The Gonzo Daily Interview with Ant-Bee

Yesterday teatime I did one of the most intriguing interviews of my career so far. I spoke to Billy James, who – apart from being the main publicist with whom I have been dealing in recent months, is also main man of Ant-Bee – perhaps the most singular artist on Gonzo (and that is up against some stiff competition).

I have a copy of his/their most recent album Electronic Church Muzik and it is one of the most challenging and interesting things I have heard in ages. The list of guest contributors is very impressive with more Gong, Focus and Mothers of Invention alumni than you can shake a stick at. Billy is pictured below with Gilli Smyth from Gong.

I couldn’t wait to talk to him…

Jon: I think it’s jolly good. I was surprised how with such a wide and diverse collection of people you’ve got playing on it how cohesive the whole thing sounds

Billy: You have to remember that I’ve been working in sound collages for many, many years – that’s one of the things I do – I am really into editing and dubbing things and sound collages. Almost like the way Zappa used to do it on Only in it for the Money – that one piece The Chrome Megaphone of Destiny – have you ever heard that piece?

Jon: Yes

Billy: I’ve always found that type of material very inspirational and also very interesting and just working with sound collages, you know – musique concrète – and so the other thing you have to remember is that the previous album was Lunar Musik which Gonzo is going to be releasing with the rest of the back catalogue, which took three and a half years to make. This last record took me ten years to make, so I had a lot of time to think about how things were going to be in song order and a lot of the structuring.

There’s a reason why it took so long to do it but I did have quite a bit of a time to figure out how pieces linked together and then some of them sort of cosmically linked together in their own way, you know, once I started working with them, but there’s a bit of a dynamic thread through it. It’s almost a sort of stream of consciousness type of a record, sort of examining the spirituality of man and woman and that’s what it is all about.

Not really laying any sort of trip to you, it’s just a trip. Not feeding you anything, it’s just something there to eat if you can figure all that out, but anyway that’s what it is. It did take a long time to work and this and that. Do you want to know why it took so long?

Jon: Uh huh

Billy: Originally studios – you know the studios that I was working in where I was living in one city about ten years ago after Lunar Music came out and did quite well actually and I went and I toured with the main songwriter and one of the founding members of the Alice Cooper group, Michael Bruce. And there was other projects that I was involved in before I started working on it. But anyway, when I started working on this record, the studios I was going into was very expensive and so with not having the backing of a record label at the time, the two records that I did came on Taste and Divine records which was My Favourite Vegetables and then Lunar Musik which came out in 1998. I didn’t have any backing from a record label and the type of music I do there’s just not that many labels that understand what I’m doing and the commercial potential – as with Zappa’s music, there’s no commercial potential – even I find quite a bit of it, but…

So at any rate, it was up to me to finance the thing as the bottom line and going in the studios that are like $60 to $70 an hour and then you’re only able to go in at certain times – you can’t block book space, and in between a lot of other projects I was working on and being hired to work on – so I was only able to go in there maybe a couple of times every couple of months, every few months, and movement was very, very slow.

Finally I relocated to another city in North Carolina where I’m at, which is called Asheville which is sort of like a mini hippie town in the mountains of North Carolina. I purchased a recording console and set up my own studio and I proceeded then, and this was probably about three years ago, so we’re seven years in. Every single night, for two years straight – just about two years straight – I would record. And I worked and worked and I have hundreds of different versions and all kinds of material and, you know, so what you get out of Electronic Church Musik is only a fraction of some of the pieces I was working with editing together and …because I have another two albums’ worth of material but I don’t know when I’ll finish them up.

So at any rate I was able to work every single night for two years just about as well as doing my publicity work and put together Electronic Church Musik. Finally I was able to do the whole thing here, really; edit and put everything together and most of the tapes, with the other musicians were all sent to me either – you know they were so long ago.

Peter Banks sent me his tracks on DAT tape so I had to find someone who had a DAT player that dubbed those over. Jan Akkerman, I think he originally sent me his piece on cassette, and I think I had to transfer that over. I believe it was and I think it was the same with Michael Bruce….. it was so long ago, it was like in the 90s – we were still using cassettes. High grade cassettes, you know. CDRs were expensive back then so some of the mediums are different mediums, and some of them later on came as CDRs and then some through the computer – mp3 type stuff, so I had all kinds – I still do – I had hours and hours of material to work through from these artists that I’ve either worked with in the past or recorded with or I had done publicity for and so they got to know me in that respect and then got to know that I’m a musician and my music and were impressed with it and decided they want to work with me, so there’s different ways a lot of these musicians I work with.

So anyway, a couple of years ago I finally had the chance to work with it, put it together , spend night after night and a million mixes and finally came up with what you have there. I wouldn’t say it’s 100% of what I like. You know, there’s certain things you go back and I was still learning the recording console at the time, so that was the other thing. I think now when I listen to it that there are certain things that I would have remixed and done just a little bit different, but you either have to put a stop or a finish date or end up pulling a Brian Wilson’s Smile and you never finish it. So I just had to say finally this is it. It’s the best I am going to be able to get right now. I’ve got to put an axe on it and get on with it and get on to something else. And that’s what churned out. And the reviews, other than maybe a couple of odd ones in the Netherlands oddly, everywhere else: Greece and Germany and a lot of great ones in the UK and several good ones here in America. All rave reviews, so it’s been very good and I’ve done several interviews for it, and that’s just what it is. Just another piece of Ant-Bee history that is out in the world right now.

