An interview with Rob Laakso: An Emerson alum who launched his solo music career
By Kaitlyn Hardy
Rob Laakso has done it all in the music industry. Like so many musicians, he started off jamming in basements with his highschool friend, then eventually playing gigs in Boston and New York City with his former bands (Diamond Nights, The Wicked Farleys, Swirlies, and Mice Parade). He’s built an impressive resume of musical collaborations and is now setting off on his solo endeavor as Raw Bell.
In October, Laakso released The Raw Bell EP, a collection of his new rhythmic, heavy riffing, electronic tracks. In the last two months, he has played at Brighton Music Hall, opening for Zopa, as well as at Faces in Malden.
Our very own Emerson alum, Laakso studied audio and graduated in 2001. We had the chance to sit down with the former Emersonian, talking about his varied music career.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity
How did studying audio at Emerson launch you into your career?
Rob Laakso: The audio program was production based and how that applied to, say, TV, broadcasting, films, or radio, but there was also music recording as well. And at the radio station, you could engineer bands that came in for live broadcast and get exposed to what it’s like to run a session.
I’m pretty lucky to have been around Boston first and then New York when they had a very vibrant rock music scene. There were great opportunities to be involved in that and observe. It was great to be able to play in a band one night and then see an incredible concert the night after that. A lot of the places that were around back then have been shut down and things have changed, so then I was mostly freelance-based; and that’s one thing I think Emerson was pretty helpful with: preparing you to adapt with the way the media landscape would evolve.
You’ve worked with tons of other musicians– Kurt Vile, Courtney Barnett, Janet Weiss, Farmer Dave Scher. Which collaborations have been most meaningful to you?
I definitely remember being super, super excited to find myself engineering a guitar solo for J Mascis of Dinasaur Jr. I was a huge fan of his when I was in high school– still am! To find myself in the studio one day and guiding him through the takes of his solos, that was something that, at the moment, I had to pause and realize how thankful I was for that.
I had a similar experience working with Modest Mouse years after that as well. To go from admiring that band from the audience years before to then being one wall away from them in the recording studio– feeling the sound coming through the walls and the actual amps, not just through a CD player– it was a super exciting thing.
What has been your most memorable performance?
I’ve played some pretty interesting places for sure, but one of the most memorable ones was playing in Boston at the Courtney Barnett concert at the Orpheum. Being up on that stage, looking out and seeing where I used to stand– I mean I’ve played bigger venues and places that were farther away– but that was the most memorable.
What about memorable in a not so good way?
Early on, I played a show and I thought it’d be a good idea to improvise some lyrics to a song I’d never sung. I ended up getting so excited I jumped backwards with the mic and fell over my amp. That’s the only time I’ve ever fallen on stage and it was during a blizzard, so thankfully not too many people were there.
If you could open for any band, who would it be?
My son and I are really into Iron Maiden, so I would love to be able to open for them and take him to that show.
Why did you decide to start a solo music career?
I’ve always meant to do it, I just finally had the time and I also moved back to the East Coast. It was hard between all my touring and other things to even get songs together or book shows. It wasn’t able to actually come together until I was here [in Boston].
What sound do you hope to create as Raw Bell?
Well I hope it would be cohesive and something people can respond to and not think too hard about.
When you perform live, you’re accompanied by Ken Bernard, an experienced drummer but also your friend way back from elementary school, and your wife, Mamie-Claire, on bass. How does performing alongside those you are close to– in or out of the music world– impact the music or the performance?
Someone pointed this out to me that playing with Ken– who was the drummer at my first basement show in ‘94– we sound so locked in that it's like a musical DNA. I don’t have to explain things to him in a way that I might have to someone else. I mean, I’ve played with a lot of great musicians that I’ve been lucky to mesh with pretty quickly, but it’s a special thing for sure. You can’t really replace 20 years with anybody.
How have you seen your music or the music industry around you change throughout the years?
I think everyone’s a little more mature, easygoing. But I don’t think that makes the music any more stodgy. I remember talking to this drummer when we were about 20, that very rarely does an artist’s music become more intense as time goes on. It tends to mellow out and mature over time. And that’s not necessarily a bad thing– it could be more interesting that way. But I’ve made an effort to keep things pretty loud and a little more on the rock side.
What do you hope to accomplish with your music?
Just keep getting the songs out, get an LP together soon, play more and more concerts, start touring. After the New York show, we’re just going to keep going further out and bring it to as many people as we can, as quickly as we can.