Interview
(Progressive Newsletter Nr.46 10/03)
excerpts from an interview with Andy Tillison (Keyboards, Vocals, Guitars)
The co-operation of everyone else is what happened!!! Yes, I was writing a solo album that was supposed to be a little letting off of prog steam after moving a long way from the traditional prog format with Po90. A friend of mine, Ian Oakley, also happened to be a friend of Roine Stolt, and the whole thing mushroomed from that point. By the time all the other players were in, like David Jackson, half the Flower Kings and Guy Manning, how could I possibly describe what we had made together as a solo album??
Did the initial ideas change a lot and how big was the influence of the involved musicians?
Well, the songs remained the same - no pun intended! But the arrangements certainly changed a lot. The influence of EVERY musician on this album can be felt. Jonas and Zoltan brought the amazing GROOVE that this album has from start to finish... a big change from the drum machines that were there to start with!! Sam Baine's piano solos added a Jazzier atmosphere than I'd originally considered, and this fired up the Jazziness of Jonas and Zoltan too, even when Sam wasn't playing. Roine Stolt brought immense amounts of ideas and enthusiasm to the project, from his multi styled guitar playing, through some beautifully sung vocals and vast wealth of progressive production knowledge. I learned a lot from him. And he proved he can really ROCK on this album.... David Jackson is of course without peers in his field. A true innovator, an original, and a man who has lost none of his bite throughout the years. To have a real live member of VDGG on this album was amazing just for the name... but when you hear what the man plays on this album you'll know why we chose him. To call him a saxophonist simply doesn't tell half the story. And despite the electric maelstrom that we all created, Guy Manning came into the proceedings and gave the album its finishing touches with delicate muli-faceted acoustic instruments and backing vocals. Every person gave something unique to it.
Were there even moments where you seemed to lose complete control and your ideas seem to begin to live their own life?
A very good description!! Yes, this happened a lot. I enjoyed losing the control. Recording the album was like a roller-coaster ride, and I think I began to understand how Yes must have felt when their large scale pieces started to develop. There is a wonderful moment when you realise that your songs have a life of their own, and that people with skills different from yur own can heighten the experience and make all the difference. I've always preferred to work with BAND style lineups. In 25 years of playing, I've never managed to do a solo album. I just like working with other people too much. I'm not really losing control... I'm just gaining trust. Eventually, if you replace your desire to "control" in your life, with trust, you will be the happier for it. If I learned one thing from this experience, that was it.
Was it easier for you to compose the music for the Tangent in comparison to Po90 or where do you see the main differences in the working process for these two projects / bands?
I don't think one was more difficult than the other. In fact, it's surprising how similar the two are at root level, even if they sound different. The Tangent makes no bones about it... it is specifically designed as an "Old School" Progressive Rock Album. Po90 on the other hand uses far more modern stimulii.. technology and choices of sound palette. Dan Watts, Guitar and Alex King, Drums in Po90 have as younger members of the band been able to bring us newer influences and styles and add them all to the pot. But at the heart of Po90 there is a full on Progressive Rock Band - albeit one that sometimes scares the shit out of yer average Rennaissance Fan. A lot of folks can't cope with the noise, or the alien styles like bits of Jungle / Hip-Hop / Thrash metal etc. But It's just a melting pot in the early 2000s... just like The Nice were in the late 60s. I reckon the Floyd and The Nice would have been tinkering around in the same way as Po90 are now. For the Tangent, I just wanted to have a change, make some music that I knew I had in me, and some great people helped out.
Even though you're not a big fan of brass instruments, you decided to let David Jackson participate. Was it just for his name and his past with VdGG or what convinced you to ask him to contribute some parts?
It was Roine who suggested brass / wind instruments. And you're right, as a rule I'm not that keen on incorporating them, because, well it's personal taste really. David would have our heads off for calling a sax a Brass instrument..... I asked David Jackson because he is, was and always will be, manifestly different from other players. Unlike many Sax players, David does not see his instrument as a way of "Jazzing Things Up" He doesn't try to be sexy with it. he doesn't fall for all the sax cliches. he uses it more like a guitar, or a violin, sometimes making it really eerie, creepy, and sometimes like a colossal fanfare... anyone who knows Man Erg knows what I mean. He has a unique approach to his instrument, and that's what made me ask him. Total respect.
"The music that died alone", what's the story behind the album's name?
On the surface the name is obviously about the fall from grace and subsequent denial of the importance of Progressive Rock Music. A vastly important era in modern culture, totally forgotten and when not forgotten, ridiculed by an ignorant media. I think everyone who is reading this interview knows this story all too well. Further down, the "Music" is metaphoric of many of our desires and ambitions which we have let slip. How the hippie ideals turned into just a fashion culture, how the 67 68 69 youth uprisings became just a few protest songs on Classic Gold radio Stations... nostalgia etc. How we have become cynical about so many things we once used to believe in, and how large companies now control the minds of once free people with mindless music, products, images and advertising.
On The Tangent website there's a very humorous description of all the things that happened around the making and recording of the album. Was there a situation, when even your humor doesn't seem to help or was it overall a wonderful experience with many interesting moments and situations to be remembered?
There were some dark days... there would be in any project that took this long to come off. There were times when I wondered if all the different strands of the project would come together in the end. But none of us fell out with each other at any point. It was always "what's best for the music" not "what's best for ME" from everyone. I didn't have to battle with any egos here. Hence I have to remain positive about it all, it was a wonderful experience, because it was all about learning. And it was about working with my closest friends, with heroes and virtuosos. Incredible. Just to know that you're into something like this makes having to work 9 to 5 bearable.
Kristian Selm © Progressive Newsletter 2003