John Robb – Musician - Radio Presenter - Public Speaker & Journalist - #170 - Season 4 - {Talent ...

[Music] hey guys and welcome to season 4 of the US people podcast I'm your host Savia Rox and in this season we get to remember and reminisce back in time with some of our guests like hey we are enti and you're listening to the ask people podcast with Sav Ro peace my name is Onie I'm a producer engineer from Queens New York hi my name is James Green I'm a TV presenter sports reporter and journalist hi this is Joy Langley and I'm the author of navigating stress hey this is Travis glosso I am a creative radio producer for KISS FM and you're listening to the US people podcast with Savia rocks we highlight the strengths of our cultures talking about diversity and inclusion and speaking out loud and proud about who we are I was never that good I was I was determined I had a love for the sport and that always fueled me at 49 I was seven 7 years post divorce after 22 years and three kids of a marriage and so I knew that I needed to figure out like what was happening for me and why was this so such a severe sort of uh crack in my identity and how I showed up in the world it's great it's great I'm glad cuz I didn't I'll be honest I didn't really work that hard at Uni so it was good to leave uni and and really like get on it you know really like because I also as a person I think I value I value productivity a lot of people live to work I think I am one of the work to live guys but because my work is amazing that's all right with me you know so as a person I I go to bed happy when I've had a productive day we've also saved the best all last by honoring another artist and showcasing their talent as our new theme song with none other than your host Savia rocks featuring in their song So guys enjoy stay creative and as always please continue to be kind to one another let's [Music] go hello this is John rob you can hear me being interviewed on the OS people podcast by Savia [Music] rocks oh peace of Peace of got to keep my energy andace of I protect my energy andace of got to keep hey guys and welcome to another episode of the as people podcast I'm your host savyo and today I've got John with me who is a TV and radio presenter musician author and public speaker John thank you so much for coming on people podcast how are you I'm fine how are you s okay I like the way you said that you sounded so calm when you just said that I am calm yeah no I like it that's really cool you don't hear many guests sound that calm when they just come into an interview I'm just glad I'm not outside cuz it's been raining for about eight hours is it raining where you are D down here it stopped it was raining earlier on but it calmed down it's always annoying when they have London on the T I live in Manchester and and it's always a really hot sunny day you think did they record that last week oh that's today is it 180 miles it's completely different weather yeah it's just I don't know I from the heat to the Rain considering we do need some rain yeah do what do you prefer rain or heat I I like I like the warm weather but I mean obviously I know we need rain otherwise everything would die out you know but I like being in the sunshine but actually my favorite thing is being in the shade looking at the sunshine so it's warm you don't have to too many clothes you know you just put you know just put a top just one top all in your trousers and use and that's it you know you don't have to like go up here you know all the time you think it's a really hot sunny day I better take a jacket and a hat cuz I bet it rains in a bit yeah no that's true I I like the warm I don't mind the sun I'm always in the sun I run in the Sun or I run in the Seas one or the other but oh yeah I like running yeah it's one or the other I actually prefer to run when it's cold and Rainer because when it's really hot it's it's really draining so there actually has been about four five really hot days this summer when it was just way too much to go running you know when it's too hot or too cold I remember in Berlin once it was it was about minus 10 and a tri and I could feel me lungs kind of shrinking oh my gosh there was oh wow yeah that was quite testing yeah oh w wow let's go on to talk about music John so I know that you're a big fan of music I know before we even started the podcast as soon as I came online we was talking about music so tell me a little bit about your background um where you grew up how music influenced you when you were younger to who you are today well the initial music I like was glam rock in the 70s so like Mark bowan David Bowie people like that I used to watch top of the pops like everyone my generation did watch week and you know it's amazing but it was like a fantasy world I grew up in Blackpool and this is a culture that seemed like a million miles away it wasn't anything you could do yourself I mean nobody knew would have a guitar it pointless you know because you thought well this it's either London or out of space stuff goes on it doesn't happen to people like us and then Punk came along and a band called Buzz Cox put a single out yes called spiral scratch and they made it themselves and I remember somebody bring to school we thought you can actually make your own record it was amazing it was so revolutionary we thought well let's have a band let's make our own record that' be the best thing ever to make a record with one of your songs on it uh and and and we never learned to play music properly we just basically did it just by um you know we we' got secondhand guitars and got on stage plugged in we never plugged in amps before and just started playing and it was it was all out tune and we didn't know about scales or cords but it didn't matter because it was all just about doing it you know and it we of course we were completely awful in musical terms but but the spirit of point was different it was all about just get up there do it create you know don't worry about it and and that was really empowering and it empowered a lot of people from my generation who weren't necessarily the kind of people who go on stage I mean before Punk it was It was kind of very extrovert large and Life characters will be the kind of people make music but Punk was just loaded like weirdos and misfits and the leftovers and really nervous kids who learned how to um get on the stage and and tap into that inner art which everybody's got they and they found it and it was it was mind-blowing it was really great moments and when people talk about pug and you get the documentar about it they always miss that bit out you know and I mean of course I love all the big bands like the pistols and The Clash and all that but they were just extensions of big bands from before you know they were they managers press agents big labels and that's not a critique of them because they made wonderful music and they stood for really great things but one of the key things about Punk was was all the scruffy weird