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Rokokko
En undersjanger av klassisk musikk. Den kunstneriske epoken i tidsrommet ca. 1725-1775, mest relatert til billedkunst, dekorasjon og interiør. Overlapper barokken og wienerklassisismen.
Kalles gjerne førklassisk epoke. Preges av begge hovedepokene, med fortsatt sirlige detaljer, men ofte enklere og mer avslappet, elegant, lett og leken stil. Musikken er ofte innsmigrende og underholdende.
Rokokko er nærmere en stilhistorisk betegnelse fremfor en bestemt tidsepoke. Deles ofte i to stilarter, den ekspressive stilen og den galante stilen.
Ordet rokokko er avledet av det franske rocaille, som betyr skjell eller ujevn klippeformasjon.
F.eks. musikk komponert av:
Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach
Johann Christian Bach
Wilhelm Friedrich Ernst Bach
Francois Couperin
Christoph Willibald Gluck
Giovanni Battista Pergolesi
Domenico Scarlatti
Georg Philipp Telemann
osv.
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Se nedenfor, for radiostasjoner med diverse sjangere.
Country
atlantabluesky.com
countrylegends971.com
k955fm.com
k95country.com
kkbq.com
kqlx.com
toastedrav.com
woko.com
wygy.com
y100fm.com
Hip-Hop / Rap / R&B / Soul
Jazz
atlantabluesky.com
dr.dk
kcck.org
ksbr.net
radioio.com
Klassisk
Arnold Schönberg Center
kbaq.org
king.org
nrk.no
platforma.pl
radioio.com
radioswissclassic.ch
wbhm.org
wgms.com
Metall
epicrockradio.com
heavymetalradio.com
kinkfm.com
knac.com
knac.com
metalexpressradio.com
radiostorm.com
Prog
auralmoon
deliciousagony.com
gdrmusic.com
morow.com
progradio.org
progressivesoundscapes.com
progrock.com
yurstunes.rantnrave.com
Rock
933thebone.com
965theplanet.com
callfm.com
kxul.com
munichshardesthits.com
star103fm.com
wcsx.com
wutkradio.com
y101rocks.com
Reggea
En musikksjanger med røtter til tradisjonell afrikansk, afro-amerikansk og afro-karibisk popmusikk. Stilarten som er fra Jamaica ble kjent og kommersialisert i resten av verden mot slutten av 1970-tallet.
Tekstene omhandler ofte rastafari-bevegelsens religion og politiske opprør. Musikken karakteriseres ved en "snudd på hodet" off-beat rytme der basstromme og skarptromme nærmest har byttet plass.
F.eks. artister som:
Jimmy Cliff
Bob Marley
Peter Tosh
osv.
Rastafari
Religion og folkebevegelse mot undertrykkelsen av den svarte befolkningen på Jamaica. Påvirkning fra Europa og Afrika resulterte i en egen tolkning av Bibelen, der blant annet Etiopias keiser Haile Selassie ble hyllet som den nye messias.
Jamaicas sosiale situasjon i ghettoen skapte store drømmer om å vende tilbake til Afrika. Ellers forherliges bruk av marihuana (narkotika) og den kapitalistiske vestens undergang. Rastafari-bevegelsens musikk er reggae, med artisten Bob Marley i spissen.
Rock er helsefarlig
I tilfelle du ikke visste det fra før: Nå har engelske forskere, til alt
overmål fra Beatles sin hjemby, funnet ut at det å være rockestjerne
ikke er bra for helsa.
Vi vanlige dødelige kan jo bare nevne navn som Jimi Hendrix, Janis
Joplin, Brian Jones, Bon Scott og Jim Morrison for å skjønne det, men
forskerne ved Centre for Public Health i Liverpool har gått mer
vitenskapelig til verks.
En systematisk undersøkelse av artisters levealder har aldri tidligere
blitt gjort, skriver forskning.no.
De engelske forskerne skred til verket og konkluderer med at dersom
bandet ditt slår gjennom, er du dobbelt så utsatt for en tidlig død som
oss vanlige dødelige.
Farligst er det de første fem årene etter gjennombruddet, mens
dødeligheten synker til vanlig nivå 25 år etterpå.
Liverpool-forskernes undersøkelse er basert på et utvalg av mer enn
1.050 amerikanske og europeiske artister som ble berømte mellom 1956 og
2005. Utvalget inkluderte artister fra mange forskjellige sjangre, fra
rock og punk via rap og R&B til elektronika og new age.
I løpet av disse årene døde 100 stjerner, hvorav en firedel av
dødsfallene skyldtes alkohol eller narkotika.
Gjennomsnittsalderen ved livets slutt var 42 år for amerikanske og 35 år
for europeiske stjerner.
En annen variant av rock som et helseskadelig medium.
Endelig har forskerne funnet ut det alle har visst hele tiden - å spille rockemusikk er skadelig for helsa.
Egentlig har vi visst det hele tiden, at rock og ung død går hånd i hånd. Eksemplene er mange, gjengangerne i denne sammenheng er Janis Joplin, Marc Bolan, Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison og Kurt Cobain.
Nå bekreftes myten av en undersøkelse utarbeidet av forskere ved Centre for Public Health ved Liverpool John Moores University.
Verst går det dersom bandet ditt faktisk slår igjennom. Da er du nemlig dobbelt så utsatt for en tidlig død.
Trond Granlund har holdt på siden tidlig på 70-tallet. Her under Konserten sammen for livet, i 1985
Det kommer fram i undersøkelsen som bærer det lange navnet «Elvis to Eminem: quantifying the price of fame through early mortality of European and American rock and pop stars», hvilket betyr noe sånt som: «Fra Elvis til Eminem: Forsøk på å tallfeste prisen for berømmelse hos europeiske og amerikanske rock- og popstjerner».
Dette er faktisk første gang det er utført seriøs forskning på området. Undersøkelsen er basert på et utvalg av mer enn 1050 amerikanske og europeiske artister som ble berømte i perioden 1956 til 2005.
Utvalget var bredt sammensatt. Forskerne så på artister fra et vidt popmusikalsk spekter, fra rock og punk, via rap og R&B, til elektronika og new age.
Det ble registrert hundre dødsfall blant stjernene mellom 1956 og 2005. Gjennomsnittsalderen var 42 år for amerikanske stjerner og 35 år for europeiske.
- Myten har jo alle kjent, og det er nok noe i den, sier den norske artisten Trond Granlund, som har holdt det gående siden tidlig på syttitallet, til ABC Nyheter.
- En del av fascinasjonen var jo festing og rock'n roll-liv, det er jo ikke til å komme fra.
