{"id":17204,"date":"2017-08-25T01:00:06","date_gmt":"2017-08-25T05:00:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/southeastofheaven.com\/?p=17204"},"modified":"2017-08-23T16:28:43","modified_gmt":"2017-08-23T20:28:43","slug":"interview-with-crobots-chris-bishop","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.southeastofheaven.com\/?p=17204","title":{"rendered":"Interview with Crobot’s Chris Bishop & Brandon Yeagley: “When you get into a routine where you\u2019re going through the motions that is when everyone can tell. Now we\u2019ve rediscovered what makes us happy and what makes this fun and that\u2019s very important.”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Five years ago I got an email from this little band out of Pennsylvania called Crobot asking me to give their debut album a listen.\u00a0 I set my expectations low and dove into the album and on the first go \u2018round I was a fan.\u00a0 Over the years I have had the pleasure of watching Crobot grow into a powerful, touring entity that blows the minds of everyone that sees them live.\u00a0 They have built a dedicated following and continue to blow minds from town to town with their new signature Crobot sound.\u00a0<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

On a recent tour stop here in Atlanta, I had the pleasure of catching up with the creative core of Crobot: lead vocalist Brandon Yeagley and guitarist Chris Bishop.\u00a0 We bonded over cold beers, talked about moving forward after an internal shake up, and the typical ridiculous silly shit we usually talk about.\u00a0 Enjoy this one <\/strong><\/em>y\u2019all and go dig on some Crobot.\u00a0<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Brandon, Chris, thanks so much for taking the time to do this interview.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Chris<\/strong>: No problem man.\u00a0 Here, have a PBR [laughs]<\/p>\n

Brandon<\/strong>: Yeah, this is pretty much our currency.<\/p>\n

========================================================<\/p>\n

It was 5 years ago this year that you emailed me and asked if I would be kind enough to give you guys a listen and the rest is history.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Chris<\/strong>: I remember we emailed you because we saw that you were reviewing bands that we loved and that\u2019s why we just knew you would like us and that\u2019s how this all came to be.\u00a0 Just guys with like-minded interests.<\/p>\n

========================================================<\/p>\n

It\u2019s really been a trip for me to watch Crobot grow in this amazing entity that it has. I mean, I thought you guys kicked ass when I first heard you but you guys are on a whole new level.\u00a0 Is it cool for you guys to look back and see how far you\u2019ve come since then?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Brandon<\/strong>: Thanks, Don.\u00a0 Yeah, I think we\u2019ve always been passionate in that we like being a hardworking band.\u00a0 I don\u2019t think we would\u2019ve stopped.\u00a0 From here, it\u2019s just going to continue to get better because that\u2019s who we are as people; we strive to be better musicians.<\/p>\n

Chris<\/strong>: I think we\u2019re just constantly trying to re-discover what makes all of this fun; what makes us happy doing this?\u00a0\u00a0 That\u2019s when it\u2019s going to be authentic and good.\u00a0 When you get into a routine where you\u2019re going through the motions that is when everyone can tell.\u00a0 Now we\u2019ve rediscovered what makes us happy and what makes this fun and that\u2019s very important.<\/p>\n

========================================================<\/p>\n

What is it that keeps you going through all the tough times and bullshit?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Chris<\/strong>: It\u2019s just what\u2019s in us.\u00a0 We love music and we\u2019re lucky enough to do this and we love it.\u00a0 I play music because I love it.\u00a0 I don\u2019t do this for anyone else.\u00a0 It\u2019s a selfish thing 100%.<\/p>\n

Brandon<\/strong>: We\u2019re just fans of everything that has to do with music.\u00a0 It\u2019s just what keeps me looking forward and man, we\u2019ve got the greatest job in the world.\u00a0 It\u2019s just incredible that we are still out here doing it and that people giving a shit about us enough to come see us do it and interview us[laughs].<\/p>\n

