Held.’s Douglas Robinson Celebrates Debut Album, Discusses Band’s Journey + More — Interview

On Tuesday (May 19), Douglas Robinson joined Loudwire Nights to celebrate the debut album of his new band, Held. Listen to the full conversation in the player near the end of this article.

"We're not doing this for any other reason than it's all we love, it's all we know," Robinson shared with Loudwire Nights host Chuck Armstrong.

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Held. is comprised of Robinson, his fellow bandmate from the Sleeping, Salvatore Mignano, and Coheed and Cambria dummer Josh Eppard. Their debut album, Grey, combines a heavy aggressiveness and even heavier lyrics, making a massive and strong statement for the band's first-ever release.

"The only goal I ever step into any recording or any musical mindset [with] is to outdo myself," Robinson admitted.

"It's not the sole reason I make music, but when I'm driven to make something and create something, it has to be better than anything I've ever done for myself. I can't let anything feel like a safe bet."

For Robinson, one of the most significant moments in the development of Held. was when he decided to pick up the guitar for the band, an instrument he hadn't played in a long, long time.

"I hated playing guitar," he said.

"I really did. I would play every day in my room. I'd pick up a guitar for maybe five minutes and I would be like, 'I suck. I never want to play it again.' And I would put it away. Next day, I would do the same thing, for years. And something just compelled me to be like, 'What?' I'll do it. And I started playing and we started coming up with ideas. I was writing a bunch and I started realizing, I love playing guitar."

As he played with Eppard and Mignano, Robinson stepped up his game with the guitar, doing his best to match his new bandmates.

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"It just blossomed into all of us working our asses off," Robinson said.

"Me locking myself in my bedroom, just writing and writing and trying to be what I needed to be to be in this band, to match Josh and Sal's amazing musicianship."

What Else Did Held.'s Douglas Robinson Discuss on Loudwire Nights?

• What it's like releasing a new album at 42 years old: "There is something to be said about being more self-aware, right ... I'm happily married. I have a dog and a cat that are my children. And there is something beautiful about having so much anxiety leaving them for times to go record or go travel or whatever the case is for music. And then when you're in it, you realize how important it is to savor the moment because you're not only doing it now for yourself, you're doing it for others in your circle. I would be lying if I said I didn't want music to be my forever thing — it is, but to keep that going and be able to take care of my family forever based off of music. I've made a great career for myself through music, but to keep that going in a comfortable fashion, right? You're doing it in an almost crusade-like way as you get older. It's like you're leaving home to fight the fight. And those moments become very special when you're at the studio, you're working on a record, you're older, you're not partying every second. You're in the moment in a way where you're focused on the songs, you're focused on the members playing as amazing as they are."
• How Held. took shape: "We've all been in the same circle for many years. Being from the Sleeping, we've made four of five of the Sleeping records with a producer duo named Mike Birnbaum and Chris Bittner from Applehead Recording in Woodstock. And that is also where Coheed grew up. Josh and his dad basically helped build that entire studio. Many of the Coheed records were made there. So just kind of by proxy, we were always intertwined with one another. Josh's dad actually plays lap steel guitar on our first record. His dad set up our guitars on that first record and we were just hanging out with him and he was just so cool that we had him play on the record. So we've been in the same circle for a really long time."
• How it feels to have Grey out: "The minute this record was done, I'm like, man, record two, there's no such thing as sophomore slump for me. That shit's going to be better than record one by like fucking eons, you know? I'm so proud of this record. This is one of the first records, between the bands I've been in I've made about 10 or 11 records...this is the first record that I listened to and not one moment I feel like it was a regret decision, right? Like, oh I wish we did this differently. Everything on this record is exactly what I wanted it to be, exactly what we wanted it to be."

Listen to the Full Interview in the Podcast Player Below or the Video at the Top of the Page

Douglas Robinson joined Loudwire Nights on Tuesday, May 19; the show replays online here, and you can tune in live every weeknight at 7PM ET or on the Loudwire app; you can also see if the show is available on your local radio station and listen to interviews on-demand.