Thinking of Rob   It's all about Robert Pattinson

The singer/songwriter talks sudden stardom, American girls and the dangers of being friends with Robert Pattinson.

Did you think Robert Pattinson was the only cute Brit who shies away from interviews? Last week in New York we caught up with singer/songwriter Bobby Long, a Twilight soundtrack crooner, longtime friend of Robert Pattinson and member of the ever-higher-profile „Brit Pack“ that also includes actors/musicians/longtime Pattinson mates Tom Sturridge, Sam Bradley and Marcus Foster. Bobby Long is preparing to release his first studio album this summer, and if it’s anything like he says it is, then you want to start downloading Bobby Long now.

Bobby Long’s “Let Me Sign“ for Twilight and “Who Have You Been Loving?“ from his first album Dirty Pond Songs have put him on the map in mainstream music and in front of, yep, gaggles of female audiences who are screaming to ride the British boy bandwagon. In the basement of New York’s famed Mercury Lounge, we thought Bobby Long couldn’t get any more candid…until he climbed onstage.

LimeLife: Bobby, most of us grew aware of you after you penned “Let Me Sign“ for the Twilight soundtrack a couple years ago. What have you been up to since then?
Bobby Long: I just got finished recording my first album and I’m really happy with it, so I’m looking forward to getting it out there. I mean, I don’t know how big it’s going to be but I’m really proud of it. I think people are going to respect it.

LimeLife: What’s the name of the album?
Bobby Long: I don’t have a name yet. I’ve gotten finished mixing it, so I’m thinking of names at the moment. It’ll be coming out in summer.

LimeLife: That seems like good timing, considering your affiliation with the Twilight series and the fact that Eclipse releases in June. People seem to know you best from Twilight –
Bobby Long: Yeah, yeah.

LimeLife: So was that recognition some of the strategy behind the scheduling of the album’s release?
Bobby Long: No, no, not at all actually. I kind of got that opportunity to have that song in the film and since then I’ve been kind of steering myself away from it.

LimeLife: Have you really?
Bobby Long: Yeah. I’ve been on tour [for the last few months] and I haven’t really done any kind of Twilight events. I’ve used the opportunity to kind of make my own opportunities out of it. I don’t really know with going on with [Twilight]. The only thing I know is that I had a song in it. That’s all I know.

LimeLife: Our audience at LimeLife is a lot of female adults.
Bobby Long: So they all love that film.

LimeLife: (laughter) Many of them, yes. And ever since we heard “Let Me Sign“ in it, your name just continues to stay in the news. I know you’re good friends with Robert Pattinson, and two weeks ago he was jokingly shouting your name for Marcus Foster to play some Bobby Long.
Bobby Long: The funniest thing about that right, is just that… it’s just a few mates joking around. All that was is just Rob enjoying himself at his mate’s show, right. Like, before my show, a mutual friend will shout out, “Play a Marcus Foster song“ or “Play a Sam Bradley song“ or something…like, “Play a song by Cher.“

(More laughter erupts around the Mercury Lounge basement.)

Bobby Long: It’s just winding each other up. It’s just a friendly thing. And then Rob’s getting criticized for it.

LimeLife: I don’t think it was criticism. It was just a fun story when we reported on it.
Bobby Long: But the comments on it! He hasn’t been criticized by the media, but criticized by people. I read [one comment], it said, “He’s a bastard.“ It’s just like, “Oh, f*ck off.” That kind of stuff is funny. I just laugh. It’s something to show your nan, that’s all it is, then you get back to your day job. It’s just funny that someone reports that and sends it off, that someone spent 15 minutes of their life reporting it.

LimeLife: Oh, for sure…I did! So are people recognizing you yet?
Bobby Long: Um, I mean, yeah. Me and my girlfriend were in Starbucks in London and we were kind of arguing (laughs). And I got this message from somebody, “I saw you in Starbucks but I didn’t want to interrupt.“ That was weird. And I occasionally get stuff like that, people walking up or bumping into me and stuff. I don’t know how I’d deal with it. As long as people come to my shows, then it’s great. I’m fairly approachable, but it does frighten me a bit. But I don’t think it’s ever gonna get like that. If it does I’ll move to Mexico or something.

LimeLife: Oh right, like that would help! Can you attribute your degree of success up to this point to any particular entity or person or party?
Bobby Long: I mean, at the end of the day everyone needs a break, and my break stemmed from that film [Twilight]. At the moment I owe a lot to that film. I’ll always owe a lot to that film because it gave me my platform, but since then, everyone behind me who helps out has been amazing: my manager, my press lady, agents…everyone needs credit for just kind of continuing to push things forward. It’s one thing to be faced with an opportunity, but you have to keep it going; that’s the most important thing. Opportunities arise all the time, but the real thing is to try and develop it. To be able to sit here a year later [after the first album] and things are still cascading-without even a release [for the second albumb] is a really amazing thing. I managed to finance my own album from touring so much. We worked really hard. I was on tour for seven months straight. It was the most amazing experience of my life, but when I got home and had a week off, I didn’t quite realize how tired I was.

LimeLife: It’s going to turn into pandemonium soon — based on the audience that’s waiting to see you tonight, the fans are going crazy. They’re lined up around the corner, and they’re mostly female. So which do you prefer, British girls or American girls?
Bobby Long: Person to person, it’s different. I can’t really say…there’s great people on both sides.

Source: Part 1 l Part 2 via Twilight Ladies

Photo Credit: am13er