Selv kaller ikke Granlund seg rocker lenger, og det ville livet tok slutt for mange år siden.
- Mange tror at da blir moroa blir borte, men det stemmer ikke. Er du på scenen med full konsentrasjon, så blir det mye bedre.
Trond Granlund mener også at ting har forandret seg.
- Når jeg ser rundt meg i dag, ser jeg rockere som er mye mer seriøse med det de gjør enn vi var før. Dette er også noe undersøkelsen bekrefter.
Og helsa til 57-åringen Trond Granlund?
- Jo, takk den er bare bra.
Root
Illumination
Root, in the form of multi-instrumentalist David Kendall, kicks off 2005 with a new album, Illumination. Expressing a desire for each album to be a "progression from the last" has meant that Kendall is putting more thought into each release, as he explains himself: "As I write and record each album I feel that I become more driven by a need to be 'true' to the songs. The songs arrive quickly and easily, but the lengthy part of the album is deciding how the songs should sound and how they should be arranged." This philosophy seems to be working as it would be hard to describe a specific Root sound, no bad thing in this age of universal conformity.
Opening track Wishing Man starts off quite the up tempo rocker with a prominent guitar, a funky rhythm and layered vocals. The quieter sections, with faux keyboard horns and a rather jazzy guitar solo, sound vaguely reminiscent of early Chicago, if only in the quality of the playing and arranging. Anything takes the tone down with a gentle piece and is more representative of the album as a whole, generally more reflective and pastoral than on previous releases. Kendall has a strong voice which, although not possessing the greatest of ranges, is very warm and is well suited to the more tender love songs. Displaying a pop song feel, The Meaning is a jolly ditty based on a keyboard riff while Healing In Me features impressive harmonised vocals in the chorus and a variety of different instrumental sounds, although I felt that the keyboard solo was a bit sparse. Sometimes ups the ante somewhat with another very impressive love song which begs to be fully orchestrated with sweeping violins, gentle wind instruments and the magnificence of a concert grand piano. Obviously Kendall's limited budget doesn't allow this but he has done a very impressive job suggesting these parts with the instruments he has available to him.
The slow tempo is maintained throughout Anymore and The Most, the latter employing a keyboard-generated string quartet underpinning a lovely melody topped off with a simple, yet effective, guitar solo which progresses from acoustic to electric - nice song! Always is a tad more mysterious with Eastern undertones; again the layered vocals stand out and the sound of the guitars and keyboards is well considered. My Pride is a big song that is, in my opinion, not fully realised. The elements are all there but I feel that it deserves to be rather more dramatic with a punchier ending. By emphasising, or indeed over emphasising, some sections and maybe extending the piano solo it would make the song stand out more amongst the abundance of slower tempo songs. In contrast, No Mercy is what Kendall does best, extended pieces that chop and change but maintain a coherent inner structure. The song sits admirably well within the general mood of the album but stretches out with more up tempo sections mixed with areas of reflection. Slight resemblances to Pink Floyd of the Wish You Were Here era can be made but that is more in terms of song structure (and the guitar solo!) than song style. The album is rounded off with Younger, probably my favourite track on the album simply because it is so good and Boy Genius which is the most incongruous track on the album. Not that it is bad, although I wasn't that enamoured with the lyrics, just that it did stick out as being of a different style to the rest of the album. Best viewed as a bonus track perhaps and considering the album proper to end with Younger.
Kendall has managed to maintain the high quality standards he set himself on previous albums while producing something a bit different. Illumination is a fine set of songs, and at nearly seventy minutes is great value for money. This is an album to really listen to, late at night or early in the morning, when all else is quiet and dark - a progressive chill out album if you will. As much as we may dislike it, the future of prog largely lies in musicians doing it themselves. Fortunately, with people of the talent and calibre of David Kendall, the immediate future is secure.
Tracklist: Wishing Man (5:55), Anything (5:06), The Meaning (5:07), Healing In Me (6:17), Sometimes (4:25), Anymore (4:09), The Most (5:36), Always (5:45), My Pride (5:00), No Mercy (9:40), Younger (4:43), Boy Genius (5:38)
Resolution
Every so often one comes across something that grabs the imagination, presses all the right buttons and clicks instantly into place. It happened to me on hearing Resolution the latest album by Root (aka David Kendall). With three prior albums to his name, David has pushed the boat out and produced a double album of unfaltering quality. Positioned within the realms of melodic progressive rock, the album is imbued with some very strong melodies which are often accompanied by wonderfully textured harmony vocals. David is both a competent keyboard player and a fine guitarist, taking his influences on such tracks as Equal and the three-part Resolution from Pink Floyd's David Gilmour. Further Floyd influences are heard on Falling which features a keyboard chord taken directly from Echoes. However, this is not to say that the music is in any way derivative, just that many of the songs have a familiar feel to them, a sure testament to the composing and arranging abilities of Mr. Kendall.
With slight rearrangement, Shine would make an excellent single, blessed as it is with a great chorus, while Welcome Glow has a Beatles feel to it. The title track is a well thought-out piece justifying it's 20-minute duration; indeed none of the long tracks on the album felt as if it had outstayed their welcome.
The lyrics are also worthy of mention, being a cut above a lot of the slap-dash rubbish that some bands think they can get away with. They meld seamlessly with the music forming another layer to the textures of the songs. They also follow a common theme, that of understanding, hope and ultimately, resolution.
It seems that the notion of forming a band with one's mates in order to create music is rapidly becoming a thing of the past as Root is another example of one man taking the solo concept to the extreme and doing absolutely everything - writing, playing, singing, promoting and even designing, illustrating and printing the very impressive CD booklet. Sure, modern technology has made it easier, and cheaper, for individuals to compose in relative isolation, but I have the ominous suspicion that the general state of the music industry and the lack of live venues in the UK has forced the hand of musicians somewhat in that maintaining a band is not economically viable these days. This is a real shame, as had David Kendall been born a couple of decades earlier I have no doubt that he would be packing out stadiums accompanied by a stellar cast of backing musicians while his albums racked up endless weeks in the charts.
For fans of melodic progressive music who have their pop sensibilities intact, you could do a lot worse than get hold of a copy of Resolution. At £9 (under 15 Euros!) for over 90 minutes of high quality music the album is also exceedingly good value for money!
