RM: Will do and who knows, there may be someone reading this right now…
Robert, it’s been a pleasure talking to you about both THE SKY and your varied and interesting career.
​Long may it, and THE SKY, continue.

RF: Thank You! Once again Ross, really appreciate this opportunity and your kindness. Cheers! THE SKY!

Ross Muir
Muirsical Conversation with Robert Fleischman
November 2011



Robert Fleischman and THE SKY websites:
http://www.robertfleischman.com/
http://www.theskyofficial.com/

Audio tracks provided to accompany the above Muirsical Conversations article, photos and 'THE SKY' collage image courtesy of Robert Fleischman. No infringement of copyright is intended. 
Website and text contents © FabricationsHQ and Ross Muir
All Rights Reserved