Courtesy

Having opened for Dave Matthews Band and The Dixie Chicks, Bob Schneider has gained quite a bit of national recognition because of his musical abilities. Even so, the Austin-based musician is perhaps more commonly known for his former relationship with actress Sandra Bullock. Schneider, who brings his alt-rock show to Cowboys Dancehall on Monday, Jan. 7, recently chatted with 210SA about growing up in the music business, blatant materialism and, yes, dating a Hollywood starlet.
 

Growing up, your mom was an opera singer, and your dad was also into music. Was it inevitable that you'd get into the music business?

No. I was never going to do it, but then I got into college and started playing some talent shows and got the bug to play music. Up until then, I never thought about doing it. I'd done it my whole life, and my dad taught me to play when I was 3 ..... but I never thought of it as a career.

I read that you once got bored at a Norah Jones concert, not because of her, but because of your “musical ADD.” Do you take that into consideration when designing a live show for the fans?

I try to make the shows interesting and try to change it up. What I do when I play is play what I would want to hear next, if I was the audience ..... That usually works pretty well.

Who are the fans at your shows?

It's pretty consistent. The kind of people that come to the shows are just like regular people. They're not necessarily any fringe group, like the hipsters or hippies. They're just everyday sort of people.

Being raised in Germany, how much did growing up outside the U.S. affect the person you are today?

It had a huge effect on me. Living overseas gave me a different perspective on things. When I came to the States (at age 20), it was a bit of a culture shock in terms of the fact that people were really concerned about money and buying things and advertising and stuff ..... It was a shock. Now, I'm so used to a society filled with consumerism. That's just normal now, and it's kind of more normal all over the world. In Europe, they're more similar now to the States than they used to be ..... I don't even think about how concerned I am with material things and money and stuff. I definitely have been brainwashed into believing that having stuff will somehow stop me from terrible pain and misery and, ultimately, death. We're all going to die, and things can't make us happy. It's just a nice little lullaby to sing ourselves to sleep with every night.

You've written quite a bit about drugs. How have they influenced you as a musician?

When I was a young adult, I smoked pot and experimented a little bit with drugs. I thought it was really good for me. I felt like it gave me a different perspective on life. I never really had a problem with drugs or found myself addicted. I just did it a few times, and it was fun and enlightening. When it stopped being fun and enlightening, I stopped doing it. I actually ended up being addicted to alcohol, and I had to stop drinking 12 years ago. In the last 12 years, I've had no drinks or drugs. I've written a lot of songs about (drugs). People think it's what I do, but I don't.

How much did the breakup with Sandra Bullock impact your songwriting?

I've never really written autobiographically. Depending on what's going on in my life or how I'm feeling, that will affect my mood or what I'm writing about. But I never sat down and said, “This is how I'm feeling.” I've never done that because I find that confessional pretty boring and mundane. What I prefer to do is use that raw material and emotional material to sculpt something that resonates emotionally with someone when they listen to it.

CLINT HALE | 210SA