kids in funny little towns that nobody even cared about somehow made art and culture and some of it was massive impact on this country you know and some some of the most loved music was made by these kind of leftover and to this day I've always been fascinated by those people and to these to this day they they still out there making music you know Fones and Idols are virtually equivalent to the people that like we were years ago they were people care passionately about art music and culture but weren't the cool kids at school but they still got up and did it anyway you know yeah I think that's a really important message and anybody who's listening to this who's feeling a bit you know nervous or not in thinks oh I can't do that but you can it doesn't matter make a career out of it that's not important just get out there make your statement on the planet and if only one person listens that's great and it you know that's at least somebody listen if nobody listens it doesn't matter either at least you made it you know at least you made your piece of art your piece of culture and everybody's got a piece of art culture inide them one don't expect a career and and two don't expect it to be total genius it doesn't matter you know just it's it's it's good for you to get it out who who who are your influencers John who who makes you say yeah this is really good music they inspire me to to for me to just be a musician who inspires you initially it was uh the people in the Glam periods but they they inspired us in a way that we that we couldn't couldn't do ourselves we just inspired by the magic they were making so like Bowie or T-rex or M the hoop or even the bands that weren't considered as cool like sweet or more all them kind of bands yeah seemed wonderful to us really exciting and things um but I suppose the influence was the ideas that came out of punk you know um that you could make the music yourself the culture yourself you didn't have to wait for anybody's permission to make it either you know and it didn't matter it didn't matter who you were it didn't matter if you tall small fat thin black white girl none of that message you could all just get in a room and make music together and and it didn't that didn't really happen as much then as as people wanted it to but nowadays you see Sony bands I like that you know they're just just really just fantastically odd collections of people making music and it's and that's what's great about music in his most positive sense that it joins on really unlikely people together and if you got an open mind you can wander around all different cultures and you know get inspired by them so I'm inspired by everything in musical terms any piece of music I listen to I find inspirational and it does poke into your music somehow but then so as all culture it could be a book it could be a film as well it just it's not necessarily a piece of music it inspires another piece of music you know it's it's all there to be taken you know anybody any piece of music I've ever made is there for somebody else to take and do their own thing with as well and people have and it's it's quite High compliments but over the years people have done as well you know which which is great you know I watch some of your videos today on YouTube yeah and I was like oh this is cool and I can see you bouncing around the stage I see you bouncing so you clearly know how to use a stage you clearly know how to to interact with your audience because it was just mainly kind of you bouncing around the stage with your with your guitar in your hand when was the first time you picked up a guitar and said you know what this is what I want to do this is what I love because playing a guitar is not easy it was a day before the first gig actually we just I I got a a bass we mate got a guitar and the drummer um we made him borrow a drum kit so that's how we all started I never learned properly I just just played it over and over so little sounds came at lik or ifs I likeed and I've been doing for 40 years you do you in the end you will work something out you know so I mean I can't really play other people's songs but I can play my own music really well so you become you become a virtuoso in your own style whatever that is yeah that's true that definitely makes sense I also find music really physical and it's it's got a lot of energy energy and the energy does affect you as well you know and I like things that got grooves in them and I'm I I love funk music but I wouldn't say that we played Funk but I I I'm interested in the repetitive groove of funk you know it's very hypnotic and it pulls you in and and it's it's very Primal and it pulls you into different space away from real life where sometimes you can feel really heavy and clumsy music makes you fly like a bird which is amazing and it you know um mentally spiritually and physically as well and that's why it's the highest art form ah there was something else I was just reading as well and I was like like I I remember him saying that he he done this journalist talk to me about you being a journalist well another thing that came out of punk was this the idea of write about music as well there's fanine so you made your own fanine and you wrote about the music you liked and the culture that's surrounding you and everybody it was about it's probably the first generation that really started I mean before that been the music papers and there still was music papers but this is first generation people everybody started documenting what they're doing in there so many fan whereas now it's if the logical conclusion that is like social networking where everybody documents everything all the time on Instagram Facebook Twitter Etc this is like about probably one in a 100 people in that music scene did it then now it's you know one out of one and so so somebody brought there was a fanine called sniffing Glo somebody brought that to school and we thought wow you can actually get a typ an old typ and type of out really badly and right you didn't have to I thought this is like something people you know went to University for 10 years to learn how to do I didn't realize you could just get a typew write it down and that's how I started and i' I've never written any other way that's how I've always done it you know you just I don't know how you do it properly you just do it and so it's uh I don't think I don't think there's a manual of doing it properly I think if it comes from the heart and it's a passion it will come out in the best form in music writing you can do that but music writing doesn't have to be formal it can be it can be fantastically formal and really academic and that could be great or it could just be somebody put up a YouTube clip and going wow and that could be as valid as well I think what's the what's the one thing you wish you knew before you even began your career within music the one thing I think is um and with with Punk it was very anti- buus and and and what what you what you don't