Jean-Luc Ponty, a Violinist and a Legend

Nick: Hello, Mr. Ponty. I must tell you that this is a real pleasure. How are you doing these days?

JLP: Thanks… I can still play violin and write music so all is well… so far.

Nick: I would like to discuss some of your incredibly lengthy career, from your early years until the present. Would you please tell us something about your beginnings, what was it like? It was natural for a kid from a family of musicians to get in music, right?

JLP: Yes, but not all children who grow up in a family of musicians have talent, nor a strong desire to become a professional musician. I had both and my parents gave me a good start, they taught me to play several instruments which was very useful later on.

Nick: Besides playing a violin as your primary instrument, you used to play clarinet for a school jazz band and doing so is what introduced you to the world of jazz. What was it like?

JLP: Piano is my second instrument, thanks to which I composed a lot of music. Clarinet was my third instrument. While I was studying classical violin in Paris, I heard that a jazz band from a university was looking for a clarinet player and I went to to the audition, although I knew nothing about jazz. To my surprise they hired me because I was able to improvise immediately, right on the spot. Then they taught me a whole list of jazz standards, and I started buying jazz albums, discovering a whole new music world. That’s how it started.

Nick: And as a result of your interest in jazz music, especially John Coltrane, you started to play saxophone. How important were those switches between instruments to you finding your path as a musician?

JLP: That university jazz band was playing in a swing style from the 40s-50s, students were dancing on it. I was 16 years old and for me playing in that band was just to have

fun, go to parties and meet girls. I did not take jazz seriously and was 100% into studying classical violin at the Paris Conservatory. But when I discovered bebop and post bop I started taking jazz very seriously and developed a passion for modern jazz, Sonny Rollins, John Coltrane etc. which is why I switched to tenor saxophone, which was easy coming from clarinet.

Nick: What was it that made you decide to become much more involved in jazz and leave a potential career in classical music behind?

JLP: One day I jammed with my violin for the first time and realized that having a greater technique on violin than sax was helping me improvise better, also the public reaction was incredible. Then I found out that there was not a single modern jazz violinist at the time, so for all these reasons I started my career as a jazz violinist at 21 years old and got so many engagements that I left the classical music world.

Nick: You are considered one of the most important musicians in the history of jazz violin. Most people say it was you who proved the instrument had a place in jazz in the first place. What was it like starting out like that? What were some of the positive/negative impressions from the critics and general public back then?

JLP: Violin had found its place in the early jazz styles thanks to great players like Joe Venuti, Stephane Grappelli etc. but when bebop arrived violin was no longer considered adequate and its sound considered too sweet compared to trumpet and saxophone. I was the first to prove that violin could be as powerful as a horn instrument and was immediately adopted by the community of modern jazz musicians in Europe and in America very soon after, and that was the most important first step for me. Reactions from critics and jazz fans  were also very positive with rare exceptions.

Nick: Are you satisfied with how Jazz Long Playing was accepted by critics and fans? How do you see that album now after more than 40 years? Could you recall some of your memories from that time, concerning the creating process of the album itself?

JLP: This was my first album under my name and the one that revealed me to professionals in jazz all over Europe, radios, televisions, jazz clubs, festivals and critics. It won the Django Reinhardt prize in France and it was the real start of my career. I re-discovered it when it was re-released on CD in the late 90s, and I was surprised to hear how modern I sounded already and how quickly I had assimilated the bebop style, I was 21 when it was recorded.

Nick: Speaking of Jazz Long Playing, that album consisted of you playing decently well-known jazz standards on violin. Was the goal of that to introduce the public to the idea of jazz violin via music they were already familiar with, to show them how amazing it could be that way? Just a guess.

JLP: No, I played nothing but standards when I began, playing them in clubs everyday… That’s the only reason. I also recorded a personal composition based on the blues and the record producer asked two top French jazz pianists-composers to write each an original piece for me.

Nick: As far as I know, you’ve done two violin summit records, featuring Terje Rypdal, Wolfgang Dauner, Robert Wyatt, Michal Urbaniak, among others. What can you tell us about them?

JLP: Both violin summits were fun to do for different reasons. I was 24 when I participated to the first one and it was very exciting to be the young new comer among the famous mainstream jazz violinists at the time such as Stuff Smith, Svend Asmussen and Stéphane Grappelli. The second violin summit happened a few years later, this time with violinists of my generation, Michal Urbaniak and Don Sugar Cane Harris. I was better known by then, and the music was much more modern. It was good that both concerts were recorded and that live albums were released by MPS.

Nick: “The Jean-Luc Ponty Experience with The George Duke Trio” is an album that is considered to be one of the earliest jazz fusion albums. It was recorded live and helped start the blend between rock and jazz, forming something that couldn’t be heard earlier. What are your notes on this record and this idea?

JLP: In 1968-1969 I had a recording contract with World Pacific in Los Angeles and was playing around California with George Duke. We were playing jazz with a rock energy and also incorporating some elements of rhythm & blues, all of which probably gave the idea to my record producer to have us play in a rock club, as a test. I thought he was crazy, but this rock audience in Los Angeles loved us, and the club owner asked us to come play every week in his club. So the next time we played there my record producer came with some recording equipment. The club was called ‘Thee Experience’ and that’s how this album came out. Critics in America called it a new blend of rock and jazz. That was before the label ‘jazz-rock’ started spreading in the 70s, now called jazz fusion.

Dan: Another huge album in the development of jazz fusion was Hot Rats. You played on the final track of this album “It Must Be a Camel”. This album happens to be one of my favorites by Mr. Zappa. What was it like working on this album in particular?

JLP: Again it’s my record producer Richard Bock who got the idea of a collaboration with Frank Zappa and who called him. Frank immediately accepted to produce my next record, which he named King Kong. Frank was recording ‘Hot Rats’ at the time, so while he was preparing his music for my album, he invited me to come to the studio and play a little bit so that we know each other better. But I don’t improvise, it’s Don Sugar Cane Harris who does a great bluesy solo on another piece, I forgot the title. Then Frank also came down to that club ‘Thee Experience’ to jam with me and George.

Dan: What was it like working with Frank Zappa in general? You played on a lot of s “more important albums”, such as the aforementioned Hot Rats as well as Over-Nite Sensation and Apostrophe.

JLP: He had a very rigorous working attitude and it was like being in a symphony orchestra, rehearsing all the time, which was no problem for me. I just did not expect to find such perfectionism and professionalism in a rock band. I learned from that experience that being a strong bandleader pays off. Also he was among the very firsts musicians who had his home recording studio and who could engineer and do everything himself, definitely ahead of his time with the use of technology. He wrote some great instrumental music but was loosing his rock audience with it, so after a few tours I ended up having only one solo per concert and was bored playing only background parts behind songs, so I left.

Dan: In the 70’s you made more overtures into jazz fusion, this time much more directly. For starters, what was it like working with the new incarnation of John McLaughlin’s Mahavishnu Orchestra?

JLP: I loved it as I was in complete affinity with that style of music. The sound of that band and John’s compositions were very original and it was very successful worldwide. I was the main soloist with John, so it was very stimulating and fun to perform every night. Exactly what I was dreaming of at the time.

Dan: Both before and after that you had been releasing a lot of albums in a similar style. Not quite as heavy as early Mahavishnu, but still jazzy and full of fusion, if I may say so. Did you feel at the time that you were helping to flesh out a new form of jazz, alongside the aforementioned John McLaughlin, Chick Corea, Joe Zawinul, and others?

JLP: Not right away. Personally I wanted to assemble all my musical experiences into one form of music with elements of classical, jazz and rock, because I was no longer

happy playing in only one style of music. It meant breaking existing rules in jazz, but I was doing it to achieve personal satisfaction, not knowing nor caring if it was also fleshing out a new form of jazz. It’s only in the 80s and 90s when I met young musicians around the world who told me that my music and that whole movement had inspired them a lot that I became aware of our impact.

Dan: In the 80’s you made a lot of jazz albums that employed synthesizers, which is what a lot of people like Al Di Meola and Chick Corea were doing with jazz fusion at the time. It seems like you were a part of the forefront of every major movement in jazz fusion. If that is indeed the case, where do you see it going now? Chick Corea likes to talk about how Hiromu Uehara has taken the reigns from him to become the leader of piano jazz fusion, do you see anyone taking the reigns of violin jazz from you?

