Somebody Cool.
Layden Robinson
E-Motion Poet
Passionate. Powerful. Prolific. Fleet-fingered guitarist, visceral vocalist, haunting lyricist, and most recently slammin’ bass player, Layden Robinson is the ultimate independent artist. He is the author of seven collections of dark and surreal short stories. He has also released almost as many CD’s these past few years. In contrast to his fiction, though, much of his music is about what it means to be a human being challenged by, and then overcoming adversity. Profoundly talented AND maniacally driven, Layden’s got a brand new book for you to check out, and a new CD. And his live performances are not to be missed. But if you are based in the U.S. you better hurry or you’re going to have to settle for checking him out online-- our brother Layden is about to relocate to Europe...
Twenty Questions: LAYDEN ROBINSON
1. What do you like most about what you do?
“What is it that I do? ‘It’s true, purity at its finest.’ What is it that you do?”
2. What do you wish you could change about yourself?
“My being so critical of things.”
3. Do you think others perceive you the way you perceive yourself?
“Absolutely not. I am a fucking lunatic.”
4. If you could only have access to a total of 5 works of art, whether they be books, albums, movies, sculptures or paintings-- which 5 would you choose, and why?
“5 albums. Donny Hathaway’s ‘Self titled album’ [“Donny Hathaway”] and ‘Extension of a Man’, and Stevie Wonder’s ‘Talking Book’, ‘Innervisions’. and ‘Songs In The Key Of Life’.”
5. What, as opposed to who, has influenced you most?
“Good, talented, tight music.”
6. Do you do your best work when you’re happy or not so happy? In other words, do you think there’s any validity to the old saw about an artist having to suffer in order to successfully create?
“I believe there is a lot of truth to that statement. Those dark times are some times when you are the most introspective, the most…..?”
7. When you are not working, what do you do for fun?
“Drink too much wine and jack off way too much to bizarre fetish porn.”
8. When you are working, describe a typical work day (or night)?
“Great!! The same fucking conversation. Great!! The same stupid fucking question.”
9. If you weren’t a Songwriter, what would you most certainly NOT have become?
“A computer technician.”
10. Where do you see yourself two years from now?
“In Europe, happy, growing and becoming a lot more relaxed and appreciative of the moment.”
11. If you were cloned, what would you want to write on the blank slate of your new self? Or put another way, if you had been your own parent, what would you have taught or exposed yourself to during the course of your upbringing that you were not?
“More Optimism.”
12. If you had the power to put together the greatest band of all time, who would the members of that band be?
“Too many to choose from, Brother.”
13. Limited to these two choices, would you rather be the fastest runner
in the world, or be able to run the longest distance?
“Able to run the longest distance.”
14. What’s the best song you’ve heard so far, and why?
“Donny Hathaway’s live version of “Song for you.” Because it is the most angelic voice I have ever heard.
15. What’s the worst pain in the world?
“The pain of losing someone close.”
16. What’s the best smell in the world?
“The smell of freshly made honey glazed donuts.”
17. What’s the saddest song of all time?
"'They Won't Go When I Go' by Stevie Wonder."
18. What’s the greatest thing that ever happened to you?
“Too many to count.”
19. What’s your LEAST favorite swear word?
“Shit.”
20. What should I have asked you?
“MORE FUCKING QUESTIONS, MR. LIPTON!!”
