Bill: You've still got a very strong fan base.
Robby: Yeah, the weird thing is over the past 3 or 4 years for us, 3 years since we put out this last record, the crowds just seem to be getting younger and younger which really wasn't something that had been happening for us for a few years there after Dizzy Up the Girl and that period. It never really went away...but now it's a lot of kids out there, and that's exciting.
Bill: After Katrina and you released "Better Days," there seemed to be a lot of new people discovering your work.
Robby: Yeah, it's a name that people knew. You know, that's why with this TV show (The Next Great American Band), John (Rzeznik) was really on the fence about taking it at first. After he thought about it awhile, he thought if there are people out there who don't know what we do...well, they're gonna now. That was a great point. Watching the way things operate right now, it's not about selling CD's anymore, it's about being this thing that you are, and it takes a long time to develop that.
I think we picked a good time to look at this and say that it's something that's really real. We've finally started to treat it that way, perhaps. I don't know, we'll see. (laughs) I'm not sure. I hope.
Bill: I read there's going to be recording of new songs in early '08?
Robby: Yeah, I'm actually sitting in the middle of a huge pile of plaster dust and wires and lumber right now as we rebuild our studio here in Buffalo. We'll be movin' our stuff here, and we just bought a big recording console for upstairs. This is the actual building that we did our first 3 records in back in '86, '88, and '90.
We came in and brought in John Storyk who was the original designer of the room back in the late 70's and early 80's. We brought him back in. He's a pretty notable guy. He did the Record Plant and all these places back in the 70's. Since then his firm has designed, I think he told me, 3,000 rooms. This was one of the first 12 rooms that he designed himself.
He actually flew in here and sat in the room with us and told us "I've got a picture of the place hangin' up in my kitchen." So we ended up hangin' out here with him, and he redesigned the room for us. We're puttin' it all together, and we're gonna come here and make a rock record.
Bill: I know you do a lot to support music and the arts back home in Buffalo. Can you tell me any more about what you're working on right now?
Robby: I got a thing here called Music Is Art which is an arts in the schools, arts in the community organization. We do a television show which has been on for 6 seasons and 40 episodes now. We run a curriculum at a performing arts academy here in town for music industry leadership skills, team building skills for kids. We have instrument drives. We do school assemblies and things like that with rock bands dealing with positive role model stuff. We've been pretty active here and having fun.
Bill: You'll be in Johannesburg December 1st for the World Aids Day concert. How did that happen?
Robby: Well, we got a call from Nelson Mandela's people, and they told us about the show, and what do you say to that? You say how quickly can we get there to help you. When you take something that you do, that you love to do, and you can help people out, it's sort of a no-brainer.
We've been to Africa once before, but that was to play soccer stadiums with the Cult and Lenny Kravitz, so I'm sure that this is going to be much different. That was the quickie South African party circuit, and this one's going to be much different from that. We're just really glad we can help.
Bill: Will we see you back out on the road here at home next year?
Robby: Yeah, as soon as the record's done. That's how our lives operate. I'm finally fairly confident to say we'll be out there makin' another record and doin' another tour. I can't wait.
