Q: What's currently happening in the Sophia camp?
A: Sophia finished a new studio album 'Technology Won't Save Us'. It was released in October 2006 in the UK, Benelux, Germany, Austria and Switzerland. The rest of Europe will follow in 2007.
First single from the album is 'Pace'. Second single is 'Where Are You Now'.
Sophia will do a a full European tour early 2007.

Q: Where does the name 'Sophia' come from?
A: This is what Robin had to say about it: "I got the name from a Hal Hartley movie ('Amateur'). In that movie someone claims that Sophia is Greek for wisdom. I thought that Sophia was a great name, but I didn't think it was right to name my band wisdom, so I went looking for the exact opposite of Sophia. That happened to be... Ignoramus! In that case I'd rather use Sophia! I also think that it sounds very nice, a bit sad, just like the music."

Q: Who are The May Queens?
A: The May Queens are exactly the same people as Sophia. Robin used a different name to release this CD as the music is too different from the usual Sophia stuff.
This is what Robin had to say about the band: "The May Queens. My punk rock noise band. A cross between Motörhead, The Rolling Stones, The Wannadies and Fugazi! We're just about finished with our album and it rocks! Seriously! Very Cool. Basically, we're planning on doing ONE tour."

Q: Where does the name 'The May Queens' come from?
A: This is what Robin had to say about it: "When we were on tour in Germany in the winter of 1998, our van broke down in Schweinfurt and we were sitting in the van in the snow and we were playing Led Zeppelin IV and Stairway To Heaven came on. I was kinda listening to the words and there is a line that goes 'it's just a spring clean for the May Queen'. And I thought: 'That was THE worst line in rock'n'roll history'. But at the same time I thought: 'The May Queens? What a brilliant name for a band!' "

Q: Have the May Queens ever played concerts?
A: No. All planned concert dates were cancelled.
Sophia played May Queens song 'Like a record' at the 'De Nachten' festival early 2001.
Robin played a very early version of 'Changes' during sound checks of the 1997 Sophia tour.
During the Spring 2006 tour with Vito, Robin decided to play a bunch of May Queens tracks.

Q: Who are Toshack Highway?
A: Toshack Highway is a new project from Adam Franklin (Swervedriver). The first Toshack Highway album was released on Robin's Flower Shop label. Robin played bass in Toshack Highway during their tour (november + december 2000).

Q: What gear does Robin use on stage?
A: Robin normally plays with a Takamine Jasmine.
He has also been playing with an acoustic Washburn WD32SCE, an acoustic black Ovation Celebrity guitar (type CC057) and an Elvis Presley Signature EJ-200 CE guitar from the Epiphone Limited Edition Acoustic Collection.
Robin usually plays with d'Addario Phosphor Bronze Round Wound Custom Light strings and white Jim Dunlop .46 mm plectrums.

Q: Are there people who trade bootlegs of Sophia gigs?
A: Sure, go here: trading page.

Q: Are there any Sophia songs that are not on the official releases?
A: There are a couple of them:

I don't think I'll ever change
This song was played during the concerts early 1997.

Instrumental #1
During the tour at the end of 1999, Sophia sometimes opened the gig with an instrumental song. It's quite up-tempo and sounds a bit like the stuff on the May Queens album.

Instrumental #2
A very laid back instrumental track that was played during a gig in February 1997. As it's heavily based on Adam Franklins guitar, it sounds a bit like some of the tracks on the first Toshack Highway album.

Lament for those lost at sea and for those that don't want to be found
An instrumental which was played at a Swedish gig in 2000.
Robin: "Imagine somebody that goes out to the middle of the ocean and jumps off the boat and wants to forget everything and doesn't want to be found again."
The guitar riff finally evolved into the track 'Technology Won't Save Us' and was released in 2006 on the album of the same name.

Airports (with lyrics)
The instrumental version of this song was meant to be the last song on 'People are like seasons' but finally ended up on the Collections:One tour album. However there is a version of this song that has lyrics, but Robin was so pleased with the instumental version of the song that he decided to drop the lyrics and leave the emotions of the song up to the imagination of the listener.

Dreaming
This short track was premiered at the Immergut Festival in June 2007.
Robin: "It sounds really positive because it's about a really lovely girl, but she's gone... So I'm not gonna finish the song as I have no inspiration. But it's kind of about having dreams."

Chelsea Hotel (written by Leonard Cohen)
Robin playing this song during the gigs in Denmark, May 2002.
Robin: "We've started doing a version of 'Chelsea Hotel' by Leonard Cohen, just piano and vocal, and everybody loves it! That makes me feel really good. It's scary when you cover the masters!

Mammas, don't let your babies grow up to be cowboys (written by by Ed and Patsy Bruce)
This country classic (most know is the version by Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings) is probably the first song Robin ever learned to play on guitar. He sometimes played it with The God Machine and it also pops up in Sophia shows now and again. Robin: "But only after I've had "one too many" (!) which means I also tend to forget the words..." :-)

Old man (written by Neil Young)
Live cover

Everyday is like sunday (written by Morrissey)
Played once at the Moritzbastei in Leipzig at the very end of the tour with Vito (20.05.2006).
Dedicated to a friend.