Jon: Did all the contributors that you worked with do their stuff individually and just send it tapes to you, or did you actually record with any of them?

Billy: Some of them did and some of them didn’t. When I was living in Los Angeles I worked with some of the original Mothers of Invention – this was back in I guess 1990, so I don’t know how many years that is. 20 years ago or something like that – Bunk Gardner, and Don Preston and Jimmy Carl Black. And so that material was actually recorded. Some of the stuff I use even to this day was recorded back then. I had Bunk actually come out to my house in Encino, California and I paid him a fee and had him blow horn for three hours. So I have hours and hours of him playing clarinet and flute, you know, just so I knew I’d be using it 30 years later.

And I still do. I’m still using all this material. He also had tapes of him and his brother Buzz from the 70s that are just free form jams that he also gave me carte blanche to use certain sections of that and added them together and use things. And then also Don Preston. When I was out there I went over to his house- well actually it was like a studio, a king of weird studio/apartment in Los Angeles and he had a work room and we sat in there and I gave him some musical ideas and this and that and we worked together recording that out there, which I am still using. Some of the stuff he’s sent over to me recently as well.
Some of the material I did with Michael Bruce was when we were on the road – we were able to go into the studio several times and I was able to get him to record some things as well and then, like I said, the Peter Banks stuff and Jan Ackerman and David Allen – all that type of stuff was sent to me. Gilli Smythe – that stuff was all sent to me, you know, through the different mediums. They weren’t here when they did it, even though I’ve met all of them and been in touch with all them, and then Napoleon Murphy Brock’s part – vocal piece that was sent. Him and Don actually did that together at some point. I think at Don’s house and then sent it over to me. So that’s just the way I’m able to work. It’s too expensive to fly people out here and do it all, and everyone pretty much lives in separate parts of the country.

And so the first part ends. We will continue with this remarkable conversation tomorrow..
Posted by Jon Downes

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Rock Chicago Interview with Jon Anderson

Interview with Jon Anderson from Yes
by rockchicago
Interviewed by Kevin Pollack

Q: How did you get into music? Did you come from a musical family?
Anderson: Well, my brother and myself used to work on the local farm, and we sang every day. When I was a kid, I used to sing, we had a band actually, when I was 9 years old called The Little John Skiffle Band. My parents were from big Ballroom dancing. My father was in entertainment. He did radio from way back, but that’s how we got into music, me and my brother. He had a band in 1962, and I joined it, and it was the beginning of 1963, called The Warriors. We just loved singing the Everly Brothers’ songs, and of course The Beatles, started in ’63 and we just wanted to be Beatles. So that’s how we started.
Q: How did you get started with Yes?
Anderson: Well, I’ve been with The Warriors for about 5 years, and we travelled all over Europe, and then I found myself in London, and I was working in a bar above The Marquee Club, which is a famous club in London, and there were always big stars coming in to drink and have a snack like Pete Townshend, Keith Emerson, Jimi Hendrix; people like that, and I was working in the bar cleaning up, making a bit of money. One night, Chris Squire was there, popping at the bar, very lonely, and went over and said, “Hi, how ya doin?” and we struck up a friendship and that lasted a long, long time.
Q: Tell me how Open was written. What was the concept?
Anderson: I wrote the sketch of it last year around March, I think it was, and April, and I just had this idea that I wanted to perform a large scale piece of music, and it’s part of my DNA to create these long-form pieces, I did it with Yes, and I did some with Vangelis, pretty long-form ideas. So, I just thought it was a good time to try something out, and a local friend of mine did orchestration, and he did a beautiful orchestration on it, and I just carried on working on it, and I finished it around September. I’m actually working on another one now. So, it’s just part of my musical education to myself, you know?
Q: Where did the collaboration with Marco Sabin come about?
Anderson: Well, I’ve been working a lot with a friend from Rome, Alessandro DeRoso, and he had a contact with Marco, and asked me if I would sing on his album, and sing a song. So I said, “Why don’t you send me a piece of the music,” and Marco sent me the piece of music and I sang this idea, and we both liked it, so he said he was gonna put it on his album. So I said, “Yeah, why not?” and we released it as a single, which is kind of cool. He came up with the idea of “Limitless,” so I wrote the melody and the lyric about how we are very limitless human beings, and we should always be ready to not limit ourselves.
Q: What was working with Vangelis like?
Anderson: He was amazing, because he was a very free-formed musician. Everything we did was very spontaneous, which was kind of opposite to Yes, where everything was very structured, and we spent hours and hours putting the songs together, where, with Vangelis, we did the song in one take, and then we would learn what we were doing. It was a way to create spontaneous music.
Q: You and Rick Wakeman have had a long relationship. Describe to me how you both came up with The Living Tree.
Anderson: Well, it was about 2 years earlier, me and Rick had toured together in the UK, so we’ve written 4 songs for the show, because it’s nice to sing new songs in a concert. So, we did the tour last year, and we wrote about 5 more, and realized we have an album, so we put it out as an album, and it became a big part of the show, because creating new songs creates new emotion, and a new feeling onstage together. The songs weren’t really good onstage.
Q: I recently heard you are going to be doing a project with Trevor Rabin. Can you tell me about that?
Anderson: That’s an on an off situation. I get together with Trevor every few months. He’s very busy doing film scores. There was a time when we wanted to do something together, but he’s sort of drifting towards more film score music, and I’ve been drifting towards more working with different people, so it doesn’t happen. Maybe next year we’ll see what happens. We’re good friends. That’s the main thing.
Q: What is your process as a songwriter?
Anderson: Well, I’m playing music every day. I enjoy receiving music from people all over the world on the internet. I put an ad on my website, so people send me music all the time, and it gives me a chance to go into my studio, and people just send me music and I’ll come up with musical ideas, and build on that. So, I’m in a very, very creative zone at the moment. I think I’m more creative these days than I’ve ever been in my life. I always think the best music is coming. It’s a different world, and I just enjoy creating music and singing of course.
Q: Who and what are your influences?
Anderson: There’s so many. I love Mozart. I love The Beatles. I Love Rickie Lee Jones. I love Springsteen. I love U2, Sting. I like American music, and instrumental. I love Etheopian music. I love all kinds of music. I’m always mesmerized how beautiful one sort of musical world is. There’s so much great music out there.
Q: How did your recent health issues affect you as a person and as a writer?
Anderson: Well, when you nearly die, you sit back and think, “Ok, well I better get on with some music, and try to finish the songs that I wrote. The dreams that I want to finish,” and I have so many dreams. It’s made me more happier, more healthier, and more thankful.
Q: If you can collaborate with any 3 people in the world, living or dead, who would they be and why?
Anderson: Of course, John Lennon, Jimi Hendrix, and Rahsaan Roland Kirk, a saxophone player. Oh, and Frank Zappa. Reason being, they were very inventive, very forward thinking people. I was looking at the lyrics for “Imagine” yesterday, somebody sent me them, a good friend of mine, and they’re just incredible lyrics when you see them written now, and I was lucky to meet Jimi Hendrix right at the very beginning of his Experience band, because I worked in the bar nearby, and he’d come in, and he was such a friendly guy, and an incredible guitar player, unbelievable.
Q: What can your fans look forward to from you from here?
Anderson: A lot of very adventurous music. I’m not quite sure how it’s all coming together, but I’ve worked on so much music over the last 6 years, and I’m trying to figure out a way of getting it out there into the world, and it’s coming slowly for people to expect something different and exciting and adventurous I think.

