Robert Schneider

Yeah, they all ended up moving to Athens.

I don't know if Robert Schneider, who was in Apples and Stereo, I don't know if he ever actually lived in Athens.

I don't think he did.

I think he was always in Denver.

But there's a lot of other folks that were kind of making records and but not doing the work that you have to do to kind of get out from like, you know, locally.

The other thing that's just so striking about this is, you know, obviously, Robert Schneider being the kind of like focal point in terms of recording, you know, and what is he saying? Like, let's go make rock and roll history.

Yeah.

Well, after, you know, loading a bong and smoking it next to someone's ear, he says that.

So I just want to thank you all again for coming on and wanting to be part of this.

You may not be friends with me after I ask this last question, because as you know, at the end of every episode, I ask the same question, but I tailor it depending on what we're talking about.

So at the end of this film, Robert Schneider says...

Recording is like having access to this entire universe that you can like float around in.

And I do think that it's so interesting in the mid 90s, late 90s, to think about these productions that they were doing, because a lot of it was lumped in, of course, with kind of like lower fi indie rock music.

But is there a producer in the mid to late 90s who probably has quite the run that Robert Schneider has? If you talk about Neutral Milk Hotel, the Olivia Tremor Control records, the Minders, Beulah, and then, of course, the Apples and Stereo records as well.

To me, these records never sounded lo-fi.

Right.

They did an incredible... interview with will and bill during the black foliage time and i almost consider and and and tati i want i want to hear your opinion on this too because you've brought up pet sounds a lot you know when dusk was made of it was kind of like a little bit of like a rubber soul and then airplanes like the pet sounds and then black foliage is like sergeant pepper they were they were they were influencing each other and trying to kind of one up each other.

And they all play on all these records.

Jeff plays on both the OTC records and Robert Schneider produced them all.

So what do you think about not only friends collaborating and making something magical, but also having that friendly competition to try to push each other to reach your fullest potential?

Four folks meet in around elementary and middle and high school.

These people are Bill Doss, Jeff Mangum, Will Cullen hart, and Robert Schneider.

They all kind of find their way into punk rock.

They all start making their version of punk rock, which even to their own admission did not sound like punk rock, but had the spirit of it.

They discover four-track recording, which is a very rudimentary way to make music, but it ended up being the whole way Elephant 6 basically operated.

Uh, there are dips into the Virgin Islands, to New York, to Austin, Texas, to out to Los Angeles, but ultimately, members of the band ended up in Denver, Colorado, and Athens, Georgia.

Robert Schneider formed The Apples in Stereo out in Denver, and then Olivia Tremor Control and Neutral Milk Hotel, uh, formed, uh-

I'm sorry

I had a graduate student.

His name was Robert Schneider.

He was actually, and still is, a famous independent rock artist.

He was the producer for a band called Neutral Milk Hotel and lead singer for a band called Apples in Stereo, and he had the most fascinating story.

Um, but, uh, one thing I talked about in a Facebook post is that the majority of my overdubs had Bill's seal of approval.

Um, he made rough mixes for Robert Schneider and other members of the group before he passed with my overdubs.

That was the stuff I played for you, Matthew.

Um, m-