From The Desk Of The Apples In Stereo’s Robert Schneider: Old-School Video Games

Talking to Apples in stereo frontman Robert Schneider is something like sitting around the kitchen table with a few friends and a six-pack while knocking out the screenplay for a new episode of Seinfeld. With Schneider at the controls of this magic-bus ride, he pulls the topics he likes out of thin air like some deranged conjurer, instantly discards and modifies them, apologizes for going off the tracks, backs the engine up to the starting point, begins talking about something entirely different, then excuses himself to take brief notes on some future project while humming a melody that’s just popped into his head. He’s also one of a handful of great songwriters to emerge over the past 20 years, a psych/pop genius whose knack for addictive melodies and memorable lyrics is perfectly obvious on Travellers In Space And Time (Simian/Yep Roc). Schneider will be guest editing magnetmagazine.com all week. Read our new Q&A with him.

Schneider: My younger brother once described me as an OSG, which means “old-school gamer.” He said his friends like to watch the OSG’s jump and duck and kick into the air while they play, and I am totally guilty of that behavior. I love the video games I used to play as a kid, like Ms. Pac-Man, Donkey Kong, Gyruss, Phoenix and Gorf, as well as home systems like Atari and ColecoVision. I pretty much suck at any game post-1990. I don’t play very often now, but sometimes on tour the clubs will have old-school video games, and I get really excited as soon as I walk into the place. I got the high score on Moon Patrol recently at a club in St. Paul but was quickly beaten out by a girl who worked next door. My life-long dream is to open a combination all-ages venue/old-school arcade. Max and I play Atari at home.

Video after the jump.