JLP: I cannot predict the future but only observe the present evolution. Electric instruments and electronic effects were totally new when I was young, they became the standard of my generation but with time the tendency has been to bring back acoustic sounds and to blend them with just a few electronic sounds and effects. New generations have less space to innovate since so much has been explored already, but the most talented and intelligent young musicians have an incredible capacity of assimilating what has been done in the past and to bring it to higher levels. So it’s very rewarding for musicians like myself to have planted seeds that keep blooming among younger generations. And to my surprise it goes beyond the jazz world since some dance and rap groups have been sampling some of my pieces. As for young violinists there are a few now who have a real talent and who will keep proving that our instrument has its place in modern music, like Madds Tolling from Denmark whom I discovered during a master class in Boston and whom I recommended for Stanley Clarke’s band, and also Zach Brock in the U.S. and lately I discovered Christian Howes, also in the U.S., who is for me the most accomplished jazz and modern violinist of the new generation.

Dan: You seem to have slowed down in recent years, what with your last album of new material (The Atacama Experience) having been released three years ago, and the last one before that having been released nine years ago. Why is this? Is it just age catching up to you? It just seems like a stark comparison to your work from the 60’s through the 80’s and early 90’s when you had a new album out every year.

JLP: Where did you get this 9-year figure? It has never been more than 4 years between albums lately, including a live DVD plus live albums which represent as much production work as studio albums. And I released two studio albums with completely new music in the last 10 years. So it’s not age catching up with me… But me catching up with life. I want to enjoy life with my wife, my children and grand children and discover other things besides music. After producing so many albums I am only interested in releasing a new one if I have something new or different to offer. And with all the bootlegging and pirating these days, there is less and less reward for the hard work. However I have kept touring all these years, and I really enjoy performing live.

Dan: What do you have planned for the near future? Or, failing that, for the next few years?

JLP: I want to do a collaboration album with guitarist Allan Holdsworth and other collaborations are also being discussed, probably for 2011, too soon to announce, it will be a surprise.

Dan: What sort of music have you listened to throughout your career? What kind of music do you like to listen to now?

JLP: In the past… All types, classical, Indian and Tibetan musics, Bulgarian folk singing, jazz, flamenco, Stevie Wonder, Sting, progressive rock etc. And nowadays I rarely have time to listen to music and do so only to discover new artists.

Dan: I think I’m out of questions, is there anything else you would like to add?

JLP: You asked plenty and honestly I have nothing to add.

Dan: One final question: Do have a dog and/or are you a fan of dogs? I ask all interviewees this question just for fun, so please don’t accuse me of being insane

JLP: I prefer cats because they remind me of women… You never know what to expect with them!

Dan: Thank you for taking the time to do this interview with us!

JLP: You’re welcome.

Iron Kim Style – Selftitled

A mixture of contemporary jazz, fusion and ambient music. That is probably a decent description of Iron Kim’s “Style”. This new project is led by renowned guitarist Dennis Rea, also known from his other projects and collaborations such as Moraine. It’s obvious why the name of this project is Iron Kim Style, as it is meant to subtly mock the leader of North Korea, Kim Jong Il.

Guitars, trumpet, bass and drums with the addition of bass clarinet are the instruments IKS is made up of, and there’s a feeling of absolute unity between these instruments, as none of them get a leading role. Everything is pretty balanced, and I always get the impression of equilibrium in the band’s sound. The entire atmosphere that rules the album is calm, gained mostly by the somewhat atmospheric trumpets and I would say “blurry virtuous” guitar solos, with distorted bass lines and “clocky” drumwork, here and there. The aforementioned clarinet is presented in the leading track “Mean Streets of Pyongyang”, as well as in “Adrift”, which are coincidentally or not among my favorite pieces of the album. If you look carefully the band photo inside the CD sleeve, you’ll probably notice two things. First one is Mr. Kim itself, stepping in the room, bringing probably the discipline and firmness, and at the other side, the rest of band seems pretty much relaxed, drinking beer and stuff, which shows the general impression about the music that IKS proudly presents. I have given a name to this concept: “disciplined relaxation”. The advantage of this album is that with tons of its listening it will not become boring,  this album is gonna make you more and more interested and with repeated listens you will begin to become almost hypnotized as you hear it.

At the end I would say that this album could possibly be included in the best albums of 2010. Either way, if you’re in search of some great jazz fusion, then Iron Kim Style would do right for you.

Tracklist:

Mean Streets of Pyongyang

Gibberish Falter

Po’ Beef

Don Quixotic

Adrift

Amber Waves of Migraine

Pachinko Malice

Dreams from Our Dear Leader

Jack Out the Kims

Slouchin’ at the Savoy

Line-up:

Dennis Rea – 6-string guitar

Bill Jones – trumpet

Jay Jaskot – drums

Thaddaeus Brophy – 12-string guitar

Ruan Berg – bass

with:

Izaak Mills – bass clarinet on Mean Streets of Pyongyang and Adrift

Links:

www.myspace.com/ironkimstyle

Astra, The Escapees to Somewhere Vast and Unknown

Dan: Hey, how are you guys doing! Would you mind introducing yourselves?

Richard: Sure, ASTRA is:

Richard Vaughan – vocals, guitars, Mellotron, Moog/ARP synthesizers, Echoplex

Conor Riley – vocals, Mellotron, synthesizers, organ

Brian Ellis – lead guitar, Moog synthesizer

Stuart Sclater – bass

David Hurley – drums, percussion, flute

Dan: So, how did you guys get together to create Astra? I’ve read that you were originally called Silver Sunshine, and you released an album under that name. Please, tell us more.

Brian: Richard, Conor, and Stuart were in Silver Sunshine, which was more 60s psychedelic pop influenced than Astra. Their drummer, Stuart’s brother Iain, left the band and was replaced by David Hurley. David, being a more jazz/fusion influenced drummer brought a whole new dimension to their sound, and the music took on a more progressive, early 70s sound. I was playing in another group and had invited David to come see us play at a local club. Having an instant mutual respect for each other’s musicianship, we began jamming and recording some music, shortly afterwhich he approached me with the idea of joining Astra. I checked out the demo and loved the sound, especially the quality of the vocals. I showed up to a few practices and felt a real connection with the band and felt that there was a lot of room for me to improve the current songs, as well as helping with the writing of new songs. The rest is history.

Dan: So Astra released its debut album last year, entitled The Weirding. It’s been getting you guys a lot well-deserved good press. Are you guys satisfied with how it turned out? Is there anything specific that you would have done differently now that it’s finished?

Brian: As with any record, there are of course things that we wish we could change now. However, at the point we were at as a band when the record was being made, it would have been impossible to make any other way than doing it ourselves. We used our budget to buy recording equipment, recorded everything in our practice space and spent months and months trying to perfect it. We’ve received not a lot, but some criticism about the recording quality (particularly the drums) sounding flat or dull. I can understand why someone would think that, but I don’t agree with that being a bad thing. We were really going for a certain sound with “The Weirding” and I think we did a great job at achieving that. I think a lot of the success of the album is because of the genuineness of the sound… a band that is playing music they love and putting their all into it.

Dan: On that note, what was it like recording the album in the first place? I would imagine you guys had a lot of fun jamming.

Brian: The recording was done in the middle of one of the hottest southern California summers with no air conditioning… It was hot, sweaty, tiring, grueling, but most of all, fun.

Nick: How much of Astra’s music is based around explorations of melodies, atmospheres, time traveling? I’ve got an impression that your music establishes that strange notion of “time travelling” whenever I listen to it. In your opinion, why is that? What is it that carries you during the creating / recording process?

Brian: I wouldn’t necessarily say we were going for a “time traveling” vibe specifically, but more so the overall feeling of leaving your own body/mind/soul and escaping to somewhere vast and unknown. I think I can speak for all of us in the band in saying that most of our favorite music embodies this sort of spirit. One of the things we spend the most time on when writing our music is transition and flow. We could easily write 100 parts that we would like, but putting them together is the hard part. We spend hours and hours trying to piece everything together in a way that all of us can agree on.

Richard: Exploring melody is a huge part of our writing process. In my opinion, without some sort of meaningful or memorable melody, you haven’t got much of a song. They key to staying creative is to keep searching for some new inspiration – be it in music, art, literature or even in meeting a new, peculiar person – that’s what carries me.