Make sure to check out Jon Anderson performing at Viper Alley in Lincolnshire on June 8th starting at 8:30pm. Get tickets here: http://www.viper-alley.com/calendar/details/476.

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Herald de Paris Interview with Greg Lake: “Greg Lake: What a Lucky Man He Is”

Greg Lake: What a Lucky Man He Is
BY HERALD DE PARIS CONTRIBUTOR’S BUREAU ON APRIL 23, 2012
By Dr. Al Carlos Hernandez & Benny Reitveld
HOLLYWOOD (Herald de Paris) – Gregory “Greg” Stuart Lake is best known as the vocalist and bassist of King Crimson and the bassist, guitarist, vocalist, and lyricist of Emerson, Lake & Palmer.
In January 2012 Lake announced a new interactive U.S. theater tour called “Songs of a Lifetime,” which began to rave reviews on April 15. He said he played songs and shared stories from his time with King Crimson, Emerson Lake and Palmer and as a solo artist.
Greg Lake is considered a legendary voice and musical icon whose impact changed the landscape of rock and roll. The tour showcases Greg’s influence on music and those who influenced his music in an unusual, personal show consisting of songs, stories, and audience participation. The tour coincides with the pre-release of the artist’s autobiography, which will be made available first to those who attend the shows in audio book form and read by the author himself. The autobiography will be released in three parts, with the full print version available at the end of the year. Volume 1 will be available at the shows.
The tour gives fans the opportunity to hear songs from Emerson, Lake & Palmer, King Crimson, and others in a storyteller format with a question and answer session. The unique format allows for a different and personal show every night, featuring stories of Lake’s encounters with other musical greats who influenced him.
Greg said, “The concept of performing an intimate and autobiographical show presents a huge challenge. My experience of this format last tour (2010’s acclaimed collaboration with keyboard artist Keith Emerson) was so invigorating it still gives me a thrill every time I think about it. The audience and I have created an intimate and unusual experience together. However, at the end of the night the most important [thing] of all is that the audience always feels they have been entertained and enriched by the whole live experience.”
Greg Lake came to prominence as a founding member of King Crimson. He was a school friend of guitarist Robert Fripp, who invited Lake to join the new band and take on the tasks of lead singer and bass player. Lake was primarily a guitarist, but agreed to switch to bass at Fripp’s request. Lake had some involvement in writing the lyrics for King Crimson’s debut album, In the Court of the Crimson King. The album, released in 1969, made King Crimson far more successful than any of Fripp and Lake’s earlier projects, and became a key influence and landmark in the emerging progressive rock genre. Lake stayed with King Crimson for only about a year, leaving soon after their debut album to start the rock trio Emerson, Lake & Palmer. King Crimson had played a couple of venues along with The Nice, and Lake had struck up a friendship with their wunderkind organist and keyboardist, Keith Emerson. As a result, they teamed up and brought in the drummer from The Crazy World of Arthur Brown and Atomic Rooster, Carl Palmer, thus forming the progressive rock ’supergroup’ ELP.
With ELP steadily becoming one of the highest-grossing live acts on earth, they released their most ambitious album yet in 1973,Brain Salad Surgery. ELP’s massive commercial success continued when they were the headline act (along with Deep Purple) at 1974’s California Jam, where they played live to an audience of some 180,000. In the midst of this unprecedented renowned and immense financial success, ELP went on a two-year hiatus. During the hiatus, Lake gained further popularity for his UK Christmas number-two-single, “I Believe in Father Christmas” (released in 1975).
After more than a decade, Emerson, Lake & Palmer reunited in the Summer of 2010 at the High Voltage Festival. As preparation for this show, Keith Emerson and Greg Lake toured North America in the Spring of 2010, presenting an intimate unplugged performance of King Crimson, ELP and The Nice selections featuring only Emerson and Lake performing.
Herald de Paris’ Dr. Al Carlos Hernandez, along with Benny Reitveld of Santana, had an opportunity to pose a few questions to the legendary Lake about his life, his times and his legacy.
Do you read music? Or was it just Keith that was the “note” guy and the other two more “ear” oriented?
GL: I learned to read music when I was young but since then have done most of my work by ear.
Was playing bass with a pick a result of having played guitar first, or was it just the sound of it, or the fashion at the time?
GL: I think it was because I played guitar first and then moved to bass. At the time when I grew up, bass players often used steel tape wound strings finger style, however this did not provide any tone sustenance and the tone was extremely dull and not at all percussive. I changed to wire wound strings using a plectrum because it brought about all of these advantages simultaneously.
It seems like you and Chris Squire pioneered the use of round wound strings. Did you hear someone else use them first? How did you actually come to start using them?
