The Real Facts Of Life:
An Interview With
Robe Williams
Interview By: Ginger Coyote
I have known Robe Williams since we were both young kids running wild in the streets of San Francisco. I have been meaning to interview him and decided that my birthday month would be a perfect time... So, here is my interview with the very talented Robe Williams.
Punk Globe:
How old were you when you first realized that you wanted to play guitar?
Robe Williams:
Around six years old. I was really into the Jackson 5 and Tom Jones, then I saw Elvis Presley in a film called "Speedway", costarring Nancy Sinatra. That's when I knew I wanted to sing, play the guitar, and perform.
Punk Globe:
Tell us about your first guitar?
Robe Williams:
My first guitar was an old acoustic that my day had sent me while I was on an extended stay with my grand folks down in Arkansas. I didn't know how to play it, but there was this old wooden church right next to my grandparents' lot and I would take it in there. It was run by a woman that was very kind and I would go in at random times of the day and play along instinctively. Sometimes there would only be 3 or 4 people in there, but I'd be wailin‘ away, "feeling it." Later, at around eight years old, I took an old gut string guitar and used a steak knife and made a cutaway in the body to make it look like a Les Paul.
Punk Globe:
Tell us about your first band?
Robe Williams:
My first serious band came together in the summer before 10th grade, we were all around 14-15 years old. When we first started, I did not do any singing. This much older singer hooked up with us, calling us his "little prodigies." We named the band "Strategem," at his suggestion then ended of losing him to some girl that he ran off with, typical story with singers. That's when I became the vocalist. We played only original tunes and had written about 65 songs, not too bad for a high school band. I still have tons of rehearsal and gig tapes from that era.
Punk Globe:
Tell us what you are doing now musically and what do you use for a rig?
Robe Williams:
I am now coming out of my musical shell again after starting Artisthead, an artist's resource company. I have kept my hand in a bit during the building of the company, I got nominated a couple of times for some music awards in 2011. I'm ready to hit it hard again. Guitars... Les Pauls, Telecasters, and my favorite custom job, the standard tools of the workman. Vito Paulekas hand carved a nice design in the body of my custom guitar before he passed away.