Tracklist: Disc One: Jubal (9:56), Equal (8:58), Motherhood (6:16), Shine (4:21), Resolution (i Pull You Down, ii Seven Sins, iii The Fire) (19:39) Disc Two: Change (7:42), Falling (7:43), Welcome Glow (4:38), Honesty (10:47), Flying Blind (5:18), Need (8:00)
Poles Apart
A highly impressive release, considering the fact that only one person is responsible for composition, artwork (although I am not too impressed by that), playing all the instruments, vocals, production etc. In fact, I wasn't even aware of that initially, only by reading the sleeve notes I found out about the fact that this is a solo production of David Kendall.
The opening track Kim of what is already the third album by Root, starts
with some Floydian synth tunes and voices, but soon it goes into a
Marillion (Hogarth era) type of power sympho, combining the dynamics and
sensitivity of an album like Season's End into this track. Some
excellent solos on both keyboard and guitar are of course the obligatory
ingredients of a track in this style.
Perfect is a ballad, a bit in the Frankie Goes To Hollywood - Power of
Love style. I quite like this type of power-ballads, and this is just a
typical example of that style.
Poles Apart is on the other hand more of the lullaby-type ballad,
reminding of the latest Flower Kings or again Marillion, with a Floydian
(Division Bell type) interlude and an extremely long fade-out. Should've
Known is one of those eighties sympho tracks, which were then produced
in masses. You know, these uptempo, sort-of-happy songs. Blind Faith
sort of continues this style, vaguely reminding me of Yes or ABWH.
The next track, All That He Could Be, again prolongs the style which by
now becomes a bit annoying. A bit more variation would have been in
order here. The excellent use of keyboards is worth mentioning though.
The track finally gains some momentum at the end with a Gilmouresque
guitar solo. Then it's back to Marillion again with Natural Gift. Even
the voice of David Kendall is not unlike Hogarth's at times, but with a
rockier edge. Right on time a slow interlude starts, too bad this only
acts as a foreplay to a guitar solo of the same melody line as the main
one, which makes it a bit less interesting.
A U2 like slide-guitar opens Only You. The vocals are a bit reminiscent of Bon Jovi in this rock-ballad. The result is a commercial track which might do well in terms of airplay, but may be to cliché for average prog lovers. Brightest Star opens with a Dire Straits like acoustic guitar, in the style of a lullaby. Slowly it builds up to a climax with some nice bombastic keyboards and guitar work. I suspect that the drums are electronic as is probably the case on the rest of the album as well, but it never gets really annoying. The rest of the track dies down a bit though.
All in all an impressive release, and definitely worthwhile for any record label to pick up. I think that, with the right people around him in a band, Kendall will be able to produce some high quality works in the future. I do hope he will leave the artwork of the covers to others, though, because initially I thought I was send a Hip Hop album to review.... If you are looking for something independant to add to your collection and you like the eighties style of prog,
Tracklist: Kim (8:03), Perfect (4:00), Poles Apart (4:51), Should've Known (5:34), Blind Faith (5:09), All That He Could Be (7:45), Natural Gift (6:17), Only You (7:27), Brightest Star (9:59)
Røykejakke
Dette har egentlig ikke særlig mye med musikk å gjøre, men saken er så spesiell at den bare må med.
Er du lei av røykerne rundt deg, som stadig sniker seg av gårde på røykepauser? Da kan du foreslå denne jakken, som virkelig stigmatiserer nikotinslavene iblant oss.Jakken har et sinnrikt system av rør og slanger på innsiden, og et par svært synlige lunger på utsiden.
Meninger er at røykerne skal tvinges til å blåse all røyken ut gjennom en slange i jakkekragen. Røyken samles så i et sett med gjennomsiktige lunger, som blir gråere og eklere etter hvert som bæreren fyller dem med tjære og CO2.
Vi er litt i tvil om den potensielle kundegruppa, men er likevel sikre på at Dagfinn Høybråten vil applaudere dette initiativet. Om ikke annet, så fordi det sparer atmosfæren for alle de slemme klimagassene røykerne slipper ut.
Riverside
Polske Riverside slipper ny skive tidlig til høsten. Navnet blir "Rapid Eye Movement" (REM) som blir første del av deres "Reality Dream Triology". Riverside planlegger også å utgi de tre første skivene som en 3CD boks, som selvsagt trykkes i et begrenset opplag, slik at det eksklusive blir vel ivaretatt.
Gitaristen Piotr Grudzinski har fortid fra metallbandet Unnamed, mens Mariusz Duda kommer fra progensemblet Xanadu hvor han stod for vokal, bass og keyboards. Piotr Kozieradzki har trommet dødsmetall med bandene Hate og Domain. Lydingerniør med eget studio var det tidligere virket til Michal Lapaj. I tillegg så hjalp han til med kyboardsspilling når det trengtes på de album han promoterte.
Rock In Opposition
Rock in Opposition or RIO was a movement representing a collective of progressive bands in the late 1970s united in their opposition to the music industry that refused to recognise their music. It was initiated by Henry Cow in March 1978 when they invited four European groups to come to London and perform in a festival called "Rock in Opposition". The groups that performed in the inaugural event were:
In December 1978 the five bands met in Switzerland to formalise RIO as a chartered organisation. Its primary aim was to represent and promote its members. Three more bands were also added to the collective: Art Bears, Art Zoyd and Aksak Maboul, and further festivals were held in 1979 in France, Italy and Sweden.
Chris Cutler of Henry Cow established Recommended Records in 1978 in the UK as a model for a non-profit music company. Its initial goal was to provide RIO artists with a record label to release their music on.
RIO as a movement did not last long, but its legacy still persists. While RIO never referred to a type of music (the original RIO bands were quite diverse musically), it is still often used by listeners, musicians, and distributors to classify bands (generally bands that appeared at the RIO festivals or bands related to or derived from the RIO bands)Bands familiarized with the RIO movement and genre today include: Thinking Plague (USA), Present (Belgium), Miriodor (Canada), Ahvak (Israel), Neblenest (France), 5uu's (USA), Guapo (UK) and U Totem (USA). The term "RIO" today is almost synonymous with Avant-progressive rock or Experimental Rock.
A "reunion" festival is scheduled to take place in France in April 2007. The spirit of the original festival will be preserved in that only artists of quality, innovation and the willingness to be "in opposition" to the commercial music industry will perform. Currently the lineup is: Magma, Faust, the Peter Blegvad trio (including Chris Cutler), Present, Zao, Mats Morgan, Guapo, NeBeLNeST and GMEA.
Romiskulus
Interview
It seems
to me that before you give life to the Romislokus project, all of you
were fulfilling a previous musical research or investigation as you
have thus said. Have
you still been in search of new musical experiences, or have you
definitely found what
you looked for?