GL: Chris and I actually lived together for a short while in London and we always joke together about who had the idea first. I do know that at the time I was absolutely frustrated playing tape wound strings. I can remember going into a music shop in Soho in London called Sound City and complaining about the problem. It was they who suggested using Rotosound strings.
What is your personal favorite ELP album?
GL: Well, if I have to pick one I would probably choose Trilogy. There are really three ‘best” ELP records. They are Tarkus, Trilogyand Brain Salad Surgery. These were the records that were innovative, inspired and completely original.
What was the first time you realized that you had made it in the music business; that you were, indeed, a “Rock Star?”
GL: I suppose it was when King Crimson became a headline act.
How did becoming rich and famous change your life or inform your work? Help or hindrance?
GL: I don’t think that it made a great deal of difference to the work. It obviously changed the way I lived to some extent but I would have always played music whether money was involved or not.
You are said to have a legendary voice. How do you feel about that? Who are your musical influences? Who did you listen to as you were coming up?
GL: I am obviously never able to look at myself in the same way that others view me; to me, my voice is just the voice I was born with. I suppose that over the years I have learned from the masters and developed a style of my own. These influences are extremely wide ranging and diverse, from Elvis to Joni Mitchell or from Dean Martin to Little Richard, there really are far too many to list.
Greatest personal success and failures of King Crimson?
GL: The greatest success was creating the album In The Court of the Crimson King and possibly the greatest failure was in breaking up to soon.
Greatest personal success and failures of ELP?
GL: The greatest success of ELP was probably creating such a big and original sound with only three people. The greatest failure was not to have continued to produce innovative albums.
What was the greatest performance experience of your life?
GL: This really is impossible to say. Firstly there were a number of incredible large scale events such as the concert with the Stones in Hyde Park, the Isle of Wight festival, The California Jam, The Olympic Stadium Montreal, Soldiers Field Chicago etc. The list just goes on and it is impossible to choose one above the others as they were all life changing in one way or another.
Tell us about your new show and its theatrical slant. It is very intimate. How did you get the idea and what is the ultimate expectation?
GL: I have just finished writing my autobiography, rather unsurprisingly called Lucky Man. During the writing I began to form a collection of songs that were in some way pivotal or highly influential to my career. I began to think about how these songs represented the journey that I had shared together with the audience that had followed the fortunes of King Crimson and ELP and came up with the title “Songs of a Lifetime.” The idea is to trace this journey together with the audience in real time with myself and the audience having a chance to tell various stories and accounts about what these particular songs meant to them.
The autobiography will be divided into three separate volumes. Volume One has just been released as an audio book and volumes two and three will follow on shortly. At the end of the year I will be releasing the hard cover book of all three volumes together.
What inspires you to write and perform music now? Are there things you still hope to accomplish in music?
GL: Music is an ongoing process which unfolds each and every day to reveal a new horizon. There are still many things I would like to accomplish before I am finished. I will be recording a new album during the summer for release early 2013.
What kind of an impact do you think your musical legacy will have when people look back on Crimson and ELP?
GL: I hope that when people look back that they can understand and appreciate the amount of care and dedication that went into making these records. They were not just simply attempts at achieving commercial success but were serious attempts to create enduring works of art. However, it is for others to judge whether we succeeded or failed.
There is a rock legend that before Jimi Hendrix died, he planned to work with you, and the band would be called HELP for Hendrix, Emerson Lake and Palmer. Any truth to that?
GL: When Keith and I formed ELP we interviewed Mitch Mitchell with a view to becoming the drummer for ELP. It was Mitch who suggested bring in Jimi. The press got hold of this story and started to speculate on HELP. In the end we chose Carl Palmer and a little while later Jimi tragically died so nothing more came of it.
Is there anybody you want to work with but never had the opportunity?
GL: It is not really something I think about. I suppose I am a bit of a fatalist where things like this are concerned. Just because I admire someone doesn’t necessarily mean that I have to play together with them.
What kinds of things are left on your bucket list? Things you would like to accomplish before it’s all over?
GL: I have no immediate plans to die, thank you. It was a pleasure AC, Benny, Many thanks.
Edited by Susan Aceves

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It’s Psychedelic Baby Magazine – Norman Greenbaum interview

Interview:

1. Thank you very much for taking your time and effort to do this interview. I’m really happy we can talk about your music, Norman. First I would like to ask you where did you grew up and what were some of the influences on you as a young kid?

