Allen talks about his musical relationship with E Street drummer Max Weinberg and bassist Garry Tallent, and his chance to open for Croce, Raitt, and Prine!
Coyote Music: Thanks DownTown Mystic (aka Robert Allen) for taking some time out of your day to visit with Coyote Music! To kick things off, let's get right to the project's name: where did the name DownTown Mystic come from?
DownTown Mystic: I had recorded the 6 songs that started the project. Check out RnR 4 The Soul which is built around those 6 songs. I decided I would continue recording and needed a name for the project. Not soon afterward, I was on my way up to Boston and I saw this sign in the median. It was a wooden stake with a cross and the cross read "next stop Downtown Mystic". The second I saw it I knew that would be the name of the project! Weird thing is that the sign was gone on my way back.
CM: Let's get right to the new record: On E Street (Remix). The name is sort of a spoiler, in that this is a quintessential Asbury Park sound. What does that mean to you? I mean, what is it about your music that points to a specific geographical region along the Jersey Shore?
DTM: I don't think Asbury Park when I hear my music. Maybe because E Street is connected with Springsteen, people who don't live in NJ or in the Asbury Park area, think that's what it sounds like there. I don't think it does. Rock'n'roll has a place there for sure, but it's not what you might think, at least from my standpoint.
CM: How did you come to record these songs with Max Weinberg & Garry Tallent (Springsteen's E Street band drummer & bassist, respectively)?
DTM: That's a bit of a long story. I was in a band called The Tupelos that released a 45 single that Garry heard and liked. He wanted to meet and we hit it off. He would record with the band when we got a Production Deal and do some shows with us. This is around the end of the recording of The River in 1980. He worked with us for about 8 months and then had to leave for The River Tour. By the time he got back I had quit the band and was trying to start a solo career. That's when we hooked up again. He had just become partners in Shorefire Studios and he agreed to work with me on my songs. He was learning to be an engineer, which was part of working with me. He picked "Hard Enough" and I picked "Sometimes Wrong" to record. He called Max to play drums on them and that was the start. This is 1983 when they were still recording with Bruce on what would become Born In The U.S.A. We got together again in 1984 to record "Way to Know" and "And You Know Why," which I'd just written.
CM: Whether it be an upbeat tune ("Way To Know") or more of a ballad ("And You Know Why"), I hear an optimism and a hope within the melody lines. Is that a trait of the genre, or is that something you infuse into your songs?
DTM: I think it's intrinsic to my songs. The music is usually upbeat and positive sounding and that's what sits underneath the emotional lyrics and melodies I sing. I think that's one reason why my sync-licensing career took off because they tend to use the instrumental tracks on TV shows, and without the vocals, my music is upbeat and positive sounding. That's one reason I started to release the TV mixes. I have a few layers of sound that sometimes gets buried by the vocals. As a producer, I like hearing how the track is put together.
CM: Without exposing our ages directly, we were both born in the mid-to-late 1900s. :) I mean, you've played some SHOWS. Could you share a show you played, or maybe a session you were in on, or even a particular performance you attended that will stick with you for the rest of your life?
DTM: I was in college and had a folk/acoustic band that was popular on campus. My roommate was booking shows for the Student Activity Board and wanted to book a show at the end of the year before the winter recess with John Prine, who had released his 1st album earlier that year. The he booked Bonnie Raitt, who had just released her 2nd album, and then booked Jim Croce to open the show. Croce had just released his 1st album and was on his 2nd hit single. I told my roomie that Croce was bigger than Prine and Bonnie and he shouldn't open the show. I had the perfect solution. My band would open the show for free before Croce, and I got the gig! Croce was a Philly boy and the show was about a half hour south of Philly in NJ. WYSP, a Philly radio station heard about the show and came on board to simulcast the show live on Philly Radio! We opened a sold-out show for Jim Croce, Bonnie Raitt and John Prine in front of over 2000 people, broadcast live on WYSP Radio in Philly. It was amazing! I even got a reel-to-reel tape of our set from WYSP! I knew I would be doing music for the rest of my life after that show. Back then, audiences were totally into the music. You could hear a pin drop during each set that night and then the applause sounded like an explosion of appreciation. It was unbelievable. Just a month earlier, I went to the Fillmore East in NYC to see Leon Russell play. Playing before Leon, this trio came out, piano, bass & drums. It was Elton John. It was only a few days after he had done that radio show that was recorded and released as 11-17-70! Elton brought the house down! He stole the show from Leon, who was amazing, but it was really tough to get excited again after Elton's set. All that happened to me in a matter of weeks and I've never forgotten it. :-)
CM: Do you find yourself playing out more these days, or are you more of a studio hermit / songwriter?
DTM: I'm strictly a studio hermit these days. My goal was to try and write great songs and make great records. Playing live is cool but you can get into bad habits for recording and I needed to get it together in the studio. However, I do get to play live when I cut the basic tracks, which I always look forward to. I'm incredibly lucky to be playing across from pros like Steve Holley and Paul Page in the ultimate setting. I get to do something very few people ever experience. The studio for me is as good as it gets, where literally, time is money and everything depends upon being able to perform. It's a different kind of excitement. I do try and get a live sound on my recordings. I don't like playing a song to death before we start doing a take. I like to keep it fresh. That's what makes it rock'n'roll.
CM: What inspires you most when it comes to lyric writing?
DTM: I'm not really sure. Coming up with a great title is one way to get inspired. It gives you some idea of where to start. Billy Joel said that writing lyrics is hard work and I'd have to agree. I'm a music first kind of writer. Writing the lyrics is a whole other thing. I'll get a musical idea and create a melody to sing nonsense words. Just let whatever words come out and see if something registers. There's no set pattern to writing lyrics for me.
CM: On the flipside from the last question, when it comes to writing music there's certainly a "traditional" way to write a Pop/Rock song. As you arrange a new tune, how much do you think about adding bits and pieces to make your music unique...while also keeping it within the realms of familiar sounds that we all love to bop along to?
DTM: As I got more into producing, my songwriting changed. I can hear the arrangement in my head and the production to a degree and based on what I'm hearing will change how I write the song. I used to just write the song without thinking about production, but that shifted the more I was producing. The arrangement has become the primary thing for me now. I think of adding musical parts based on the song. I have so many influences to choose from and use them when I'm trying to get an idea of how to approach the production.
CM: I know On E Street (Remix) just dropped (1 week ago today, as I pose this question) but do you already have your eyes set on your next project?
DTM: Yes, I plan my releases in advance, which is not something I used to do. I think it's imperative to do in today's market. The competition is stiff out there and people will forget about you if you're not releasing music on a steady basis. The old paradigm was to release an album every 2 or 3 years. You might as well be starting all over with each release if you do that now. There are over 100 college stations that will play every one of my releases because I'm releasing music consistently. Stop for 6 months or more and will they continue to play my music or will I be starting all over again? It's about single tracks now and that's what I'll be doing more of. I think the next single is going to surprise a bunch of people. I’m looking forward to releasing it.
CM: Thanks so much for taking time to answer these questions. As a parting note, do you have anything you'd like to say to or share with our readers?
DTM: I try to put a positive vibe out in the world with my music and I would ask your readers to give my music a listen to see how they feel after hearing it. It's only rock'n'roll. :-)