R: Hello I’m Robyn Rocket You’re listening to Robyn Rocket’s Zoom Zoom a monthly show. I’m a space trumpeter. I put on gigs at Café OTO called Robyn’s Rocket.
I always programme a mix of disabled and non-disabled musicians and I’ll be doing the same in this show, in this show I’ll be interviewing artists who inspire me right now you’re listening to Rocket #9 by Sun Ra Arkestra
Lets listen to a track by this month's guest R Dyer it’s called ‘Life’s little victories’.
R This is Robyn Rocket’s Zoom Zoom with R Dyer, so R Dyer would you like to introduce yourself?
RD My name’s Becca I am Neurodivergant, I perform as R Dyer , I use a loop pedal and lots of different instruments.
R : when you were growing up was there a lot of music in your household?
RD: We were evangelical christians, so there was a lot of like christian rock. It's a bit embarrassing, and I think because my parents were Christian I didn’t really get into good music for a long time because I just felt like I wasn’t allowed.
I listened to just quite poppy stuff likeThe Beach Boys and the Beatles, got into Green Day when I was a teenager, but never really got into stuff my parents wouldn’t of approved of. My Mum plays guitar, my Dad’s not particularly musical , but I did end up playing loads of music, they did encourage me to do it , but it was like I don’t come from a long tradition of musicians I don’t think.
R : Ohhhhhh I like that !That was lets go trippin by the beach boys
From the album Surfin usa
This is Robyn Rocket’s zoom Zoom with R Dyer
What was your first instrument
RD: The recorder! I still love the recorder. Its got the same fingering as saxophone so it’s useful, and then I think I wanted to be Lisa Simpson so I played the clarinet for a bit. Before I was allowed a saxophone and then I got a saxophone when I was 8 I think.
I still have a deep love for the recorder , I think it’s a really beautiful instrument when its played nicely.
R : Do you have any recommendations of music with a recorder that you think show it’s talents?
RD: Oh! Sarah Angliss, is a really great experimental musician, who plays a lot of recorder , I think she has a contrabass or bass recorder which I’m a bit jealous of, I think it’s a contrabass.
And she does a lot of nice instrumental recorder stuff, and a lot of horror weird soundtrack things and she makes robots although I’ve never seen any of her robots.
R that was moon wiring club, Obsidian Coxer and I think Sarah Angliss plays recorder on that track.
Its from a album called “ today bread tomorrow secretes,” The album description is interesting it says “ this album reaves a world where birds and humans dine together at a bird witching Edwardian past theater banquet.”
R: then so you had a Recorder where did you go from that ?
RD : I joined a group called Kingswood recorders, we played 4 part Henry the Vlll harmonies we went to craft fairs and wore tabards and it was amazing! I loved it! And then I did a bit of clarinet at school, a lot of singing and then a bit of guitar at a group . It’s funny I don’t feel like I had this desire to be a musician or anything ,I don’t remember that. I used to play guitar at church quite a lot it was just something that happened. It was just part of life, is what I’m trying to say .I wish I could say I always wanted to be a musician, and I kinda did but it’s only recently where I think I’ve been no this is my thing and I’ve found my voice, and found my sense of self.
I remember I used to get into one song like obsessed with one song and be be like Ah this song is amazing and listen to it over and over again, I think one of the first was My girl by the the temptations Sings “ I’ve got sunshine , on a cloudy day … “ I just really like the chord progression into the chorus and yea just got really obsessed with it.
R You’re listening to Robyn Rockets zoom and I’m chatting to R Dyer you just heard my girl by the Temptations.
RD : So when I moved to Brighton I ended up joining a band called the Bobby Mcgee’s they were like a anti folk band they were really cool I think they were better before I joined to be fair. They were this small Scottish guy and his partner and they’d sing really twee songs a bit carburet like “ I got no friends” and with a ukulele, and it was like this thing where someone was just being totally themselves in a Really funny way but also amazing to see someone being totally authentic
R: That was the Bobby Mcgee’s Go Tiger Go
Earlier Becca Talked about being neurodivergent in case that’s a word you’ve never heard before neurodivergent means someone whose brain doesn’t respond and interpret things in the same way as is considered to be typical i.e neurotypical for example many Autistic people are sensitive to sounds.
RD: I definitely find that the way I write songs I get really drawn to little sounds like ASMR type sounds
R: After my conversation with Becca I looked up what ASMR sounds were
“What is ASMR?
ASMR stands for autonomous sensory meridian response; a term used to describe a tingling, static-like, or goosebumps sensation in response to specific triggering audio or visual stimuli.
“
Source
RD: All those kind of little textures and sonic found sounds like sometimes I’ll walk past wehen I’m in lidil I’ll often record the sound of the fridegers because I find it comforting and soothing, and I do know a few neurodiveragnt artists that are . that sonic awarbess of brohght into the music andmakes really intresting experimental music I think
On the new album there’s a bit where the traffic hum is in the same key as a song . I don’t think anyone else notices.
Being Autistic is a huge part of you’re identity who you are how you communicate how you process the world, or at least it is for me.
R:that track was called Ifi and it comes from their new album little victories.
