Rob Kleiner

photos: Alan Mercer Lighting: Eric Venturo

Chicago-based composer/producer/performer Rob Kleiner received a degree studying music composition and philosophy at Eastern Illinois University. Rob has been traveling the world playing his compositions with various groups. He has performed on stage as a member of many underground mainstays such as Tub Ring, Mindless Self Indulgence, Super 8 Bit Brothers, Blue Meanies, Daiquiri, and The Baltimores. In addition, he has collaborated artistically on recordings with such notables as Trey Spruance (Mr. Bungle), and Billy Gould (Faith No More).

Currently Rob is working for hire scoring films and writing music for television and video games, as well as offering songwriting and remixes for other artists. There is also Studio Edison, a fully equipped recording studio ready to record anyone interested in be produced by Rob.

I met Rob while he was visiting Los Angeles for the opening of "Stuck!" the movie he scored for Steve Balderson. After hearing the music in the film I went home and downloaded it immediately. Rob is a major talent and I predict he will be very successful for a long time! We took photos and talked in downtown LA for this blog.

AM: Hello Rob, I just learned who you are and about your work from hearing your music in the film, "Stuck!" How did you get involved with Steve Balderson?

RK: It's like anything else in the arts. You have to hound a bunch of directors and for every hundred that say no you get the one that says yes. I was really interested in a couple of Steve's earlier films. I already worked with him on his previous film, "Watch Out" and I guess he liked my work enough to hire me again.

AM: He told me he was never going to work with anybody else.

RK: WOO! That's good news.

AM: Didn't you have mutual friends?

RK: I play in a band with a guy who did a review on "Firecracker" so that's how we met. I was aware of who he was before that.

AM: You are classically trained aren't you?

RK: That's a shifty term, but technically yes I am.

AM: Are you collage degreed?

RK: I have a degree in philosophy and I minored in music. I studied a lot of music in college but I didn't get my degree in it. There was only so much training in theory and classical training that I really wanted to take. That stuff is awesome but for me I like doing my own thing better.

AM: What bands are you in?

RK: I play for a bunch of different bands. My rock band is called 'Tub Ring' and one is called 'Super 8-Bit Brothers' which is an all video game band. I also play for a band called 'Mindless Self Indulgence' and they are pretty big. I'm just kind of a hired guy for them.

AM: So what's your favorite kind of music?

RK: That's a tough question. I love film music. Some of my favorite film composers are Ennio Morricone and I really like Henry Mancini. I also love pop music. Serge Gainsbourg is one of my favorite artists. Of the people today I really love Beck. I like people that do innovative stuff with pop. I guess my roots are in a vaunt guard stuff. I tend to like a little bit of the weird sounds.

AM: Do you think you will ever move out of Chicago?

RK: I would love to move. Visiting LA now is making me think about it. Things are going really good in Chicago right now as far as making money with music is concerned. If I would have had this trip last summer when things were really slow I would probably have moved out here.

AM: What is different now?

RK: Right now for some reason things are going awesome at my recording studio. My client base has quintupled in the last month. Sometimes I wonder if I'm missing career opportunities not being here. I guess that is the ultimate struggle. Where is the best place I can be to maximize what I want to do? I have to keep thinking about it.

AM: Let it unfold. Do you have other music for sale besides the "Stuck!" soundtrack?

RK: Yes I think you can get the "Watch Out" score the same place as "Stuck!" and my rock bands have CD's in stores and they are real easy to find. You can google my name and find everything.

AM: What is your ultimate goal?

RK: To be a film composer full-time.

To learn more about Rob's music visit his page http://www.myspace.com/robkleiner