Robert Andrew Scallon (born August 26, 1990) is an American

YouTuber A YouTuber is an online personality and/or influencer who produces videos on the video-sharing platform YouTube, typically posting to their personal YouTube channel. The term was first used in the English language in 2006. Influence Influe ...

, musician, and multi-instrumentalist based in Chicago, Illinois. He is best known for several

viral videos A viral video is a video that becomes popular through a viral process of Internet sharing, typically through video sharing websites such as YouTube as well as social media and email.Lu Jiang, Yajie Miao, Yi Yang, ZhenZhong Lan, Alexander Haupt ...

featuring his music, including heavy metal songs played with traditionally non-metal instruments.

Early life

Scallon was born on August 26, 1990, and was raised in

Arlington Heights, Illinois Arlington Heights is a municipality in Cook County with a small portion in Lake County in the U.S. state of Illinois. A suburb of Chicago, it lies about northwest of the city's downtown. Per the 2020 Census, the population was 77,676. Per th ...

. As a child, he and his friends would visit their local

Guitar Center Guitar Center is an American Music store, musical instrument retailer chain. It is the largest company of its kind in the United States, with 294 locations. Its headquarters is in Westlake Village, California. Guitar Center oversees various sub ...

and play instruments, although would never buy any due to lack of money. He was gifted his first guitar, a nylon-string classical, from his friend's father. He used it to write his first solo songs, and it was featured on many of his early videos. As a teenager, Scallon played drums in a metal band called Gas Mask Catalogue.

Career

Scallon began uploading to YouTube in February 2007, and began to develop a following in 2008. His popularity launched as he began to cover metal songs with folk and country instruments. Most notable are his renditions of songs on

banjo The banjo is a stringed instrument with a thin membrane stretched over a frame or cavity to form a resonator. The membrane is typically circular, and usually made of plastic, or occasionally animal skin. Early forms of the instrument were fashi ...

, including "

Raining Blood "Raining Blood" is a song by the American thrash metal band Slayer. Written by Jeff Hanneman and Kerry King for the 1986 studio album ''Reign in Blood'', the song's religious concept is about overthrowing Heaven. The song is four minutes and fou ...

" by

Slayer Slayer was an American thrash metal band from Huntington Park, California. The band was formed in 1981 by guitarists Kerry King and Jeff Hanneman, drummer Dave Lombardo and bassist/vocalist Tom Araya. Slayer's fast and aggressive musical styl ...

, "

Master of Puppets ''Master of Puppets'' is the third studio album by American heavy metal band Metallica, released on March 3, 1986, by Elektra Records. Recorded in Denmark at Sweet Silence Studios with producer Flemming Rasmussen, it was the band's last albu ...

" by

Metallica Metallica is an American heavy metal band. The band was formed in 1981 in Los Angeles by vocalist/guitarist James Hetfield and drummer Lars Ulrich, and has been based in San Francisco for most of its career. The band's fast tempos, instrume ...

, and "

Psychosocial The psychosocial approach looks at individuals in the context of the combined influence that psychological factors and the surrounding social environment have on their physical and mental wellness and their ability to function. This approach is ...

" by Slipknot, the latter featuring a cameo appearance by

Corey Taylor Corey Todd Taylor (born December 8, 1973) is an American musician, songwriter and actor. He is the lead vocalist of the heavy metal band Slipknot, in which he is designated #8, as well as the lead vocalist and guitarist for the rock band Ston ...

. His videos have featured collaborations with Andrew Huang, Boyinaband,

Davie504 Davide Biale (born 5 April 1994), better known by his online alias Davie504, is an Italian musician and YouTuber. He is best known for playing bass guitar, primarily with a slapping technique, and creating several covers and viral videos. Car ...

, Doug Walker, Jared Dines, Leo Moracchioli, Mary Spender, and

Sarah Longfield Sarah Longfield is an American YouTuber, musician, and multi-instrumentalist based in Madison, Wisconsin. She is known for her two-handed tapping style of playing and the use of an eight-string guitar. Career Longfield started her YouTube cha ...

. Scallon has released several solo albums. While most are self-released, his EP ''Anchor'' and LP ''The Scene is Dead'' are sold through

DFTBA Records DFTBA Records, commonly known as DFTBA.com, is an e-commerce merchandise company that was co-founded by Hank Green and Alan Lastufka in 2008. Originally a record label, the company now focuses on selling merchandise for prominent YouTube cont ...

. His releases have featured instrumentalists such as

Jeff Loomis Jeff Loomis (born September 14, 1971) is an American musician, best known for his role as lead guitarist in the progressive metal band Nevermore during its existence from 1991 to 2011, as well as brief tenures in its precursor, Sanctuary. In ...

