5 String Banjo, Bass Drum, Tambourine and Singing.
Influences
Lots of field recordings and other music from the distant past...Dock Boggs, Uncle Dave Macon, Robert Johnson, Charlie Patton, Sonny Terry...music from the recent past...The Ramones, Led Zeppelin, The Replacements, Violent Femmes, AC/DC, The Beatles, Elvis Costello, Big Star, The Pogues...music of my contemporaries, peers and friends...Shellac, Lightning Bolt, Neutral Milk Hotel, Will Oldham, Jawbone, Gillian Welch, Tom Waits, Bjork, Nina Nastasia, Bob Dylan, Angus Maclaurin, TV on the Radio, Gogol Bordello, Lucinda Williams, Beastie Boys, White Stripes, Calexico...this could go on and on...
Sounds Like
"He plucks that banjo like a madman, like the devil himself." New York Press
"There's no niche or category to file this under. It's just simply amazing." -Autopia
"Whirling one-man banjo ninja is in fighting form." -Europe Intelligence Wire
"A stone-cold classic performer that blasts all other singer-songwriters out of their soporific, arrogant, self-obsessed torpor with his pinpoint melodies, frantic enthusiasm and homespun, heartfelt wordplay, one-man-band Roebuck's lightning fast banjo (dude can shred quicker than Kerry King man!) and incessant hotstepping to the beat really will get your juices flowing. Aided by yet another pristinely sparse Steve Albini recording that just lets Roebuck do what he does best, live, in the flesh, no airs or graces, just pure musicianship in action, and my god is it catchy!" -CollectiveZine
Nicknamed "The Banjo Ninja" by fans, PHILLIP ROEBUCK is a bare-bones one-man band, conceived in the subways of New York City. To accompany his $22, scrap-part banjo, Phillip made his first drum apparatus out of a suitcase and a luggage cart. Using this setup, both live in the Times Square Subway Station and in his apartment in Brooklyn, he made the album ONE-MAN BAND RECORDINGS, which comes across like a collection of modern-day field recordings. In 2002, Phillip revamped the setup into the current backpack harness outfit, used on the albums INERTIA (Volume II), ONE-MAN BAND, and FEVER PITCH.
In 2003, the New York Press voted Phillip the city's Best Subway Musician, and he has since recorded three albums and has been touring steadily. Some highlights include...
John Peel Show - BBC - October 13, 2004
All Tomorrow's Parties - England
w/Shellac - Chicago
w/American Music Club - London
w/Nina Nastasia - U.S. Tour
w/Ralph Stanley - Chicago
FEVER PITCH is the most recent album - recorded by Steve Albini at Electrical Audio in Chicago and mastered by Nick Webb at Abbey Road Studios in London.
INERTIA - This two volume set is the earliest record of the one-man band. Volume I was made in New York City using the original suitcase apparatus, including live tracks from the Times Square subway station. Volume II covers a session done in Seattle using the current set up.
ONE-MAN BAND was recorded by Steve Albini at Electrical Audio in Chicago and mastered by Nick Webb at Abbey Road Studios in London.
UNDER THE MATCHLIGHT predates the one-man band by a few years. It was recorded alone in a barn in Pungo, Virginia.
hey man ! for one .. you are inspiring . two : i bought your old banjo from a friend of yours here in seattle last year .. and it has brought me many many songs . message me and i will tell you more if interested. thanks for the music .. and thanks for breaking in this banjo like nobody else could !
Just stopping by to show some MySpace love ;-). How's it going? Oh yeah, I have some new blogs on the way soon, so if you like, you're welcome to subscribe to my blog.
Cheers champ, an honour having you here, be well, and do enjoy the library/blog's contents, here's hoping that it'll inspire you, as your creative spirit has inspired mine, sweet dreams then...
Hey Phillip, thanks for letting me be part of it. What you do is what I was looking for since a long time. Sounds great round here. Hope we'll meet some day somewhere down the road to share tunes & stories. Good luck & travel safe ... the Fritsch & the hobokollektiv ...