I grew up in Malden , Mass., near Boston. If you mean music influences, I had many. My parents listened to Benny Goodman, my sister loved Sinatra I listened to Senor Wences, Elvis, Bill Haley and anything I could find in folk music, Dave Van Ronk, Eric Von Schmitd, all jug band music, Bob Dylan, along with odds and ends played by Wolfman Jack out of Del Rio, Texas. Other influences, such as sports? The Red Sox, Celtics & Bruins, my home teams. Still love the Red Sox. Still love jug band music.

2. What was the scene in your town and at what moment did you decide to move to Los Angeles? There you formed a band called Dr. West’s Medicine Show & Junk Band. Were you perhaps in any other bands before that? Any releases?

My town had no scene. I was going to Boston University, playing music around town and decided I would rather be a musician than scholar. I had friends who had moved to Hollywood and I left school and moved there, enamored by the weather, Beach Boys and the music business. It was there that I started to make friends connected to the music business and other musicians and when I said I wanted to start a modern jug band, I started Dr. West’s Medicine Show & Junk Band with Bonnie Wallach, Evan Engber & Jack Carrington. Because we were an oddity, we got noticed immediately, were asked to do auditions and were signed to a contract where we made our first record, The Eggplant That Ate Chicago.

3. Why did you decide to form a jug band? Why did you choose such name?

I like the humor in jug band music, it fit my offbeat style of writing, gave me the opportunity to schmaltz it up on stage and while it entertained the audience, it entertained me. The name just came to us. No big story there, although some of the instruments Evan played were junk, like car fenders.

4. The Eggplant That Ate Chicago is title of the album you released back in 1967. It was released on Go-Go Records. What are some of the strongest memories from producing and recording this LP?

Music is very “unusual” and it’s a mixture of jug and also proto psych…how did you menage to mix those two genre together?

Where did you record it?

Being that it was the first time in a recording studio for all of us, it was exciting. We did what we did, the album was recorded and released, nothing that memorable except the songs and the album cover, as people know, we painted our faces for performances, never the same 2 nights in a row and I think we were the first band to do that, long before Kiss. So, we did a psychedelic cover, faces all done up behind us a light show screen, as we used a small light show in the act and were one of the first to do that. We were a psychedelic jug band, first of it’s kind. We were very interesting. Non conformists in an about to start era of such, free form music, light shows, psychedelic art, flower power, flower children, be ins, concerts in the park. What an amazing time.

How many pressing were made and what can you say about the cover artwork?

I don’t know, was never given pressing amounts, but the single hit the charts and went up to about 50 on Billboard.

5. Would you like to tell me about the Dr. West’s Medicine Show & Junk Band concerts?

We toured and all that. We were weird, like my song. It didn’t always go over. It stopped being fun because of management, everyone dropped out but me, they were replaced, the act changed, no more light show or painted faces, the on stage medicine show skits were kept, they went over well, we were getting attention for my humor, but I never fit into becoming straighter than I wanted to be by management, so, eventually, I left the band after an uproar about my Dr. West suppository pills skit, where I ended it with, “Dr. West suppositories, you know what you can do with them”. That and because the drummer used to light his junk pail drum kit on fire singing, Don’t Eat The Monkey’s Peanuts, Joe, management said I was going too far. So I decided to go even further. Leave the group and become a rocker.

6. I will write down songs from the LP and I would love if you could comment some of them…

Patent Medicine

Descriptive of the fake medicine we faux peddled in our skits.

A Summer Love Song

Gotta love a song with whistling.

How Lew Sin Ate

One of our best. Just listen to the words. LSD was coming into it’s own.

Look At Her Now.

I wrote songs about observations. I always picked up on phrases being used around me and extrapolated.

The Eggplant That Ate Chicago

Yes indeed, mu homage to early sci fi movies, my Saturday afternoon favorite.

Modern Day Fish

Again, times were a changing. Listen to the words.

Nora

A relative. Of all of us. A spinster?

The Old Fruit Peddler

A take off of vegetable cart merchants, horse and buggy, home delivery, the 40′s and early fifties. Now we have Taco trucks.

Weird

Yes we were. And me, not so much anymore.

7. What happened next? You started your solo carrier…You released several singles from 1968 on and in 1969 you released one of the most well-known rock songs called Spirit in the Sky.

Solo career. I started a rock band. We were playing The Troubador in Los Angeles, Erik Jacobsen, producer of The Lovin Spoonful happened to be there. He liked my songs and my singing, signed me as a solo artist, had to leave the band, I moved to Northern California and started recording in San Francisco. Dr. West music was recorded around L.A. Studios.

I would like to know what are some memories from recording your whole LP later in 1969, which was released on Reprise…how did you came in contact with Reprise?

What gear did you use for the recording sessions and where did you record it?

What can you tell me about the cover artwork?

Spirit In The Sky was recorded is San Francisco. I was a solo artist, so we put together a backing band and singers and recorded at 960 Bush, Coast Recorders.

Basic band for the tracks. Bass, drums, 2 guitars. I had a Telecaster, Russell DaShiell played a Les Paul, I guess, I had Fender tube amps. I don’t remember what other people had.
Erik Jacobsen had a production deal with Warner/Reprise, so I was at first signed to Erik’s production company and subsequently to Reprise with a 3 LP deal.

