Interview
(Progressive Newsletter Nr.51 03/05)
excerpts from an interview with John Mitchell (Guitar,Vocals)
The idea was basically based on a phone call from Thomas Waber at InsideOut in Germany. He liked my other band, The Urbane, and wanted to know if I wanted to do something along similar lines but in a more progressive vein. I liked the idea and subsequently agreed. He then asked me who I would like to be involved and almost immediately I mentioned John Beck having always been a massive It Bites fan. Pete then got word from Thomas about what was going on and expressed a similar desire. Pete and I hit it off immediately and John and I had already been mates for a while by that point. Last on board was Chris whom Pete remembered from Porcupine Tree supporting Marillion on several occasions. I remember seeing him live at the Shepherds Bush Empire and was also very impressed by his charisma onstage. And that’s the story of how it all came to be. It should be pointed out however, that all of the above happened over a VERY long period of time and there was quite a long period of not doing very much at all.
What are the differences between the “original” bands, where the members of Kino come from and the musical approach and composing process in Kino?
Good question. All the bands we come from work in different ways. I understand that Marillion and It Bites come from the ‘jamming’ school approach, whereas Arena and Porcupine Tree utilise the one man more or less in command, demo method. Kino worked with the demo method on this album and want to go more for the jamming approach on the next album. The demo method by the way, is where you all sit in front of a computer and compose using loops, sequences and audio files. I’m sure jamming live is more fun. Its been a while since I wrote that way though.
What kind of input does every member of Kino bring into the band?
Well the sound of Kino is EXTREMELY influenced by everyone’s individual playing styles. At no point did anyone tell anyone else what to play. We wanted this to reflect the individual personalities as much as possible. Putting reins on things was not on the agenda. As far as writing goes, we all collaborated with each other at different times. Some songs are by me and Pete, others by me and John Beck and sometimes all three of us. Chris helped out more with the arrangements and made some excellent and very beneficial changes to existing material and of course stamped his mark on the thing with his very individual drumming style. It really was a group effort.
Almost right from the start Kino was labelled a “supergroup”. Did this put any pressure on you on, being something like the next Transatlantic or did the expectations doesn’t influence your work at all?
No, not at all. Supergroups are usually the brainchild of a manager or some other individual trying to coin a way to make money from a collected kudos. That’s all well and good, but sometimes the content and the clash of personalities get overlooked. When I was initially approached, I wanted to make and album with musicians whom I admired but more importantly that I got on with. People who I thought would bring some magic to the table. I think we got it pretty right. That’s not to be naive and say that we as a group of individuals we don’t have an identity or carry any kudos because we obviously do, but the choice of people involved was the most important thing. I can honestly count all the people in this group as friends and that is a very important factor.
Overall the music of Kino is very melodic and structured throwing in some interesting instrumental parts from time to time. How do you keep the balance between a more song based approach and the instrumental interplays?
Again, it wasn’t something that we really calculated. That’s the honest truth. One day we would work on a song and it just turned out to be a straight forward pop song and then the next time we would start on something that would end up being totally crazy and nine minutes long. I think that’s the beauty of Kino, anything goes. Hopefully we won’t lose sight of that fact.
Additionally you also use a lot of harmony vocals. Was this planned right from the start or more a logicial approach concerning the vocal abilities of all the members?
Well, the one band that we ALL adore is Queen. And one of the many things that we discussed about Queen was how brilliant the vocal arrangements are. Luckily, everyone in the band can sing and we wanted to make use of that. And seeing how much we love the Queen style close harmony, it seemed quite an obvious route to take.
How do you manage to keep and get the band together, regarding the tight schedules of the members?
Well that’s the hard part. Everyone has a lot of responsibilities and commitments and we just have to take it in our stride. If you plan far enough in advance however, anything is possible
Your second gig has been a TV recording for the famous “Rockpalast” in Cologne. How did this gig went and were you overall satisfied with your performance?
Well, perhaps planning to do a TV show as our second gig was a little ambitious but I think we just about carried it off. The bottom line was that the opportunity came along and we would have been fools not to jump on it. We made a few mistakes on the night, but hey, that’s rock and roll!!
Kristian Selm © Progressive Newsletter 2005