Mihail Voronov: The conception of the album “Between Two Mirrors” satisfies our requirements to ourselves. This is the result of the long search of the genre and it contains the elements which can be used in the future. From the other side the big amount of the findings were left outside of the frame of the album. The works will be continued.
The computer
technologies have furthered in fact the electronic-acoustic music where
a
lot of one-man bands have often peered. Have you though sometime
about accomplishing
your project by yourself, as it has happened to other musicians who
also made up their
minds about performing this kind of music?
Mihail Voronov:
We think today one author is uninterested
and this fact doesn’t depend on the kind of music we speak about. The
computer technologies expand the opportunities for the co-operation of
musicians with different views about music. The future technologies are
able to get them together. Our band-mates are : “pure” computer
programmer, video designer, artist of symphonic orchestra and vocalist
from the russian orthodox church although the key figures are rock
musicians anyway.
Feeling the computer as one of the band-mates let us constantly look at
ourselves with “other” eyes and to give PC the elements which we haven’t
got. We call it - to fill spaces. The computer can also make its
move to the art with gluk’s help.
For the description of
your words shown on the Romislokus` homepage is really possible
to perceive how painstaking you are toward your work. In your
opinion, what kind of
mistake have you committed in this current production, which you
intend not to
commit again in the future woks?
Mihail Voronov: The mistakes are the only things that can’t be fabricated, staged. We don’t correct some of the mistakes consciously. When everything is very right it looks unatural. Strongly normalized, the mistakes are one of the elements of Romislokus’ style.
You have created an
unexampled biography for your band where the listeners themselves
will freely idealize it according to their conception towards
yourband`s musicality. Don`t
you think this way each one of you will be depicted differently by
each listener?
Mihail Voronov: We want the listener to get determined representation of us in his mind. Nevertheless the listener forms the image of musicians in any cases (of course if a record company hadn’t formed it before). We are not the actors of Hollywood and we don’t need fabricated biographies. We want to move over all the barriers between the listener and the music. The music is a biography of special kind.
Still towards the
computer and the technology linked to the music. How have you seen
the future for those who still share today their music with a band?
Do you think most of musicians will substitute their band-mates for
the computer itself?
Mihail Voronov: Our conception of interaction in the band is different from others. Everyone of us is the author. The influence of our band-mates determines and forms musical world of Romislokus. We transmit the influences of each other through ourselves. Everyone of us supplies his own conception. That’s why we can embrace our music as it is, such as the music of another band. The computer is inorganic, co-author for us. The computer has its own volition and we respect its volition equaling to our mind. It is rather difficult to explain it to people who didn’t see how we worked. Maybe it is original and mystic. Nevertheless we are ration.
``It is a matter of
great importance for us, that you should receive not a half-finished
product, as it frequently happens but a composition of full value,
that satisfies your
requirement``. Don`t you think that`s hard to happen to those who
play alternative music
as progressive rock for instance, whereas it is entirely free from
any pressure imposed
by the record companies?
Mihail Voronov: Actually, every progressive band knows when to make the point. We were not right if we’d said about college’s music as about unfinished product. We speak about requirements to ourselves. And we knows exactly the range of preparing of each from our compositions. In some cases it is good to know the listener’s opinion before we make the point with song. There are versions of compositions, which are less open to people’s minds. First of all, we interest in consulting with evolution of perception. In our opinion soon we’ll get to the extending of prog fans auditorium. The Internet is not the last in it. We must consult the properties of the “concert-hall”, physical properties of the room, in which we listen to the music. The Internet-space is a very special “room” for prog rock bands. It isn’t a stadium or a theatre ... it is something absolutely other, new. The sound of Romislokus is being made with consult to the specialty of this space..
In former times when
USSR was an only country, bands like Kaseke and In Spe among
others...belonged until then to the same land, however they now have
their own
nationality. Do you particularly think the progressive rock scene in
your country became
poorer after that transition or, am I therein misinformed toward the
greatness of current
Russian musical scene?
Mihail Voronov: Modern music in Russia is directly linked with the West. Most of musicians resound western musical ideas and even do not try to make something new. It is not wondering because Rock ’n’ Roll was forbidden until 90`s. Russia was closed for other countries` music. But even at that time there was the layer of musicians specializing on rock music. Their songs had been played on small stages for the few interested people. We are from this kind of musicians. “Perestroyka” - democratic changes - makes new conditions. But there isn’t the substantial changes in music. Mass media gives nothing besides an absurd. New demander - Business are not intellectual in any kind. And the demand of public is primal sound. Only the Internet in our opinion is able to change the situation. Today Rock ’n’ Roll exists into two parallel worlds: the first is “live” performance, the second is conservation of musical ideas with help of digital technologies. Composer in studio is not rock musician because his music is hardly played in “live” mode. It’s very important for us to have a possibility to carry the “live” energy of musicians into the digital form. We spend a lot of pains and time to solve this problem. Sometimes we think about our art as about “dance of minds”. Moving of minds directly influence on the musician’s fingers. There are a lot of sadness in our world but also, there is something for which life is worth living. The last is the first.
‘I have particularly
seen that a large number of people in your country have lately been
more into playing heavy-styled music as heavy metal for instance
than progressive rock
music. Is there by the way a reason obviously accountable for that?
Mihail Voronov: We can equal art-rock with heavy-styled music only in absolute. Both of that are high-technique music. But art-rock gives us positive energy when “metal” shows the negative extent in the world’s accumulations. We feel Led Zeppelin and Deep Purple closer to art-rock. It is the positive part of the “hard”.
Facts
Evgeniy Gorelov - Keyboards, Vocal
Irina Unakovskaya - Viola
Mikhail Voronov - Lead Guitar
Mikhail Brovarnik - Bass
Uriy Smolnikov - Rhythm-Guitar, Vocal
Romislokus - Drums and Bass Programming&nbssp;
Discography:
"Between Two Mirrors" - 2001
Vinyl Spring, Digital Autumn - 2002
Romislokus Home Page
www.romislokus.com/
The project “Romislokus” was started shortly before
the beginning of the XXI century. Up to this time the activity of the
musicians has been purely investigative. The membership and musical
preferences changed.
At present, due to the switch over to the computer technologies, the
electronic- acoustic music has become more preferable. Our album is a
variety of it.
As a matter of fact, it’s a kind of a sketch, representing our ideas in
general.
They used linear and plane vision of sounding objects. The basic musical
blocks have been arranged, the signal row of each of them has been put
in order. The tasks of musical dramatic composition are solved according
to software. Accidents are hardly possible.