realize you're going to set yourself up for 40 years of struggle so you kind of sound so bad John and you're always really guilty about earning the slightest bit of money for doing stuff thinking I shouldn't really be earning that you know and you didn't really know what the worth of it was and and I I I will say to this day that I think you know a nurse or whatever has in in a societal term has more of a worth than a musician has but I don't think we're I'm not saying I think what we do is worthless because it does make people feel good empowers people lets them escape and it is it is a medicine in its own way but if you had to have an hierarchy and I don't like hierarchies I say a nurse would deserve to earn more money in a sense but the thing Punk was you weren't allowed to earn anything any money at all and it was all counted as a sellout and so you struggled along for years and every now and then you bumbled into a bit of money then it went again and no one had any business savvy at all young bands that they they're really switched on with business and I think that's good because you're actually protecting your your own music and earning money to to facilitate that music So you you're actually in a position where you can you can make the music instead of worrying about what you're going to eat next week you know you're not living like a 16 year old looking for money on your bed all the time which is which is true of a lot of people I know you know it's it is it is really true you get the glory moments and now I meet them and and they're really broke you know and it's I think that's really sad and then I meet bands who were halfway up the tree of Show Business and they're really broke us one I think God even if you get to that level you still no money [Laughter] and this is not a moan about money this is just something I wish I'd known a bit more about want to start it or being a bit engaged with it you know to kind of know your worth and and not feel bad paid you know for it because qu you can spend two three years where you're actually paying to make the thing work tell me a little bit about education because every time I speak about education people go into to Minds about it um so do you believe that you can have an educ then go into music so say for instance if you were studying music technology if you were studying Sound Engineering then you went to go and have a career with music or do you believe that you can just purely have a really great talent and then just automatically go out there and make a living without having the background knowledge of you can but I don't think there's any automatic making a living I think yeah you could do I mean we've all people I know done it without any musical education we bought on theground bands you know we just make sort of music that's very true to ourselves that some people connect with but that's what I find really beautiful in a way um John because I find that you guys put your heart in it regardless you always have that passion if you're an underground artist there's not many bands that are out there today that's true but I'm not snobby enough to think that a lot of pop stars are also very passionate about what they're doing there yeah I mean someone like Charlie XCX is is a fantastic talent and she went to a a music school but she's also really switched on to different styles of music so she knows about her Punk and she's covered punk songs and really obscure punk songs as well I think wow she really has done the research on this and she knows about aloi noise in Indie but she turns into pop music so she's super talented but she went to college as well so I'm not anti- education I I would actually advise anybody to probably go to college you don't have to um do it as they tell you how to do it yeah use those tools but in your own way and while you're at the college learn everything so don't just go there and learn to be a singer but learn every musical instrument you can how to a Music Live desk how to work do mixing you know any aspect they're teaching that college if you're about 17 18 19 gobble it all down because this is this is the time of your life when you actually do have time to do it you know that's true more skills you have that means you can spend five years your music's not getting anywhere but you can mix sound in a live venue but you'll you have to have a job at least you have a job that's in music mixing with people in music finding an opportunity to get your music out to other people so you'll still be involved in the scene so I think that's a better model you know nowadays you know it's it's I think it makes sense the more you know but you don't have to be a slave to it as well you know do it's hard because when I started s engineering I think people just tried to use me for the fact that I was a s engineer do you think people are fairly I know we just spoke about it slightly where we were talking about being paid for what we love doing but how do you know what you are worth when it comes to doing music say for instance if you're a s engineer or or like yourself if you're a musician how do you know what's the right price to charge people for you coming on a show or doing something sound engineer you speak to the other sound engineers in that club or in that town yeah and find out what they're getting paid I mean if you're and you if you're lowered down like a new sign engineer you won't get paid as much that's if you're a position it's impossible to put a worth on it I mean I guess one way to do it is you you if you're starting out you you can't recharge because you haven't got any worth at all because you're not worth a ticket no one's going to pay to come and see you but if you got a following then you're worth a bit of money be realistic you know and then trying to stick to that price but you may be worth a 100 quid in your hometown but the next Hometown you have to start again because no one knows you you are so the money you make on one gig you lose on the next gig and that's kind of how you run the business you know it's um it's it's it's don't waste the money don't spend it all behind the bar reinvest it back into into your band and and work together with people as well so if somebody if you got another skill that you're good at artworks what that skill with another band maybe use their rehear room for free or maybe uh then that mate's going to do websites you do little swaps and stuff and I it's very hand to Bou but that's that's the model I think the problem is now and and I I I fully support this I mean everybody nearly everybody seems to be in a bounds but not everybody can make a career out of it that's true sometimes you have to put you go hands up there aren't enough people into this for me to make any money out of it this is purely a hobby I come home from work I have a tea I do a bit of music I put it online four or five people really love it they're really interested in it and it's never going to go anywhere but you know what that's pretty