The New Regime's Ilan Rubin says too much attention on production has watered down popular music today
American musician, singer and songwriter Ilan Rubin is set to release the final part of his new album 'Heart, Mind, Body & Soul' called 'Soul' for The New Regime on March 6. Rubin has also performed as a drummer for Nine Inch Nails and Angels & Airwaves. A master of his craft who plays every instrument for The New Regime and a modern-day virtuoso, 31-year-old Rubin shares his views on the music industry today. In an exclusive interview with MEA WorldWide (MEAWW), Rubin opens up about how artists have lost touch with the art behind the production.
How do you find inspiration for your music and what helps you come up with new ideas?
I like to read quite a bit and a lot of that is music-related. I get inspiration from either listening, experimenting with new instruments/software or really just learning new skill sets.
For example, I have been studying orchestration for maybe a month-and-a-half right now and that has tuned my brain to think about certain things musically. Although that hasn't really seeped into The New Regime music just yet, it is a sort of toolbox and skillset that I am acquiring right now and that is really what I have been focusing on.
Between a couple of Angels and Airwaves tours at the end of last year, for example, I had just gotten my studio set up and this new digital upright piano. I loved playing it so much that I wrote and recorded five or six new songs in the span of a couple of weeks at home, and that was a result of just having a great time playing that new instrument. So, that's really where inspiration comes from. I suppose, the joy of playing and creating and then just following ideas as they present themselves.
You have mentioned before how music is created too casually these days with samples and loops. What do you think could help create more carefully composed music in the industry?
I think popular music for the most part being very production driven tends to take the focus away from the core of the song, whether that be the chords, melody or harmony. As a craft, all of the attention is down to production. The thing about production is that it is the easiest thing to copy. Let's say one person actually puts in the time and comes up with something creative so it is new, if there's a hit song that features these things, everybody else starts copying it. That's a reflection of mediocre "artists and bands".
There are too many bands at the moment in terms of pop music. That's also the fault of the people who sign music and then promote it. Everyone is always chasing whatever is most popular at any given time, which I think is unfortunate.
So when you have music that doesn't really require much of a skillset, what are you really going to be left with other than something that is fairly shortsighted for the time being? So, as you can probably gather, I am not a huge fan of things that are massive right now and I am not knocking anything individually. I wouldn't get into that. But I just feel that for the most part, the attention is not given to the craft of writing music. It's production-based, at best lyrically based, which is obviously valid.
There are plenty of people out there who focus on lyrics more than they focus on harmony and melody and all those good things. But as far as music is concerned, I feel that components shouldn't fall by the wayside. Everything is as important as everything else.
However, music has been watered down and is far more assembly-line based, which is unfortunate. You can have as many people with production and writing credits on songs that are just garbage for the most part. I can't believe the personnel it takes to write a mediocre hit today.
What would you like people to take away when they listen to The New Regime?
I would like them to be struck by the seriousness of the work, the integrity of the work and the art and craft of it. There is almost as much there for people lyrically as there is musically. I don't like to impart specific messages.
Occasionally I'll tell stories, occasionally I will write about something personal or write other things from different people's perspectives, but I do like there to be a bit of ambiguity when it comes to lyrics. I don't like it when things are far too direct and that doesn't give you anything to really think about. I like it when people take what they are listening to and create their own visuals as to what they have interpreted the song to be about.
You were a gamer at a young age. Any plans to collaborate with the gaming community with your music?
I would like to write for anything visual. So considering that games these days are pretty much movies that you can play, I think it would be fantastic to get involved with writing something.