Rob Szabo,
Rob Szabo — musician, songwriter, and producer — has garnered awards and nominations galore over the years.
His early rock ’n’ funk days started in music shrines like The Volcano and Mrs. Robinson’s with his bands The Groove Daddys, and alt-rockers Plasticine alongside longtime pal Steve Strongman.
Over the years the Kitchener-born, now Toronto-based Szabo has honed his craft. And through it all, there has been one common thread to his musical journey. “At The Microphone” (from his self-titled 2011 album) stitches Szabo’s musical life together in three lines: “I believe in songs. They are all I trust. There is so much love in those same three chords.”
“Around that time, I was thinking I was at a bit of a crossroads, not really knowing where I was going to go with music,” says Szabo. “I was feeling like … I don’t know what the hell I am doing but I know when I get onstage to sing it feels great. So that is really all I know. Right?” Wrong! In 2013 Szabo received a Juno as producer of the year for blues master Strongman’s album “A Natural Fact.” In 2015, he got a another Juno nod for Strongman’s “Let Me Prove It To You,” as well as multiple Maple Blues Awards and East Coast Music Award nominations.
As a producer Szabo works in film and television and in music genres ranging from synth pop to heavy metal.
“I love metal. That’s where I am from,” he says.
Growing up in Kitchener in the late ’70s/ early ’80s, Szabo listened to new wave/pop tunes like The Knack’s “My Sharona” but quickly moved toward heavier bands like Black Sabbath. “And that changed my life!” “I had a little four-track recorder. Remember those Tascams? … I would sit in my basement and I would just overdub over and over and over — layers of guitar. That’s how I learned to do it when I was a kid,” he says.
“After that I remember being introduced to Neil Young by Jeff Cowell of The Groove Daddys. When I was younger I used to just think well, that’s not metal … that’s not heavy … the guy is … it is kind of quiet and nice. I thought this is no good! But then I eventually came to understand what was going on a little bit more and really appreciating it, thinking, ‘Whoa! Neil’s my guy now. He is my go to.’”
It was the Groove Daddys with Cowell (on drums) and Paddy Flynn (bass and vocals) that got him into music “for real” in the ’90s.
Groove Daddys sold thousands of cassettes which led to a deal with Toronto-based label Alert, plus an introduction to touring, videos, having a manager, and other “music biz stuff.”
“With Plasticine it was … yeah, I have been through this a little bit. We had a record deal that was huge with Song Corp and (then co-manager of The Tragically Hip) Allan Gregg. That was exciting. But they went bankrupt, so you learn a lot,” says Szabo. “After that, I thought screw this! I am not going to wait on anyone else for permission to play my own music.”
His self-produced solo albums include “A Battery of Tests (2003), “Like A Metaphor” (2006), live album “One More for the Road” (2008), “After The Gravity” (2008), “Life and Limb” (2008), and “Rob Szabo” (2011).
His songs run the emotional gamut from the dark wit of “We’re All Alcoholics” and “That Cold Hard Sell,” to poignant heart-tuggers like “He Loves You.” And the hauntingly beautiful “Different Points Along The Same Line” and “A Song for You and Your Little One” come from a very personal place.
He also writes songs and produces music for ambient electronica duo “30 Frames” plus heavy metal groups Royal Fuzz and Deliuss.
He says being a musician really helps him as a producer with singers and other musicians because he came from a musician/performer background, rather than an engineering one.
“I know what it feels like under the microscope so I can understand and that makes it a lot easier to work with them — them meaning us,” he says wryly.
Szabo says his Thursday-night Rhapsody residency will feature more song themes and more guests. So far, Szabo has acoustically reinvented Black Sabbath and Radiohead in addition to showcasing a night of Neil Young.
Mike Todd, and multi-genre musician Benjamin Rollo have also joined Szabo onstage as his performs his rich tapestry of material. He says a new album is “on the horizon.” “I wasn’t interested for a while when I was really focusing on producing. I kind of have the bug again and I am thinking OK, maybe I should not only produce stuff for other people but get back to writing my own tunes, so yeah, you could say that might happen in the next year or so.”