Austin acoustic artist comes to Bloomington

Bob Schneider sings he's "got the time" in "Bullets," off his debut solo album, Lonelyland. He's always got time for singing, as he decided years ago to drop out of art school to pursue music full time. For more than a decade he's been dedicating all of his time to making music, first with the funky Joe Rockhead, then with the jam-based Ugly Americans and finally with the rock/punk Scabs. Now Schneider is finally on his own, still playing twice a week in Austin and writing a new song every day. As he drove from the studio to his house, he talked with the IDS Weekend about keeping his head in the sand, his feet on the ground and music in his heart.\nAustin has the reputation of being the live music capital of the country, and you have the reputation of being a fixture on that scene. What does that local fan base do for your motivation?\nI'm pretty motivated. Because I play in Austin so often and people see the shows so often, I feel like I have to constantly make every show unique and different, which motivates me to write new material. \nYour music on Lonelyland has incredible diversity and range. What song best represents you musically and why?\nI think the song that best represents me musically is the one I just wrote today, and that's constantly changing. I don't know who the hell I am, and I definitely don't know what song I'm going to write next. I don't know what the show is going to be like. I'm playing in three hours and I have no idea what songs I'll play, or what tone - serious, lighthearted, rocking, mellow. I may play a bunch of dance songs or a bunch of art rock. I have no clue. I think to get an idea of what I do, you need to look at everything. I think I'm like a puzzle. If you pick one song, it's like a piece of the puzzle. Lonelyland represents one tiny portion of the puzzle.\nSo what's the biggest piece of the puzzle driving you?\nI get a rush from creating something out of nothing. One minute there's nothing, the next there's a song or drawing or a painting. I love creating things. We're going to create this music and have no idea what it's going to sound like, and that's the joy. That's what I love to do. \nHow do the (solo acoustic and band-backed) shows compare?\nThe difference between me playing with the band and acoustic is that I'm scared to death playing acoustic solo. There's such an intimacy to it. When I'm in the band I can get up there and interact and do my thing, but when it's just me I feel like I am forced to interact with the crowd more. Because of that there's more of a connection, maybe, between me and the crowd. Hopefully it will be really cool.\nYou've fronted three other bands, and now you're on your own and really developing a bigger fan base. How has life changed since you first started with Joe Rockhead?\nThere's a war against terror going on right now. Back then it was just the war on drugs and that was so successful I guess they switched. \nSo is your songwriting heavily influenced by world issues and politics?\nI am really out of the loop. I'm the ostrich with my head in the sand. Any news I need to know I'm sure I'll find out about eventually. The news is such a thin sliver of what is really going on in the world. If I were to regularly watch the news and read the paper then I would have this view of the world being this fucked-up, crazy-ass place, but when I walk around my neighborhood, there's all these people living their lives and everything's pretty hunky dory for the most part. I can't take myself that seriously or the world that seriously. To me, I think it's some gigantic insane asylum. It's so crazy -- our society, it's just crazy. I can laugh, I can cry, I get a little angry, but mostly I have to laugh. When I listen to music, the music has to make me laugh and has to make me cry. \nYour other bands didn't stay together long, so what is it about Lonelyland that's working better?\nI think with the bands it was more of a collaboration, and with the Lonelyland it's more of what I wanted to do, but was afraid to do maybe. I think ultimately I just got kind of lucky with that record. People like the record. I don't really know. \n"Bullets" has gotten radio play and also been featured in movie soundtracks. What's the story behind the song, and did you expect that track to be the most well-known?\nI didn't even know they were playing that on the radio. I don't know what the song is about. One day I just started singing, "You got the bullets and I got the time." I don't know what that means, but I like the way it sounds. Those are my favorite things, by the way -- that I don't know what they mean, but they sound cool or nice. That's what I'm shooting for. You sit there and you hope that maybe something will come to you and you write it down and you say "That's neat," but you don't know what it means. If you get enough of that, you can get some good songs. \n"Round and Round" features an opera singer, which on first listen sounds odd but really complements the song well. Where'd you get that idea?\nI'm sure I stole that idea from somewhere, but my dad is an opera singer so I grew up listening to opera and happened to have a sampler. With a lot of the songs I was writing around that time I would just sample stuff and put it in there and create loops. I don't have any master plan most of the time. If you have a master plan you have a sure-fire recipe for shit. You just have to go by instinct. \nYou talk a lot about your paintings and drawings. How do you classify your art?\nIt's surrealistic, like doodling in a way. I sit there and try to shock myself and make myself laugh, kind of the same thing I do when I'm writing a song. I try to make it interesting but I never know what it's going to be when I start out. \nDo music and art provide the same sense of energy release for you?\nThey're definitely two different pools that you draw from. Most of my energy goes into writing songs because I have to do it more often and I'm motivated to write because I play so much. Whereas with the artwork, I don't show it very often, so the motivation for doing that is less. But every once in a while, once a year, I get filled up and I have to put something down, either with copper prints or paintings.\nWhat defines a good concert for you?\nIt's the way you feel when you're there. If you get goose bumps, and you're scared to death, it's a good show. If you don't, then what's the point? I think when you see a band you should be moved. It should touch your soul. You shouldn't feel so alone in the world. It should have some kind of impact. Most of the times I see a band and I think, "How did they write these songs, there's not much connection to them?" I just don't get it. You can definitely polish a turd and dress it up in rock costumes and play real loud and maybe people won't be able to understand the lyrics and realize how unoriginal or uninspired it is. People do it all the time, but once in a while you'll see somebody where they're tapped into something unique and powerful and amazing. \nWhen did you first know that music was what you would dedicate your life to making?\nI wasn't going to do it, but I started playing in high school and college, and I kind of got seduced by the whole lifestyle. I was studying art in college, but I like to party a lot and I was really shy around women. By playing in a band you get free drugs, and free alcohol, and chicks will have sex with you, and I really just was enticed by the idea of the rock-and-roll lifestyle. Fuck, I don't know. I don't know what else to do. If I could think of something that would be cooler, I would, but I can't. I'm kind of addicted to playing.\nBob Schneider will play the Bluebird on Nov. 11 as part of his solo acoustic tour.