Robbie Rapids is a singer/guitarist from Grand Rapids, MI. From guitar in high school Jazz band, cover song master, to writing original songs; Robbie performs at numerous occasions publicly under many band names. Best known for fronting a Tom Petty Tribute because of the similarity of his voice and musical taste; now he is releasing his own songs. Robbie’s teamed up on this one with prolific top session musician/producer David Levene, to create a song that pulls from their favorite decades of classic rock influence. “Babylonian Dragon” is a nightmare / fantasy about meeting a woman online, getting hypnotized /drugged, and ending up handcuffed in an unknown location. All fun and games until realizing you are being held ransom & must transfers a large sum of money.
By Kamil Bobin
Discovered via Musosoup
Kamil) Hey Robbie Rapids, super nice to have the chance to chat with you. How has the time gone for you since our last interview?
Very well, that was a couple months ago when we talked last. Since then, I finished up 2 more songs that are ready to release. I’m also excited to be working on a new set of songs from a 3rd party, called Raihan who is a great songwriter who has asked David & I to record his songs. I’ll be signing tonight at David’s studio.
How do you balance your time in the studio with other commitments such as a part-time job, family, admin?
I’m very blessed to have a flexible job & flexible family who support me. At this time music is a pretty demanding hobby for me. I’m in Big Sound Productions ATL one time a week. I also have small home studio to do demos. But I’ve given myself this goal of releasing 2 albums of music so I had to stop my part-time job to accomplish this. Of course I still got my full time job to pay the bills lol.
Your latest song is 'Babylonian Dragon'. Can you tell us more about the making of it and if there were any unusual things happening during the process?
Nothing unusual, we’ve done a few songs like this now. David Levene wrote the music and melody. He had: da, da da, da dah, da, da, da, da, dah_ and some random words. But I changed all the words and made my own story out of it. Eventually I came up with the lines I told you to stay, far, far, away….
Then I kept coming up with more stuff until I shaped a story people could understand. There is a lot thrown into this song. Some of it based off true events in my life, the women & dragon from Revelation 17:4, and some fantasy / nightmare in my head.
How do you know when a work is finished?
If I hear it after 3 months and don’t want to change anything major or redo it.
How do you find yourself in the music business? When you started out in music, did you know it would be like this?
Well, I’ve been in music for a long time but yet part time. Much time as a weekend warrior playing cover songs. Then the pandemic hit and I really started writing songs like crazy. I had more time.
Can you give us a behind-the-scenes look at the making of the music video for 'Babylonian Dragon'?
Well David & I gave our ideas and script to David Ignacio & he found actors / models he works with and put together the scenes, shot it, and did the video editing. Of course we had some back and forth to put all our ideas together.
Describe your favorite and least favorite part about being a musician.
I will say it is exciting and rewarding to get your own music / your own art published and distributed to the world on the major platforms. Its always very rewarding to have you music played on playlists and get thousands of streams from people you don’t know.
If you could change anything about the industry, what would it be?
Rock Radio in the USA playing new songs, not just the same old classic rock. Also would be great if Spotify & Youtube had higher payouts.
What can we expect from Robbie Rapids in the near future?
More new songs every 4-8 weeks and an album drop in the next few months. Thanks for taking the time to interview me.