Pinback

In the early 1990s, he formed the band Heavy Vegetable, and while the group was only together for a few short years, they were extremely well-liked in the San Diego scene.

Rob continued to perform and make records under a number of different names, including Octagonally Yours and Physics, and in 1998, he formed Pinback with Zach Smith.

This propelled him into the limelight, and the band released five incredible albums on labels like Touch and Go, TRL, and Absolutely Kosher.

While they haven't released an album since 2012's Information Retrieved, Rob continues to record in different bands and under different names, and most recently, his group Goblin Cock released their fifth album, Traumanaut, on Joyful Noise Records.

And I assume you are the same kind of way.

Yes.

I, you know, I, f- on the Pinback website that we used to have, I, I made a, a fa- a, like, a frequently asked questions.

So, like, these are the questions everybody asks us 100 times, you know, every single time.

And I remember having this roommate who kind of was the first in my life to like pass me mute, pass me music in that way as beyond like the pop punk I was listening to in high school and stuff.

And two of the bands that got passed to me that year, which are around the same time as you guys making that record, are Pinback and Mogwai, which I don't know if any of them are slotted in any way called emo, but Pinback has been this band in my life that's like the trance-like thing you were describing, like... it's more of like this staccato kind of like ticking feeling, but I've, your music does that too.

Do you have any relationship with either of those bands music?

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Pinback.

Like it's, it's definitely like a pulse and it's a, there's like a, percussive even though it's melodic yeah i think they're great um there wasn't like a crossover i don't think we ever played with them or there wasn't i know uh nate who plays in our band uh his other bands have played shows like they're he's buddies with the pinback dudes but

Uh, under- underrated artist.

Um, oh, yeah, uh, Pinback.

Have you ever listened to Pinback?

No, I've never listened to Pinback.

Yeah.

Rob Crow.

... that are kind of...

He's got a real Elliott Smith-y vocal to him, real soft.

Franklin Bruno.

Speaking of, uh, musicians birthed in the, uh, the, the fires of '90s indie rock, Rob Crow from Pinback, Imperial Teen.

All of these are coming up, so stay tuned for those.

But for now, let's talk to Chris.

The Phoebe Bridgers record, um, been playing a bit.

You know what? I, I re- rediscovered Pinback.

Mm-hmm.

Um, I've been listening to so much Pinback.

We did a couple of road trips right in a row with the family, and Pinback was on for- ... hours of those drives.

Cool.

I've just-

Wonderful experimental musician from here, Los Angeles.

Rob Crowe of Pinback.

Franklin Bruno.

That was great.

It just reminded me of, like, kind of the type of thing that you and I would have wanted to do if we were working for a local or national outfit at the time.

Hey, this is Galen from Pinback.

[laughs]

That's my audition for being the voice of Logan Air.

I love it.

Rob Crowe I just talked to today from Pinback and a million other bands.

And he was absolutely lovely.

And cartoonist Evan Dorkin.