My amps vary depending on what I'm doing. For general things, I like to keep it simple and use a Fender 4x10 100 watt combo with an old ADA MP-1 preamp, or a Marshall 50 or 100 watt Combo. For the more formal touring activity, I use a variety of Mesa Boogie, vintage SOHO, and ADA tube preamps run through a mixer and out of 2 Fender 4x10 combos, run in stereo, or a power amp running 2, 4x12 cabinets if really needed. I don't use a lot of effects, I prefer to keep it simple and let the music do the talking.
Punk Globe:
Tell us about going school to MI?
Robe Williams:
Once out of high school (a giant waste of time), I had the choice of either going to college or going to music school. Since I already knew that I wanted to play music, the choice was easy. Our drummer and I drove down to LA to visit Musician's Institute and check out if it was a place to possibly attend. His parents told him that he had to go to college, and if he was still into music after that, he could go to music school, which I thought was funny because MI was only a one-year program at that time, not the 3-4 year program that it is now. I figured he should go with me to music school for a year, then go on to college. His parents did not share the same logic, so I ended up going off alone to MI and living in Hollywood at the height of its early 80‘s craziness and debauchery.
Punk Globe:
What made you pick that school?
Robe Williams:
I always liked being around places where the people were gaining knowledge, and the energy surrounding them was based on expanding creativity and skills. MI, at the time was very small. It was on one floor above the old wax museum on Hollywood Blvd. The school had a great program and 24-hour access, so that I could go anytime of the day or night and study. They had some really great instructors and the environment was really great to soak up as much as I could, which was not enough because it was impossible to take in everything that they covered in that year.
Punk Globe:
When you were attending MI it was years before the gentrification of Hollywood. Tell the readers what Hollywood was like back then?
Robe Williams:
Wild! Hollywood had everything happening. It was a time of incredible transition in music and fashion and things were changing rapidly and often. It was a time when old Hollywood and new Hollywood was starting to converge. You had punk bands with the old bands falling and the new scene raising. There was also a real Deathrock scene and places like the Cave, and the early 80‘s glam element was cheesing its way in with Motley Crue and the rise of groups like Poison. The streets of Hollywood was where the real action was, and the action never stopped. I saw it all there, and I mean ALL. There was an incredible sense of freedom then, a rebellious freedom as a reaction to the grey eighties and the listless political climate. There was still a lot of artistic passion in the air.
Punk Globe:
You also had some well known classmates at MI.Can you tell us a few?
Robe Williams:
Yes, I did. There were people in my class such as an 18 year old Paul Gilbert that went on to form Racer X at the school. Guitarist Jimmy Herring went on to play with The Allman Brothers Band and now plays with Widespread Panic. My close friend and next door neighbor at our apartment complex in Hollywood was a 17 year old Jeff Buckley. Jeff was real shy then and did not sing at all. He really worked hard to learn music. I still have a transcription that he made for me in pencil of Frank Zappa's "Inca Roads". After I challenged him to transcribe it, he knocked on my door an hour later with it all written out. Challenge accepted. I was blown away at what he blossomed into.
Punk Globe:
Have you ever gone back to MI to check it out?
Robe Williams:
Well it's funny, they invite me there once or twice a year as a lecturer to speak to students about the new music business and making a career in entertainment.
Punk Globe:
I remember the night when I gave you the demo of White Trash Debutantes material to learn. Do you remember that?
Robe Williams:
Yes I do! Back in 1990, The W.T.D. and my band at the time, Izabella both rehearsed at the Turko-Persian Rug Company, a rehearsal space in the boonies of the city where pretty much every band in San Francisco had practiced at one time or another, including 4-Non Blondes, etc. As I was coming out of my practice room, you said something to me in the hallway that changed my life.

My band at the time was super tight from rehearsing all the time, but we would only play two or three shows a year. You told me to quit practicing and just get out there and play, stop trying to be perfect. That week you called me asking if I would like to play a show with W.T.D. because the guitarist at the time, Dave Dick was going to be exiting the band.

I had to learn about 16 tunes in one rehearsal and then we played the gig. From that moment on, I was in the band and we were playing 3-4 shows a week. At that time, there was a great rhythm section in the band, Emilio Crixell on bass, John Surrel on drums from Bad Posture, we really locked together. There was Lula Perla and Leslie Michel on vocals and Go-Go dancing and that was the unit that played on the W.T.D. EP we did on Alternative Tentacles.

One day you called me on the phone and had Joey Ramone on the line just to tell me how much he liked my guitar solo in the song, "Bill Dakota" from that E.P. What the hell can one say after that?
Punk Globe:
Do you remember that wild photo shoot at Lula's?
Robe Williams:
Something wild was always going on at Lula's house and those photos captured a moment of it.
Punk Globe:
Tell us about some of your favorite shows that you played with W.T.D.?
Robe Williams:
The shows that we played in LA, in S.F. at the Kennel Club, the Paradise, and the shows we did with Vito, and Judy Tenuta, the divey old Blue Lamp where we always seemed to cause a ruckus - bottles breaking, bar room fights, and riding the audience across the floor on all fours, good times.

