Country | Rock
Born in Westminster, CA. in 1973 Rob was the youngest of 5 children and the only son. Robs life was pretty normal, Until one day at the age of 24, while living Las Vegas Nevada, Rob traded a days labor for a set of CB700 drums.
He didn’t know how to play them, but Rob had always been drawn to music, and in particular drums. To the dismay of his wife and neighbors, Rob played every day, as often and as long he could. Many times the neighbors complained and the police were called. But still, he played.
It wasn’t long until Rob was in his first band known as “Kindred”. Kindred, a power trio, was fronted by an eclectic young man from Chicago, Tommy “BIG CASINO” Bishop, a powerful, Soulful singer with a commanding stage presence.
At 6’1” and weighing in around 220 lbs, his dark black skin, offset by his platinum dreadlocks falling to his back pockets made him hard to miss, and his stunning vocals and captivating lyrics made him even harder to forget. Kindred played many shows around Vegas, and developed a small following.. But as these things go, it wasn’t meant to be. The members of Kindred parted company in 2001.
Rob learned a lot about music and a lot about himself through that experience. He learned he had to learn guitar. His love of the drums was not diminished, it was the freedom of expression in writing lyrics that truly drove Rob to the guitar. Rob found it was necessary to be able to create the melody to truly wright a song. And so Rob bought his first real six string, bought at the 5 and dime….. I’m kidding, guitar center!
He bought it at guitar center. A fender squire, with a gig bag, a guitar strap and a little amp. Rob was now ready to rock! Or so he thought…. “There’s a funny thing about fingers” Rob said, “ you own them, and all your life you’ve used them to do all the dexttious manipulations of life, it’s easy to believe you have control over your own fingers. If you believe that, try learning the guitar!”.
The need to express drive Rob to ignore the pain, to play through the sore fingers, to keep trying to twist and stretch and contort his fingers into the shapes of the chords. Endless hours of finger exercises and scales were poured into learning this wretched beautiful instrument. One chord turned into two, then into three and on it went until it all just seemed like a natural born instinct, and the songs just kept flowing out of him…. Along the way Rob played drums in a few more bands.
He picked more instruments. A piano, a bass, a trumpet, a banjo. Even a clarinet! Over the years Rob taught himself to play them all. And as the years rolled by Rob found that his songs were much much more than just songs, there were the story of his life. More than just the story, they were his diary. The process he used to work through all the pain, tragedy and senselessness of this world.
Also, he found his songs were his greatest expression of joy, love and gratitude. “I don’t know where I would be with out music. It’s as much a part of me as my bones. Music and song writing have gotten me through some incredibly hard times.My heart is on my sleeve every time you hear me sing, Cause these pages filled with ink and this guitar are my shrink. I’m just trying not to loose my mind, three minutes at a time.” Rob Collins 2023. Rob currently has 38 original songs in his current genre, In 2006, Robs band “AROURADROP” released an 11 song self titled album that had minor success, Several 4-5 song Demos from different projects through out the years. He’s toured, and played hundreds of live shows.
Now, Rob is looking to record all of his songs professionally. Not like the Raw samples you find here. The 38 songs in his current catalog are songs that really tell his story. They all fall in the country or country rock genre and they deep dive into the depths of the journey of one man, his loves, his losses, hopes and fears. “This body of work represents true life. Every story in every song is a true story from my life. The struggles through my 21 year marriage and divorce.
The loss of my fifteen year old son in 2011. My struggles with addiction, many of my lovers. My time spent in a 1% motorcycle club, My legal troubles and incarceration. All if it you can find in my songs.
I don’t know that my life is much different than anybody else’s, but I think that might be what really makes a good story, a good song. The fact that people can relate to it, to you as a story teller. When I think about the songs that I listened to through out my life, the ones that really stuck with me the ones that “got me through”, I related to them in some profound way.
Those songs gave words to what I was feeling when I couldn’t find the words to express myself…. I could play that one song that said it so well…. That’s what I’d like for my songs to do, that’s what I hope my songs can do, even if it’s just one person, one time. If I could help just one, it’s worth it to me to bare my soul to the world. Because I know the impact it had on me to hear that raw open emotion put to music and lyrics…. To find my voice in the words of someone else… It meant I wasn’t alone. Sometimes thats all you need to not give up!
So yeah that’s my hope with my songs. I hope you like them.” Rob has started recording, he’s not sure how long it will take. But you can hear them here first rough and raw as he puts the arrangements together and works out the kinks.