good you know I'm not g there's no point in me going around every record label in the world thinking I'm going to get a career out of it I'm quite for it to be a hobby the other side of that coin is that if you know you got something and it's really starting to happen and people com at it then take it really seriously you know you'd only get one chance to to to escape with your music and that and it could take years sleep mods Idols those those those guys would six or seven years before anybody took any notice of them you know yeah so it's really hard to know there is there is no one piece of rice ever fits no that's true that's definitely true it's it's a hard one because I think everyone's got their journey and their path and they want to go on a journey and they they say they love what they do but it's hard to go because I I've seen so many people going to record labels and and Publishing and do you think that people still need record labels or do you think that publishing is more important than a record label how do you feel about it I actually think they do need record labels because I've seen panels of Music conferences when people in the business or people I supposed to be like me or whatever who were documenters the business they go why don't you just do it on your own and I'm thinking yeah but you're in Hall and these kids don't know anybody in London they don't or Manchester you other two many music media places they're they're on the outside they they don't have any connection don't even know how you make a record you know I know they can look it up on the internet they're not connected and a lot of it I know it's not fair but a lot of it's about who you know and that's true if you got a good record Lael they will know some people they will help you get one rung further up the ladder you know so also a lot a lot of kids and Bs don't have the money to go in a studio they they have no idea how to make the music they have no idea how to get the music out there and propagate it and they have no idea they have no money so they can't just go and ask the mom and dad to pay because Mom and Dad have got no money and that's the real world and those people will need record labels you know it's not it's not it's not hard and fast truism for everybody you know it's it's definitely I mean yeah you could send an MP3 to S Mack at random he may pick it up and credit to Steve he does try to do that but but but the amount of stuff he gets sent you you probably need uh uh you know a radio plugger to push it in front of them a bit and it still works with pluggers you know it's still it's broken down a lot over the years and it's changed a bit but it's still very much the people who got record labels who know how to hustle track or like to get heard and there's no point saying that's not fair because music is not fair music is not like being the Silver Service you join you work hard three years get a promotion music doesn't work like that you may spend 10 years being brilliant and no one knows you existed that's true or then you put out a track and everyone really likes and the next one no one cares about I mean it's it's really bumpy you know it's up and down you know you could be flavor of the month in one month the next month you're in the dust bin and that's that's the way it is you can't make it into a normal job it's not a normal job yeah you made me just think about that that true they say you're as good as your last song basically which is quite true the other thing about music is it's not necessarily always the music I mean it could be um it could be the way you present the music or what you look like or what you connect with or what you're communicating maybe communicating the feeling that lots of people really like with a piece of music they don't like but they like the feeling that you're communicating it's it's quite an intangible science really that's what's quite fascinating about it really do you think it's fair that that people judge you on the way you look rather than the music that you're bringing across it depends what they what what they're judging in the way you look so if they think you have to be really good-look to have a valid piece of music well it's a bit na but then it's human nature as well in it so it's all right for everyone to sit there and say you know look look at all those BLS leing over that woman and then and then all all the women go whoa look there's Brad Pit you know so it's can sit there in massive denial but they don't just you know I have no interest in looking at somebody who's aesthetically pleasing to look out or whatever you know it doesn't affect any any decision I ever make in my life but human nature is a bit weird a bit more fundamental than that I mean but I mean obviously it's better if you could judge a piece of music on Just being a piece of music but it is a 360 in it and it's I mean it doesn't have to necessarily be something what's great about music it doesn't have to be conventionally attractive though be attractive and that's something it's a great life lesson you can get from music you know I mean Johnny roton wasn't conventionally attractive but he was he had an amazing Charisma that pulled people into in the punk days which is hard to see now but at that time it was very compelling you know um so so that's that's what it doesn't have to be uh like a load of models making records which a lot what pop music is in a sense but he can be the opposite of that as well you know people can make it because they they just don't fit and like could be very intriguing and it could be quite fascinating or they have an innate Charisma or or the genuine X Factor not the dodgy series that just drawn towards because they have like a really fascinating energy about them and that that's true so so when you say is it fair of kind of already said is music isn't fair you know it's yeah you know you could be incredibly talented and somebody does a mediocre version of your idea will end up being more successful it's just the way it's just the way Music Works timing is important as well you know it's so many sort odd factors all go into it what's the one thing you've always wanted to do as a child but you never got to do John I think I've done most things wanted to do I always hey I like that I always wanted to do music and and stuff now now it's actually interesting because I'm not really led a very conventional life and now I'm I'm I'm nearly 60 I should be sort of putting the feet up are you yeah I'm 59 now so this you don't look it yeah so so one level I sort of run it run out of time there's always that thing nagging at you the time's getting tight but there's also this thing that um because the pandemic I couldn't really do the band that much so I started doing loads of other things and then then I use the empowerment of punk and my my belief and ideas and I started get in touch with people so why don't you you've got like a great facility there and loads of money why don't we do this