At the same time the posterior imprints, laid over initial, common to
the sketches have been preserved. Some remnant deformations of the
material, which appeared as a result of competitive variations in the
search of optimum decisions have not been done away with.
There exists the list of issues, which are still open to the dispute,
because the aim of the album is to find the way out to the level of
spatial thinking: musical images must “rotate” and be displayed from
different points of view.
That is, the starting-point of the listener will be shifted relatively
to the music, and vice versa, the musical objects aren’t static either,
some of them are able to shift relatively to the basic structure.
By means of musical dramatic composition they try to construct the world
in its diversity, to reflect the reality by means of interaction of 3
aggressive mediums constructed by us: organic, in-organic and
intermediate medium, which can’t be defined, and is associated with the
magnetic and other fields.
If they’ll judge it from the point of view of mechanics, the human voice
and the cells are in charge of organics, the computer and the
synthesizer are in charge of the in-organics and the electronic guitars
and the processor is the link between them.
Just because of the complexity of the tasks’ solution, and it is an
innovation, too – they release a limited number of demonstrative copies
of the album “Between Two Mirrors” – a kind of sketch. Its
self-sufficiency is considered in the content of the further changes,
which will display a different coverage of the events, while creating
the final variant.
It was customary to the medieval painters: at first they painted a
full-length portrait on a cart board, and only after that they created a
fresco, using this cart board.
The space between the two layers of the time a “full-length” sketch and
the final variant can be defined as “the seized time”.
They have many reasons to introduce this practice into modern art. And
they give a full account of it to you (especially for you), they place
several “cart-board” compositions of the album, they can give you an
idea of the album as a whole.
Rosseau
Interview
I would like to begin this
interview by speaking about the keyboard player
Ulla Boos and the guitarist Peter Stutz, who were the founders of
the band. Have they
contributed with any composition on ‘’Flower in Asphalt’’ album
before leaving the band?
Jörg Schwarz: Yes, there is one composition from that time of Ulla Boos and peter Stutz. It’s ‘’Glockenrock’’, and I can remember when I had joined the band, I got a tape with ‘’Glockenrock’’ and a few more titles on it. It was quite hard job to learn all the notes, licks and breaks in the songs. The other boys wanted me to play exactly like Peter, and that was what I did in the beginning, but during our live shows and recording (which was the only song on the album without any overdubs. We just played it twice and the third time is what you can hear on the record). The song became more and more my handwriting, but I must say the melody is 95% from Peter. It was absolutely perfect for me and I was feeling very comfortable with it, so why should I change it? Peter is still playing guitar, but not Rock, he’s playing Flamenco and he’s still an absolutely great player and one of my personal favorites.
As far as I know the band’s name represents a
homage to the French philosopher
Jean-Jacques Rousseau. After all those years from the band’s
foundation, do you still
share the same views as him?
Jörg Schwarz: Yes, I think we can say so. His ideas are still young today. Maybe you can find a little bit of it in our music.
It has been quite interesting for me to find
a poetry from a Brazilian folksong at the
booklet of ‘’Flower in Asphalt’’ issue. How did that poetry get to
your knowledge?
Jörg Schwarz: When we sat together making plans for the cover of the album, Ali came out with this poem, I don’t know from where he has got it, we all felt, hey, that’s exactly what we feel. At the time we have released the ‘’Flower in Asphalt’’ album the charts were stuffed with punk and easy listening pop music and everybody told us, hey you are absolutely old fashioned dreamers. But you see, the dream is still alive.
As all the band’s members were always taken
for gifted musicians and your music taken
as a high-grade one, I suppose you have consequently reached quite
a few listeners along
the years, where are most of your fans from, from Germany itself
or from abroad?
Jörg Schwarz: Thanks for your compliments. We must say that we have got the best feedback from fans in France, Italy, Japan and Brazil. Our live shows here in Germany were quite successful, but we didn’t get much airplay over here. The German radio only plays pop and dance music. There are just very little radio shows that play music like ours, but the listeners became loyal fans.
Let’s then go to the present time. Rousseau
is now being reformed by you and the
drummer Ali Pfeffer. Did the return of some German bands to the
progressive scene
contribute as an incentive for you?
Jörg Schwarz: Oh no, this was not the reason. When Ali and I met after quite a long time, we said, what about reforming Rousseau? We just sat together, talked about the old times and I also played some pieces of music, which I have recorded in the meantime, and there were also some Demo tracks. We both thought these Demo tracks had a little Rousseau’s feeling, and we have considered to produce these songs. Everything came out absolutely natural. We just sat together and played with different ideas. Music from the outside has never been a great influence to us. We never said: ‘’Come on, let’s become Genesis or Pink Floyd!’’. All we wanted was to play the music we like. I think bands that only reform themselves to make money; they will fastly disappear again. We had so many new ideas and we just had to let them out.
As you told me previously, this new project
would be at first accomplished by you and
Ali. If you had then proceeded alone in this project, would you
keep the name Rousseau
upon it?
Jörg Schwarz: When Ali and I started the new recordings, we thought about releasing this project titled ‘’Rousseau and Friends’’ but after Hofi joined us, we were 60% of the old Rousseau line-up. So we think it’s absolutely Ok to use our old name. We did ask Georg Huthmacher our former bass player to join us, but he stopped playing music because he’s very busy with his own shop, he’s in the computer business. Our new bass player Dieter Beermann is working along with me for over 15 years. He fits perfectly to us and he has become a 100% member of Rousseau. I think it’s not fair if an old band is back again, and there is just an only person from the original members left, the rest are young session players, that’s ridiculous to me.
You have told me that 7 new songs were
already composed, and some others are still in
process. Will this forthcoming work only feature new songs, or
will something from the
past also be included as a bonus track for instance?
Jörg Schwarz: Right now, we just want to release new material. We have so many new ideas and we can’t just wait to record them all, but there are some songs from the golden 70’s and 80’s on old cassettes; they are some of our live favorites that were never featured on a record. The sound quality is often very poor. However, maybe someday we’ll record them brand new.
The music of Rousseau was always
characterized by beautiful folkloric passages and
pastoral atmospheres, do you also intend to keep that
characteristic in this new album?
Jörg Schwarz: Yes, of course you’ll find some of our ‘’trademarks’’, but we don’t want to say: ‘’...now it’s time for a flute solo, or I want this string sound’’, we had some brand new ideas and I must say they all fit perfectly into the Rousseau context. We are not stuck in the past; for us Rousseau is a band of the present. And everyone of us has gone on in his own development. On our first LP ‘’Flower in Asphalt’’ I have just played the guitar, but after that I started to sing. So it became absolutely normal for us to record some vocal tracks. In the beginning of Rousseau, we have often tried to sing in our music, but that was very difficult because these songs were composed as instrumental tracks. But now, we have some songs which were written with vocal parts. However, they are typical Rousseau’s songs anyhow.
