Interview

(Progressive Newsletter Nr.33 12/00)
excerpts from an interview with Doug A. Ott (Guitars)

Since the last album "Break" and the tours with Spock’s Beard and Marillion there haven’t been a lot news about the band, the website wasn’t updated and there even have been some rumours that the band split up. Were the eurpean gigs the last concerts you played since then? Did you take some time off after the tours in Europe or did you start the songwriting right away after you returned to the States?

I’m trying to get someone to handle the web site. But I am having a hard time finding someone competent. Yes the 98’ shows were the last. I actually started writing when I got home, I wrote two songs, one which ended up on "Juggling 9" and the other is still just a demo at this point. The rest of the guys took some personal time; Ted’s wife had a baby, Paul got married to Hannah Stobart and Benignus started a new design job.


How do I have to imagine the Enchant songwriting? Do you jam around on an idea in your rehearsal room or do the band members come to the rehearsal room with already written material? Are there any main songwirters in Enchant or do you work out all the songs as a team?

A little of everything really. On "Juggling 9", Paul and I wrote all the music together, we also had a few songs we had completed on our own. But we flushed out the arrangements together. We actually haven’t written a song as a band since "Time lost", it’s actually something I miss a little. In the old days we would spend months working out a song together but we were less competent at song writing and arrangment at the time.


The influences in your music seem to have changed a bit from the first three to the last two albums. There are much more alternative rock influences in your sound since the "Break" album. Who is responsible for that? Was it somehow planned or was it a pure natural development?

We have always listened to as sorts of music and it’s inevitable that what you listen to will rub of a little. So the 90’s gave us a lot of alternative music, which half of was crap, but the cool stuff like Stone Temple Pilots, Soundgarden, Foo Fighters, etc., really turned us on, so we started folding it into the already huge bowl of influences that we already had. No one person was responsible, but probably Paul was the most influential with the alternative sound.


I have the feeling that you’re playing less on the new album. Everybody in the band reduced his playing in order to make the song itself more important. There are less instrumental parts and less solos. Especially Paul has reduced his drumming, I think. The groove seems to be more important. Am I right?

Sure. That is true, we wanted the songs to have much more of a lyrical / melodic strength that we felt the big musical sections watered down. This was just the way these songs came out, I am not saying that we won’t be doing the solo / musical sections anymore, this is just where we were at, at the time. We will see what happens next time.


In every gig I’ve seen so far from you, the reactions by the audience have been amazing. Is Germany something like your best market, concerning the record sales and audience reactions?

Definitely, Germany is our market more than anywhere else. The fans are great and very enthusiastic, we always love playing in Germany because of it.


Is a new bassplayer in your line up or will you stay a fourpiece with a hired bassplayer for the live shows?

Actually Ed Platt is back in Enchant so if you do see us live or buy our next CD, he will be the Bass player.


The cover artwork for the new album is brilliant. What’s the idea behind the cover-artwork and the title of the album “Juggling nine or dropping ten“?

We just wanted to show a regular guy doing something that we all do, but in another way. We all have may things in life to do which we "juggle": jobs, wives, friends, children, house, dog, hobbies, etc., When Ted came up with the lyric, I thought "That’s exactly what everybody does, not just a Juggler". So I came up with the idea of an average guy juggling.


What about solo projects of the band members? I heard that you were writing songs for a solo album ? What about an album from Ted or another Xen album? Has Michael any plans for something like a solo album?

I can’t speak for anyone else, but I am planing a solo album. We have talked about another Xen CD in the future but we will have to see whats happening with Enchant first.


You toured with Spock’s Beard and Marillion in 1998. Have you benefitted from this tours concerning the record sales?

Anytime you tour as a support act it helps because you gain fans from the other group and the exposure to new fans leads to more album sales. We also benfited by enjoying two bands that we adore as musicians and people every night of the tour.


Sven Schmidt © Progressive Newsletter 2000