Interview
(Progressive Newsletter Nr.40 06/02)
excerpts from an interview with Andy Tillison Diskdrive (Vocals, Keyboards)
The chief "try out" for "More exotic ways to die", was the way in which the album was made. Up until now, Po90 albums have been me writing and arranging the songs on the computer, and then everyone coming and playing their bits on individually. This time though, we wrote the album in rehearsal together, and went out into the countryside to a remote farmhouse, and recorded it together. We also recorded some of it live on stage. There was no formal "studio"used at all, we just took all the equipment we needed, set it up, and played. After that we did all the overdubs and mixing at home, and the result is a much more live sounding album. We're also working under a slogan at the moment, and the slogan is simply "If music's going to be as creative as it was then, it starts NOW". What we mean by this is quite simple..... what used to be called progressive rock is rooted in the 1970s, which to be sure was a very creative time in music. For us to create True progressive rock music though, we have to look at the music scene that is evolving around us now and build on that rather than using the 70s as a template. Hence our use of techno beats, sampling technologies, sonic grunge guitars all mixed into the pot alongside our more traditional "prog" influences... only 2 members of this band are "prog" fans, the other three come from quite different musical backgrounds.... we just work together well and bounce ideas off each other, as every good band should.
For the first time, some of the material was co-written by Dan Watts. Was it hard for you to don't have the complete control of the writing or did it evolve more as a natural process?
Dan's contribution to the development of Po90 is crucial. Although he's been with the band for two years now, this is the first CD he's done with us. He's opened our eyes to many possibilities, and pushed us further into the future. He joined us as a guitarist, but he is so much more than that. After learning how to play our already existing songs, Dan has embellished our new music not only with some seriously good guitar playing, but introduced new recording techniques to us, through his interesting remixes of the "Unbranded" album which we decided to develop further in the new album. Two tracks on the album "Drum One" and "The Dream" are entirely Dan's compositions, and these really are big steps away from the normal Po90 sound. However, they work really well with the other music as a set of contrasting possibilities. The third of Dan's pieces is a collaboration in writing with me and the rest of the group, and is an unmistakable Po90 song with a new twist. "A Man of thin Air" is one of the album's highlights. As for any difficulties of "Not Having Complete Control"... this doesn't really even enter the debate... it was really good to have help with the writing, and great to have some fresh ideas to try out.
The loose concept of the album is based on a character coming to terms with middle ages. In which ways can this story be found in the music and lyrics?
This album is a more personal album than say "The Time Capsule". It does have a story, but it's not some sweeping epic fantasy story or anything. It's just an account of the feelings of a perfectly normal character who feels "left out in the cold" by modern media. This certainly can happen, because so much of today's media is aimed at mass markets, particularly the young, that it does become easy to believe that one is "old and past it" just because one is older than 30!!.. The first few tracks of the album deal with this character, in "Impaled On Railing" his frustrations at being a would be writer are made apparent, "A Man of Thin Air" discusses the notion that nobody ever notices him, "Embalmed In Acid" has him "at work", where he feels merely part of the furniture in a bank lobby, "The Heavy Metal Guillotine Approach" shows him dancing round his bedroom playing air guitars to Black Sabbath remembering the days of his youth, and "A Body In Free Drift" is a song about his general loneliness in a world that does not see him as a viable market target any more.
How important are the lyrics for you and what inspires you for your lyrics?
The lyrics are very important to me of course. The songs are a combination of the music and the lyrics, and I want both to be as good as each other. I realise that many people take no notice of the words at all, but that doesn't matter, beacuse they are hearing the voice as a musical instrument which is OK by me.... Sometimes I write the words first and write music to fit, and sometimes the other way round. Inspirationally, I write lyrics beacuse something concerns me, or because of a memory, or something that happens to me. I'm politically motivated in a lot of the songs, I am incensed by exploitation of people and the natural world, I hate the way the media controls artistic expression, I'm a devoted anti capitalist, support free speech, despise racism and sexism, and these are things that move me. I love to read fantasy fiction like Tolkien, but I don't like to use that as a lyrical influence, because Tolkien does it a lot better than me!!!! Too much of today's music is escapist, whether it be sword and sorcery fantasy orientated or simply fantasizing about cars girls and money. Lyricists that have influenced me have been Peter Hammill, Bob Dylan, Crass, Chumbawambe, Neil Tennant of the Pet Shop Boys and of course Roger Waters. these people are able to touch nerves and enforce reality in a way that I admire and strive to emulate.
What's the idea behind the huge multimedia section on "More exotic ways to die"? Is it more a kind of "thank you" for the fans or do you try to attract also new listeners to your music?