According to you, the band have no pretence
for the time being to perform alive, is that
a matter to be considered later on, or is that possibility
discarded?
Jörg Schwarz: I love to play live and I remember some great shows we have played. Even if it was often a fight with our equipment to produce our sound on stage. Nowadays it became much easier and we have thought about playing live again. Yes, but it will depend on how the record will do. A whole tour is a big expense, but let’s see what the future will bring. Definitively we will do our a little gig in our hometown for some friends, old fans and so forth, but this will just be a few songs, not a big production show. But we have not made any concrete plan for this gig.
I would like to hear your opinion towards the
current german progressive rock scene
where quite a few bands are turning up day after day as it came
about in the past. How
have you seen these new bands and their music likewise?
Jörg Schwarz: It’s great to see the progressive rock scene in Germany is getting bigger. I have read a lot about it. in other countries this step was made a few years earlier, just think about Spock’s Beard, IQ and so on. In German bands like Eloy, Jane and Kraan made history and I have ever hoped their work was not in vain, they have planted a seed and slowly something is growing. But believe it or not, in the 70’s I was not only influenced by Genesis, Eloy or other big progressive rock bands, I have also listened to Bruce Springsteen, Steely Dan and even Abba. I always wanted to be open to any style and I hope the new bands will see it the same way, otherwise you will be bored of your own music and you will lose all the fun, that’s why we are making music, fun. Good music was always fun for the musicians, I don’t think the Beatles, Yes or others thought they were just doing a job from 9 to 5.
Just to close this interview, would you like
to impart any message for all those who
appreciate your band’s music in Brazil and in the world?
Jörg Schwarz: The band wants to say thank you to everybody out there. It’s just a great feeling that our music means a lot to many people in Brazil and so many other countries where we have never been. People from so many different countries are tied together by an invisible line, and that’s music. Thanks to everybody who believed in us from the beginning until today.
Facts Rousseau
Flower in Asphalt formation:
Jörg Schwarz - Guitars and Acoustic
Guitar
Ali Pfeffer - Drums and Percussion
Christoph Huster - Flute Percussion and Acoustic Guitar
Georg Huthmacher -
Bass and Keyboards
Rainer Hoffmann - Keyboards
Discography:
"Flower in Asphalt" - 1980
"Retreat" - 1981
"Square The Circle" - 1987
‘’Rousseau was formed in Marl in 1977 by Ali
Pfeffer, Georg Huthmacher, Peter Stutz, Ulla Boos and Christoph Huster.
Right from the beginning they had a good response and gathered some
loyal fans around them. 2 years later Ulla left the band. She was
replaced by Rainer Hofmann on key.
Peter Stutz left the band shortly after that. For him, Jörg Schwarz
joined the band. After some rehersals the band started to play life
again and lots of new compositions were made.
During the life shows the band tested the new songs and choose out,
which song could make it to an album.
In 1980 Rousseau released their first LP: Flower In Asphalt. The new
Album was presented life to the fans in a concert at the Marler theater.
The response to the show and the feedback from radio stations were just
great! Lots of life gigs followed. In 1983 during the pre productions of
their 2nd LP: Retreat, Jörg Schwarz left the band. He was replaced by
Christoph Maasbaum and on some tracks Herbert Ruppik joined the band on
vocals.
Unfortunatly, at this time the new german wave was the next big thing in
germany and stole lots of attention to another great album. The band
started a new project. Fools fantasy became a life event with dancers
and actors. This show was a great success in germany . In 1986 the band
released their 3rd album Square The Circle.
Christoph Maasbaum played bass and on guitar was Uwe Schilling, Dieter
Müller became the new singer. They had a very good response from lots of
countries around the world but they still didn´t get the `Big Break´.
After that, the band started to write some new songs and for the first
time they wrote german lyrics. Schlaflose Nächte (Sleepless nights) was
only released in germany.
Some of the members left the band to start new
projects and Rousseau seemed to be dead.
But 2 years ago Ali and Jörg Schwarz started Rousseau again and the rest
of the history (oh no, not history, FUTURE!)’’.
Rick Wakeman
Interview
Any plans to follow-up the ‘Hummingbird’ project?
The one with Dave (Cousins)? That was good fun that. Dave and I talked for years about doing an album together, as we really are good friends. I just met him in Teddington and he said come and have a coffee. He said I’ve got some songs here and he played these songs, in typical Dave fashion they were all unfinished. I said ‘Well I’ve got a bit that can fit in there’. By the time the afternoon finished we had an album of songs. We went into a studio and it worked out really nicely. People seem to like it and undoubtedly we will do another one but I don’t know when to be honest. Hopefully it won’t be another 25 or 30 years until we do one again! I would think in another couple of years because we really enjoyed it.
There is a Strawbs convention in the US next year. Would you go along?
Yeah, if I am around I’ll go along. When they had their Strawbs anniversary two or three years ago I would have gone if I could have. I am great friends with all of the guys.
What was the highlight of your days with the Strawbs?
Undoubtedly when we did the old QE (Queen Elizabeth) Hall in 1971. It was fantastic and that kicked the Strawbs off in many respects. It took us out of the folk clubs and gave us a chance to go onto the university tours. A good stepping stone. It was great in those days, as there were stepping stones for bands to play. It’s not like that now. There are such great players out there and it’s so hard. Because my kids are in so many bands I meet loads and loads of different young musicians, some of them are so, so talented. We could do the folk clubs, the pubs, the clubs, the polytechnic and university circuits, and the college circuit. Then you could do the small theatre tour, civic hall tour – a whole series of stepping stones for bands that are not around anymore. I will always remember the QE Hall as it was a stepping stone. I always remember events that move you on a step or into different areas. When it was finished, in true rock’n’roll fashion we got on the train back out to where I lived. Went down Clarendon Road, ate fish and chips, then went to bed.
On your new album you’ve got a good line-up. Damian Wilson, former Threshold vocalist. Six years on the trot he’s won the Classic Rock Society’s Best Vocalist Award.
Mind you, he’s the only who enters. No, only joking - he’s a good lad!
How did you hook-up with him?
