We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Eddie Robbins a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Eddie thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Let’s kick things off with your mission – what is it and what’s the story behind why it’s your mission?
My mission is to spread my music out to as many people as possible. Recording a full length album has always been a pipe dream for me but it became a reality after i took the plunge out to East Nashville to meet with my high school friend Ryan Sanchez. I met Ryan over 10 years ago, my senior year of high school. He was a sophomore who just moved to lake travis and we had Jazz II together which was basically learning how to jam with others. jazz 1 was rigid and more serious. Our mentor was a hard a*s drill sergeant to the Jazz 1 kids and he treated us jazz II kids like homies in new orleans. he really let his hair down and help us write grooves and melodys while also teaching us jazz standards. long story short, i reach out to him randomly 10 years later. i had a bunch of song ideas with the intent of starting an outlaw country band. i showed him the ideas and he helped make sense out of them and here we are now. I am extremely lucky to be able to work with Ryan and the sessions i had with him changed my life. i wouldn’t be a full time musician if it weren’t for that experience.
Eddie , before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
The biggest thing I learned from creating an album to take your time and not let outside pressures rush the process. However, when it comes to managing a band it is important to work efficiently and communication is the biggest threat to any band. creatives can be unpredictable, hard to handle, unreliable, egotistical, and flaky as f*ck. Especially when you include lots of attention from fans, drugs, and alcohol, and overpraise, these can really damage the mental state of a person.
I first started playing music in a band professionally when I was about 24 I just moved back to South Austin from San Marcos. I just graduated from Texas state and joined the cream cheese accident. (string cheese incident cover band)
In this band, i treated it as a party and a half and and abused my body at every show almost. I was falling in the cycle of addiction and reward for playing shows.
fast forward to today- i live a balanced life in several bands and no alcohol for over a year. Quitting alcohol was one of the most important decision to my career.
in conclusion, it’s too easy to get distracted in this industry and focusing on the job and communicating to your bandmates are the most important things. don’t fall into a dopamine f*ck up reward system like i did in my 20s.
How do you keep your team’s morale high?
keep it light and straightforward. remember that you’re making music that you created which is amazing. and now you are getting paid to play your songs! I understand that not all things are going to be as perfect as you want.
We all hear things in our head the way we want it and it’s up to you as a band leader to communicate that in the easiest way possible. This means having a Google folder that has all your charts for her songs spelled out real easy, and also having a recording. This recording can be as easy as a voice memo on an acoustic..
don’t be afraid to point out mistakes in the song they are playing. Just make sure you are kind and compassionate when smoothing out the edges of a rehearsal. One trap I see sometimes in rehearsals are people getting humiliated in front of others at rehearsal.
pay your people on time!
What’s been the most effective strategy for growing your clientele?
playing shows and making it stupid easy for fans to follow you. QR code signs on the tip jar. graphic backdrops if possible.
it is also important to go out and meet other artists.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.eddierobbinsband.com
- Instagram: @eddierobbinsband
- Facebook: @swampytonk
Image Credits
Marshall Moon Photography