One particular show was great because we did a show with one of my favorites, the late Jim Carroll. We were playing a club that had a built-in radio station, had good transmission, and would broadcast shows live. We wanted to play a song with Jim, so I asked the guys at the station to play "People Who Died". We sat in the dressing room listening to the radio, picking off all of the parts of the song, then walked and rocked it hard on stage with him. The best part was the joy he had on his face, he was surprised and excited by the way we kicked it out for him.
Punk Globe:
Are you still in touch with any of the other former members?
Robe Williams:
You, and a few others, here and there. I have known you, Ginger since I was 12 years old, back in the days of the Palms Cafe in San Francisco.
Punk Globe:
How did you get involved in playing with Psychefunkapus?
Robe Williams:
There is some speculation there. From what I heard, Eric Meade, guitarist of the Jackson Saints suggested me to Psychefunkapus because he thought that I had the versatility to handle their music. One night, W.T.D. played a gig at New George's in San Rafael and Atom Ellis. Psychefunkapus' bassist came up on stage and joined us for "Time Warp." The next day, they called me and asked me if I would be interested in touring with them because Jon Axtell, their guitarist, had injured his wrist and was very limited in the amount that he could play and they had just released their second album on Atlantic Records entitled "Skin." They had an upcoming U.S. tour and asked me if I would come in and help out. We ended up crossing the country playing some fabulous shows.
Punk Globe:
I know you that you had toured with them but did you do any recording with them?
Robe Williams:
I did not and they never recorded another album. However, after the tour, their vocalist/frontman, Manny "Man" Martinez and I formed a group called Blackwash with drummer Kevin Carnes, bassist Kirk Peterson, and saxophonist David Boyce - the latter three comprising what now is the current line up of the Broun Fellinis. We had a quick rise, played great venues, then recorded a demo and were asked to tour Europe with Fishbone. After making a great headway, the singer decided that he wanted a lifestyle change and all of those dreams, hard work, and luck were flushed away in a single night.
Punk Globe:
Were you in the group when they decided to call it quits?
Robe Williams:
They were having issues when I joined, but I was like the fresh blood and really tried to bring everyone together and get it focused back on the music. It worked for a while, but in the end they were all like brothers that couldn't get along and needed to go their own ways. They ended up doing one more tour after Jon's hand got better. Then I joined up again about a year after I had left and we played some really inspired shows. Then it was on to other things. I think that they will always come back together every 10 years or so for "reunion" shows.
Punk Globe:
Tell us about some of the highlights of playing with Psychefunkapus?
Robe Williams:
Doing shows with Blue Oyster Cult and all the bands that we shared bills with. Flying to Mexico to do a New Year's show, doing radio interviews, hanging out at the record label in L.A. and New York, and seeing how that all worked, and generally just making people happy and playing our asses off for them.
Punk Globe:
Have you stayed in contact with any of the people in Psychefunkapus?
Robe Williams:
Yes, as I said, Manny and I had Blackwash and Paul "Mooshie Moo Moo" Johnson, the drummer of Psychefunkapus and I played together for years in two of my own bands, The Hightime Players, and R. Will & One Life. He played on the second Hightime Players album which will probably be reissued this year and an unreleased album by One Life. He and the keyboard player from both of those groups, Steve O'Shea, still play together since I left San Francisco. Their new band is Electric Bridge.
Punk Globe:
I remember at one point that I had heard you were living in the South. Tell us about that?
Robe Williams:
As a child, I lived those years that I had mentioned before in Arkansas. A few years ago, I headed to Memphis with the goal of opening a 5-million dollar music academy. Things looked promising and I made front page of the business section in the newspaper with all the interest that was generated by the academy. Then the bankers decided to play funny business with the economy and all investment capital got scarce, then ground to a screeching halt. Before the construction even began, I decided to pack the plan up and save it for a later date.
Punk Globe:
What brought you back to California?
Robe Williams:
I was always in both places.
Punk Globe:
Tell us about Artisthead.
Robe Williams:
After all the lessons that I learned when we built a recording studio and I started a record label, I realized how difficult it was to get correct information when starting a business and how daunting it was to pull together all the pieces that it took, to get set up to do business. As an artist, I also knew that I had to go to so many separate places to copyright the music, set up publishing, master the music, replicate CD's, sell CD's, and market it all. It was a frightful task. My thought was that if I could just do this all in one place, it would make it so much more possible and easy.

