BnR recently had to the distinct pleasure to speak with Rob De Luca, bassist for Sebastian Bach's all-star band. Rob is the most unassuming man. He is very reserved and laid back in person, but when on stage, Rob is a mad man. I actually had to take a second look at him on stage and verify if it was him.

So what is the talented, hard working De Luca up to? What are his thoughts on the tour? Well, read our interview with him and find out!



BnR: How has the Sebastian Bach tour been going for you?

Rob: Well I have been hanging with Dave Hart, so it has been good. But the tour has been really great. Which tour are you talking about? This one?

BnR: Yes this current one here.

Rob: It's a lot of fun. Poison is a really good live band. The crowds are big. Dokken are nice guys. We are enjoying hanging out with them. And we seem to be going over really well. It's been a lot of fun.

BnR: How have the songs [from Angel Down] been received live?

Rob: The songs have been received great; and the new songs have been received well. Not that we didn't think they would go over well, it is just surprising when you see that they are going over as well as Youth Gone Wild or songs like that. When you first introduce these songs to a tour, because this one we are doing a lot more new songs, it's surprising. I don't know why, but it is. They are new, so you are wondering, 'what is going to happen on this one.' So it's fun playing new songs. It's fun not doing songs from 20 years ago. It's good for your soul to not do something from so far back, you know, mix it up.

BnR: Have you enjoyed playing them [the new songs]?

Rob: Yea, definitely.

BnR: Every night? You don't get tired of the songs?

Rob: No. They are big arena songs, so they translate well, which makes it a lot of fun.

BnR: Did you enjoy the Chinese Democracy World Tour?

Rob: Yea, that was amazing. That tour was a different dynamic than this tour. It was more of a party tour.

BnR: Wow really? Even with Poison? I thought they would be big partiers.

Rob:Well maybe, but I haven't seen that. With the Chinese Democracy tour, we were with Axl almost every night, all night long, having a blast. He is such a good host. It really was a lot of fun. There were a lot of people on that tour. A little more than this one. But GnR...huge.

BnR: You worked with a lot of great names in Rock N Roll, Joan Jett, George Lynch, even Steve Lillywhite. Who was the best person to work with?

Rob:Johnny Chromatic and Dave Hart. Actually the highlight for me would be touring in direct support of GnR. It would be great if something would surpass that, but that has definitely been it so far. I can't see if getting more fun than that. Other than if we were headlining those places, but then having GnR around to hang out with it great.

BnR: Who is the hardest to work with?

Rob: The hardest have been the people I haven't mentioned in my bio. [laughs] There are difficult ones and I don't give them props. So the ones you asked about and know about were all fun. Definitely fun. The most difficult was Helmet. Not because of the people, but the situation. Their bass player couldn't get into the country. It was a very rushed situation where I had to do the show that night.

BnR: So were you able to learn all the songs that quickly?

Rob:Allegedly. Rumor has it. I still don't see how the whole thing happened. It made sense.

BnR: You are currently involved with several bands, Of Earth, Spread Eagle. What is currently going on with those bands? Are they on hiatus?

Rob:They are all on hiatus while we are touring. Of Earth, we will be finishing our debut record in the fall coming out on Lovember records. Spread Eagle was a band I used to be in, that is how I met Sebastian Bach. So Spread Eagle's a band I used to be in and it is kind of an important band for me because it was kind of the band I came up in. I had a lot of fun with them and a lot of personal accomplishments with that band. Also a lot of formulation of what I want in a band. You know, I learned the ropes through that band. We get together when we can to tour. We toured in 2006. But we are not an everyday working together kind of band.

BnR: Will there be another album?

Rob:I hope there is another tour before that. Maybe in the future. But I would like to do some touring with them overseas or something.

BnR: What are your plans after this tour has finished up?

Rob: Finish the Of Earth record first and foremost. That is the only thing on the table. We are going to be doing some touring with Sebastian in Canada, which he has on his MySpace page. That will be the first thing after this tour. Then the Of Earth record. That is the only two things definite. I have a few things in the works. It's not that I don't want to talk about them, it's just they are not definite yet. When they are definite, I will certainly talk about them.

BnR: How do you unwind from the road?

Rob:I usually go right into the studio. You know, it's kind of a necessary evil. I do a lot of the stuff myself, recording wise, and it helps me to afford to do music without spending every penny I made on the road. So that's pretty much it. I go right into the studio to start other things.

BnR: Now what about night after night after a show? How do you unwind?

Rob:Usually just hanging out with the guys, having a couple of beers.

BnR: Do you find it better, creatively, to just go right into the studio after a tour? Are you always writing songs in your head? Maybe writing them down?

Rob:Lately, I haven't been writing much. But I don't really have writer's block or anything. When I sit down to write, I just write. I'll write a bunch of things and pick the best ones. No, anytime is good. I'm sure if I was stagnant for a while it wouldn't be very inspiring to write. So that wouldn't be an optimum situation. But usually things are moving along pretty quickly and I am inspired, that when I sit aside time for it, it works.

BnR: Collaborating with other artists, in the studio or what not, how do you work that? Do you write a certain part and they write a certain part? Do you mesh together?

Rob:Well with my stuff, I write most of it. But there's a few songs where the Of Earth guitar player has written some really great stuff too. I haven't sat down in room with another writer much to write a song. Usually it is, I have this part, can you come up with a part that works with it. Or this part doesn't work and someone makes a suggestion, how about this. But I would like to try that in the future. What was that, the Million Dollar sessions with Johnny Cash, Elvis, Carl Perkins, and Jerry Lee Lewis. That would be fun.

BnR: Actually, that was my next question. If you could see a concert, living or dead, who would it be? What would be the best concert for you to see?

Rob: Any concert ever? It would be Led Zeppelin or Pink Floyd.

BnR: In their prime?

Rob:Well yea, but I can't have that. So I will take what I can get.

BnR: What was the first concert you went to?

Rob: I think it was Frank Zappa at the Spectrum.

BnR: How old were you?

Rob: I was in high school.

BnR: Who is your favorite band out there now? That you feel is continuing the rock tradition?

Rob: My favorite band of all-time is Pink Floyd. Which is very not metal. I haven't been listening to a lot of heavy stuff, so my favorite newer bands are The Mars Volta and a band called Brand New. They are not as heavy as what we are doing, but really good stuff.

Thanks Rob for taking the time to chat with us. We encourage you to check out what is going on with Rob at Rob's MySpace site. You can check out Rob's releases on Lovember Records. They are about to re-release an album by the 70's glam band Angel. They just re-released the Spread Eagle record. You can also check out Spread Eagle and Of Earth's MySpace site for any information regarding their progress.

Listen to the podcast of this interview below:

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