It’s hard to believe that it’s been more than twenty-five years since Gin Blossoms’ monstrous breakthrough album, New Miserable Experience. A record which was a much-needed alternative to the flavor of the week pablum and grunge scene and featured the hits “Hey Jealousy,” “Until I Fall Away,” “Found Out About You,” and “Allison Road.” Perhaps nothing captures that same spirited sentiment better in 2018 than the band’s brand new album, Mixed Reality.

Produced by the legendary Don Dixon, Mixed Reality features the jangle influence Dixon made famous on early albums by REM and The Smithereens. At the same time, vocalist Robin Wilson’s lyrics and delivery on tracks like “Break,” and “Face The Dark” are infectiously reminiscent of the band’s early days but also show a deeper level of musical maturity. A testament to a band who, even after a quarter of a century, still has a lot left to say.

AXS recently spoke with Robin Wilson about the new Gin Blossoms album, Mixed Reality, memorable moments, touring and more in this exclusive new interview.

AXS: It’s been eight years since the band’s last album, No Chocolate Cake. What inspired Mixed Reality?

Robin Wilson: Motivation. It had been too long and we were anxious to record again and do something to propel our career. Mixed Reality is a companion to New Miserable Experience and an album I feel we would’ve wanted to make in 1990.

AXS What was it like having Don Dixon produce Mixed Reality?

RW: It was very exciting. Don Dixon [and Mitch Easter] recorded the first two REM records. Those were at the core of our influences as a band. I remember when we went into the songwriting, I felt very connected to my twenty-year-old self when I was listening to REM, The Smithereens and those records that inspired us.

AXS: What’s your songwriting process like? 

RW: Generally, I keep a notebook of lyric ideas and when I come up with a melody, I’ll look through my list to see what leans into it. For a few of the songs on this album, I sat down with the guitar and wrote the melody and lyrics at the same time. A good example of that is the song, “Break.” I had that verse and chorus of that song within about ten minutes. It took a few weeks to add the bridge and refine it a little, but once I felt like I was onto something I became confident in the material.

AXS: What can you tell me about the track, “Face The Dark?”

RW: I had originally written that song thinking it was going to be about the end of my marriage. But once I had it pretty well wrapped up, it felt more like it was either about, to, or from Doug Hopkins, our original guitar player. Having already been thinking of REM and the records Don and Mitch had made, it was really easy to think about Doug too and some of my memories of him.

Read the rest of my
Interview with Robin Wilson by Clicking Here!