Rob McGuffin has already had the urge to create music fully engrained into his being, a man whose previous band Kids With Lighters was very highly rated and it was with a sense of undisguised regret that the band were not able to go any further. However you cannot keep a good man down and the harder people try to, the harder they bounce back. Rob has spent the last few months fine tuning his set, creating new music and now with a great sense of timing has come back stronger and wiser and ready for another go at proving his music should be taken seriously.
A lot has happened to Rob since I first had the pleasure of seeing him at the now iconic Monday Night Club at the Cavern Pub run by Ian Prowse and ahead of his E.P. launch at the 02 Academy in Liverpool I was able to catch up with the musician as he prepared for battle once more.
You have a new E.P. titled Out of Office Reply, coming out soon, how did it all come about?
Rob: “I was working recently in Liverpool and it was something that stuck in my head from leaving an out of office reply over the Christmas break. When I wasn’t in working in February because of one thing and another, it was just something that occurred to me, an echo of the situation I was in.”
That must have felt surreal especially in the current climate. Thankfully it didn’t take you out of what you do best. Did it feel strange being away from music for a while?
Rob: “It wasn’t by choice obviously, I was still wanted to get back into it and I was still writing. The songs on the new E.P. I wrote whilst I was on the train to and from work really. It was weird being around town and being influenced by things but not being part of a band any more. It’s good and exciting to be back into it now.
You were part of the great young band Kids With Lighters, a very enjoyable band to watch and listen to and despite the band splitting up; you seem to have come back stronger.
Rob: “I think so much happened during that bad time, too much happened but I didn’t want to give up on music completely. If I’d have come back weaker, it wouldn’t have been worth doing.”
What have been the inspirations behind the E.P.?
Rob: “You’ve got Ain’t the Way, which was the single that was released very recently that sort of sprung from a true dilemma, a friend rang me up in the middle of the night and he was stuck somewhere with no money, it was hard luck case. Then you’ve got Cape and State of Play which are both love songs. Soaring was about just when I was changing jobs in Liverpool, the world was against me, it was about coming back stronger and I was feeling like I was getting back up there and then Hype was a song that I wrote when I was in Kids With Lighters and it was one that we’d stopped doing and I just decided to re-work it and it has a completely different take and it worked out pretty well. That’s more about when you start out in a band; it’s hard when you start out, you need to get an online presence, no-one has heard your music, and peoples’ views on it are not always positive.
I obviously pick up on the Birmingham angle; you’ve been playing some gigs down there?
Rob: “I did a gig with Gigster Promotions, I had a good time down there, and I did a gig in Birmingham last year as well, with Kids With Lighters, the Casino gig.”
Cool! I find that Liverpool and Birmingham are probably the two of the most creative parts of the U.K. for music, so how does it feel to have a foot in both camps so to speak at the minute?
Rob: “It’s surreal really. There are some great venues in Birmingham, there’s one with a staircase and a secret passage way which leads into a 5oo plus well-equipped gig venue sort of hidden away. It’s the sort of place a music lover would look for. It’s good to be in both places, I should be hopefully going back to Birmingham soon hopefully but I’m busy here now.”
I know from talking to a few friends from down south they have enjoyed your gig! So it’s quite nice to hear that a Merseyside-based act is doing well in Birmingham at such a young age!
Rob: “That’s nice to hear, I really enjoyed the place, thanks! I’ll go back anytime!”
What got you into music in the first place?
Rob: “I really got my love of live music from working as a video producer, a sort of one man band, doing camera editing, doing live music videos and performances and then when I was editing them, I realised I didn’t really know how a guitar worked. So I thought if I did know how to play one, this might help me make better videos. I lent a left-handed guitar from a friend and then I started writing songs!”
So was it quite daunting then when you went through all that and you went on stage for the first time?
Rob: “It was probably six months between deciding I was going to pick up a guitar and then playing the first gig, which was April 2011. I was quite nervous, at that time had about four or five particular friends who had been mates since high school, they were really supportive; they would just turn up mob-handed. I think doing the acoustic stuff again around the bars, which I used to do a lot of before as well, has given me more confidence really, Kids With Lighters wouldn’t have happened and the stuff now wouldn’t have happened without it.”
The E.P. that you’ve done, which is being launched next week at the Academy gig on the 11th May, obviously you’re looking forward to it, is an overwhelming prospect or are you looking at it eagerly, to get back out there and play the music that I want to play for people?
Rob: “I’m looking forward to making some songs the way they should sound, they should be heard the way I intended them to be heard when I wrote them. I think any sort of nerves that I have on the night will be overshadowed by the relief of playing at a venue that will be great. I think once I hear the drums, the guitars and bass kick in, the adrenaline will start to pump and I’ll be happy then! I’ve never though been caught smiling whilst playing guitar!”
Ian D. Hall