Rob GEE started DJing at 15, spinning 90s club music in Kearny. Even at a young age, the music he played and the things he said at his gigs were a little outside the norm. “I would come in and push boundaries,” he said.
Now 37, GEE continues to ignore convention at his gigs and on his albums. But he downplays his provocative side.
“It’s not like I wake up in the morning and say ‘alright I’m going to push the boundaries today,'” he said in a recent phone interview.
When he does decide to push boundaries, it’s usually in cities beyond Kearny. GEE has played gigs in major cities across the globe.
The gift of gab(ber)
“I play everywhere,” GEE said on the phone early one morning from California. “I was in Milwaukee last week, and in Miami two weeks ago. Next week it’s Milan.”
No matter where he is, GEE maintains his Jersey pride. (He was born in Harrison).
“I love Jersey,” he said. “Some people, when they move to New York, they denounce where they’re from. When I lived in Brooklyn I was the guy in Brooklyn who everyone knew was from Jersey.”
Over the years, GEE has played in front of enormous crowds, including 40,000 people at the Amsterdam Arena. In Berlin, he had an audience of close to a million people at Loveparade, a techno parade in the center of the city. He also plays nearby gigs.
“I’ve always liked playing Roseland,” GEE said. “It’s a nice venue.”
Whether it’s stateside or worldwide, he keeps busy.
“I’m lucky and blessed enough to have people always calling me (for work),” he said.
GEE (born Robert Gilmore) rose to success by playing “gabber” music at large NY clubs such as Limelight in the 1990s. Gabber is a hardcore style of electronic music that became popular in Rotterdam in the late 1980s. Gabber tracks often infuse industrial and techno beats, and vocalists (in keeping with the hardcore image) usually scream the lyrics.
The music style has an underground following in the U.S. and is still popular in the Netherlands and across Europe.
Mix and mosh
GEE’s music isn’t all gabber. He mixes hip-hop and heavy metal, with electronic beats.
And although the hardcore music is not for the faint of heart, GEE say his target audience is everybody. “I don’t see a difference between people, even when I listen to music,” he said. Good music is good music, whether it’s metal, hip-hop or opera.”
“Hardcore, metal, hip-hop, electronic rock, – it’s all rock and roll,” he added.
Gee said he draws inspiration from all those different genres.
He cites Run DMC and the Beastie Boys as heavy influences, but is sure to add that he has many. “I could give you a book,” he said.
“When I was 12 and 13 I was really a big fan of hip-hop, before it became popular,” he continued.
He said he did everything that came along with the culture-DJing, MCing, graffiti, and even break dancing. That early interest in hip-hop is where Robert Gilmore derived the name “Rob GEE.”
“It actually was a sarcastic name from my white peers,” he said. “They would be like, ‘what’s up Rob GEE?'” The name stuck, and so did his interest in fringe music, which is evident in the music he makes today.
Comments on this piece can be sent to mfriedman@hudsonreporter.com