![]() ![]() (In fact, on that particular June 3 Saxon show, just a week before Burden of Proof’s release, he played only two songs from the album: the languid “Hop on the World” and the moody, Leonard Cohen-esque “Digging for Icicles.”) Instead, he uses the residency as his forum to revisit deep cuts, experiment with different stylistic whims, and workshop new material - and that’s new as in brand new, not necessarily songs from whatever happens to be his latest “official” album. But these days, his Saxon shows - still packed week after week - are about the last place you’ll hear Schneider rolling out the hits. The songs by that Bob Schneider are the ones that made him a triple-A radio star (most notably on Austin’s KGSR, aka the other Bob-FM) and that continue to fuel his touring career. It was at the Saxon back in 1999 that Schneider, after a decade of fronting three of the Austin’s most riotously rowdy party bands (Joe Rockhead, the Ugly Americans, and the particularly profane, still-active Scabs), first unveiled his more introspective singer-songwriter persona under the band name Lonelyland. On top of being one the most popular and prolific Austin performers of the last two decades (at least out of those not named “Willie”), Schneider’s arguably one of the only artists in the “Live Music Capital of the World” who can draw crowds multiple times a week without ever playing the same song - let alone the same set, mood, or genre - twice.Ĭase in point: The high energy, crowd-pleasing 21-song show Schneider plays on this Saturday night in early June - packed with fan favorites like “Honeypot,” “Big Blue Sea,” “Metal & Steel,” “Tarantula,” “40 Dogs (Like Romeo and Juliet),” and “Unpromised Land,” the assertive, rocking lead single from his brand new album, Burden of Proof - couldn’t be more different from the prickly, brooding and seemingly willfully inscrutable set of mostly new material he played earlier in the week at his Monday night Saxon Pub residency. It ends up being 33 minutes before Schneider is called to the stage, which proves to be just enough time to play catch up with an artist who’s made a career out of creating in the moment and changing musical directions on the fly. “And if you don’t get enough, we can always schedule a follow-up phoner, too.”Īs it turns out, that isn’t necessary. ![]() But both his publicist and manager have assured me that Bob does it all the time. Given that, coupled with the number of distractions Schneider is juggling at the moment - from tweaking the set list to conferring with stagehands, band members and friends popping into the room for this or that - I figure we’ll barely have time to scratch the surface of “what do you want to know.” As a general rule, right before show time is the last time artists want to bother with press. This is within two minutes of his arrival at the venue, long after both Americana journeyman Will Hoge and Austin indie rockers Alpha Rev have played their respective opening sets - and, at least according to the schedule posted backstage, about 10 minutes before Schneider is due on himself. Bob Schneider strides into the greenroom at New Braunfels’ Whitewater Amphitheater and fires off the first question of the interview before he’s even plopped onto the couch and fired up his iPad. ![]()
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