Dan: I would imagine there is a vast field of music you guys pull your influence from, but one of the clearest, to me, is Ozzy-era Black Sabbath, especially in parts like the last few lines of the title track. Am I right? Either way, tell us about some of your influences.

Brian: We are all influenced by so much different music. There is a definitely Black Sabbath influence on parts of the song “The Weirding”, but that’s the only part where that really comes to mind with me. There’s the obvious influences like early Pink Floyd and King Crimson, but like I said before, we listen to tons of music. A big part of our sound is taken from the Italian prog scene with bands like PFM and Area, and a lot of European prog in general like Aphrodite’s Child, Magma, Weidorje, Genesis, Yes, SFF. We’re also very much into the early 70s jazz/rock/fusion movement like Miles Davis, Herbie Hancock, Mahavishnu Orchestra, Tony Williams Lifetime, and Return to Forever.

Dan: One of the reasons I like The Weirding so much is the long instrumental sections. This is more due to the fact that I’m a jazz man at heart than any dislike for your vocals or lyrics. So, just out of curiosity, why the long instrumentals like Ouroboros?

Brian: All of us love instrumental music. When we started writing Ouroboros, we had no real intention of it being instrumental, but all the parts of came together so well and naturally that we never felt the need for vocals on it.

Dan: Your lyrics really help to flesh out the psychedelic themes you promote, especially in the title track. There are lines about moonstruck rabbit zoos, screaming fireblood ravens and, of course, the world spinning out of tune. I would imagine these images are meant to show the craziness of the world you seek to portray, and it seems to work well. What are your thoughts?

Richard: Actually, that lyric is “moonstruck rabid zoo”. However, I do agree that the image of a zoo full of lunatic bunnies does paint a much more deranged picture but I cannot take credit for that kind of genius. For the lyrics of our title track, The Weirding, I was trying to describe different aspects of a deteriorating earth as well as looking for an escape. I think the lyrics do this well. I’m probably the most pleased with my lyrics for this song in particular.

Nick: The artwork for “The Weirding” was been designed by Arik Roper and he has done a great job with it. What does cover for The Weirding symbolize? Also, how important is the art to delivering that full psychedelic feeling?

Richard: Arik Roper is an amazing artist. When he was working on our album art, he asked that we send him some of our music for inspiration. We told him that we wanted a feeling of vastness in the artwork. We also explained to him the overall concept of the album. He came up with the post-apocalyptic landscape of the weirding world and the big twisted, knotted tree was the focal point. The inside gatefold showed the dark vastness of space with an image of the distant weirding world crumbling apart. He also came up with the symmetrical design of our ASTRA logo. For the kind of music that we make, the album artwork is very important. Seeing that The Weirding is essentially a concept album, we wanted the art to match the music. We wanted to get the same feeling when looking at the artwork as we did when listening to the music. I think Arik accomplished this perfectly.

Dan: A lot of Astra’s charm is in the “dated” production, which makes the album sound like it came right out of the seventies. Yet at the same time it somehow manages to sound like it was made last year. What’s your secret?

Richard: I would say a lot of it has to do with the vintage gear that we used during the recording process as well as recording the entire album ourselves, in our own, makeshift studio on a limited budget. We didn’t have the luxury of recording in a high end studio this time around. Of course we wanted our album to have that classic, warm sound but we also wanted it to sound fresh. We did our best to get a good mix of the two.

Dan: Aside from the production, one of the things that evokes the early 70’s are the mellotrons. There’s a hell of a lot of mellotrons on this album, and they really help out with the spacey atmosphere. This instrument tends to make prog fans swoon with joy instantly. Is there such a thing as too much mellotron? Not in The Weirding, definitely, but in general?

Richard: The Mellotron is, hands down, my favorite instrument. Everything about that beast is a work of art, from all of the unique sounds and the mechanics right down to the design and look of the console. I don’t think there is such a thing as too much Mellotron. One of my favorite albums is this live Schicke, Führs & Fröhling album from 1975 and it’s chock full of Mellotron all the way through. I love every minute of it. Alright, I guess if you’ve got a double LP full of honky-tonk versions of Elvis Presley songs performed by a 17 piece Mellotron orchestra, that might be a bit too much. I’d still like to hear it though.

Dan: Tell us about the instruments/gear you guys use. I would imagine there are a lot of keyboards, as there are quite a few listed in your “credits” sections.

Richard: I play a 1968 Gibson SG through a 1974 Fender Twin Reverb. One of my favorite effects is my vintage A/DA Flanger. I just leave that thing switched on all the time. It’s the best sounding flanger I’ve ever heard and I’ve sort of adopted it as my “sound”. For our delay and sound effects, especially in The Weirding, we use a Maestro Echoplex. We do have a few old keyboards and synths. Right now we’re using a Moog Rogue and an ARP Odyssey and Conor runs most of his keys through his old Leslie 900.

Dan: Do you use different gear live? I bet some of those keyboards must be tough to lug around.

Richard: Believe it or not, not all of our equipment is vintage. We recently purchased some new equipment to help us out with playing live shows. A while back we picked up the Manikin Electronics Memotron which comes in very handy for live shows. It’s the closest you can get to an actual Mellotron M400 without the mechanical / pitch problems and it’s in a more compact form. It operates just like an M400. Each note is recorded from the tape banks of original vintage Mellotrons complete with key clicks, hiss, tape warble and the 8 second length. Mine is even white like an old M400. We also recently bought the new Dave Smith Instruments MoPho analog synth. It’s a new, completely analog, monophonic synth and it sounds great.

Dan: Speaking of playing live, you guys have been invited to play at a lot of major festivals, including NEARFest in Pennsylvania and the Burg Hurzberg Festival in Germany. You guys must have a hell of an agent! But seriously, I chalk it up to the amazing album you guys released. What do you think?

Richard: We’ve been lucky enough to have all of these amazing festivals approach us to play. A reason for this could be because we’re a fairly new band and we’ve recently released our debut album to some critical success. Also, I think being signed to Rise Above Records has helped us to receive a little bit of extra attention.

Dan: Are there any plans for more big shows in the future? Perhaps we can be the first to hear about them!

Richard: Yes! There has been talk about playing some bigger shows and festivals next year, on both sides of the pond, after we release our second album. Unfortunately, I can’t really disclose anything at the moment.

Dan: What has been your favorite place to play at so far?

Richard: That’s a tough one, we’ve played some great shows over the last year. One of the best shows we’ve played recently was in Germany at the Burg Herzberg festival. We went on last, right after Hawkwind, at around 2:00am. The crowd was huge and we played under a beautiful starry sky. It was great to meet so many of our fans after the show too.

Dan: What does Astra have in the works at the moment? You told me in your emails that you’re very busy right now, probably because of touring. Are you by any chance working on material for a new album? I’m sure there are a lot of people who would love to hear that.

Richard: That’s exactly what we’re doing. We’ve finally finished touring for the year and right now we’re focusing on writing the new album. We’ve got a lot of ideas that we’re trying to piece together and we’re hoping to start recording towards the end of the year.

Nick: There were rumors about releasing a 7” which would contain demo tracks. What happened with that?

Richard: Actually, that 7″ was released with the “die hard” version of our vinyl LP of The Weirding. The “die hard” LP’s came with a bonus poster designed by Arik Roper and a bonus 7″ containing two early demo tracks from 2006 and 2007 – Winter Witch and Cosmic Wind.

Nick: The latest recording activity the public is aware of that you’ve participated in MOJO magazine’s The Wall Re-Built! compilation, which is a tribute to Pink Floyd. You’ve covered Empty Spaces and did an excellent job, although honestly I’m not a huge fan of late-era Pink Floyd. Their early works were much more interesting to me. Would you tell us how this MOJO compilation went? And also, assuming you haven’t answered this already, what is your connection with Pink Floyd like?

Richard: MOJO Magazine contacted our label and in turn, Rise Above asked us if we’d be interested in recording a Floyd cover for the comp. Of course we were into it. We chose Empty Spaces because we thought it was a song that we could really make into our own. Our labelmates, Diagonal, also did an amazing reworking of the song Stop. I think they’re on disc 2. I don’t think we have a connection with Pink Floyd. We are fans of their music but they’re just one of many, many bands that we listen to or are influenced by. I think the press really ran with the whole Pink Floyd comparison because Floyd are very well known and yes, you can hear some of their influence in our music.