thing I've got a great idea I'm quite a lot of people come back and go yeah let's do it yeah why not so I've kind of I've kind of all that creativity and that Daredevil thing that comes as well you know you just you have no shame what you ask people go on let's do it go go do give give me loads of money I'll get that to them and you know I'm having good ideas and that empowerment like say from punk where you have that self belief that you can actually make it happen and it actually works so I've just been applying that for the last few months and quite a few things so not one of them's happened yet but quite a few very close you know so that's that's been quite interesting as well so it's like it's like going into another chapter of your life about 20 years after you should have done but ugly it kind of fits because because he such an unconventional life curve that why not why why why why not why shouldn't you have just this really weird massively successful last chapter that was too late it's not that it's too late John come on Jing about that you know I know I know I know boxs and I've done everything you know let's you know let's let's go and get the pension or whatever but this is actually feels like a whole Like A New Beginning loads of really cool interesting things going on oh when when was the last time you actually did try something new all the time like musically we're always trying I'm always interested in in new experiences and doing different things you know it's yeah there was part of me that if I wasn't careful would just probably plot along doing the same thing because it feels safer but but but then that when I was a kid I challenged that by going becoming getting into Punk so so over my life I've taken quite curv ball decisions where you just suddenly do something completely different and um and even though I'm not massive beli in astrology I'm a tourist and we are the ultimate going in one long pling along so you have to be very aware of that sometimes you have to Chuck a grade into the room just do something completely different yeah you know and that's and that that's kind of fed into thinking of the last few months you know because really the whole world kind of stopped anyway didn't it so that's true you say want to spend the next 15 years doing exactly the same thing or do you want to do something utterly completely different and that that was interesting as well you know what have you overcome in your life that has made you change the way you feel and the way you think and the way you interact with people has there been anything that has happened in your life that has changed your whole process of how you do things and well I think I think like a lot of English people it's probably growing My Generation you said about 90% of the people are probably quite shy really and punk was great got you out of that it made empowered you where you gave your self belief you didn't have and when you grew up in the north you always told that you weren't as good as other people you know and oddly Punk actually told us that we were as good as people you know not not everyone in London of course you know but but I mean the elite that run things you know they they know when they when they talk about Norther they talk about us like we all bit simp and stupid and all that and it becomes a self prophecy you know and the punk thing was a tearing that fabric we go no no I can do that as well you know and that that was important I think and uh I think I think when I was younger when my granddad died because it's the first time that somebody died that was close to me and I think made me realize that life is not finite you know there's there is an end you're not going to be in this same place all the time so you you may to take a few risks you know and do things that are different otherwise you you just you will be in a very mediocre place for every that's okay some people for some people that that's a brilliant life I don't I'm not critiquing other people who do that you know if you're very comfortable in a job and you're happy in your life that's a brilliant thing you know I'm just out of myself really and I think to remain creative you have to take chances really that's true that definitely makes sense to me what are you most proud of that you stand for John um being openminded did freethinker Progressive embracing being pro people I'm and a listener which sounds odd in this conversation because I've just been talking because I'm the interviewee but um when I interview people I actually listen to what they say and I'm fascinated by it so that that that's me I'm proud of that I think that's that's something I like been able to do and it doesn't matter whether it's somebody who's really well known whatever and you do an interview with them it could it could be somebody you meet around them on a train as well you know I think people are eternally fascinated animals and nature and the universe and also appreciating it's it's it's dark side as well it's it's the beauty en violence of nature you know it's it's it's incredible watching a butterfly fly but the and you know going into a flower but the butterfly if he sees another butterfly thinking if I get the chance I'll kill that other butterfly that you know the bird and the G like a thrush you think that's beautiful plumage we'll just go and eat the butterfli so so Nature's in this really bizarre balance between all inspiring Beauty but completely uh dangerous as well you know and I find that fascinating actually H how do you feel being on the other side and being interviewed rather than you being the person who interviews I take it as a really high compliment that anybody's interested in what you got to talk about and things you know and it's yeah I like I like both aspects of it really I think it's it's it's bit like doing um want to do um you know talks on stage it's it's always free form I never have a plan I don't use notes or anything I like in a weird way I actually like listening to what I'm saying so it's F I'm talking you s get slightly detached when you're on a stage talking and you thinking oh that's interesting I never thought of that you start going off in your own tangents and following your own tangents it's almost like you're interviewing yourself which is sounds slightly schizophrenic but it's the flight of fantasy and the way the conversation goes it does it does actually fascinate me in in an odd kind of way well you are unique I must say that everybody though everybody's unique in the no that's true but there are always some people that stand that a little bit more than everyone else it's not that they they mean to it's not that they're any better but there are some people in the world that uniquely stand out a little bit more than everyone else I don't know if you've seen it Jal no because to me this is just my life just feels yeah completely normal I mean you know people say you know you know some people they just laugh at you and I go that's that's fantastic