Interview
(Progressive Newsletter Nr.24 03/99)
excerpts from an interview with Carl Groves (Keyboards, Guitar, Vocals)
We simply love what we do. Not to say that we all don't do our own things on the side, but we came to realize fairly quickly that the chemistry which is Salem Hill is quite special. It's a great outlet for all our writing endeavors, and it's always a treat to see a member's composition become a Salem Hill composition. Honestly, if I'm away from it for long, I feel that something's missing.
"The robbery of murder" was released in 1995, last year you recorded a new version. Which are the differences between these two recordings?
The 1995 recording was on 8 track analogue tape. It was very bare-bones. In retrospect, I probably wouldn't deem it worthy of bringing in as a demo for the band today. However, we sold enough copies of the cassette to garner some interest, and after the 1997 release of our first CD, "Catatonia", some financial backing fell into our lap which made rerecording "The Robbery" the way I knew it could be done to hard not to do. Plus, we'd spent over a year and a half writing and recording "Catatonia" and we were completely dry for new stuff. This only reenforced our feeling that it was a good idea to redo "The Robbery". The 1997 version is about 20 minutes longer. I added a couple new songs, and developed most of the existing ones. The new version breathes a lot better than the original. I believe it also gives the listener room to take a breath too.
How did it come to the cooperation with ex-Kansas violin player David Ragsdale?
I met David a few months before the ProgDay 97 festival. He was talked into headlining the event, but didn't have the personnel to field a band. Our manager was also serving as artist liason for the ProgDay acts, and volunteered me on guitar for David's band! We hit it off immediately, and it was a foregone conclusion before we even started "The Robbery" project that he would make an appearance on the next album.
Did David's participation influence the rerecording of the album or was it more like a dream come true to play with him together?
Both actually. I'd seen him a few times with Kansas, and was incredibly impressed. Then, when I received a copy of his solo record "David and Goliath" I was stunned. Amazing work. So, it was a dream come true in that things work out for him to play on the record. But also, when I knew he would be playing on the album, I specifically rewrote some parts for violin. The violin work in the track "Dream" was written specifically for violin. Likewise, I doubt that the fugue in "Father and Son" would have made the final cut were it not for the violin.
On your website and on your CD I read that "The Robbery Of Murder" is dedicated to the work of MADD and Sir Paul McCartney. First of all what is MADD? And do you have any special connection to Paul McCartney?
MADD (Mothers Against Drunk Driving) is an American organization which has had a tremendous impact in our culture. They are responsible for legislation which stiffened penalties for drunk drivers convicted of killing of injuring other folks. Likewise, they're active in raising public awareness for driving responsibly. McCartney does the same kind of work in England.
Your first untitled album is based on the novel "The talisman" written by Stephen King and Peter Straub. In which way did this book influence the music and the lyrics and which were the main aspects you wanted to point with your interpretation of this fantasy novel?
The story of the book has to do with parallel worlds, in which the main character, Jack, can travel. His mother in the present world is an actress. In the parallel world, his mom is a queen. My brother, William Neagle, wrote the lyrics for "Between the Two". My main motive for the instrumental accompaniment, was to try and maintain a feeling of being off balance between 2 worlds throughout the piece. I accomplish this by keeping the piece mainly in 7/4 time, and changing the chords pretty quickly.
Also your first CD release "Catatonia" from 1997 was a conceptual work. What was the story behind this album?
"Catatonia" is a story depicted the life of a man unable to dream, literally or figuratively. He learns as a child that as compensation for this inability to dream, he can self-induce a catatonic state and spends days, weeks, etc in his own dream world. He also finds, however, that the older he gets, the harder it is to break out of Catatonia and rejoin the real world. Therefore, he decides as a young man never to return. However, the older he gets, the more he finds he has no place in the real world, and he's prepared to enter Catatonia, knowing that once there he'd be trapped forever. As fate would have it, however, once there, he experiences his first dream...and what a dream it is!
Kristian Selm © Progressive Newsletter 1999