Nick: I must ask where the promo photos for the album were taken, the landscapes look amazing!

Richard: Those photos were taken not too far from our practice studio. We just took a drive out east from San Diego a bit until we found this wonderful, hilly countryside. A fire must have been through there couple of years earlier because most of the trees were all burnt out. Our photographer Noa Azoulay-Sclater took some amazing photos out there.

Dan: Is Astra a fan of dogs? If so, I would love to hear about any dogs the band members might own!

Richard: I can only speak for myself but yes, I’m a fan of dogs. I’ve had two Beagles in my lifetime, bless their floppy little ears. I think the only one who currently has a dog is our drummer Dave but I’m pretty sure he acquired it through meeting his girlfriend.

A Helmet of Gnats – High Street

Those who say jazz is dead must only look harder. I suppose it isn’t as popular to the greater whole of humanity as it used to be, but neither is prog rock, and I honestly feel that both benefited from such a change.  A Helmet of Gnats is part of that subgenre of jazz known as fusion that some prog fans consider inside the sphere of Prog (see what I did there?) I can’t say I agree with that when discussing the subgenre’s early history, but at the moment a lot of such bands are creating a true fusion of prog rock and jazz.

One of those is, obviously, a Helmet of Gnats, or else I would have wasted that entire paragraph talking about something completely unrelated. A Hog (as I shall refer to the band as, because I find it to be a hilarious acronym) is a band that consists of Berkley College of music grads (and dropouts, a la Dream Theater) from Connecticut, USA.

They play an eclectic range of jazz styles, going from Return to Foreveresque light synth solos to heavy guitar jams something like Mahavishnu Orchestra, and I even hear bits that sound similar to The Tangent and Van Der Graaf Generator. Usually though it doesn’t sound like anything I’ve ever heard before, and I imagine it only sounds similar to Corea because they use similar sounding instrument settings. The musicianship is very tight and virtuosic (they are Berkley grads, after all), and I can find nothing to complain about, no matter how hard I try (and I try pretty damn hard). Any true fan of jazz or jazz fusion should definitely get this album immediately; I can promise you will be delighted. If not, well, what are you gonna do, punch me?

TIME FOR A TRACK RUNDOWN!

Tsunami – 11:00 – The first track of four begins with a delightfully melodic guitar intro, which is completely misleading given the name, but it moves after a minute into a moderately energetic guitar/organ duet. This track is mostly guitar driven after the end of that, with an almost funky blueslike melody throughout. A few minutes toward the end there’s an excellent synth solo, before the guitar comes back to dominate. By the end the track begins to live up to its name and builds in intensity faster and faster. I must say I generally prefer my jazz albums to begin with something that has a little more “oomph”, but this does quite nicely regardless.

Tin Whiskers – 10:26 – If Tsunami was guitar-dominated, Tin Whiskers is certainly keyboard-dominated. Lots of excellent stuff here, Corea-style electric piano, hammonds, mellotrons, you name it. The bass-work is also quite funky, and definitely adds to the piece. There’s a sort of groove I can get into when I listen to REALLY good jazz piano, and I feel it with this track. Excellently done. Later on, however, there’s an excellent guitar solo that gives me the same groovy sensation. I feel like I’m betraying jazz piano in saying so, though. I hope it will forgive me.

Dozer – 12: 43 – Like Tsunami, the track name is not fitting at all. It certainly wouldn’t put me to sleep, it’s too enjoyable for that. Dozer is very melodic in the beginning, probably to trick the listener into thinking it IS supposed to be a “dozer”, but the drumming heats up a bit a little before the quarter mark, just as some more of that wonderful piano-work comes in. A little after that, it gets a bit heavy, and we get a very intense guitar/keyboard duet. The rest of the track is rather fast, but not necessarily heavy, except in sections.

High Street – 30:11 – Oh dear, they’re really marching into the realm of prog with this one. A half-hour-long epic, replete with dynamic sections and completely different themes competing with each other. In the band’s entire discography, this is the track that seems to have the most influence from Return to Forever. I just hear it a lot, what can I say. I would say that is the reason it’s my favorite, though not to say the band is simply imitating, they create a cosmic elegance of their own, even if they might borrow some of Chick Corea’s. I say so I don’t have to say it’s my favorite track just because it’s a half hour long, ha! There’s too much to discuss about this track, and I don’t want to bore anyone with the details. Buy the album and listen to it for yourself!

Tracklist:

1. Tsunami – 11:00

2. Tin Whiskers – 10:26

3. Dozer – 12: 43

4. High Street – 30:11

Line – Up

*Chris Fox – guitars

*Matthew Bocchino – keyboards

*Wayne Zito – bass

*Mark Conese – drums, percussion

Links:

http://www.helmetofgnats.com/

http://www.myspace.com/helmetofgnats

The Øresund Space Collective jams with Prog Sphere

Nick: Øresund Space Collective, as the name suggests, a group of people from Sweden and Denmark, those of us well-versed in geography will know about Øresund bridge that connects these two countries. You, being an American, are in the middle of that “bridge”, so can we say non-egoistically that the music OSC creates come through you?

Scott: I consider myself the manager of the musical collective and just one small part of the music that we create. The music comes together as a musical force through the strong ability of all members to find their own place within the complex sound of 6 or more musicians’ circling the sonic universe in search of a new universe of sound. I do the managerial part to pull it all together in the end and present it to the world. Of course I also play some space sounds as well.

Nick: Would you mind telling us where OSC started in the first place?

Scott: IT all started in the rehearsal rooms of the Swedish band Bland Bladen and the Danish band, Mantric Muse. Both are fantastic and still active bands today. The Danish band Gas Giant, played psychedelic stoner space rock and I played with them for a couple of years but they decided to change directions and this left me without a band to be involved with so I started to arrange these jam sessions with myself and the guys from Bland Bladen and Mantric Muse. For the first couple of years it was only these guys and Mogens, our long time synthesizer player.

Nick: Besides the main collective members, there are plenty of extra musicians that fill Øresund’s “Space”, so to speak, who all come from different musical spheres. So what is it like when all of these people join in? Due to this approach it seems almost natural that you guys base your music on improv instead of that traditional way of composing.

Scott: We have talked about creating some songs that are composed but this never does happen. Whenever we all meet, it is about creating new music at that time in space. People are always getting new guitar effects, pedals, synthesizers, new gear etc. so our sound is always changing some and new people are coming in all the time the last few years so this keeps the sound fresh and interesting. I think because we pretty much only meet for gigs and a studio session every year or so, we don’t really make time for composing anything. Everyone but myself plays in other bands also, so they spend their composing energies on making songs for their own bands and I think they enjoy the freedom of just letting their musician skills flow free in the OSC universe.

Nick: Speaking of the many members of your band, how many have there been in total?

Scott: Wow… that is a good question. I will have to go and check the web page for the exact number but I will list the bands whose members have played with us: Mantric Muse (all 3), Bland Bladen (all 4), The Carpet Knights (3), Drahk von trip (3), Sgt. Sunshine (2), Gas Giant (3), Zone Six (2), Taipuva Luotisuora (1), Siena Root (2), Kaabel (few), The Univerzals (2), Causa Sui (1), First band from Outer Space (1), Mathias Danielson (Makajodama, My brother the Wind)… that is around 30. There are maybe a few I missed but these are some of the most exciting bands and players in the underground scene in this part of the world.

The current most active line up at this moment is: Mogens and myself on Synthesizers, PIB on the drums, Thomas, Pär and Jocke share the bass roles, Magnus, Tobias, Stefan and Nick are the main guitar players at this time.

Nick: You’ve released 6 albums so far, the latest one, called “Slip into the Vortex”, was released recently on Transubstans Records. What can you say about this album? Has anything changed in comparison with your previous records?

Pär: Like the text in the booklet puts it out: this is a very honest piece of music. You can sense the mood changes as the jams progress and there is a tension as always when starting up the jam and though the progression. It is super fun but you also feel a slight pressure that you really want to perform well. But music is always better when everything is balancing on the edge and you play on your maximum capability…sometimes you mess up..but that is where the nerve is. The guys who have mixed this album, and previous ones too, have really contributed a lot and managed to pick out the most interesting sounds and ideas among all that is going in the live communication between the musicians and provided the whole sound-picture with an appropriate framing.

