The classically-trained Mallman -- who studied classical piano -- has a new disc, “Between the Devil and Middle C” on Badman Recording Company -- that is an addictive walk through Mallman’s passion for everyone from Thin Lizzy to Bob Dylan to Bruce Springsteen. You’ll hear bits of Elton John and Queen on the record, too.
Listening to the variety of influences on the 13-song disc of pop rock and roll, you won’t be surprised to learn that Mallman has toured with Linda Ronstadt, Everlast, Exene Cervenka, Guided by Voices, Donovan, Cracker, Howie Day, Tegan and Sara and more.
Interestingly, Mallman also holds the record for the longest rock song. His 1004 “Marathon 2,” clocked in at 52.4 doubling his previous record-holding “Marathon.”
Mallman moved to Minneapolis to attend art school and he’s been there ever since. City Pages has called his “Kissing the Knife” one of the “Top 50 Minnesota Songs of All Time” and he’s got a coveted star on the wall at First Avenue.
OnMilwaukee.com has attempted to keep up with Mallman – no easy feat – and on the eve of the Sept. 5 release of his latest disc, we asked him about the CD and the world record.
OMC: This record really conjures up the music that was everywhere in the late '70s and early '80s. It's something of a time capsule. Do you set out to make a record that has a certain sound, or is it just a consequence of your writing and the mood at the time?
MM: I read an interview with Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top who said he was more of a historian than a musician. It’s safe to say that I am obsessed with rock history. On “Devil and Middle C” those similarities are overt and intentional. For instance, I put the “Positively 4th Street” style Hammond organ in “Pompeii” because the woman I wrote that song to is really in love with that tune; it’s a nod directly to her -- basically, so that when she hears my tune it’ll be like “remember when you told me you like “Positively 4th Street” because of how mean it is? Well guess what, I do, and this one’s for you!”
OMC: There really is a lot of music parsed into these 14 tracks. Presumably your record collection is vast and wide ranging...
MM: Recently I’ve packed it onto one hard drive -- an 80-gig drive’s worth -- I would say my collection is somewhere in the four-digit realm.
OMC: Did your classical background help arm you to basically be able to do whatever you want to do, musically speaking? That is, while many rock musicians are limited by their skills, do you feel equipped to pull off just about anything?
MM: Playing classical music is like being a gymnast, you have to always be in shape -- I was a better pianist at 11 than I am now, but there was no purpose behind what I was playing. I’ve always been more inspired by the sound of a fist on the piano than Brahms.
OMC: What's on tap for the next one? Have you got it written or mapped out yet?
MM: Yup, if I had the money, I’d make an album a week!
OMC: Are you going to tell us about it or is it a secret?
MM: If I told you, I'd have to cook you and eat you.
OMC: You're a Milwaukee boy, but Minneapolis has really embraced you. Do you feel sort of like a citizen of both places?
MM: I’ve never felt like a citizen of anywhere, really. I grew up in Waukesha, but my grandparents lived off Brady Street, so that was HQ; especially when I was young, we were Downtown perpetually. I moved up to Minneapolis for art school. Both cities are wonderful places, up here we have indoor miniature golf courses, but Milwaukee has Organ Piper Pizza -- so I guess you could say I’d prefer “dual citizenship”. Either way, the more I travel, the better it feels to come back to the Midwest. Who knows where I’ll be a year from now though.
OMC: Do you get back to Milwaukee much, beyond the occasional gig here?
I’m back as much as possible, mostly to Waukesha to visit my parents, and the East Side to get surreal with my cousin, Stephen Somers, who did the cover to “Between the Devil and Middle C”. I’ve written some of my best material at my parents’ house. In my dreams, half the time, I’m still living there -- last night I dreamed my dog and I were playing Atari together. Also, other cities have tried to master frozen custard, but Kopp’s is untouchable.
OMC: Are you going to attempt to double your world record song length, which doubled your previous record?
MM: Yes. In 2009, we’ll do “Marathon 3” -- which will be around 900 pages of lyrics, which I’m planning to release as a book and CD set which will be groovy. “Marathon” is more of an ongoing conceptual rock piece than a world record event. Think Matthew Barney here, I know it’s a stretch -- it seems to make more and more sense as time goes on. Maybe stuff’s already been predetermined by some unseen, all-knowing force, I don’t know. People are worried about my health, I tell them, “If I die on stage, that’s not a bad way to go! Better than covered in vomit in a bathtub in France!”
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he lived until he was 17, Bobby received his BA-Mass Communications from UWM in 1989 and has lived in Walker's Point, Bay View, Enderis Park, South Milwaukee and on the East Side.
He has published three non-fiction books in Italy – including one about an event in Milwaukee history, which was published in the U.S. in autumn 2010. Four more books, all about Milwaukee, have been published by The History Press.
With his most recent band, The Yell Leaders, Bobby released four LPs and had a songs featured in episodes of TV's "Party of Five" and "Dawson's Creek," and films in Japan, South America and the U.S. The Yell Leaders were named the best unsigned band in their region by VH-1 as part of its Rock Across America 1998 Tour. Most recently, the band contributed tracks to a UK vinyl/CD tribute to the Redskins and collaborated on a track with Italian novelist Enrico Remmert.
He's produced three installments of the "OMCD" series of local music compilations for OnMilwaukee.com and in 2007 produced a CD of Italian music and poetry.
In 2005, he was awarded the City of Asti's (Italy) Journalism Prize for his work focusing on that area. He has also won awards from the Milwaukee Press Club.
He has be heard on 88Nine Radio Milwaukee talking about his "Urban Spelunking" series of stories, in that station's most popular podcast.