making them fre really happy and you know if they think I'm funny or something my hair looks ridiculous on somebody my age that's totally cool you know if I make him smile give him a positive energy is that a good thing you know was it is yeah it's I try I try not to fill the world full of bad [ __ ] you know and and I some sometimes you get involved in arguments when when people argue on on the internet I try I try and get really levelheaded on it you know and the only people I ever bar off my social network and or people rude you know I could tolerate different political opinions even if they're the opposite of mine as long as they're not rude about people as long as they admit um a confusion about an idea you know I'll say okay I'll let I'll let that one go but if you start being rude then then then you're off but because I think the trouble the world we're in now is that people don't listen to what the people say and people just shout each other's faces you know and everything's getting really polarized and I'm I'm obviously on one side of the equation but you have to listen to the other side whether you agree them or not because you have to understand why they think that otherwise nothing's ever going to change you know it's like brexit or it's like America now you know with an militi men shooting black Liv mass of people and in the streets of kosan it's like well God how did we get to this point you know it's it's tilting into a civil war you know yeah I I know there's going to be extremes of both sides who never listen to each other but the people in the middle can listen to each other and will listen to each other and we'll try and find solutions to problems you know because the problems are genuine you know you know in America and and in the UK you know um so so minorities aren't represented properly you know and that has to change and most people know that and and most people AR in a position of power to make that change but they can make it their daily lives and they are trying to and people will try to so even middle England that's more conservative most those people genu think what can I actually do to make it better you know they might they may think they may get annoyed about Land of Hope and Glory not being sung at the problems but in their day-to-day life they'll go I'm just going to try and be a bit more polite to the um to the the Indian bloke own to shop down the road which is enough really because it's a tiny little change but those little changes make a difference you know and oh yeah I'm I'm I'm optimistic about the human race I think there was more good people than bad people but you don't hear the voices do you you know it's I mean h say I agree those people politically but I know in their hearts they're probably good people you know they're politically they're misrepresented but they're their souls are good aren't they and I think in the end though all you ever see is people shouting each other on the internet and it's become really tedious it's not it's not providing any solutions at all I'm into solutions to problems I'm not into arguing internally you know let's get a solution to this you know and part of the solution is being able to uh engage and embrace the other side it's like a it's like a bod meditation is it you there's two meditations are really heavy to do one is you meditate on death so you Embrace death so you can Embrace Life and feel life even more because you've embraced death and the other one is to meditate on the person you hate the most and try and find positive values in them God is tough It's a good discipline is it to actually it sounds like you've done it a few times I can't do it I find it difficult I mean I'm I'm not a superhero but I like I like the philosophy of it I think it's a really good philosophy I think uh yeah if everybody did it it would make the world a much better place really you know even the person you really can't stand there's there's there's something you know there's going to be a couple of facets their personality which are going to be okay they're going to have uncertainties they're going to have fears but their fears just come out in very negative ways you know which don't make the world better you know maybe if if they if you could speak to them and find ways of dealing with that and and you learn something back from yourself because nobody's perfect you know you're trying to make the world better but you're you're as selfish as every every else is it's just Human Condition a it we're all trying to survive aren't we you know on a on on a crazy little planet in the crazy little blue dot in the middle of nowhere what's the best advice you've ever received from somebody I've received so much advice over the years I mean it's I I think one of the things you're always learning I think you never know everything and I think I like the idea the true wisdom is knowing what you don't know I think that's it's such an important thing to know that and yeah I think um there's so many different little bits of advice you get over the years but I think even the smallest piece of advice can be go can't it can be that's true yeah yeah I'm trying to think something because people don't often give me advice I don't know why I I got a clue what I'm doing yes you do stop it what would amate that's what's that's what's really interesting I guess in the end is yeah I an example of somebody just that gets an idea and just even if they don't know what they're doing they somehow make it work so but even have to pull somebody in to help me on that bit then I'll do that you know so if I want a song sung by a choir I'll go and get a choir I can hear the choir my head I can't sing choir Parts but I sing the choir bits you know how you want it and they turn them into choir parts and they turn my they sing my tunes and it's I had to go to Estonian to do it to a 40 piece Estonian Choir they're amazing they're quiet but punk rock taught me don't feel bad you're in the room and even if you can't sing properly I'm not a proper singer I can still communicate the melody these people speak a different language and they did the parts as I wanted them me to do them you know and I think that was important that I think empowerment's important and believing you could do things and don't worry about falling flat on your face you know who cares you know when when you're in the old people's home and the end of your life you'd be you'd be damn glad you actually dared to do it when you could when you could still get out of a chair that you actually want did that thing you know that's true that's really really true what would you do if nobody was judging you what would you do differently I should say if nobody was judging you nothing really cuz I don't feel that inhibited you know just do things that you seem pretty free yeah free but not not but like I talked about earlier still have to think of terms of community don't you so yeah no that's true and I think I think we're individuals in a