The sessions had all sorts of memorable events, being that Spirit has gone on to be one of the biggest one hit wonder songs of ever. More discussed with each song.

The cover art was taken on my at that time ranch rental, atop an old thrasher with my then wife and daughter. We later moved to our own farm where the cover art for the Petaluma album was taken, me in full overall regalia holding a chicken. Lots of photos of me around the farm were always included with the discs. I later was always referred to as a farmer, but when I got divorced, I left the ranch life.

8. Again I would like if you could comment each song a bit.

Junior Cadalac.

Well, dudes back then had nicknames, as they have monikers now, such as T Pain. Just an example.

Spirit In The Sky.

Inspired by me being a fan of country music which I forgot to mention before and a fan of Porter Wagoner, who, on his TV show, always sang a gospel song. I said to myself, I think I can write a gospel song, so I did, but, of course, in my usual endeavor to be different, wrote music never associated with gospel before, but it was a great idea and has endured forever. Been number 1 three times in the U.K., has been in 47 movies and numerous TV ads and series.

Skyline.

We all travel and we all come back.

Jubilee.

Things are going good, huh? Great song with great vocals as usual by The Stovall Sisters who did backing on Spirit also.

Alice Bodine.

Not a Clampett relative, just a name of a longing.

Tars Of India.

Those were smokin days.

The Power.

My songs are self explanatory. You either got it or you don’t.

Good Lookin Woman.

Wish I could find one now.

Milk Cow. Jethro, my son.

We actually didn’t have a cow, but it sounded good. We had goats.

Marcy.

Interesting how I got an e mail from a guy who wanted to know how I knew his wife. I never met his wife, nor was ever anywhere near him in Texas, but there you go, the power of lyrics.

9. After the massive success what happened next? Where was your touring territory? I would love if you could share some interesting stories that happened to you in that period of time…

We toured with Spirit In The Sky on the charts. Opened for The Doors and Moody Blues, 2 of our bigger shows. I have always been sort of reclusive, so I actually never mingled with other bands, a brief how are ya, blah blah blah and off to another gig.

We weren’t rauckus and rowdy on tour. Just went about business. Never got in trouble. After the follow up flops, I still played quite a bit, mostly West Coast clubs with an entirely different band. Could never get signed again by a label. Some thought I still lived on the farm and wouldn’t leave, when I actually had been living in L.A. again for 3 years. Others wouldn’t sign a one hit wonder. Well, bite me.

10. Back Home Again and Petaluma were your following releases. Would you like to tell a story about these two releases…

You were wrong.

Back Home Again was the 2nd album, with follow up single Canned Ham on it. The record company didn’t like Canned Ham. It wasn’t Spirit In The Sky. They forgot what they said when I brought that to them Well, we don’t know, it’s different.

Bah. It didn’t do well. So it goes, I like it.’I'm singing it next week at my reunion gig with The Stovall Sisters. California Earthquake didn’t quite make it either as a single, but one of my favorites.

Petaluma was a wonderful album. Sounds now like we did yesterday. Fritz Ricmond, Ry Cooder and me, acoustic. Record label hated it.

11. What happened next for you, Norman?

Here we go again. Greenbaum can’t do anything that resembles what he did before. Isn’t that what art is all about? At least mine.

12. What are you doing these days and what are some of your future plans?

I’m doing a few appearances here and there. I mostly manage my web site, www.spiritinthesky.com, which is an almost full time job. I am working on some new material. Spirit In The Sky was used in the intro of American Idol last week, a pleasure for me. I’m single, have a cat., am on Facebook, but don’t twitter much, although I am there.

I am not on a farm but have a garden, enter plants at the local fair along with photos and pastries, as I have over the years become a good cook. Have won a bunch of blue ribbons. I also sponsor a horse race at the local fair, a fun outing.

13. Thank you very much for being a part of It’s Psychedelic Baby Magazine. Would you like to send a message to our readers?

For my fans, I appreciate having you. I appreciate you sharing stories on my web site on how Spirit In The Sky has affected your life, and to my staunch fans who actually have grasped my music and lyrics over the years, especially the dude who named his car, “the green-bomb”. It was painted green. Of course. How cool is that?
Interview made by Klemen Breznikar / 2012

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It’s Psychedelic Baby Magazine – Nektar interview with Roye Albrighton

Sunday, January 29, 2012

Nektar interview with Roye Albrighton

Interview:

1. It’s a great pleasure talking with you about your music! I would like to ask you first where were you born and what can you tell me about some of the influences back then when you were a kid and teenager…

Hi Klemen..the pleasure is all mine.
I was born in Coventry in the west midlands UK. Not that far away from Birmingham.
Most of what I listened to when I was growing up has been forgotten in the sands of time however a few you may recognize..like..The Ventures and the Spotniks..and of course the Shadows of which I hold Hank Marvin in high regard as one of the worlds great guitar influences.

2. You started your carrier in a band called The Peeps and you released a few singles. Then you were a part of Rainbows and later you joined Outsiders. Please tell us about your first bands…

The Peeps and Rainbows were basically the same band with the exception of the drummer and keys player..Martin Cure and myself were the two remaining members from the Peeps when we changed our name and musical direction. I was at this very time when I started to write my own material and worked it into Rainbows.

When Rainbows came to an end, I moved to Sweden where I met up with an old promoter from the time that Rainbows toured there and he put me in touch with a band called the Outsiders with whom I played with until my return back to the UK.