========================================================<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Have you guys been working on some new material and maybe even road testing some new tunes?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Chris<\/strong>: We have been sound checking a couple of new ones but I doubt we\u2019ll play them tonight [laughs].\u00a0 The stuff that we have written so far is definitely heavier, darker, but I think in the coming future we write the yin to the yang of that which I think we\u2019re always pretty good at; trying to keep more light-hearted funky type shit in there as well.\u00a0 That\u2019s the other half of the record that we have still yet to write.<\/p>\n

========================================================<\/p>\n

I love that Crobot has grown so much from album to album yet has solidified its own distinct sound.\u00a0 Where does this growth come from?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Brandon<\/strong>: The more you do it, the better you get at it is pretty much the approach we take.\u00a0 It\u2019s why we like to go into a record with 50 songs.\u00a0 We know that not every song we write is going to be a \u201chit\u201d and we just like to take things to all ends of the spectrum.\u00a0 A lot of the new material is going to be a lot more of an analytical approach.\u00a0 I think that\u2019s where things are going to mature.\u00a0 We\u2019re just going to look at things in a more microscopic light.<\/p>\n

Chris<\/strong>: I\u2019m pretty proud of the fact that we\u2019ve developed our own kind of sound.\u00a0 A lot of it is that Brandon\u2019s vocals are very distinct and it gives the band more room to be creative.\u00a0 I think, moving forward, we\u2019re definitely going to experiment with writing some different stuff and there\u2019s not going to be anything stopping us from moving forward which is going to be exciting.<\/p>\n

========================================================<\/p>\n

Brandon, how do you sing like that every fucking night?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Brandon<\/strong>: [laughs] Man, every night is different; every night is a different animal.\u00a0 The one constant thing you have to do is to keep yourself in a bubble to a certain extent.\u00a0 You can\u2019t party too hard or eat the wrong types of food and if you do, you have to understand the consequences and repercussions of your actions [laughs].<\/p>\n

Chris<\/strong>: I can definitely say, having been in many bands with singers all over the spectrum, some people can do it and some people can\u2019t.\u00a0 Some people are just built with a strong voice and Brandon is built with a strong voice.\u00a0 He also takes care of it very well.\u00a0 That\u2019s why his voice is so strong and even when he doesn\u2019t feel good or things his voice is weak one night it still sounds strong.\u00a0 I see it every day.\u00a0 He\u2019s very strict on himself.<\/p>\n

Brandon<\/strong>: It was also a lot of trial and error.\u00a0 The first few years I sang I was not good [laughs].\u00a0 It just took the process of finding what works for me and what doesn\u2019t work.\u00a0 I\u2019m just constantly working at it; trying to get better; trying to work on technique and trying to get plenty of sleep.<\/p>\n

========================================================<\/p>\n

Is it half bird, half bot, or half alien?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Brandon<\/strong>: Yes [laughs]<\/p>\n

Chris: It\u2019s 150% of Crobot.<\/p>\n

========================================================<\/p>\n

So what does the Crobot have in his hand?\u00a0 Did you ever figure it out?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Brandon<\/strong>: Oh it\u2019s coming.<\/p>\n

========================================================<\/p>\n

So we should get a towel?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Chris<\/strong>: [laughs] I\u2019ve been changing the words lately to, \u201cHe\u2019s got something in his ass!\u201d [laughs]<\/p>\n

========================================================<\/p>\n

What goes through your mind that second before you walk out on stage?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Brandon<\/strong>: \u201cI\u2019ve gotta poo.\u201d [laughs]\u00a0 Almost every time I think, \u201cI should\u2019ve shit before going on stage.\u201d<\/p>\n

========================================================<\/p>\n

Now you\u2019ve gotta hold it for 75 minutes.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Chris<\/strong>: [laughs] I\u2019m usually 2nd<\/sup> guessing everything on my guitar rig at that point.\u00a0 I\u2019m like, \u201cWhat the fuck is going to go wrong now?\u00a0 I\u2019m sure something is going to break\u201d because I have the most gear issues ever.<\/p>\n