community but so there there is such a thing Society Mar that was completely wrong you have to respect what everyone else does I thought in the early days the the pandemic when people talked about respecting the people who stacked shelves because he soonly realize if no one's packing stacking the shelves we're all going to starve to death was an important question really was it because you know don't snear at people whose jobs to you personally don't seem as um as as cool as your job or something I used to hate in the punk days when people did songs about people having [ __ ] jobs I thought well you know not everybody can get away being in a group exactly without bees um you know the world everything every life form this planet will die so the humble bumblebee is it holds it all together and that's an important lesson in in the human race isn't it you know it's without you take anybody out of of the society and it all starts to fall down you know no that's definitely true I don't know why they do that but I guess it's just it's nature and they all scrambling over each other to get to survive aren't we that's part of and you have to you have to understand that that's natural you know it's an inner Instinct you know if if the house caught fire everybody rushes or boat sinking everybody's rushing to get into live boats and that's true you know and some people you know of course some people say after you after you like they did on the Titanic but it's not generally what really happens and you have to realize everyone's got that that kind of weakness self-preservation inside them uh but on the other hand you have to try and find some way dealing with that that maybe you get when you get on the Lifeboat you take as many people with you as you possibly can without sinking the Lifeboat no we don't want to we don't want to do that I mean hopefully hopefully you never get have to make that choice it no that's true no that definitely makes sense to me so when was the last time you felt totally at peace John D I don't often feel at peace so it's um that's it's very difficult to feel at peace is it because I did do meditation for you and it was quite interesting because you don't realize the monkey mind which what they call it it's like a pack all chattering away in your mind and you have to let each one go but but they just keep coming back because another one was I think my god I didn't even hear that one it's like you know you're in the countryside and you listen to Total silence and it's not silence because you can hear something in the next field and the next field and about two miles away you can hear an hour hooting yeah there is there is no total peace certain things yeah I guess sometimes when you play music and everything's locking into a place that could be a feeling of the communal mind like the do talked about it's it's a higher feeling you know when when instinctively everybody knows where everyone else is going in the music and the band just moves around with each other that's quite an amazing feeling that well it's not even communicated you're all just playing together that's very it's a very deep um art art thing yeah ah if there was one song in the world that you could choose to represent you as a person so so this one song would kind of be like the the soundtrack of your life but it's only one song what song would you choose I find it impossible to choose one song because I I knew he's gonna say that it's true and I I ask people all time for their top 10 the website and things I'm always thinking I'm glad no one's asking me because I I've listened to more than 50 songs a of completely different types of music and I love so I mean I guess some songs which have such an eternal mystery that I always at some point I always go back to them so like Strawberry Fields by the beat which is such a a magic very dark song uh Joy Division as well Joy Division always sound like the future I mean I like songs that a mystery to you know you can listen to him a million times and you still don't quite know where it's going or what it sounds like or you hear new texture or a shape in it and it's to me that's really um that could be really fascinating you know and but then then you know I could hear a piece of music right now I never heard before and I'm pulled into that so it's I think I think what what a lot of people really into music really fear is being judged on on one piece of music they chose once it's the one piece of music they really liked because it's never representative because your musical taste has such fluidity to it you know I'm not I don't have I don't have records in order I don't have playlists and I don't just listen to one thing over and over it's just it just move about a lot ah I'm just trying to think for a second because you made me think about you no no it's good it's good it's good because sometimes when you're in a place where you're you're trying to think of you know songs and what song you would like and I've never had anybody ask me what song I like and I think I would find it really hard I listen to a lot of jazz a lot of the time the only thing you can ever say is right now this very minute I've been I've been listen to you know so it's no that's true because at the moment for me is jazz I love jazz yeah mean I love jazz is really hip again which is amazing because he always talked about jazz was you know was was an old Form music and it would never come back around but now it's been reinvented by loads of really great players is it yeah it really has and people are manipulating Jazz and and coming back with really old school and bringing back the old stuff and using it in different ways so it's it's really nice when someone pulls something from the past but makes it really good and sounds good completely reinterprets it it makes you know I mean music music is never static and it's a shame when things do sometimes I like shaca he's amazing you know and he's he's not Jazz because he he's also classical because he played in an orchestra and he's he's got such imagination and the mindset and his music all the projects He does are really fascinating aren't they so yeah and example of you know of that modern Jazz scene that's been really rising up and things yeah ah Define what success means to you uh well for a long time it was survival really but I think it was to me it's if you get an idea and you actually execute the idea no matter how difficult it was somehow yeah you get to that point at the end where you've really made the idea work I like that I definitely like that's a good one because people are usually Define loads actually loads of people have been saying happiness is success to them and I don't know if there's something that you feel would resonate with you as a person happiness for Success it's so fleeting though it's it's a weird thing to aim for is it because yeah there is no ultimate Blissful stage un unless you go really deeply I guess into like um Eastern mysticism or something you know that