He’s been with me nearly three years now. About three years ago I got a call from an agent in South America asking me to do some shows. Pretty sizeable ones – 5-10,000 seaters. Only problem is I don’t have a band at the moment. He said two things are important - put a band together for a prog rock show and it’s got to be called the English Rock Ensemble, because everyone will now who it is. I spoke to Adam, my second oldest son, saying I needed a band. He said ‘What to play your shit?’ I want guys, influenced by lots of things. He said leave it to me. We had a warm-up show in Glastonbury. I sent out music to these guys Adam had mentioned. I know Damian from a band he was in with Adam, Joining My Road. I’d seen Damian and like his singing. Such a great range in his voice which was perfect. When you’ve had a few singers in your band they all have different ranges and to find someone to cover all these ranges is pretty tough.
So I said to Adam, ’Who else have I got then?’ Guitar player Ant Glyne. I said I know about him, great player. He’s a prog metal player, that’ll be good, something different. I said ‘What about the bass player?’ He named this guy Paul, can’t remember his second name. I already had my man on drums Tony Fernadez. But for that particular show he couldn’t do, so I got Richard Brook for that particular gig - great, great drummer. So the rehearsal came along, it was really fun. This guy came up to me and said ‘I am your new bass player’. I said hello Paul and he replied ‘I am not Paul’. He offered to change his name to Paul if it helped me! ‘Who booked you for this?’ He replied 'Paul' - I thought hold on, this is getting confusing. I asked him his name and he said it was Lee. Adam turned up and I asked him who the bass player was and he said he didn’t know! I’ve got a massive tour coming up in South America and it’s a bit of a worry when you don’t even know the bass player! I looked over at him, he takes his bass guitar out and puts it on the wrong way round and all the strings are on the wrong way round. I thought this is not confidence building! Adam goes over to have a word with him. So Adam tells me ‘Here’s the situation, the guy I booked Paul gave the gig to this guy. He is the best prog rock bass player around and Paul reckoned it wouldn’t be long until you found out about him and he would be out of a job!’
So anyway we started the rehearsal and asked if they got all the tapes prior to this rehearsal. They all said yes but Lee said ‘No. I probably know what you are going to do anyway’. We ran through ‘Starship Trooper’, from start to finish and it was amazing. Lee was just unbelievably good. Little Lee walked over to me and said ‘Boss’, he always calls me that, ‘That middle section, do you want me to show you where you’re going wrong?’ He then played me the parts again and I replied ‘Thank you very much. Any problems you got just come along to me.’ He does that with everyone in the band, he’s like our musical director.
How is Ant doing now? (The guitarist is currently recovering from cancer treatment).
He’s currently in remission, but he’s very fit. He’s well fit to do the tour. A great, great man. The whole band has bought so much to the music and I’ve had to rearrange parts. It’s been really nice. We’ve played together for 2-3 years before we made an album. Great bunch of guys, completely mad though. You’ve got the new album coming out on March 17th? It’s quite prog metal in parts?
You’ve just got the radio edit right? We have had such a problem with bootleg copies before. Last year I got a phone call about the ‘Live in Buenos Aires’ DVD saying congratulations that this DVD was number 9 in Brazil. It was the first time a music DVD had got into the film charts in that country. I thought that’s great and I made a couple of phone calls. I asked how many copies you’d have to sell to get to number nine. I was told about 120,000 - great! I phoned the distributors up and there was silence at the other end and then they said that the DVD wasn’t out for another three weeks over there. They turned round and said there was no point in releasing it over there now. They now only release previews 7-10 days before the release date, as this doesn’t give enough time to make bootleg copies. They have been really strict and said they would pull it otherwise.
For the radio edits we took out the huge prog rock bits. The metal element comes in from Ant in the way he plays, which I like a lot. It’s interesting that you mention prog metal, there’s a lot of it about. Ozzy’s ‘Ozmosis’ album was a prog metal album, tracks like ‘Perry Mason’. It doesn’t have to be airy fairie and arty farty. I was talking to guy recently at a radio station, where prog rock was like the thing you bought under the counter, in a hidden brown paper envelope. There are a lot of spin-offs from prog rock into different areas. Like early Genesis 75% prog rock, late Genesis 5% prog rock, and King Crimson 90% prog rock. So many bands nick bits of prog rock, like Muse, Furry Animals, which is great.
I like the way the band plays the music in their style and add their own touches. Damian’s very individual in vocals. Damian does things like we are checking into Gatwick to fly to Rio, whilst he’s at Heathrow trying to check into Moscow. He’s wonderful, the Frank Spencer of the band. If rehearsals are at 3 he’ll be there at 5 or 3 the previous day. Love him to death.
How did you come to rejoin Yes again?
When we did the ‘Keys to Ascension’ thing there was a management screw-up with two managers running parallel at the same time. One booked me a solo tour and the other booked a Yes tour for the same time. When one of the managers was sacked I found out I was contracted to do a tour the same time as Yes was. No way of getting out of it. In the end we kept it clear until June 2002. Lots of fans were contacting us that nothing was happening on either side from June and they were asking ‘Does this mean that both of you are working together again?’ Like 2,000 Sherlock Holmes out there! We agreed nobody books anything until Yes are booked and then we all book our various things around this. Hopefully this will continue for a long time yet.
Yes are touring in June?
June, July and August, when we’ll be touring Europe and then Japan and Australia. We were meant to tour there but Jon had his accident. He needs six months to recoup, he’s on his well. We can’t hurry it, as you might get on the road for one month and then be off for eight months because you came back too early.
Your solo tour - you must be looking forward to that. Heck of an extensive UK tour. What sort of setlist will you have?
It shouldn’t be called the ‘Out There’ tour, it should be ‘The I am Completely Off My Head It’s Bloody Stupid Tour’. We wanted to tour with a band and production. It’s got serious front screen projection coming in from JVC. Cameras over the keys as everyone always say we only see you grimacing with the music or either you’ve just farted.
When the tour agency, John Shaw, asked did we want to tour and I said we can’t its far too expensive. We need to do seriously big places, no way we could do a theatre tour. They came back a few weeks later and said you’re dead right. You’d need to do 47 shows in 47 days with a 97% capacity just to break even, so it’s really stupid. I said we quite agree, so we’re doing it then. It’s completely mad but I don’t like days off anyway. If we had a day off we’d only go and lose Damian anyway. He’d go off on a run and we’d never find him again.
Production shows have left the theatres now, we want to bring it back in. A lot of animation in it as well, we’ve done it already for a studio DVD coming in June/July. It’s got the spaceship looking for the source of music, it’s all built around that.