Based on that premise, I liked the ideal of putting together such services and resources because I also knew that it would help other artists take care of business without driving themselves totally insane in the process. I had pitched a music education program to a big company and with it, I had attached my little one-sheet about my ideas of what Artisthead could be. The company passed on the education program, of course, but said that they found the Artisthead idea very interesting. Seriously, it was no more than an idea that I threw in just to give them options, but Artisthead was nothing more than bullet points on a page at the time. Once they showed interest I had to hustle big time to make it become a semi fleshed out plan, then I started designing and building the site.
Punk Globe:
Do you have any partners that are involved with Artisthead or is it solely your baby?
Robe Williams:
The company that I had sent the proposals to, changed management and all of our work together went out the window, but they were never at anytime partners. We were just in that slow, expensive, and torturous stage. I say expensive because I had to buy plane tickets, rent cars, stay in hotels all while developing and nurturing a possible partnership together. I had never done anything like that before as an artist in a business situation, yet it was still a creative process. Artisthead is still my baby, and I have a great team of super talented folks to make Artisthead excellent. I work as hard for them as they do for me, working together to do our best. It's very much like working hard to be a great band, collaboratively we pull the best out of one another.
Punk Globe:
In what year did you start Artisthead?
Robe Williams:
September 27th, 2010.
Punk Globe:
Tell us about some of the services that you provide for your clients?
Robe Williams:
Artisthead provides major support for independent artists, all the business services such as copyrights, incorporations of films or record labels, legal help, trademarks, business management, music and film distribution and sales, and music licensing. Artists can also build their own business dream teams with the same industry pros that the major labels use and now we make them available on an "as needed" basis for artists to build their career in a scaleable fashion. Artists from all over the globe can utilize it 24 hours day with our online Music Business Office.
Punk Globe:
Who are some of the clients that you have worked with?
Robe Williams:
We work with many start up artists that are realizing that they have to get serious about running their business if they want a career in entertainment. It's not an option anymore to just hope to get discovered playing a gig somewhere. It can still happen, but the game has changed so much, and to the artist's benefit, I think. Artisthead is for those artists that know they need help and want to work with, and learn from the best. It's not all about having a big budget, it's about getting the help that's most needed now as you build up your career. We create long term relationships with people and grow their business together.

Our Advisory team has worked with Led Zeppelin, Michael Jackson, KISS, Rihanna, U2, Stevie Wonder, Eric Clapton, 50-Cent, Beyonce, Ice Cube, The Rolling Stones, Katy Perry, George Harrison, Jay Z, Oasis, George Michael, Snoop Dogg, Adam Lambert, Dr. Dre, Motley Crue, Bad Company, Jeff Beck, Barry White, Britney Spears, Elvis, Madonna, Frank Sinatra, Stone Temple Pilots, The Firm, Elton John, Ozzy, Hall and Oates, Duran Duran, Alanis Morissete, Diddy, Guns and Roses, Santana, American Idol, MTV, and others. As for artists that we work with in sales, singer Jessie Evans, guitarist Chris Holmes, fantastic Latvian electronic artist Jana Hermann, music producer and filmmaker Stephen "Stix" Josey, and we just did a reissue of an album after its original release 36 year ago, Topper "At Last". All of these artists and more are available in the Artisthead Music Store.
Punk Globe:
Do you have Internet Addresses that you would like to share with the readers?
Robe Williams:
If folks take a look at the site www.artisthead.com, you will see all the services that can benefit you. We also do a free 15-minute phone conversation to find out where you are at and where are are wanting to get to.
Punk Globe:
What is in the future for Artisthead?
Robe Williams:
To help artists reach their full potential while keeping their integrity, creative power, and the ownership of their art. To provide music, film, and program content that is geared towards the artist, while being useful and entertaining to everyone. We are developing our Artisthead TV station with everything from concerts to cooking shows and radio programming.
Punk Globe:
Any last words for Punk Globe readers?
Robe Williams:
First, I want to give kudos to the Punk Globe for its 36 years of kick ass reporting, attitude, and community. You are a real inspiration, Ginger. You were then, and you are now. I would also like to thank all of the readers and subscribers for their loyalty to the Punk Globe and what it represents. Keep the fires burning and stay PUNK!