you know what's happening is is it laughing at comedy for hours an end or is it just a thing where where you just float so it becomes when you start thinking about it it's so indefinable it actually actually screws your head up even more doesn't it oh the way you said that the way you said that what advice would you give to I know you've given so much advice today which I'm so humbled that you have done John but what advice would you give to someone who's feeling like they're in a dark place or or feeling like they can't get out from where they are because they love music they do music every day obviously the pandemic that we're in is is obviously yes is making people more creative but it's also making people um unable to show their talent in some aspects of things we got social media and stuff which is brilliant but live performance is such a beautiful thing to to be able to do and we're not able to do it as much as we normally do what would you say to people to help give them that support and that positivity to keep on going with what they love doing I think it's it's it's really hard not to sound really GB in it but I think uh if you if you're in a dark place talk to somebody you know and ring somebody up even even if you don't really I mean I know some people could be really really cut off and on their own and that's difficult because I'm not a social worker so I can't really get into that far but um if you know this is this difficult for Northern males but just if you could talk to all the people most people will listen to you you know even your mates you go to the pub and take the piss with they may seem like the most unlikely people to offer you support but they probably would you know or at least know somebody who be able to listen to you and stuff you know um if you also the thing to remember is often it it will go it will go round to the other side just hang on you know which is which does sound very GL but people will tell you that you know when they go into the depths you can come back out you often you'll come back around to the other side and things um so I mean it is basic is it I mean it's so simple I think people may be overthink it thinking there's there's a Wonder cure but sometimes just spilling it all out can help or just knowing that somebody's there or even just get out out the flat and walk down the street cu lockdown we've had is not as bad as other places like China we could still go out yeah you can walk down the street and there's other human beings there and humans need humans don't they just walking past them that's natural just go just say hello to people walk down the street it looks a bit crazy do most people yeah most people let on back again you know and it's people go well what relief they said hello yeah we all need it sometimes what are your plans for the future for you what do you think your future will hold for you and I have no idea about the future and just uh hopefully some of these projects work and if they don't I'll just think of other ideas and just start doing those instead I've got tangible things around I've got two books to come out four or five a film Project it may come off and some other um like a a festival idea that might work I mean that's that's how it works in freelance world it's just ideas you set them all up and hope they stick and hope they work you know um they could be really strong ideas but doesn't NE necessarily always mean they're going to work but you have to you have to try and make them work and that's been since I was 16 it's been like that doing the band was like that everything was like that it was always trying to make things happen you know yeah yeah most definitely what's your social media John where can people find you if they would like to get in touch with you or just like to have a conversation like I did with you because you've been so humble to come on the US people podcast so where can people find you if they would like to get in touch with you well they can find me on Instagram J NR o b77 Twitter's the same as well John Rob 77 and then just look me up on um on Facebook I got about a few different accounts but I'm I'm communicating all of them so people can find me yeah that's perfect John I want to thank you so much for coming on people podcast thanks for asking me yeah yeah you've been such a positive guest as well everything that came from you was was true honest and real and you were really humble about it as well so I don't get that often so I want to thank you for that no thanks for asking that yeah yeah no definitely perfect guys I want to thank you so much for listening to the as people podcast please remember you can subscribe to Spotify iTunes Google Play and any other platform that you prefer listening to please follow us on Facebook Instagram and Twitter and you can also donate to the people podcast by simply going to the Savor Rock website or typeing in paypal.me ask people podcast thank you for listening stay happy stay positive and as always please continue to be kind to one [Music] another got to keep my energy and of of of got to keep my energy and of I protect my energy and E got to keep my energy and e e m PE of mind got to keep my energy and peace of mind I protect my energy and peace of mind got to keep my energy and peace of mind oface of people say that having a peace of mind is trying to find a consistency of calmness within ourselves to Cay for a Clarity that drives us through our emotional journey of life to never let a person's judgment manifest into a fear inside of us learning to believ in our ability to shine through the darkest moments and tunnels when we cannot see the light patience being our light for forgiveness and strength to believe in our destiny if you want real peace of mind one needs to stop fighting their inner thoughts and embrace them with love because love is the most amazing and beautiful strength that we have to conquer our peace of mind make your thoughts impact a nation by keeping them true and honest especially to yourself but make your peace of mind protect you when you don't have strength to embrace anything else Find Your Peace of Mind by listening to your heart it doesn't have to be uh like a load of models making records which a lot more pop music is in a sense but it can be the opposite of that as well you know people can make it because they they just don't fit and that can be very intriguing and it can be quite fascinating or they have an innate Charisma or or the genuine X Factor not the dodgy series that just drawn towards cuz they have like a really fascinating energy about them and that so so when you say is it fair well kind of already said it's music isn't fair you know it's you know you could be incredibly talented and somebody does a mediocre version of your idea will end up being more successful it's just way it's just the way Music Works timing is important as well you know it's so many sort of odd factors that all go into it [Music] [Laughter] [Music] [Music] w [Music] oh