========================================================<\/p>\n

Chris, how many times has Brandon been hit with your flinging guitar?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Chris<\/strong>: Not too many I don\u2019t think [laughs].<\/p>\n

Brandon<\/strong>: Once and it wasn\u2019t because you were flinging it.\u00a0 You came up with your neck and I came down and hit it with my head.<\/p>\n

========================================================<\/p>\n

As much as you do that move it\u2019s amazing you haven\u2019t smacked him.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Chris<\/strong>: I\u2019ve hit every one of my other singers though [laughs].<\/p>\n

Brandon<\/strong>: Oh man, tonight\u2019s the night [laughs].<\/p>\n

========================================================<\/p>\n

If you could play in any band for just one night who would it be?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Chris<\/strong>: Clutch for sure.\u00a0 Mainly because I know all the songs [laughs].\u00a0 They\u2019re also one of those bands where the riffs are so epic and memorable.\u00a0 I think there\u2019s a lot to be said about riffs like that.\u00a0 They make you connect more to them and it\u2019s just such a great feeling.\u00a0 I love them so much for that reason.\u00a0 The simplicity, the wittiness, everything.<\/p>\n

Brandon<\/strong>: Man, I\u2019d want to be the 3rd<\/sup> lead singer in Deep Purple in the David Coverdale\/Glenn Hughes days.\u00a0 I\u2019d just want to be the 3rd<\/sup> man there.<\/p>\n

========================================================<\/p>\n

Holy shit that would rule.\u00a0 You could totally pull it off.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Brandon<\/strong>: But I\u2019d still be like an octave below Glenn Hughes [laughs].<\/p>\n

========================================================<\/p>\n

Chris, you have definitely adopted your own signature style and sound which I have to say is pretty tough to do in this day and age.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Chris<\/strong>: Thanks.\u00a0 Yeah, it\u2019s hard to be an original guitar player anymore because everything has already been done.\u00a0 You just can\u2019t overthink things and you have to go with your gut.\u00a0 Same for writing songs.\u00a0 If you think something\u2019s awesome, 9 times out of 10 it probably is.\u00a0 If you think something sounds shitty, it\u2019s probably shit.\u00a0 One thing that I\u2019ve learned is that you never write for anyone else but yourself.\u00a0 If you don\u2019t stand behind it and you don\u2019t think it\u2019s good or you’re writing it because you think other people will like it, that\u2019s not the right reasons.<\/p>\n

========================================================<\/p>\n

You\u2019re already doing this for yourself, to begin with, so you might as well be creative for yourself.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Chris<\/strong>: Yeah.\u00a0 There\u2019s a lot of pressure in that though.\u00a0 You see a lot of bands doing that shit and being successful.\u00a0 It\u2019s like, \u201cDo you want to do that?\u201d\u00a0 No, I want to find that happy medium where I can stand behind something that will we will be successful doing.<\/p>\n

========================================================<\/p>\n

\u201cLa Mano De Lucifer\u201d is one of my favorite songs.\u00a0 Can you jam that one for me tonight?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Chris<\/strong>: [laughs] Hell yeah.\u00a0 You know, the original title of that song was \u201cEl Mono De Lucifer\u201d and Alberto, one of the engineers on the first album, said, \u201cYou know you\u2019re saying that wrong, right?\u00a0 You\u2019re saying \u2018the monkey of Lucifer.\u2019\u201d [laughs]\u00a0 So he had us change it to the proper title, \u201cLa Mano de Lucifer.\u201d<\/p>\n

