Exclusive Interview: Raiding The Rock Vault's Robin McAuley is Ready to 'Shake The World' with Black Swan's Debut Release

(Reb Beach, Robin McAuley, Jeff Pilson & Matt Starr- Black Swan Official)

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The last time that I spoke with Robin McAuley he was as busy as ever, performing several nights a week in Raiding The Rock Vault (a popular Vegas all-star production) while touring the world with Michael Schenker's Schenkerfest. He also teased about a (not so) little side gig with Jeff Pilson (Foreigner & Dokken) and Reb Beach (Winger & Whitesnake), plus Matt Starr on drums. That little project has morphed into a thunderous labor of love called Black Swan. 

Two singles, "Shake The World" and "Big Disaster", have already been met with critical praise, leaving rock fans anxiously awaiting the full release of Shake The World, on February 14th. Black Swan is, perhaps, one of the best supergroups to come out of the last decade or so and not even a critical bout with Ecoli Sepsis could slow their momentum. I had the pleasure of catching up with the always gracious and jovial rocker a few days ago. Check it out below!

(Robin McAuley - Black Swan Official)

Robin McAuley on the illness that could have been deadly:

"Lord. I’ll make it very brief. I didn’t see this one coming. At all. I stay pretty healthy and I was about to leave my home to catch a flight to Florida. The good Catholic boy that I am, I went to church in the morning, we came home and had a family meal, a breakfast, and about an hour before leaving, I got extremely cold. I had no other symptoms, nothing, it was a great morning, and then in about a twenty-minute window my sorry old ass got hooked up to a gurney and taken to intensive care. One of my sons really jumped on it and called 911, thank God or I may not be here talking to you now. 

Everybody was shocked and I really didn’t feel much of it, other than the fact I was really cold. I had a temperature that was over 104 and I was going into shock and had no idea what was going on.  You could have fried an egg on my butt (laughing). The diagnosis I finally got after the long week in the hospital was that I somehow had contracted the E.coli virus and it had turned into a bladder infection. That went into my bloodstream, became sepsis, and it was starting to poison me. I was put in a 12-hour critical stage. I have a lot of tattoos but I hate needles. Go figure. Right (laughing)? I’ve never had so many injections and blood and, oh god, IVs, and you know the other things they strap to you but they were able to treat me with the proper antibiotics. 

It really was a shocker, didn’t see it coming at all! I know what septic means, I’ve heard of septic, but sepsis, not until now (laughing). I was a great believer in the idea that people get sick and then you go, ‘yeah, but there has to be something underlying. you don’t just get sick and you don’t just fall down,’ but, apparently you do (laughing). Thankfully I am now feeling terrific."

Robin on getting better and returning to the stage in mere weeks:

"I was sequestered. The doctor said, ''You might think you are going somewhere, but you’re not going anywhere,’ so I spent weeks on extremely strong antibiotics and strapped to an IV, so I was pretty shitty, to say the least. Even after I got all of this stuff removed from my body, that next week was miserable because I had no strength, at all. The doctors told me that when your body goes into shock, all of these muscles suddenly start to flare up, and my legs were like lead.  

The doctors were very funny and they told me, ‘You know, you’re the youngest person in here. You need to get the hell outta here. and… you know, we have more pending cases than yours,’ I mean, they were very encouraging. They encouraged me constantly to get better and go home. Because they said that as soon as I could get home I would then have an immediate turnaround. They were right and my wife was awesome, my boys were awesome and that kept me going.  The doctors gave me an extra two weeks off and I started back just last week at Raiding the Rock Vault. Now, when you’re offstage for a whole month it’s a little like riding a bicycle, but it’s also in new venue so I had to adjust to that. Right now, this will be my fifth day in and I’m rockin’. Thank god I feel great and I’ve got my legs back, plus my voice is in great shape. Thereby the grace of God, I am very thankful and grateful."