3. Nektar was formed in Hamburg. How did you guys came together?

Purely by chance I was walking around Hamburg during the day when Rainbows were playing at the Top Ten Club and heard a drummer rehearsing on his own in the Star club. During the day most of the clubs were closed and being cleaned and readied for the evening. This was the perfect time for artists to practice their chops.

I looked in on the club and met Ron Howden and we hit it off together..the next day I brought my guitar along and we played together..this led me to moving over to Hamburg and becoming a memeber of the yet unamed Nektar in 1969.

4. Journey to the Centre of the Eye is your debut. What are some of the strongest memories from producing and releasing this LP. It was produced by Dieter Dierks…

Actually it was produced by Nektar and Peter Hauke and was recorded at Dieter Dierks studio in Stommeln engineered by Dieter himself.

I think one of my strongest memories of this album was (can we get away with this) it would seem at the time that it was maybe a little too far out for some people..but hey! what the hell..we just went ahead and did what we wanted and threw caution to the wind.

What would you say is a concept behind the album?

Many things can be taken from this album and can be associated with many situations in a persons life..however the overall concept would be using your minds eye to look inside yourself to see the real person within.

What gear did you guys use?

As you can imagine..in those days there wasn’t very much around for effect pedals or synthesizer..the Mellotron was still a new toy so we used what we had to effect.

An instance would be to turn the Hammond motor off and on to create the whining sound you hear sometimes and I would use slide guitar and repeat echo for some parts, even strike the strings behind the bridge for an effect. Mo Moore would use a tremelo pedal and fuzz box on the bass.

Basically anything we could get out of the instrument we would use.

How did you came in contact with Bacillus?

We were actually originally signed to bacillus records as they were really the only label that showed any kind of interest in what we offered..like I said, ‘Journey’ wasn’t everyones cup of tea..Peter Hauke then sold the label to Bellaphon records.

I’m not sure how the contact with Bacillus came about..I think it was at a concert somewhere..I may be wrong.

5. Then you started recording A Tab in the Ocean. What is the story behind that release?

We had our own house nestled in the hillside of the Bergstrasse in a village called Seeheim where most of our writing and rehearsing was done in the early days.

We didn’t have a lot of furniture then other than a coffee table a couple of chairs and a huge fish tank that we inherited from the previous occupant.

We used to sit around a lot in the daytime just talking music when someone made a joke about what would happen if the oceans were spike with LSD. after the laughter died down we realized that we had a title for the new album as the beggining was sounding a little oceanic in the riff and effects being used.

6. Your third album called …Sounds Like This is more hard rock oriented, don’t you think?

I agree..it was Nektar in the raw..we were often told that although the albums were well presented productons with a lot more polish..the real essence of the band lies in the ‘live’ performance and so we decided to dedicate an entire double album to this and play all the pieces we had collected over the first few years of our being together.

7. Remember the Future was released in 1973. I always preferred side one on this album. It’s so amazing…what did you had in mind while recording this album?

Not a lot really..for us it was just going to the studio and recording another album..but something happened in the studio..something magical..it seemed to take on a life of it’s own and become an obsession for the band.
I tend to agree with you that side 1 was the better side

8. Then you released a couple more albums including Down to Earth and one of your best releases titled Recycled which is symphonic masterpiece in my opinion. What can you say about it?

Down to Earth was a change in direction that is for sure..but I really enjoyed making it although I feel now that the production sounded very clinical and not the usual Nektar sound. That’s not to say I didn’t like the songs..but they could have been treated differently.

However, I feel we made up for it with Recycled..to this day this is my most favourite album..and to perform side one on a concert is a joy, the finale at the end of side one to this day puts the hairs up at the back of my neck.

9. Where all did you toured and what are some great memories from touring?

During the early years and when Nektar were gaining ground in Europe, we played a lot of shows..too many..in fact we made ourselves ill at one point with all the travelling..you must remember that the luxury sleeper tour buses were not readily available around this time..or if they were they were cost prohibitive..and rock musicians were not the clientel that the bus companies wanted on their super coaches.

I think my greatest memory was the two nights we played in St Louise at the civic auditorium and the simulcast evening in NYC.

10. After all this years you are still very active and your latest two releases are Book of Days and Fortyfied. I would really appreciate if you could tell something about background of this two releases?

After our break in the release schedule of the band..I took on a new Bassist and Keys player. There was some confusion as to how the band sounded now with 2 new players..so to alleviate any misconceptions as to how strong the band still are I decided to release a ‘live’ album featuring the new players..and so to celebrate 40 years of Nektar I released ‘Fortyfied’.

Book of days was to intent and purposes the new album but in Demo format..it was supposed to be rerecorded..but at the same time we had some severe problems with our mamgement and instead this got released in demo format.

Maybe further down the road we will rerecord that album with the full band, although some of the tracks can be heard prformed on Fortfied.

11. What are some of your future plans?

In a few months time Nektar will be releasing an album called ‘a spoonful of time’ this will be an album of cover song that have been Nektarized to some extennt. We had the oportunity to have on board the musicianship of the likes of Rick Wakeman, John Wetton, Ginger Baker..and many more who will be putting their touches to it.

Also being worked on at the momentis a new DVD recorded at the Key club in LA.

This year will also see the finalizing of Nektars new album ‘Juggernaut’ that had to be delayed due to other work.

12. Thank you very much for your time! Would you like to send a message to all your fans and readers of It’s Psychedelic Baby Magazine?

For those who know Nektar and have fllowed us I would like to say thank you for your support..for those that are new to our music a big hello.