Scott: I am very proud of this new CD. It is a really different sound and band from our last studio record, Good Planets are hard to Find but the same high quality aural journeys with a great group of players.

Nick: It seems that the new album shows to be your most successful record out to date. It has garnered very positive reviews and it also debuted at #26 on the Swedish charts in its first week. How does it feel?

Pär: Ha ha! Yes its a very commercial album To bad it didn’t go to no #1 cause then one of the radio shows would have to play a whole OSC song meaning that there would not be any room for any other bands in that particular radio show.

Scott: I think it is also pretty funny. I still have no idea how many copies that is but it must only be a few hundred, which also shows you the sad state of the music industry, that a CD selling only a few hundred can be nearly in the top 20!

Nick: As a part of the recording session for “Slip into the Vortex”, there has appeared a vinyl record named “Dead Man in Space” consisted of 3 “lengthies”. Was it your idea to have in the same year two different releases on different mediums? I guess that LP will be a nice dessert for all collective collectors.

Scott: Well, in the recording session that lead to these two releases (and we still have another one not out yet), we had a very productive session and created enough material for 3 releases. For the last several years we have been trying to gather interest to get our music released on vinyl. I think this is the best medium for music as the artwork can be presented in a proper way and the rich mixes we have deserve to get that warmth that you can only get with a vinyl record, so I am very happy our first vinyl is out.

I would like to see us release two records a year if possible as we have enough quality material.

Nick: I’ve been wondering how you choose track titles. There are some pretty interesting ones, such “I Teleported to Acapulco”, “Consumed by the Goblin” or “My Heel Has a Beard”.

Scott: A large portion of the song titles have popped out of my mind but we often have fun in the van or after shows coming up with strange titles and I write them down in the band diary and we try to remember to use some of these. For Slip into the Vortex, all the song titles except the CD title, were from Pär and Anders (Saxophone). My heel has a Beard was from my daughter, who has been creating some titles for me lately.

Nick: The core of OSC is based on psychedelic/space rock dating back from the 70’s, but then again you don’t hesitate to introduce in your music a variety of effects that help you in establishing that spacey/cosmic vibe. From where do you get all those elements? What influences/inspires you?

Scott: I don’t watch TV and more or less only listen to music, play or mix music and write CD reviews when I am not working, so I hear a lot of music, both old and new, all the time. My biggest musical inspirations for myself are Alien Planetscapes, Hawkwind, Cosmic Jokers, Pink Floyd, Ozric Tentacles, GONG, etc… These bands that have used a lot of spacey sounds and effects in their music. As for the rest of the band members, they all have their own bands playing all kinds of music but mostly in the psychedelic-progressive-space rock vibe. I think we all are firm believers that the best and most inspired music ever made was in the late 60’s and 70s, where all the rules were broken and new ones formed that lead to the format of music that we like best. Good songs, lots of space for solos, strange sounds, and different trips. The bands of today are locked into chains and it is sad to see so many young bands, who play great and write amazing songs, locked into playing them exactly the same every night. They can’t seem to allow themselves to break free and jam, improvise, explore, perhaps from fear of mistakes but if one does not make mistakes one never will grow and learn. We are a band about making musical mistakes that become something positive.

Nick: I myself am really obsessed with the cosmos and everything that comes with it, and personally, I may say with assurance that your music fits well with the amateur stargazing I can provide to myself by watching the sky. Do you find this to be the case as well with your music?

Scott: I get the Science magazine Nature in the mail every week and I love to read all the intense articles about space and our universe as well and where I live, it is pretty dark at night and on a clear night the stars are amazing. The universe is vast. I was blown away recently when I read that they found the largest planet ever and it is like 20,000 light years away and 5000 times the size of our Sun! Fucking massive…

Nick: My vision of your music is that it’s simply time-unlimited, although the tracks themselves are limited by minutes and seconds and milliseconds and so on. But, the music is that what makes me questioning about the time. I’m not a physicist, but in this case time acts like a relative factor. Do you agree?

Scott: I am a biologist and not a physicist either but I find physics fascinating. As far as our music goes, I like to think of it as musical journeys. It is music that is meant to really be listened to as the mixes are meant to really stimulate your brain and mind and also relax you as you float, glide or rock out with us on our music trip. I agree that you can totally get lost in some of our tracks and wonder where the hell the time went. We have a 56 min jam, which we recorded in Oct 2008 that will be unleashed at some point and that is a great journey, where everyone in the band was just flying in the same UFO and we made a fine landing…

Nick: I should probably stop asking these weird questions. Let experts spend their time solving the mysteries of space! I must ask, how do you guys work, considering your geographical positions? You live in the US, no? Do you actually cross the Øresund bridge very much?

Scott: I moved to Denmark from the USA 13 years ago. I do cross the Øresund Bridge many times a year to go to Sweden (usually Malmö) and from where I live, I can walk to the beach in 5 mins and see the bridge! I actually live on a street called Øresundsvej (Oresund street in English), which is quite funny. The bridge is very important though as we have more Swedish members of the collective than Danish, and without the bridge, getting back and forth for jams and concerts would be much more difficult.

Nick: Which album or track was the most complex/difficult to create?

Scott: This is a question that maybe several people should try to answer. Magnus, the guy who I would call the main guitar player in the OSC, he is the one who mixed “It’s all about Delay” and this consumed about half a year of his life, on an almost daily basis. I guess the most complicated one was putting together Good Planets are Hard to Find, as that was mixed by Steve Hayes (Secret Saucer) in the USA and so we had to send tracks, and mixes back and forth, etc.. and it nearly ended up badly if it were not for Magnus’s amazing ears. He detected that the guitars just did not sound right on the final mastering job. He suspected that maybe Steve did something wrong when bouncing down the tracks for mastering and sure enough we discovered he did not do it right and this additional noise was introduced. I am so glad we solved that as we are not a rich band and we play for all the studio time and mastering ourselves with money from our web shop and the rare occasion we get a little more money from a gig that we can save.

Nick: My favorite album from OSC’s body of work is certainly The Black Tomato, an absolutely brilliant piece, but “Slip into the Vortex” is close, as well as “It’s All About Delay”. Do you have a favorite of your own?

Scott: The Black Tomato is a great musical trip and we were all channelling the musical spirit world on this CD, which features just 3 long tracks (two were shortened as well). It is our best selling CD as well. My personal favourite is “It’s all about Delay”. I just have very special memories from those two days of recording and the many different musical moods and styles and the amazing long tracks on CD2. On a musical level though, I think that Slip into the Vortex maybe our most accomplished some how.

Nick: I believe you’re a fan of Hawkwind, which seems clear listening to your music because there are a lot of similarities. I have to ask you if you prefer United Artists era or Charisma era? “Warrior on the Edge of Time” and “In Search of Space” are my favorites. Have you checked the new album “Blood of the Earth”?

Scott: I am a big Hawkwind fan and I have all their records on vinyl and CD and of course the new one as well. Warrior on the Edge of Time is my favourite record with In Search of Space my 2nd favourite. I like a lot of their other records a lot as well like Astounding Sounds, Amazing Music, Electric Tepee, Palace Springs, Chronicles of the Black Sword, and Alien 4 as well. The Space Ritual deluxe edition that came out 1½ years ago with a 5.1 surround mix is really awesome as well. Mind blowing stuff. As for the new one, I have written a review of the record and overall, I like it quite a lot. It is a very psychedelic record but there are just too many ambient pieces and not enough rock music but it has some great new songs. I was at the 40th anniversary concert in London last August and had a great time and they played some of the best tracks from the new record at that concert. Dave and Dibs are fans of OSC and we were invited to play the Hawkfest on the Isle of Wight this August but sadly, their invitation came too late for us to make the plans and figure out if it was possible to finance it but I am in contact with them and I think we might get a chance to get to the UK in 2011 with something Hawkwind related. We will see. It would be a dream comes true. I have met and interviewed the band several times and they are great people.

Nick: Do you find it to be a tough task today to create something new and innovative, as the bands used to do back in 70’s, when there basically was much more musical freedom?