I mean you play so many instruments maybe you want to say what you play and how you got into them? You’ve talked about the recorder, the clarinet and the saxophone
RD: I got to a lot of charity shops and I think that helps, I played in a band called stars down to earth and they had a glokanspeil and so I swanted a gloken speil after that , ph and I played in a sawcostra it’s a group of people who play musicial saw’s I think I just get that impusivity of I see it and hear the noise and then I’m like I need this in my life.My Mum and Dad ordeded me a musicial saw for one birthday I think and it didn’t arrive and they had to go through this ellobrate insurance claim and the people at the end of the phone didn’t evn belive it was a real thing ,I saw a band called crusan and savan there’s two of them they perform septely but I saw them play as a duo and they’s done a couple of albums and she had a harp and I was like “ I need one” It’s ridiculous I shouldn’t but I think play a lot of instruments not badly but not at a particully high level , but then saxophone is the one proper instrunents
R Where did you get music education from?
RD: well I gad music lessons at school on the saxophone then I played guitar went to a club to learn guitar , played a bit of keyboard at school and then I did open mic’s sort of played guitar a bit and played in bands picking up bits here and there, with some things I’m just lucky enough to be able too.. like with musical saw I found it really intuitive to do, I guess a lot of it is you just keep at it keep doing it and keep playing it and then I borrowed a loop pedal getting on for 10 years ago , and same thing treating it like a instrument , just practicing and practicing playing and playing making a fool of yourself like over and over again and then eventually you can do it without too much fuss.
R That was a track featuring musical saw it was called souel like the place bya. Band called amina their from Iceland and the album is called kurr. It has a photo of 4 women on the first knitting a carpet that is coming off a table onto a floor pitchfolk say “ Veterans of multiple Sigur Rós tours, these four Icelandic women debut with crystalline string pieces that that diffidently betray their history as accompanists.”
Source https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/10625-kurr/
I think it was when I came to brighton when I really started expanding my musical experiabces. I met Jimmy and Elenor from the Bobby McGee’s in freshers week
I was likle what are these guys thought they were really brilliant
Went to a few open mic’s never really found it hard to talk to people
I guess that;s the thing I think I learnt how to talk to people, you ask a lot of questionsand you be super vigllant that youre not boring them and stuff so yea jimmy and elenor I was ina. Band with , they ended up living with me for a bit.and Jimmy was like Join My Band Join My band Join my band and I was likle “ No No NO “
Then he was like were gonna play on Tom Robertson and then I was like “ Ok I’ll join you’re band”
I did jam with Betamaxz and danalogue that sounds really cool it wasn’t me jamming it was just getting chatting to someone there was this cool music playing in the pub and I asked the bar guy and he was like yea this is some of the jazz stuff we do. And I went along to a jazz improv night and Betamax and danallgue werer often there but I didn’t go as often as I should of done because I was quite nervous and shy , but you just do it and get uysed to it , learn the rules and just play
R : Betamax and Danalogue are in Soccer96 I’m not gonna pass up a opportunity to play them so this is their track Dopeamine.
R : if you want to know more about the comet is coming or soccer96 I did a whole episode with Danalogue ( who plays synth with them) go to www.robynrocket.com/zoomzoom
R: I’m Robyn Rockte and I’m chatting to R Dyer ,You have a album coming out would you tell me a bit about it
RD: It’s called Little Victories it’s coming out on a local DIY label called ilis records the sort of theme is the little things that get you through the day I statted off by wririnbf the song you know when you have a graatutude journal when your depressed and you have to write down swam 28 lengths in half an hour and then it gets more and more sarcastic, but thw thing in did was strated to get other people’s stories, I started recording them I think it helped me have something to talk about but I also love that idea of the audience being imvolved when I fisrt strated performing the song I had this idea everytine I did jt I’d have different collection of stories but that became toob hard to roganise so its become same stories, there’s one about clean pants which the story is about 2 yaers old the pant have holes in them now so when I came to record all the songs that I’d writtern over such a long period of time the thing that tied it all together was those little stories ive got a coupel of tapes of things people have said that they’re proud of or have got the through the day , so theres some little instrumental bits with those stories but that is kind of the theme the stories, and like I was talking about earlier theres those little sounds a lot of sound I recorded over lockdown like of my neuibhours some dog npoises amnd sound of my neighbours kids that’s the best way I know how to describe it I guess its kind of poppy , chamber poppy I don’t know how to describe my own music really , it’s my first album
I got some funding from HMUK wghich is the thing that actually made me do oit , because normally I sit down to do recording and then I;m like this is boring and I cant be bothered
R: HMUK stands for Help musicians UK more info here https://www.helpmusicians.org.uk/
R: did you play all the instruments on the album?
RD: Pretty much, I got someone to do some drumming the end has got different people singing as well, it was. aosng I wrote over lockdown about my desk
Its one of my favarouite. Bits on the album I think
Asnd it was mixrd by this guy John Griffin and Eddie Hayden who play in different bands, I ended up having two people mix it as we ran out of time.
R another track from R dyers latest release that one was called king alfred’s cakes
R: so what artists are you listening to right now that are impotant to you
RD : Bach . Like whenever I gety a bit insecure about my album it doesn’t matter I don’t have to be better the Bach
Shooby Taylor don’t know if you’ve ever encountered him he’s like a scat singer I guess you’d call him outsider art people don’t say that anymore do they
He sings the unbelieve improvised scart singing its that thing of someone being unashambly themselves and that thing of not knowing it’s hysterical but also when you think about it amazing what he’s doing
When I got my spotify unwrapped – this entertains me so much I decided to get into the fall last year I was like It’s time. Sparks were my first thing on unwrapped and then the fall and number 4 was bad lip reading. I don’t know if your familiar with bad lip reading but its basically really silly songs where the ones I like are from star wars they’ll lip read the words but read them wrong the songs are just like so so silly I do love them
But its Yoda talking about how his stick is better then bacon