Roger, you started out your musical career working with the renowned Saxon soundsystem.
Roger Robin: "I hear you did your homework. (laughs) Well, yeah, from the age of about eleven, I started creeping out of my bedroom window, going to dances and returning in the early hours of the morning, trying to get back inside without my mom knowing. I often failed though and I got many an arsing (laughs), but I guess it only shows how big my love for the music was. The first sound I hooked up with, as you stated, was Saxon."
Has your vocal style evolved much over the years?
Roger Robin: "Well, I reckon it did evolve, yeah, because basically the music changes; the music of twenty years ago is not the music of today."
If I were to call you a loversrock artist, would you feel comfortable with that title?
Roger Robin: "No, because loversrock is too narrow a definition for my music, perhaps roots lovers would be more suitable. My vocal style gives songs that sort of loversrock feel, but there's a lot of reality in my tunes as well."
When and how did Rastafari find you?
Roger Robin: "I was always amazed by the Rasta philosophy even from before I put on my covenant, but when it really got more serious for me was when I travelled to Jamaica. I spent a lot of time over there, working with Rowan 'Spider Ranks' Johnson, producer for the Love Injection label. The last album I did with him was called 'Robin'."
Your most recent albums to date, 'Take It Slow' and ‘Justice', were both distributed by VP Records. It seems you're moving up in the world, playing on a different level now.
Roger Robin: "It might look that way to the outside world, but when you're working with a sound system like Saxon, you're exposed to all different types of music, because if a selector knows what he's doing, he will play a wide variety of music pleasing all sections of the crowd. That's how I got a good insight in various areas and genres of music. In terms of music, working with VP has taught me nothing new, but they are one of the biggest distributors in reggae music. They've got contacts all over the place, so commercially speaking 'Take It Slow', the album I did for them, has definitely taken me to new heights. When you do an album for Joe Frazier, you're guaranteed it's getting out there."
Time to name some names: who were the artists that inspired you, not just musically, but vocally let's say?
Roger Robin: "You're going to laugh when you hear this, but for me it was primarily Elvis Presley and apart from him James Brown, Bob Marley, The Jacksons and I used to listen to a lot of Kate Bush as well. Reggae-wise I listened to a heap of Studio 1 Trojan albums that my mom used to play. We weren't even allowed to look at them, let alone touch them, but we could enjoy them when she put them on."
Is your stage name Roger Robin a name you adopted for yourself or one that was given to you?
Roger Robin: "(whistles like a bird) When I was still with Saxon Sound I went through a whole host of names ranging from Jesse James over Lumberjack to Roger Ranks, but when I did my first record ('More Love', red.) in 1989, a Rasta brethren called Simeon Ranks gave me the name Roger Robin."