Rothenbeck: Singer, Songwriter, Bearhunter.

So I've got some plans to celebrate the end of my mid-year exams with a good ol' local concert at The Warren American Legion on Saturday, January 26th, when I come across a name I didn't recognize on the show's playbill- Rothenbeck.

I wanted to check out some his music before I saw him live, so I looked him up online and was greeted with this beard-y mug on his EP cover:

I was left speechless, and I hadn't even clicked the play button yet, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't even more curious than I was before. I didn't listen to one of his songs; I listened to ALL of his songs and I couldn't stop smiling. He has this slightly atonal blues voice that blends  amazingly with the folky acoustic guitar. It's the kind of music I want to hear at every cafe and pub because it makes me happy.

Brian Rothenbeck has been in the music scene for quite a while; "For the last decade or so, I was a drummer playing in punk and indie bands, and before that I was a bass player" said Rothenbeck. For less than a year has Rothenbeck been the singer/songwriter performing under his last name. "The crazy thing is, the only reason I started doing this was because my friend from work challenged me to write a song about her over a weekend" said Rothenbeck, "So, I did, and it turned out kind of awesome. It sparked something, I guess, because after that, I just kept writing and all of a sudden I had a set's worth of material." Rothenbeck started his solo career performing at the Stanhope house, and things have begun to take off from there.

I acted like a total fangirl and started to post all over Rothenbeck's Facebook wall, and he actually responded. After a few minutes of conversation, he agreed to an interview. 

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Q:Your songs have interesting names, like I Was In Love with Eight Chinese Concubines. What was the inspiration for that? A: Half of the reason I write songs at all is so that I can name them. That song in particular takes its name from a line in Christopher Moore's "Lamb". I was reading it, and I thought, "That would make an awesome song title!" so I ended up writing the song based off of the title. Otherwise, I'm just using lines from "Ghostbusters" or an Indiana Jones movie. There's a band called Look Mexico, and all of their song titles are Vin Diesel lines. I think that's brilliant. Not only are they an amazing band, they have the best song naming scheme ever.

Q: If you had to put yourself in a genre, what would it be? What are your influences, musical and non musical?

A: I suck at defining what genre things are. It's all just rock and roll, as far as I'm concerned. But as for influences, I could go on for days! Top of the list: John K. Samson and whatever he does, solo and with the Weakerthans. My buddy PJ Bond is a huge influence as well as an inspiration. In fact, all of my musician friends I would consider influences; they're all just amazing. I really could go on forever listing all the music that inspires me, so I'll just pull a "High Fidelity" and say that I'll just make you a mixtape. Well, okay a CD. And that goes for anyone reading. Talk to me on Facebook or Twitter or whatever, and I'll send you a mixtape.

On his fan page, he lists himself as a singer/songwriter/bear hunter, which I couldn't resist to ask him about. "I'm from Northwest NJ, my friend. Bears are nothing to be trifled with up here. They don't give a f***" said Rothenbeck, "If I was a karate master with machine gun arms, I STILL wouldn't f*** with a bear."

Long story short, Rothenbeck is a pretty cool dude who puts out some awesome music. In addition to the show next Saturday in Warren, Rothenbeck will be playing at this year's Death to False Hope Fest in Durham, NC, in May, with the band Banquets. We can also expect a full length album from Rothenbeck later in the year.

"I'll just be putting around NJ or wherever in my little Volkswagen playing. Thanks to everyone that listens and comes out to the shows! Come and say hello and have a drink with me!"

Check him out on Facebook!