========================================================<\/p>\n

You guys have been at this a while now.\u00a0 What\u2019s the most starstruck you\u2019ve been?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Brandon<\/strong>: Lemmy.\u00a0 Just to walk into a room with him the first night of our tour in LA\u2026 I\u2019ll never forget it.\u00a0 It was this huge room and had this laser beam stare that was just intimidating as fuck [laughs].\u00a0 There\u2019s this God in the room.\u00a0 I think we all had similar introductions to him where we all ran away like little school girls after he said a word to us [laughs].\u00a0 It was like a total Wayne\u2019s World moment.<\/p>\n

Chris<\/strong>: Lemmy for sure and Neil from Clutch.\u00a0 Clutch was our first big tour so we were extremely green and everything was exciting and fresh at that point.<\/p>\n

Brandon<\/strong>: Neil even made a comment at the end of the tour to us saying, \u201cYou know, when you started this tour you were pretty green but now you\u2019re more blue.\u201d [laughs].<\/p>\n

========================================================<\/p>\n

What is one hard rock\/metal album that nobody should go without owning?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Brandon<\/strong>: I\u2019m going to say Deliverance by Corrosion of Conformity.<\/p>\n

Chris<\/strong>: Oh man.\u00a0 I\u2019m going to have to say Cry of Love\u2019s first album Brother.\u00a0 That\u2019s one of my favorite albums of all time.\u00a0 I\u2019m going to have to go with that one.<\/p>\n

========================================================<\/p>\n

If Hollywood was to make a movie about you, who would play you?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Chris<\/strong>: Will Farrell but probably because we have the same body shape [laughs].\u00a0 I\u2019m not near as funny though.<\/p>\n

Brandon<\/strong>: I\u2019d say that as long as we\u2019re going with people who are older than us I\u2019d have to go with Jim Carrey.\u00a0 If he could grow the mutton chops that would be awesome.<\/p>\n

Chris<\/strong>: I think Russell Brand would play you [laughs].<\/p>\n

========================================================<\/p>\n

Finally, what\u2019s up with you guys once this tour is over with?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Chris<\/strong>: We\u2019re going to be writing.\u00a0 Clint (Lowery) from Sevendust is going to be coming down and we\u2019re going to start writing some riffs and brainstorming and keeping an open mind to all things new.\u00a0 I\u2019m super excited.<\/p>\n

Brandon<\/strong>: I\u2019m really looking forward to writing.\u00a0 The sessions so far have been that old clich\u00e9 that it\u2019s the best stuff we\u2019ve ever done.\u00a0 It\u2019s just all over the spectrum and the stuff we\u2019ve gone through is just fuel for the writing process.\u00a0 There are some songs that are so far out I don\u2019t even think they\u2019re Crobot songs because they\u2019re so far out [laughs].\u00a0 At the same time, it could very well end being Crobot stuff.\u00a0 It\u2019s exciting to see what happens.<\/p>\n

========================================================<\/p>\n

Ok you two, I\u2019m gonna jet and let you guys get into your groove to play tonight.\u00a0 It\u2019s always awesome to talk to you guys and y\u2019all make me feel like a proud papa!<\/strong><\/p>\n

Brandon<\/strong>: Thanks, Don.<\/p>\n

Chris<\/strong>: [laughs] You\u2019ve seen it all, Don.\u00a0 You\u2019ve been there from the beginning and we love ya!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Five years ago I got an email from this little band out of Pennsylvania called Crobot asking me to give their debut album a listen.\u00a0 I set my expectations low and dove into the album and on the first go \u2018round I was a fan.\u00a0 Over the years I have had the pleasure of watching Crobot grow into a powerful, touring entity that blows the minds of everyone that sees them live.\u00a0 They have built a dedicated following and continue […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[194],"tags":[1850,1841,861,1621],"class_list":["post-17204","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-interviews","tag-brandon-yeagley","tag-chris-bishop","tag-crobot","tag-welcome-to-fat-city"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.southeastofheaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17204","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.southeastofheaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.southeastofheaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.southeastofheaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.southeastofheaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=17204"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.southeastofheaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17204\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.southeastofheaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=17204"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.southeastofheaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=17204"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.southeastofheaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=17204"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}