  

(Robin McAuley- Official Facebook)

Robin on getting ready for Schenkerfest:

  
"I have so much to learn for that still (laughing). We leave for Japan the first week of March and Japan is already sold out, it’s amazing. It’s a huge undertaking because Simon Phillips will be a second drummer on this one. Ronnie Romero will be coming in and guesting on vocals. Barry Sparkson was also one of the earlier MSG bass players who will also be coming in as well so it’s a hefty lineup. Then we will leave Japan and we’ll hit the UK and the rest of Europe in April. Then US dates will maybe come at the tail end of the year. I’m waiting for those dates to be confirmed."  

Robin on Black Swan:

"My favorite band of all time, I want to tell you right out the gate, it’s my favorite. Even the artwork is part of excellence. I just love it, I absolutely love the logo. Jeff (Pilson) came to me with this idea. Frontiers had approached me maybe two years ago about wanting to work with me because I was possibly the only guy left (laughing) just kidding. I was so busy with Rock Vault and Schenker at the time. Plus they wanted to put me in with some of their in-house writers and producers, who are fantastic, but I wasn’t ready to just do a record. It wasn’t right. So anyway, Jeff called me about a year ago and we go back a very long way and he said, ‘well how would you feel to write with Reb Beach?’ Well, who wouldn’t want to write with Reb Beach? I met Reb during my Survivor days when he was with Night Ranger for a short spell, so I already knew him. 

Jeff and Reb got together at Jeff’s studio and they had sent me sort of a basic idea for a song just to get the ball rolling. I came into the studio and I had a melody and I had a lyric and it was called ‘Big Disaster’, and Reb just looks at me and goes, ‘For a new project, that is probably not the best name.’ (laughing) and that’s kind of how we started. Nobody was thinking it should be a little MSG, a little Dokken, make it White Snakey. Now, why would you ever want to do that? Why can’t we just be what we are and have what we have as Black Swan?"

Robin on the writing process with Black Swan:

"Jeff went to see Bohemian Rhapsody and sent me a short note at about midnight saying he got home and set up the piano and wrote something called "Divided". It was this amazing chorus and idea for a verse and I thought wow, people will never expect this. It’s an amazing song.  

One of my son’s almost ended up at the Borderline Grill where that massacre in Thousand Oaks took place. I was actually in Poland with Schenker, and I got this text saying he was on his way there, but he got a call to come into work instead. There was this line dancing thing he and his college friends would all do. When we were writing this record, this massacre was weighing heavily on my mind so I had this idea of writing a song around the soldier that comes home from active duty and things are not the same at home as he left. When we think of soldiers we think of men and these are kids. They are kids. Kids with guns and bombs in their hands that are not properly counseled. Unfortunately, it’s a bunch of innocent, beautiful, young kids out at a bar that gets hurt.  

Part of what we’re saying with this Black Swan record will shake the world because things are a big disaster and we are so divided. It’s not a political platform because I don’t know politics, but I know my own mind. I don’t like using music as a soapbox, you know for that purpose, but sometimes if something weighs heavily on your mind and on your heart then it just comes out in the writing. We need to shake things up, we definitely do. You know, we have a voice as we always say and we are supposed to be allowed to use it. Um… But, as long as you put up with it nothing is ever going to change."

(Robin McAuley- Official Facebook)

Robin on the name Black Swan:

"Reb came up with the name Black Swan. We were kicking names around and we had some god-awful names and they all got trashed (laughing). Then Reb says, ‘Well, I like-- I like Black Swan,’ and I’m going, ‘Well, isn’t there a movie and a book?’ (laughing).  Frontiers actually got clearance because there was a big brass school band, The Black Swan-something or other, and so they had to get clearance on the name. They obviously managed to get it, and it fits perfectly, I think. It fits the music and just sort of gels with everything else."  