, Rabea Massaad,

Ola Englund Ola "The Swede" Englund (born 27 September 1981) is a Swedish guitarist, record producer, YouTuber, and the owner of Solar guitars. He is a founding-member of the band Feared, plays lead guitar in the Swedish metal band The Haunted, and is a fo ...

, and Pete Cottrell. He plays drums in the band Hank Green and the Perfect Strangers, and their debut album ''Incongruent'' peaked at number 3 on the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large adverti ...

'' Comedy Albums chart in 2014. He is also part of a collaborative project with Andrew Huang called First of October, a novelty band that records an album within one recording session on October 1. Scallon released a signature series of guitars with

Chapman Guitars Chapman Guitars is a guitar company established in 2009 by Rob Chapman, a guitarist best known for his videos on YouTube. The company claims to be the first to design its guitars "collaboratively" and the design, features and specs of new models ...

in 2017. Three more guitars were added to his line in 2020. In 2022, Scallon ended his partnership with Chapman and launched a new line of guitars with Schecter. Scallon, in partnership with

Sweetwater Sound Sweetwater is the largest online retailer of musical instruments and pro audio equipment in the United States, based out of Fort Wayne, Indiana. In August 2021, it was announced that its founder had stepped down as CEO after Providence Equity h ...

, received a

Guinness World Record ''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a reference book published annually, listing world ...

for the largest guitar effect pedalboard in 2019. The rig included 319 individual pedals, 34 pedalboards, and over of cables. On January 1, 2021, Scallon launched GuitarQuest, a paid online course to teach people how to play guitar. Later that year, he released the song "MudHook" featuring

Unearth Unearth is an American metalcore band from Boston, Massachusetts. Formed in 1998, the group has released seven studio albums. History Early career (1998–2002) Unearth was formed by Trevor Phipps, Buz McGrath, Ken Susi, Mike Rudberg, an ...

drummer Nick Pierce.

Personal life

Scallon's younger brother, John, also played music as a teenager. He left his instruments behind for Rob when leaving for college. Several instruments in Scallon's personal collection are custom made through collaborations with other content creators. Scallon married his wife

Tamara Chambers ''Nostalgia Critic'' is an American review comedy web series created, directed by and starring web comedian Douglas "Doug" Walker. The series initially launched on YouTube on July 3, 2007, before moving to Walker's own site, That Guy with the G ...

in November 2020. They have collaborated on various projects, such as a 2012 ''

Good Mythical Morning ''Good Mythical Morning'' (abbreviated as ''GMM'') is an American comedy, talk and variety YouTube series created by Rhett McLaughlin and Link Neal. The show first aired on YouTube on January 9, 2012, and continues to be uploaded every weekd ...

'' episode introduction and a 2014 cover of

Pharrell Pharrell Lanscilo Williams (; born April 5, 1973) is an American record producer, rapper, singer, and songwriter. Alongside close colleague Chad Hugo, he formed the hip hop and R&B production duo the Neptunes in the early 1990s, with whom h ...

's "

Happy Happiness, in the context of mental or emotional states, is positive or pleasant emotions ranging from contentment to intense joy. Other forms include life satisfaction, well-being, subjective well-being, flourishing and eudaimonia. Sin ...

Discography

;Studio albums *''Summer'' (2008) *''The Ride Home'' (2009) *''The Winter's Months'' (2011) *''Rob Scallon'' (2012) *''Aldine'' (2014) *''The Scene Is Dead'' (2017) ;Extended plays *''A Purple Cello EP'' (2013) *''Anchor'' (2014) *''Sunday Uke Group'' (2018) ;Singles *"

" (Banjo cover ft. Leo Moracchioli) (2016) *"

" (Banjo cover ft. Leo Moracchioli) (2017) *"Everything Song" (2020) *"Anchor" (ft. Jessica Burdeaux) (2021) *"MudHook" (ft. Nick Pierce) (2021) ;Collaborations *"Told Me" (2012) – Gunnarolla (feat. Rob Scallon) *"Six Inches" (2014) – Gunnarolla (feat. Ally Rhodes & Rob Scallon) *"Tines" (2017) – Andrew Huang & Rob Scallon *"Advice" (2018) – Cal Chuchesta (feat. Rob Scallon) *''Nostalgia Critic's The Wall'' (2019) – Doug Walker ;with Gas Mask Catalogue *''Blind. Deaf. Mute.'' (2009) *''Promise Land'' (2010) ;with Hank Green and the Perfect Strangers *''Incongruent'' (2014) ;with First of October *''Ten Hours'' (2018) *''Gourmet Ravioli'' (2019) *''Gotta Record Everything Good'' (2021) *''Chaos'' (2022)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Scallon, Rob Living people American heavy metal musicians American YouTubers American male YouTubers Music YouTubers 1990 births Musicians from Chicago 21st-century American musicians 21st-century American male musicians YouTube channels launched in 2007 People from Arlington Heights, Illinois