Interview with Surrender Hill

 Posted by at 7:29 pm on March 30, 2020
Mar 302020
 
  • Artist Name: Surrender Hill (Robin Dean Salmon and Afton Seekins)
  • Hometown: Ellijay, GA

What project(s) are you currently working on?
Robin – Our new double-album, A Whole Lot of Freedom.

What inspired you to pursue a career in music and when did you know?
Robin – My folks used to listen to a lot of folk, singer-songwriter stuff when I was growing up in South Africa. Kris Kristofferson was huge in our house. I loved it. When we moved to the U.S.A., I got turned on to Kiss and started a band called Snake. Nobody could play an instrument but we had swagger. I was a cowboy on a ranch at the time and soon was shipped off to boarding school. I hated it, but my roommate was from England and turned me on to the Sex Pistols, and that was when I knew I was going to be a musician for the rest of my life. There was all the freedom one needed in music.
Afton – Growing up, our house was filled with music. My grandpa on my father’s side was a preacher and a guitar player, and my Granny Annie on my mother’s side played accordion and piano and was a cancan dancer. I always knew I was going to be a performer of some kind.  As kids, our summers were spent in Alaska, and our whole family, cousins and all, would get into making music videos. I pursued dance as a career in my early 20s, studying in NYC and ultimately working as a choreographer. All the while, I wrote poems and wrote in my journal. After eight years in NYC, I got a bit burned out and moved back to Arizona. With my father’s help, I taught myself how to sing and play guitar and started turning my journal into songs. When that started flowing for me, I was terrified but it just felt completely right. I knew that I had to be a singer-songwriter and poured all of myself into it and haven’t looked back since.

If you weren’t pursuing a career in music, what would you be doing for a living?
Robin – We have always thrown around the idea of a cool food truck or running a small B&B together.

What is your favorite downtime activity?
Robin – Reading. Hanging out in the kitchen cooking, talking, and drinking wine.
Afton – Napping by a pool in the hot summer sun. Yoga.

Who is your biggest celebrity crush?
Robin – I have always had a man crush on Kris Kristofferson in “A Star is Born.”
Afton – Yep, me too!!

Who is your favorite sports team(s)?
Afton – Funny!! We both are completely out of the loop with sports.

What is the last movie that you watched?
Robin – “Western Stars”

What is the last album you listened to?
Afton – LOL, “Western Stars.” It’s all our son wants to listen to!!

If you could only listen to one album for the rest of your life, what would it be?
Afton – Ryan Adams, Ashes and Fire… I love this album.
Robin – The Clash, London Calling.

What is the greatest country song of all time?
Afton – “Help Me Make it Through The Night”
Robin – “Sunday Morning Coming Down”

What has been your favorite city/town that you’ve visited out on the road?
Afton – Marfa, Texas

What is your favorite meal?
Robin – A nice spicy curry….
Afton – Robin’s roasted chicken with all the goodies.

Who is your dream duet partner?
Afton – No joke, it’s each other. There is nothing like singing with the person you love most in the world.

Who would you like to go on tour with?
Robin – Bruce Springsteen. Please, could you put that out there!!! Jason Isbell would be a nice fit as well.

What is your ultimate career goal(s)?
Robin – We would like to have a strong, steady established fan base across the country and throughout Europe and a list of theaters to play that will last us the rest of our lives.