SOURCE: OUTSOUNDS MUSIC GUIDE
BY: WILL GREGA
SUBJECT: ROBERT URBAN "godless" CD Release
DATE: 1997

NIETZSCHE IN SPANDEX

"I've always thought of rock music as being art just like Classical music," says openly gay rocker Robert Urban.

Urban oozes talent from every pore of his being. The singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist not only wrote and produced his debut CD godless, but also played every instrument on the album. The composer works out of his Manhattan home recording studio, producing music for film, dance and performance projects. Urban's talents run the gamut of musical styles and venues; from singing with the Boston Opera Co. to singing at CBGB's; from making commercials for WQXR to performing on the "Broadway's Greatest Flops" album; from composing off-Broadway to creating rock videos for TV. As a session guitarist, vocalist and producer, Urban has contributed to the recordings of many other musical artists. Last year, he composed the music score for the internationally released gay documentary "Woodstock: Ticket To Freedom", which also featured songs by Ritchie Havens.

Probing, brazen, blasphemous and at times comically absurd, the ten songs on godless encompass a wide variety of musical styles. The CD opens with the sparse and driving "We Are The Haunted," in which the singer, confronting homophobia head on, expresses his shock and sorrow over the way gays are perceived in today's world. More indictments of oppressive hetero culture follow with the amusing, Beatlesque "Meat-Eaters' Song," the medieval, marching "Courtship Of Europa," and a nasty bottleneck-blues called "It's Only Love." In the monumental rocker "Cubes Of Light," a capitalist slowly goes mad in his own office. In the acoustic coming-out ballad "In My Shoe," hopeless sexual longings for straight friends cease as the singer learns to accept his own brave new identity. The entire production was mastered by renowned sound engineer Steve Innocenzi at Atlantic Recording Studios.

"I'm so glad I'm gay," Urban says with a disarming laugh. "It's totally cool. It's given me a perception and ability to convey my artistic ideas in a way that I see frustrate straight musicians at every turn, if only for the fact that we are more open about our feelings."

Even so, Urban acknowleges the up-hill battle facing out/gay men who want to make it in today's music scene. "Generally speaking, I'm really impressed with gay women in rock right now," Urban says. "Somehow lesbians have been able to latch on to that masculine ideal that has always been hip in rock music. That sells and will always sell. They've also done their musical homework. On the other hand, many gay male musicians seem to want to let out this tender, "feminine", melodramatic side that does not always play very well, especially with the general public. Although their feelings and their art are completely valid, gay men are going to have to take more outgoing & harder-rocking approach to cross over to the mainstream."

Still, the self-described nihilist serves up some buoyant rock on the CD which he describes as "a throwback to a psychedelic underground unplugged era. As a listener, I enjoy discovering different types of songs in the context of an album. On my CD, all the songs differ in tempo, arrangement & style. I don't want to be limited to a certain style."

Musically, Urban is hard to pin down. Most of his songs start small and pretty, then burst and burn. He's a created a listening experience with a depth of discovery and layers of meaning and instrumentation that make repeated listening a continual delight. Clearly, Urban is making serious music for serious minds. (Urban is also the author of "Abominations," a book of poetic writings, which he performs at various literary events when not touring with his sometimes-band Fire From Heaven.) The sheer lucid poetry of his lyrics naturally extend from his studies in Philosophy and Music at university. In fact, Nietzsche's quote about the world needing a philosopher who could sing gave him the impetus to pursue his musical ambitions.

The Westport, Connecticut native knew he wanted to be in a band from the time he was 13 when he saw his first Jethro Tull concert. But he claims to be much more inspired from the world of nature than from humans. "People seem to try to get what's most important in life from other people. I think the answer is found from the world of nature instead," Urban says. He and his lover have in fact just returned from a two week hiking tour of Venezuela's Angel Falls, deep in the heart of the Amazon. "I was never happier." Urban says. "We hiked to the top of the 5000 foot plateau, and got to play in the highest waterfall in the world." The trek to get there took three different airplane flights and five days being transported by Indians in canoes.

"Yes, I'm kind of a loner," Urban says. "Maybe in a way I'm speaking to myself when I'm doing the songs. I stand off and watch the world and describe what I see."

For more information, contact Urban Productions, 134 W. 95th St. #1, New York, NY 10025.

Will Grega is the author of OutSounds: The Gay & Lesbian Music Alternative (Pop Front Books).

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