This is simple, we don't like to waste what we've done in the past. The multimedia section is a way to deliver far more than just the 9 tracks of the new album. There's a complete compilation of material from 1996 - 2001 on there, along with an album we made in 1989 under the band's old name of "Gold Frankincense & Disk Drive". These two albums will help new listeners appreciate our history a little, and of course, it's simply value for money. We like people to enjoy the music, and it did'nt cost us anything to add this music, so why not do it?
There's also a complete version of "The dark side of the moon". Why did you especially choose this album?
Ah..... well this is a recording of a concert we did at a party in 1996. Guy, Sam and I were learning some "favourite songs" to play at the party, and one of them was "Time" by Pink Floyd. But to do "Time" you really need to do "Breathe"... and if you do both then "On The Run" needs to be in between the two. And "Breathe Reprise" would sound a little bit odd if it didn't go into "The Great Gig In The Sky", so we just did it all. It was done in our back garden, and the recording turned out OK, it's just hidden on the CD for fun, it isn't supposed to be a really serious re-working of the piece or anything, just something we did for a good party! And it was a seriously good party.
With the possibility of a free download of the compilation CD "Enjoy your own smell" through your website you took a new approach to make the people aware of your music. What was especially intended with this free download, how is the feedback so far and did you also reach new people?
Over 10,000 people have downloaded stuff from the free album. this is remarkable, we average 50 - 60 copies a week. It just goes. very few people write to us to say they've got it or anything, and would you?.. However, we're getting a lot of orders for the new album from new customers whose names we don't recognise, so I suppose it must be having an effect. The idea behind our free album is a little like the "Shareware" concept. You can have this 70 minute album for free, and we hope you'll like it enough to buy some of the other stuff. It has been a success, and instead of moaning about Mp3s etc like the big record companies do, Po90 have USED the technology as an aid rather than a hinderance. Big Record companies protest and say that downloading music is killing music. In my opinion, no-one on the face of the planet is as guilty of killing music than the big record companies, who have starved the working musician out of a job, and given all the rich rewards to a few glossy puppets like Madonna and Metallica.
You're also working on a solo album and also added some interesting guest musicans, like Roine Stolt and former VdGG David Jackson. Can you tell a little bit more about it, e.g. what will it be musically like and what's the main differences between your music and the stuff your write for PO90?
Well, after all I've just said, this solo album is actually a prog-style record!! Plain & simple. I spend enough time being "creative in the contemporary idiom" to deserve a piece of nostalgia, particularly as this album does not indicate any kind of rift within the band proper - it's just "a tangent" which is the title of the album.. On the Po90 stuff, the keyboards are pretty understated and part of the songs, whwereas on this effort there's going to be loads of keyboards work, long pieces, and quite a lot of Canterbury -style stuff in the mould of Hatfields, Nationals & Caravan. It's great to have Roine and David on board, two of my heroes from two eras of my life. David Jackson plays the saxophone supposedly, but I never liked saxophones as an instrument at all. They're always used to give some horrible cliched "Jazziness" to rock bands, and I've seen a couple of bands this year with really tiresome saxophonists who wail away playing totally unnecessary solos in the blues scale to try an lend some supposed flavour to an otherwise dreary riff. David Jackson plays an entirely different instrument, which looks just like a saxophone, but which is approached more in the way Fripp would approach a guitar. Roine Stolt is one of the world's finest guitarists.He can do anything. He's also been asked to handle some of the vocals on the album and I can't wait to hear his contributions... we are still in the early stages of recording this album, so who knows what will happen. It will just make a nice change to be able to go mad on the keyboards, find a good dreary riff, and wail along with it in the blues scale...
You're also running a progressive rock radio show. So how is to be on the "other side" of the business and which bands did you enjoy the most within the last months?
Of the "New Prog" music I really have enjoyed Spock's first two, loved most of the Flower King's output, along with Anekdoten, IQ and so on. I'm equally keen on bands like Radiohead, Coldplay, Porcupine Tree, Muse & The Cooper Temple Clause. I enjoy so much music but it's not all prog at all. Two favourite albums of the past 2 years would be Radiohead's "Amnesiac/Kid A" and Transatlantic's first release. I've also played a lot of Flower Kings, Ritual, Soundgarden and Muse's "Origins of Symmetry" ....I think I've played these the most!! I do not like a lot of new prog bands though, and some are Mostly Awful to be quite honest! However, I think we have a good healthy scene with a lot going on (musically) and I only wish we could extend that to a greater audience. It's not that the music isn't liked, but how can it ever succeed when radio stations, record companies and TV totally ignore this exciting musical form just for the hell of it??
Kristian Selm © Progressive Newsletter 2002