Robin on how Black Swan is a unique experience for him:

"I’ve recorded a lot of stuff, my name is not a name that rolls off of people’s tongues, but I’ve recorded quite a bit. I will say that of everything I’ve ever had my name on or recorded, I think this is my favorite of everything. I just love the production. It’s real. It’s not processed. It’s exactly like it is in the studio. It’s how we wanted it. And, it was one of my big things like, I just want this to really rock and be powerful. 

Jeff did an absolutely monstrous job of it. His playing is amazing considering he didn’t want to play bass. You know, Reb and I had other ideas about that (laughs). He had all of these great bass players lined up for whatever reason, and as we were writing, he’d be laying down his bass tracks just as a guide, and I went, ‘Yeah, some guide. So, are you going to get a bass player in here and show him everything you just played?’ (laughing). Then, of course, Matt Starr came in and completely put the icing on the cake."

Robin on the possibility of live dates:

" (Laughing) It’s the million-dollar, Black Swan question. You know, of course, ideally, with every band, you want to go live. Reb’s schedule is crazy, as is Jeff’s, and then you have Matt and you’re going, ‘How the hell is this ever going to happen?’ So, we’re hoping that a window of opportunity will appear. God, I hope we get to do it. We’ve all agreed, all four of us have agreed, that we’d love to do it."

Robin's thoughts ahead of the Feb. 14th release of the full Shake The World record:

"I’m really happy. I know everybody says that about their record, but I am (laughing). I never thought that at my age, I could actually make something that I could boast about. This is just, I couldn’t be in a better place. I never in my wildest dreams thought that we’d be churning out something of this quality, it’s just great. It’s great. So I’m very happy with it. I hope the listeners are equally as happy and we have a go forward with it. It would be terrific. Not that I need more work, but I love this particular work so much." 

Follow Black Swan on Facebook for more news & updates. Grab your Black Swan merch here. Also, check our Robin's official site & Facebook page for updates on everything that he has going on. 

Exclusive Interview: Robin McAuley Talks Schenker Fest, 'Rock Vault' & That New Side Gig with Jeff Pilson & Reb Beach

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Robin McAuley has been a steady fixture on the hard rock scene for close to 40 years now and if you think that he is ready to slow down you'd be completely wrong. He has spent the last five years performing several nights a week on stage in Vegas while also touring the world once again with Michael Schenker (the McAuley Schenker Group- or MSG first shot to fame in the states back in the '80s). Add to that a sweet side project with Jeff Pilson and Reb Beach and you've got an incredibly fruitful career. 

I had an opportunity to chat with Robin this week and listened as he grieved the loss of a bandmate, anticipated the release of new music and reflected on what keeps him centered in that crazy rock and roll world. 

DailyBOOM: So tell me, how are you? What have you been up to?

Robin McAuley: I haven't had new material out myself in a while, but I've been very busy.  I spent nine hours recording just yesterday for the new Michael Schenker Fest cd. The deadline for that has been overshadowed by the fact that we lost our drummer, Ted McKenna, in a freaky routine surgery just a few days ago and it has really devastated everyone. It's the most routine, piece of cake surgery (hernia repair) usually but he hemorrhaged and they couldn't stop the bleeding. He was just the nicest dude, an absolutely gentle, kind man. A powerhouse drummer and a force to be reckoned with up there behind us, just so easy to work with. God rest Ted McKenna. 

We've been out there with Schenker Fest for almost three years now, it first began at the Bang Your Head Festival in Germany and we're scheduled to do that one again this year. We've toured Japan and did a live DVD out of Tokyo that got a great response. Then we toured in support of our Ressurection album, again in Japan, then also Europe, the U.K and the states. We're scheduled to kick off our U.S. dates for this year on April 15th at The Whiskey in Hollywood. It'll be chaos and I think that's the whole idea (laughing). There's a lot of people in the band so it'll be a cluster (laughing) and that's what we want. 

(Photo: Paul Bossenmaier)

DB: You're still working in Vegas too, aren't you?