Scott: As I mentioned early in the interview, the late 60s and early 70s were the most creative times ever for rock music. We have more or less the same instruments, played in the same way, with the same tunings, so to create something totally unique and different is quite difficult. We understand the limitations and our approach is to just dive off the board straight into the deep end and create a sonic path to the surface and back out into the expanding universe and to use the sound machines that we have at hand. We more or less releases all of the music that we create to the fans since all our concerts are up on the internet and all the best stuff from our studio sessions gets released.

Nick: What’s it like for the band to play live? There must be a huge stage for you guys and all your gear.

Scott: Sometimes the size of the stage is a real issue and Mogens and I end up having to be on the floor in front of the stage and this is not always fun. We do have a lot of gear with the guitar players always having a lot of pedals, and Mogens and I have several synthesizers to set up as well so we can be pretty packed in. The only stage we ever played on that was too big was at Malmöfestivalen.

Nick: I don’t know if you already know about a DUNAjam festival on Italian island Sardinia, it’s an open air festival and it seems to be like a paradise on Earth. What I want to say is that it would be great for you guys play there, as I think your music fits well with that ambient atmosphere and surely the people would love your music. I don’t have any particular question about this, I’ve just been thinking about this festival a lot lately.

Scott: I am very well aware of this festival as the organizers really like the Danish psych bands so my friends in Causa Sui, Baby Woodrose (Dragontears), and On Trial have all gone to play there and said it was amazing. Also my good friend Dave Schmidt has been and played several times. Everyone seems to have a great and relaxing time. Maybe we will get invited one day.

Nick: What have you been listening to recently?

Scott: Today I have been listening to the last two Monster Magnet records trying to get ready for their new one, which I really look forward to. I also heard Virus – Revelation (Germany 1971) and Scorpions – Lonesome Crow. Yesterday I heard Brainticket Celestial Ocean (Switzerland 1973), Blackcherry Smoke – New Honky Tonk bootlegs, the new Kings of Frog Island, Armored Saint – La Raza, Melting Euphoria – Beyond the Mystic Machine, Rotor 4, Second hand – Death maybe your Santa Claus (UK 1971), Hypnos 69 – Legacy (brilliant!), and that is about it for the last couple of days. Last night my friend Nils (Doomed Denmark) came over for our once a month music night at my place and we heard one side of the following LPs: Frank Marino – What’s Next, Camel – Camel, Eloy – Floating, Circle – Soundcheck, Brant Bjork – Gods and Goddesses, Hawkwind – Electric tepee and we also heard some tracks from the following CDs as well: Arc of Ascent (the guy from Datura and Lamp of the Universe), Hypnos 69 – Legacy, Mountain of Judgement, Triad – Tribute to Hawkwind with US Christmas, Minsk.., Ozzy Ozbourne – Scream, Serpentian satellite – Mecanica Celeste, and some Øresund Space Collective live stuff…

Nick: I have no more questions, so if you want to add anything, now’s a good time.

Scott: Thanks for this great chance to chat with you on a number of interesting subjects. The only thing I want to add is a special thanks to everyone who buys directly from our web shop. This is the money that keeps this project running and you also get to see your name in the next CD! Also, we hope to have the CD version of Dead Man in Space out later this year with a bonus track from that session.

Nick: Thanks for the interview, Scott. All the best and I hope to see you somewhere in space!

Ronny Eriksson, My (third) Brother The Wind

Nick: Hey, Ronny! How are you doing?

Ronny: Hello Nikola. First of all, thanks for your interest in Magnolia´s and My Brother The Wind´s music.

Nick: Since you’re the third member of My Brother the Wind that I’ve interviewed so far, I’m not going to ask you how it all began. However, when I interviewed Nicklas and Matias the album hadn’t been released yet, so I would love to hear from you about how it’s been for you guys. Are you satisfied with the album’s reception so far?

Ronny: We are very satisfied with both the result and the reception of the album.

Nick: As far as I know, you’ve had a few gigs in Sweden promoting “Twilight in the Crystal Cabinet”. What is the reaction of the audience like?

Ronny: The audience really seams to like our music. They do have the patience for our long songs, ha ha.

Nick: Twilight in the Crystal Cabinet was recently released in Japan with two bonus tracks. Almost makes me wish I were from Japan. What can you tell us about those two tracks?

Ronny: The two bonus tracks are recorded at our first rehearsal together as a band. We fell in love musically with each other right from the start and the inspiration just flowed that magic day! It was amazing!

Nick: What is playing live like for you guys? I mean, is there left any space for improvisation in the concerts, considering the album was born out of jamming in the first place? Do you have a clear vision of what My Brother the Wind will do in the future, or do you guys leave that up to sort of “idealistic jamming” as well?

Ronny: All our music is improvised both live and on record and will always be I hope. That´s the main thing with My Brother The Wind.

Nick: Now let’s focus on your other band, Magnolia. Would you mind telling us something about how that began?

Ronny: Magnolia was born when I started to write my own music in 1994. At this time I recorded my songs at home and made a demo cassette and nothing more happened with Magnolia until I recorded a new demo CD in 2003 and sent it to Transubstans Records and got a record deal in 2005.

Nick: With Magnolia, you have recorded 3 albums so far. Would you mind giving us a brief overview of these three albums? Tell us what you think is important about each.

Ronny: First album is of course very important to me because it´s the first real album I ever played on. I´m pleased with the result and it did bring some attention to Magnolia. Second album “Falska vägar” (False ways) is a little more progressive and showed that Magnolia is not a “one record” band and I think the cover art is very beautiful. Third album “Steg för steg” (Step by step) I’m most satisfied with. The sound and songs are better I think. I´ve got the pleasure to work with Love Tholin as recording engineer and his work is fantastic.

Nick: Although the music of Magnolia is rooted in late 60’s / early 70’s progressive rock, it’s evident that you’re more based around blues or classic/hard rock with the raw energy that’s characteristic of punk bands. What influenced you to start playing that way?

Ronny: You´re right. Main influences are Cream, Jack Bruce, Mountain, West,Bruce and Laing, November, Black Sabbath, Mecki Mark Men, Patto and so on.

Nick: You sing in Swedish, so would you mind telling us non-Swedish speakers what some of your lyrics are about? Could you give us a few particular song titles with their English translations?

Ronny: I choose to sing in Swedish cause I think it gives the music a certain feel. Swedish band November inspired me to sing in Swedish. The lyrics are about everyday life and feelings. Uncomplicated and direct lyrics just like the music. Translation examples:

Resa utan slut – Endless Journey

Trollbunden – Spellbound

Dröm dig iväg – Dream away

Säg mig hur – Tell me how

Alla undrar – Everybody wonders

Tid att fara – Time to ride

Nick: Steg för steg is the album which has progressed productionwise in comparison with the previous two albums, but I am sure that your idea was/is to

express all the rawness of the music you play and honestly I really don’t see this (with this album). What do you think, am I wrong?

Ronny: All three albums were recorded mostly “live” in the studio with very few overdubs. Solos, vocals and keyboards were recorded afterwards, and most of the songs are first or second takes just to keep the right groove and feel.

Nick: One thing about the new album that simply keeps me stunned is the fact that you guys present excellent riff work and everything is hard and heavy. On the other hand, riffs are something like expendable material is in the industry, if you have too many of them, the treat will become boring. You guys manage to keep the riffs exciting while filling it with them. What’s your secret?

Ronny: Magnolia´s music is very much “riff based” and how we manage to make it not boring I don´t know. Maybe we got the right inspiration. I hope not next album will be boring, ha ha ha.

Nick: One thing that just popped out on my mind is that I had today another interview with Belgian psychedelic rock band Hypnos 69, and I noticed something. Both of you formed your bands around the same time (1994) and both bands started releasing albums in the post-2000 era. I’ve asked them, so I must ask you, why did it take that long to start making your own music?

Ronny: As I said earlier from the beginning Magnolia was just my home studio project and I didn’t give it so much attention after my first demo. I have played in many different bands and settings since then. But in 2005 I got the record deal and then Magnolia started to play live as a band.

Nick: What’s Magnolia like when it comes to playing live? What are the reactions of the crowds like?

Ronny: I think Magnolia is a good liveband. People seems to like our grooves and we try to do our thing as good as we can. In our music there´s also spaces for improvisation which gives the music some freshness and makes it interesting from time to time I think.

Nick: Have you played outside of Sweden / Scandinavia? What’s your favorite place to play at?

Ronny: We have never played outside of Sweden. Sweden is Magnolia´s main aim cause of the lyrics.

