Robin McAuley sat down with Chaoszine before Michael Schenker's show at Time To Rock festival and discussed in depth his solo career and how has it been to work with one of the best guitarists on the planet. An excerpt from the chat follows...
Chaoszine: Robin, you have now re-joined MSG. And, like last year, you joined the band in the middle of the tour, replacing Ronnie Romero. How did this thing now happen again?
Robin McAuley: "That was easy. I get an email, “Can you jump in and sing the festivals and shows for the rest of 2023?” And I said, “Let me check the schedule.” We’re about to start working on a new Black Swan and a new solo record, the third of each, and we won’t start working until very late in the year. So I said, “Yeah, sure.” I didn’t ask any questions. And then I saw all of the posts, and I went, “Whatever.” It was the same thing last year or whatever it was. So I’m in for the rest of the year with MSG with Michael for his 50th-anniversary tour. And I’m happy to be here. It’s a lot of fun."
Chaoszine: So, is it wrong to say that you’re a kind of savior for Michael Schenker nowadays? [laughter]
McAuley: "Oh, I don’t know if I’m a savior, but I’m reliable. I’m reliable."
Chaoszine: I have to ask this. Since you joined on tour with really short notice, were you kind of on standby the whole time?
McAuley: "No, no, no, no. I wasn’t expecting it at all. I remember when I saw– because this post comes up on Facebook. And I went, “Oh, look, Rory Gallagher Festival.” And I went, “Oh, I’d really like to do that.” Because my wife and I were planning a trip to Ireland to go visit family, and coincidentally, it was at the same time as the Rory Gallagher Festival. So I sent Michael an email, and I went, “Hey, I see you guys are playing Rory Gallagher. I would love to do that if Ronnie Romero needs a break.” And I don’t think anymore about it, right? And then I had a reply from Michael’s people, and they said, “This would be great if you still want to do it.” And I went, “Oh, that’s a nice surprise. I’d love to do it.” And I was only supposed to do just that one show, only because of Michael, right? And it was a good excuse. I went, “I’m in Ireland anyway to visit family,” and we were planning to do some sightseeing. My wife, I think you know, is from Austria, so she hasn’t seen a lot of Ireland. I haven’t seen a lot of Ireland. It’s been a long time, right?
So anyway, after we had agreed that I would do the Rory Gallagher Festival, maybe a month later, I had another email saying, “Hey, can you jump in for the rest of 2023?” And I went, “Oops, what just happened?” And it says, “Ronnie will not be singing with MSG anymore. If you could do it, it’d be great. Michael would love you to do it.” And I went, “Sure.” And I again check my schedule, and we don’t start the next Black Swan record until later in the year. And so here I am. Yeah, so no, I wasn’t prepared. Obviously, you have to check and see what the setlist and what I have to learn and jump in without a rehearsal and all of that sort of stuff. So I actually went through Rory Gallagher without a rehearsal. We just had a sound check, and I went, “Oops, better get this right.” But I’m good at doing my homework."
Chaoszine: But the setlist is now pretty much the same as it was last year.
McAuley: "Correct. It’s very similar. So, it was just a matter of revision. Getting ready for the exam."
Chaoszine: Now that you are back in the band again, it would have been great if the setlist had included at least a few songs from the McAuley-Schenker Group era.
McAuley: "Everybody says that. I don’t know why that is, but since the live set is rehearsed already and this is what they’ve been doing, it would, logistically, probably take a couple of weeks of rehearsal to come in and start rehearsing newer material. Not that it’s new material, but you’d still have to rehearse it and change the show or add it or whatever. So it’s easier just to do it this way. And if Michael decides that “Okay, we’re going to add some of the McAuley Schenker period.” then I’m assuming that there would be a rehearsal for that. But right now, we need to do what we were doing before. So usually, it’s pretty good. We learn a two-hour set. And it’s a year since I sang the set, and you still have to come in and prepare and do your best. And it’s not always perfect, but it’s live."
Chaoszine: So, as you said earlier, you now have a deal to tour with Michael until the end of this year.
McAuley: "Yeah."
Chaoszine: What about after that? Have you talked to Michael about it?
McAuley: "Ask Michael that question. I don’t have an answer to that. All I know is that I committed to the rest of the year, and I will finish it out. I won’t be going anywhere."
Chaoszine: But would you like to do more things with Michael in the future if you had the chance to do that?
McAuley: "Well, of course. Absolutely. I mean, I keep telling people that Michael is without question one of the best rock guitar players on the planet. After 35 years of standing on stage with him, I’m still in awe. His level of playing is phenomenal to watch and to be up there on stage, I go, “Damn, this is cool. It doesn’t get much cooler than this.” And he’s amazing. He’s amazing because I know a lot of people put a lot of emphasis on age and everything. Attitude has a lot to do with it too, and it’s where you are in your place. There’s a lot of pride in what we do, I think. And I always tell people that as a singer, I can see a lot that’s going on. And if I see people whispering going, “Shh, this guy can really play.” I’ll hear it. And I don’t want that to happen a lot. I don’t want to get too much pride for that. So I do my best. And I know that, yeah, I would love to make another record with Michael or whatever he’s got planned. If it’s a tour and I’m free– Black Swan and the solo record, they don’t tour. So there’s a recording period of time that that’s involved, but it’s the same with Reb Beach and the same with Jeff Pilson. We find time to record, but we don’t have the time to play live because we have all of this other stuff going on."
Read the complete interview at Chaoszine.net.
Robin McAuley's new solo album, Alive, was released back in February. Order/save Alive here.
Tracklisting:
"Alive"
"Dead As A Bone"
"Bless Me Father"
"Feel Like Hell"
"Can’t Go On"
"The Endless Mile"
"Fading Away"
"My Only Son"
"When The Time Has Come"
"Stronger Than Before"
"Who I Am"
"Can't Go On" lyric video:
"Feel Like Hell" video:
"Alive" video:
Lineup:
Robin McAuley - vocals
Andrea Seveso - guitars
Alessandro Del Vecchio - bass, keyboards
Nicholas Papapicco - drums