RM: I've been working with Raiding the Rock Vault for a solid five years now. It has been voted the best in Vegas for five years in a row and that show keeps us really busy. We do five nights a week and it has an ever-evolving lineup. When I'm in town and not on tour, then I'm there onstage five nights a week Saturday through Wednesday. You get into an automatic mode when doing a five night a week show and you really have to stay on top of things. Your voice is a different kind of instrument and you're totally reliant on your health and the conditions around you, so Vegas is not an easy place to work. The air is very dry and it's windy, plus the casinos are very smokey. You get into a routine and you know what you have to do in order to maintain yourself to do this job, but I choose not to live in Vegas. Instead, I live in California with my family, so I drive home on Wednesday nights and roll in at around 3am. 

People think I'm crazy for driving but there are no late night flights into Burbank and if I flew into LAX and then had to drive from there it's still going to take me four hours to get home. Driving is almost like detoxing for me, I don't mind the trip through the desert. One of my brothers will usually call me from back home in Ireland and we have a good old chat. I also listen to talk shows and wonder if some night I'll stumble across some sort of alien being while driving (laughing). It hasn't happened so far, that I know of, so I guess I'm of no interest (laughing).

DB: A little birdie by the name of Jeff Pilson told me that you're working on a project with him and Reb Beach. I think I need some details on that (laughing).

RM: Ah Mr. Pilson, the crazy Jeff Pilson (laughing). Maybe about 2 months ago he said he had this thing going on that he wanted me to do and I said, 'Nah' (laughing).  He said, 'Please do it' and then he told me that Reb Beach is in it and that he thought that it was something that I should do. I then asked what he was doing in it and he said that he would be producing it and co-writing. I procrastinated a bit and then we got together and I wondered how we were going to do this. Reb is in Pittsburgh and he has Winger shows, I've got my stuff and Jeff, of course, he has Foreigner, but we're deep in the hole. We've made it all work and we're almost done,  with a release date scheduled for later this year. It's really, really good. One of the most fun things and probably one of the very best things I've ever gotten into. When we heard the material we realized that it's great. 

I'm absolutely stoked, hyper even because Reb and I managed to talk Jeff into playing bass with us. He wanted to take a backseat on this one and we basically said sure, take a backseat on this just bring your bass guitar with you (laughing). He agreed to play and at the moment it looks like we'll have Mark Schulman (Pink, Cher, Stevie Nicks) playing drums. We do have a band name but it has to stay under wraps for now. The material is just great and I can't wait for it to come out. 

DB: How will you orchestrate this when like you've said, you're all already ridiculously busy?

RM: One of the biggest difficulties is to have us all in the same place at the same time but we have pledged to make it all work because it has to see the light of day (laughing). We have discussed it at great length though because we all have our own things to do. I hate that it's referred to as a side project because it makes it sound secondary or meaningless and I believe that it's a lot more than that. We've put a lot of work into it and so it really does mean a lot. Reb Beach is just a son of a bitch guitar player, he's just awesome. Jeff Pilson knows how to work on a level ten all the time. He's always on ten and ya know, I've known him for a very long time. Not many people know but Jeff was our chief witness when my wife and I got married. I've been married for 25 years and Jeff and I go back even way before that because he did an unplugged tour with Michael (Schenker) and myself. 

DB: How do you do it all and still have so much positive energy just bouncing off of you?

RM: I love waking up to a good day. Life's too short. My family is my core and my foundation. I'm Irish and come from a very large family and that has always been my backbone, it's family first. Knowing that I have such a solid family is what allows me to step forward and not only do what I do but also really enjoy it. It's great to do what I'm doing because I know that I have a great family to come home to. We make more than the best of our downtime and personally I would be lost if I didn't have someone to come home to. I've always been like that, going home to a great one-bedroom place would depress the shit out of me (laughing). I couldn't live like that. The family balances my work and my work makes me grateful for my family.

Schenker Fest will hit the road this spring with about 25 U.S. dates coming your way. Grab your tickets here.