To answer your question - I am like a politician really, talk about anything I want. Talk about Man City in a minute! We’ll be doing stuff from ‘Journey…’ ‘Six Wives…’ ‘King Arthur’ and surprise bits ’n’ pieces. From the new album we will be certainly be doing the title track ‘Out There’ and ‘Cathedral In The Sky’, plus ‘Music of Love’ or ‘Universe of Sound’. Thirty minutes or more of the new album. End of the first half we’ll bring on ‘Out There’ and the first time we bring out the projection, rather than the curtain opens to everything you’ve got. We want to build the show up. If we can make this work we know we can take it to Europe and the US.
Any style of music that you’d still like to play - any musical challenges left?
Some of the things you do for yourself, almost an ego trip. I did a classical album with the English Chamber Choir called ‘The Wizard of the Forest of All Dreams’, which was something I’d always wanted to do. I love classical and I knew it would cost a lot of money. At the very best it would take a minimum of five years at least before it made its money back. If you’re always thinking you can’t afford that you end up not writing what you want to. Some of the pianos cost serious money once you’ve rented the best Steinway in town. Plus a good acoustics studio, you’ll be spending £2-2,500 per day for ten days. I love doing those sorts of things.
I’d like a full-scale ballet. But you know you’re on a hiding to nothing. I’ve had some stuff used in ballet and one in Milan. But I know what it would cost and in a nice sense, ballet soundtracks are not big winners in the market today. Ballet’s a really interesting area. I go to Milan a lot, my girlfriend’s Italian and we go to the Scala a lot. We are great friends with the director there and also in Florence. They are getting more adventurous in their music, some of it is jaw dropping. I think there is room to bring in some modified prog rock – there’s a huge gap there and market to excite. Bring the music to a new audience. I like exploring new avenues. Major problem is that no-one will back anything with no track record in the music industry.
We had a bit of a fight over the front cover. On a CD you can’t get any depth once the band’s name or writing is on there. Adam Lovesey, head of the art department at Classic (Pictures) showed me the new cover with all the writing down the spine, leaving a clear picture cover. I thought it was great. So we knocked it up and showed it to the decision-makers. They said great but where is the title on the front? We said it’s not there and we’re putting it there. They said no one does that but we won in the end and we showed ‘Record Collector’ and they thought it was great.
I also wanted a full colour booklet, but they wanted black and white because of the cost. They wanted to know why but I wanted to go back to the days when the album cover was the introduction to the music. When you go to a bookshop for a book called ‘Killer At Dawn’ you don’t have a mental picture of a little furry monkey holding a lolly do you? Bu that’s what’s been happening with CD covers and we wanted the booklet to give you an idea of the music and it’s quality. I hate those booklets with four pages of black and white and no info. But on the other hand I’ve had some stupid ideas but they’ve quite rightly knocked me back.
Same with the whole prog rock thing. All the people at BMG were looking forward to the new album but didn’t know what prog rock was! They asked what does it sound like? They all love the album. But its like me saying to you that I’ve got this great new colour called ‘splodge’. You’d say what’s that then? If I could show you ‘splodge’ you’d straight away say I like that! It’s like music sometimes its hard to describe and I play the mentally senile, he’s 54 this year let him do what he wants to.
A few years ago you did your autobiography called ‘Say Yes’. Would you like to do another, more updated account?
I had two biographies, the first one was ghost written and six months later I got divorced. The publishers were not happy, as you had these happy family photos. The publishers said that’s complete ruined, we can’t sell that one, thanks very much. Did ‘Say Yes’ with Hodder and Stoughton, it did really well and even made the bestsellers, 34 or 32, did all right. Just about to go into second pressing and I got divorced again. They weren’t happy at all. HarperCollins asked for another one in a slightly different style and that’s what I plan to do. There’s one David Niven did called ‘The Moon’s A Balloon’, which is great. The best autobiography ever, it’s not about him but the people he meets. No particular order, he just rambles on - that’s the sort of book I want to do. There are so many people I’ve meet which is really nice and had an influence on the things I’ve done. Biographies are hard as many people said you didn’t much about Yes. I will do a book about Yes but I won’t do it until I know Yes is coming to an end. Because if you’re going to write an honest book about Yes you have to have an ending.
I have every single book written on Yes, even those in foreign languages. Some are very good like Chris Welch’s book, but it doesn’t tell the story as the only way you can tell the story is from within. They come from a different perspective. A lot of things happened for a reason, nothing against the guys in the band. It will only make people say ‘That’s why that happened’. There were never less than a hundred people around the band – managers, crew – and these all have an effect on the band.
Some of the books are disgusting, Chris Welch is very good but Darren Hedges is disgusting. Darren Hedges is like Salman Rushdie to me! He just wrote what he like. If you’re writing a biography you can’t be opinionated and fill in the facts as you want. They don’t do any harm but some bits should be redressed.
How did you get into the TV work?
In ‘Countdown’ there is no cheating, what you see is what you get. The people sitting next to you in Dictionary Corner are nice ladies from Oxford or whatever, they are unbelievable, absolutely brilliant. They come up with words you have never heard of. The secret is, people like Damian the Scrabble champion, I believe this is right – most people know 10% of the words in the dictionary and use 10% of those 10%. Whereas a Scrabble champion will know 98% of the words in an English dictionary, they won’t know anymore than 8% mean but they know the words.
Invariably I’ll be sitting there and the letters will come up and they will come up with a word. I’ll ask Damian what it means and he’ll say he doesn’t know but it’s there in the dictionary. It might mean a castrated camel’s penis or whatever, but it’s in there. The reason they have someone really clever who passes the words to you after checking them, you’d have no end of letters about words you’d missed. It has a monster audience.
Carol (Vorderman) is lovely, a great person. She comes out and meets the audience each show - she still does it some twenty years or so since the show started. Carol loves the programme, she doesn’t have to do it. I went racing with her, she’s got that knack of being able to talk to anyone. From little old ladies to fourteen year old kids who have a crush on her.
I love the TV, ‘Buzzcocks’ (a BBC TV pop quiz show), Mark Lamar, Bill Bailey and Phil Jupitus - three of my favourate people. I love doing those sort of programmes. Mark likes to get the wrinkly rockers on there and take the piss out of them, but he says I am a waste of space as I just want a laugh.
My great love is the big prog rock stuff. It may sound like a bad analogy but I am a great curry nut. But if I did eat it every day I’d have had enough. The greatest thing for me is that I enjoy all the different things I do because when I come back to prog rock I get excited again. If I’d been doing prog rock for the last ten years I’d a) get as excited as I am about a new album and b) I doubt it would have turned out as it has.
Finally, is the curry-on-stage with Yes story true?
Manchester Free Trade Hall, ‘Tales from the Topographic Ocean’ tour, in the days when my roadie used to hide under my Hammond. Two go