Nick: In a recent interview with Mathias Danielsson, I’ve asked him to drop few recommendations from your label Transubstans Records, and I’ve introduced myself and hopefully our readership, with the great Oresund Space Collective. Would you have any interesting recommendation for me and our visitors, preferably from Sweden, as Sweden is like the motherland of prog nowadays?

Ronny: Yeah of course I can. Look out for bands such as Graveyard, Witchcraft, Anekdoten, Makajodama, Abramis Brama, Gudars Skymning and Lugnoro for example. Very good Swedish proggrockers which I highly recommend.

Nick: So, to summarize, what happens next with Magnolia and My Brother The Wind?

Ronny: I wish that both bands will carry on making good music and make people feel good listening to us.

Legacy of Hypnos 69

Nick: Hey Steve. How are you doing these days? How’s summer in Belgium?

Steve: Fine, thank you. Summer’s been very busy. I’m reading a lot of books these days.

Nick: Hypnos 69 has released a brand new album this year and I would love if you’d tell us something about it. How did the creation process go, and how are you guys in general satisfied with “Legacy”?

Steve: Well, for the first time ever, we’ve recorded and produced the album entirely ourselves and we’re very happy with the result. Dave has build his own recording studio, and has done a great job keeping it all together. I’ve been writing quite some time before we actually started to record, so we really had ‘carte blanche’ in the recording process. We’ve been trying lots of things in the studio, changed a lot of layers, structures, lyrics … Really nice to have so much time to complete a work, I really feel that this album is more coherent in its entirety than its predecessors. Lyrics, music and concept are one, as I had in mind before I started working on it.

Nick: As I always like to make my own theories about the bands’ albums, I’ve got one about this album as well. Its title, “Legacy”, tells me that you wanted (from a musical standpoint) to create an album that is an homage to the bands from way back in the 60’s and 70’s. Did I fail on this one?

Steve: You’re halfway there. The thing I have about making an album is to put as much relevant allegories and clues in it as possible. ‘Legacy’ therefore applies to more than one meaning. It does refers to an ancestral legacy of ancient wisdom, hidden and passed through by occult, Gnostic or alchemical societies. But it indeed also refers allegorically to some of the psychedelic and progressive bands of the era you mentioned.

Nick: At the other side, the music goes along with a conceptual story about Isaac Newton’s writings concerning the Emerald Tablet of Hermes Trismegistus. Would you gives us closer insights to your interpretation?

Steve: What most people don’t know is that Isaac Newton besides a scientist also was an alchemist and a Hermeticist. He studied the works of Hermes Trismegistus, who is the representation of the Egyptian god Thoth and had a great influence on the Western Esoteric tradition in religion and philosophy. The phrase ‘as Above, so Below’ is probably the most important concept of Hermeticism. The cover of the album illustrates the oldest reference to Hermeticism: the concept of the Snake and the Apple of Eden. The Serpent stands for wisdom: even in today’s society you’ll find a serpent in the symbol used by doctors and pharmacists and it has been like that for thousands of years. Eating the Apple stands for choosing for awareness. For more information I’d like to refer to Hermetic or Gnostic literature, since this is really too much to explain in 10 lines.

Nick: That conceptual story of the album itself is accompanied well by the artwork. What is the artwork supposed to mean? Also, how much in your opinion should artwork complete a full “image” of an album?

Steve: The artwork is the finishing touch of the ‘package’. Without it, it would be like a book without a cover and pictures. Also, the Art Nouveau-like style of the Malleus Art Lab is very well suited for our music since it has comparable structures to the art movement.

Nick: I have to say that you did hell of a good job with the new album and I find it interesting in every way. How is it when the time comes to create something new? Is there more focused creative energy in the writing process or are you always surrounded by inspiration?

Steve: Inspiration is a difficult issue. Ideas are something so fragile, that they easily tend to get lost or forgotten, because at the time you have them, you’re either not able to record them or write them down, or don’t seem to be interesting enough at a certain point. I try to collect as much ideas as possible and keep them somewhere safe, so when the time comes to write, I am prepared. I always take my time to write. I lock myself in a room with my piano and guitar, and don’t do anything else until I have worked something out. This is the basic structure, chords and melodies, which later on when I present it to the rest of the band, can be altered in various ways. And this is what makes the sound of Hypnos 69.

Nick: I don’t know if it only happens with me, but I have a feeling that in some way your music is somehow “layered”, meaning that those progressive elements are hidden in comparison with other elements that build structure. Does that make any sense to you?

Steve: It makes sense. The hidden layers can be somehow compared to musical ‘figures of speech’, metaphors or allegories. The basic elements and additional layers are written complementary.

Nick: What can you tell us about the band’s name? I, myself, know there’s at least one band that’s just called Hypnos, and there’s also that number in your band’s name. Is that because you tend to make an equilibrium in your music or is it because, perhaps, you wanted to avoid generic names or something?

Steve: ‘Hypnos’ is the name of the personification of Sleep in Greek mythology. ‘69’ is not just the number 6 and 9. It is in fact the symbol (69), that stands for the second transformation in Alchemy. Carl Gustav Jung wrote about it: “A further breaking down of the artificial structures of the psyche by total immersion in the unconscious and rejected parts of our minds. Unconscious process in which our conscious minds let go of control to allow the surfacing of buried material. It opens the floodgates and generates new energy from the once held back waters. Experienced as the flow, and the bliss of being actively engaged in creative acts without personal hang ups.” This more or less describes how we function as a band, when we do jam sessions.

Nick: Hypnos 69 was originally formed in 1994, but your first album was released in 2001. Why did it take that long to record “Timeline Traveller”? What was it like in the 90’s?

Steve: We started as a jam band, playing Black Sabbath tunes. It took a while ‘til we were ready to make a ‘real’ album. Call it study time or so.

Nick: Your second album, named “Promise of a New Moon” presented the public with a proggier sound and also introduced new member, Steven Marx on saxophones. There’s also a southern rock-ish approach present on the album. What can you tell about this album?

Steve: Well, the ‘Promise’-album is kind of a misfit in our discography. We recorded a dozen songs and just picked out the ones we liked. We had in mind not to do a concept album, but just an album with independent songs. Apart from the introduction of the saxophone and some tunes, I don’t really like the album, since there’s no balance in it.

Nick: “The Intrigue of Perception” pushed the limits once again, as this time there are notable influences of a bit modern sound / music. It’s kinda evident that you got in touch with alternative rock. What are your notes on this album?

Steve: With the ‘Intrigue’-album we tried to create a cinematic atmosphere within the concept of the mind. Much influences of William Blake on this record.

Nick: In 2006, you decided to re-record your debut album “Timeline Traveller”. What did this second version of the album bring, except the obvious involvement of Steven Marx?

Steve: Actually, the album just got re-mastered and we used a new cover where Steven got credited, although he wasn’t featured on the record.

Nick: Speaking of Steven Marx joining the band, how have the introduction of new band member opened or expanded your approaches?

Steve: Although he wasn’t a part of the band in the ‘90s, I have the feeling that he’s always been a member of Hypnos 69. To me, he adds the final touch to a unique combination in sound.

Nick: With “The Eclectic Measure”, it seems like you’ve put yourselves down on the ground, bringing a calmer atmosphere. Could we actually say that “The Eclectic Measure” is an album that has pulled Hypnos 69 to the surface?

Steve: To be honest, to me ‘The Eclectic Measure’ is our first real album. It has a clear concept, related musical structures and lyrics and is overall really coherent. It also is our most successful record up to date, receiving many good critics from very different corners in the contemporary music scene.

Nick: I must tell that you that I do not find it to be characteristic to have vocals in this music style. Not that I blame you because of it, you do it very well. But what I want to know is, exactly how important are vocals/lyrics to you? The majority of your songs are pretty lengthy and there is more time devoted to instrumentation or jamming.

Steve: Lyrics do bring a message, although I believe that music has the interesting ability to express more than words. Vocals always came secondary in the band. I’m a musician and composer first, seconds a vocalist.

Nick: How would you describe Hypnos 69’s music on your own? I do not ask for generic labels. If there’s a word that fits well to your music, what that would be?

Steve: ‘Musical allegories’. The music embodies the initial meaning of the songs.

Nick: You played in 2009 at the DUNAjam festival in Sardinia, I could see few live videos from it on YouTube and it looks amazing. What was your experience of playing there like? Surrounded by pure nature, beautiful horizon,… Seems like a real paradise on earth.

Steve: Duna Jam was really an entire new experience. We’ve played beach festivals before, but nothing can compare to this. The open space, the vast beach, cliffs and ocean really adds to the happening. While playing we saw the Sun set, and the Moon rise. It was almost like a religious experience.

Nick: You also played as a support for Opeth. Would you mind telling us something more about this? Opeth is one of my favorite bands, and I always ask other bands if they have had any connection with these Swedes and what it was like.

Steve: We met them in the kitchen, but it was crowded in there, so there wasn’t time for a chat. Seem nice guys though.

Nick: Speaking of playing live, is there any venue around the world that you dream of playing at? Or maybe a festival?

Steve: I’d love to play in a Gothic Cathedral, extraordinary atmosphere. I’m not a festival minded guy, it’s too crowded, and the sound is usually bad. I also don’t like the venues to be too big, because you easily lose contact with your audience when the stage is too high or too far away.

Nick: Let’s talk a bit about your musical background and influences. Which bands or musicians have influenced you Which work you praise mostly?

Steve: I’m influenced by lots of artists, from Neil Young to Mozart, from Coltrane to Slayer. My very first guitar-riff was Black Sabbaths ‘Iron Man’.

To me, the most imposing work ever written is undoubtedly Mozart’s ‘Requiem’.

Nick: You are one of the rare bands on today’s musical scene that succeeds in making a blend of progressive, psychedelic and space rock elements. The other bands I can recall of in this moment are Oresund Space Collective and a band from Sweden, My Brother The Wind whose debut album appeared about a month ago or so. Have you checked these bands out? Also, are there any other bands today that you really like and praise?

Steve: We’ve shared the stage with Oresund Space Collective, were really nice guys! Haven’t checked My Brother The Wind, but I surely will. Likeminded bands that I prefer are Anekdoten, Siena Root, Colour Haze, Motorpsycho,…

Nick: What have you been listening to recently?

Steve: Been listening a lot to Bach’s ‘Mattheus Passion’, I like the new Joanna Newsom triple album and I have Pentagram’s ‘First Daze Here’ in the CD-player.

Nick: Is there anything you would like to add, that I didn’t ask and you’d like to tell?

Steve: For more information on Hypnos 69, please check out the website or your local record store. More about the album concept, check out the Esoteric section in your library or in any decent bookstore.

Nick: Thanks for the interview, Steve. I hope you enjoyed answering some questions for Prog Sphere. See you around!

Stick Men – Soup

I’ve been waiting a year for this album. I saw the Stick Men play live last year in Manhattan (with the California Guitar Trio), and I loved the show so much I saw them again a few days later in New Jersey. They played with high energy, humor, and most importantly, Chapman sticks! Some of you might wonder what that is… Well I’ll get to it in a minute.

First of all, introductions: The Stick Men actually consists mostly of people who need no introductions to any self-respecting prog fan. The group is led by Mr. Tony Levin himself, the king of the bass, the leader of sidemen, the funk finger extraordinaire! Ok, sorry… Next up is Mr. Pat Mastelotto on drums! Again, should need no introduction. The third member is a bit of an enigma, but hopefully should not remain so for long. Mr. Michael Bernier joins Mr. Levin on the Chapman stick. That’s right, two Stick Men. Oh hey, look at that, Stick Men, how funny. With Pat’s drumsticks, that makes four sticks and three men. Anway, Mr. Bernier is a relatively unknown Chapman virtuoso who is so good he actually taught Tony a few techniques! After having seen them play live, it’s hard to tell which of the two is better, but I bet each of them would say the other is.

For those of you who don’t know, the Chapman stick is an electric string instrument played by tapping that’s somewhat similar to a Warr guitar (if you know what that is), and kind of sounds like a guitar, but I think it can hit the range of a bass. That was a terrible description, so just do yourself a favor and google it. Anyway let’s just say you haven’t lived till you’ve heard a Chapman stick rendition of King Crimson’s Red and Elephant Talk.

The album, Soup, is similar in sound to King Crimson, which is understandable considering parts of the lineup. There are bits of the Red era, but it mostly recalls THRAK, except for the fact that it’s mostly instrumental. It’s also a lot jazzier than either King Crimson era. Not that I can label it jazz, but it’s certainly some variation of that nebulous term we use called fusion.

The album has some flaws. I, for one, am not a fan of the vocals on most of the tracks that they appear on. Thankfully these tracks are few, and the majority is instrumental. The vocals are done by both Tony and Mike. For those of you who have listened to Tony’s last album, Stick Man, you will know what to expect. I don’t find Tony’s vocals unpleasant, I just find him to be a bad singer. What a strange thing to say. Anyway, I don’t find Mike to be quite as bad a singer. Either way the vocals don’t detract much.

Past readers should be aware of the fact that I generally don’t like ANY vocals, unless they’re from a select few that most people hate anyway (such as Peter Hammill).

Anyway, onto the track rundown.

1: Soup – Allow me to contradict myself and say that I actually enjoy the vocals on this track. The lyrics are very funny, preformed in a sort of mock rap style, and they’re about supercolliders. A very good question would be: why. Honestly, I don’t care, because it’s amusing and there’s always a place for humor in the world. Musically, the track isn’t quite as interesting as some later tracks, but it’s still pretty damn good. Tony shows off his trademark funk here, but perhaps a little more repetitive than usual. Still, the sound of two Chapman sticks pounding a funky beat with Pat’s solid drumbeat works really well. There’s also a crazy solo that goes on for a little bit in the middle. Not sure which of them did it, but it sounds like Mike’s “bowed stick” technique. (He plays the Chapman stick with a violin bow)

2: Hands (Parts 1-3) – Split into three parts on the album, reviewed as one, because it is a whole. This track is very complex and it drives all over the place at times. I really really love it, especially part one. Part two is slightly less interesting because it contains vocals. The lyrics are philosophical and interesting, but I still prefer the music. And yet, it returns after what is but a short interlude, so how can I complain? Part three is instrumental again, though there are a few spoken words. It’s also a bit darker and heavier than the first two parts.

3: Inside the Red Pyramid – This track is very spacey, this effect likely coming from the “bowed stick” technique I mentioned earlier. It sounds REALLY good along with the other stickist/Pat playing. Overall it’s much more rhythmic than Hands, so they form a nice contrast. Later in the track the spacey theme switches to a sound similar to a down-tuned guitar, but, of course, played on a stick. Probably one of my favorite tracks on the album.

4: Fugue – I don’t know much about music theory, but I do know that Michael Bernier released a solo album with a similar name. For this reason, I suspect it might be from there, despite the fact that I have never seen a tracklist. I assume the synthesizers in this track are done by Pat, because he’s the one who did it in the shows, but I could be wrong. Anyway, the track is very complex, but in general each stick takes a specific part and runs with it through the entire piece. One becomes the “lead guitar” sounds very much like one, playing a very rhythmic sort of music. The other (who I suspect to be Tony), takes the background and plays the “bass”, occasionally jumping in front for a quick “bass solo”.

5: Sasquatch – Similar to Part 1 of Hands, this track is all about the Stick interplay. It’s very complex, switches style a lot, and sounds great. Not much more to say. Along with Inside the Red Pyramid, this is another one of my favorite tracks.

6: Scarlet Wheel – Probably my least favorite track on the album. It’s the last one with vocals, and I don’t find them to be very pleasant. They’re actually Mike’s this time (at least I’m pretty sure they are). I don’t find his voice to be bad, I just find… I don’t know… a certain blandness. The music itself isn’t really that bad, I just don’t really find anything interesting about it.

7: The Firebird Suite – Yes, that’s right, a Chapman stick variation of The Firebird Suite. The idea for this probably came from Pat’s work with Trey Gunn, since the two of them did a version of it in their band TU. Either way, the track is incredible. It’s exactly what you would expect, unless you were expecting something that wasn’t incredible. There’s not much more for me to say about it besides “I really really like it”. It’s The Firebird Suite on the Chapman stick.

8: Relentless – Appropriately named, this track is drives forward with force. It’s a fast, heavy one. Not necessarily heavy like metal, but about as heavy as a Chapman stick can get. An excellent closer to an excellent album.

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