The band and I would like to say a big thank you to you all for keeping what we consider a great music genre going.

hope to see you on the road soon

Oh and thank you PBM for this interview.
best regards
Roye

Interview made by Klemen Breznikar / 2012

© Copyright http://psychedelicbaby.blogspot.com/ 2012

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VERYBEST.COM – 2 Questions 2 Jon Anderson

2 Questions 2 Jon Anderson

Jon Anderson has one of the very best and most well-known voices in progressive rock, being the creative force behind the rock band, YES. His early career saw him joining The Warriors in 1962 where along with his brother he shared the title of lead vocalist. He also sang with bands including The Gun and The Open Mind. The debut album for the group YES was released in 1969 and Jon remained with them until 1980. In 1983 the band reformed and released one of their most commercially successful albums, 90125. Jon has performed on many soundtracks for movies, including Cage of Freedom, St. Elmos Fire and Scream For Help. During 2010 Jon TOURED Europe and the USA as a solo artist and with Rick Wakeman, releasing The Living Tree in 2010.

It is a pleasure to publish his replies to our 2 questions.

What Brings You Happiness?

Being able to meditate and connect with my spiritual teacher and feeling surrounded by that Divine energy, seeing children having fun, watching old movies, walking with my Janee around towns and cities of the world, seeing my children grow to be wonderful adults spreading love and light, hearing a favourite song on the radio, relaxing and watching birds in the garden, hearing a funny joke, watching Man United playing great, cooking my favourite food, being with friends and listening to stories, reading Pat Conroy books, reading good honest reviews of my work, finding just the right ‘lyric’ and wondering where the songs come from, waking up and seeing my wife Janee and realizing how wonderful and beautiful she is, listening to Jean Sibelius symphonies, being thankful for the great events in my life, watching the 49rs win. Painting, remembering my humble beginnings, my family, those in heaven, and those on this amazing earth mother.

What Would You Change (If You Could) To Make Our World A Better Place?

Seeing the world deliver the promise of a good life to everyone, the end of all wars, living beyond war, the end of corruption, and slavery, a sharing of the bounty of the earth, using our talents to expand our dreams, to travel in space, meet beings from other worlds, join the enlightened ones, live in perfect harmony and good will to all men and women and children, to hear the new music, and see the new stories unfold……and most of all, a blessing on all beings ……for we are all truly one….

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Progressive Rock Central.com – Interview with Progressive Rock Legend Jon Anderson

BY ANGEL ROMERO
– JANUARY 12, 2012

Jon Anderson – Photo by Tami Freed
Jon Anderson, the legendary progressive rock vocalist that fronted Yes for many years is back with numerous projects. The most interesting by far is Open, a long musical suite with four movements produced by Jon and Jane Anderson that has brought back the wondrous sounds that Anderson is known for. Jon Anderson composed the music and wrote the lyrics. Stefan Podell made the orchestration and additional music.
You made many progressive rock fans very happy withOpen. When did you start working on this project?
About a year ago…I started with an acoustic guitar, put down a framework, and then Stephan Podell did a wonderful orchestral arrangement…We talked about how best to make ‘Yes fans’ enjoy the journey, I think that was my motivation…
What instruments do you play on Open?
Just acoustic guitar.
And in general, what instruments do you play?
I’ll play anything, not great, but just enough to make it work…I love piano, and guitar mostly.
Who else participated in the Open recording?
Jane Luttenberger Anderson on angel Vocals; Stefan Podell on music and orchestration, 12 string guitar, classical guitar and bass; Zach Tenorio Miller on piano; Zach Page on electric guitar; Alexandra Cutler-Fetkewicz with Jon Fink and Susan Lerner on strings; Kevin Shima on acoustic guitar and vocals; Brian Hobart on Percussion; Stephan Junca on drums and African Percussion; Charles Scott on drum kit; Cal Poly A Cappella group (Robert Foster, Ian O’Rourke, Madelyn Frey, Jacob Stringfellow, Aaron Wolfe, and Amy Stevens); and additional backing vocals by Billy James.

The complexity of Open reminded me of your legendary solo album Olias of Sunhillow. Will there be more music in this direction?
I’m just working on the next ‘opus’…called ‘Ever’
You’ve had recent solo tours, including one with your with your old friend and former Yes colleague Rick Wakeman. How did that work out?
Rick Wakeman (left) & Jon Anderson (right)
Rick is fun to work with, he’s playing better than ever, and the songs we do are great to sing. Audiences love the banter between us,…and the new songs really have a different energy.

How is Rick doing health wise?
He’s really very well.
Will you be recording more with Rick Wakeman?
I hope this next few weeks we will work together.

Argentine Stick virtuoso Guillermo Cides mentioned recently that he will be working with you and Australian Truey Marks on a new project in 2012. Can you share some details about that?
Ask him to contact me please…
How do you find the time to play in so many projects?
It’s that time of my life, after nearly dieing in 2008, I realized I should try and finish my work…well, there’s more than I would believe…so I just keep working on the music…it helps everything…
You are a singer and also a songwriter. How do you work as a composer?
I usually sing with guitar, record everything I do, almost everyday a new song comes…it’s wonderful.
Where do you get your inspiration from?
The divine ‘love’ that surrounds us.
I’d like to take you back to the early 1970s. Yes made albums that are considered progressive rock masterpieces. I’m talking about Fragile, Close to the Edge, Tales from Topographic Oceans and Relayer. What was happening at that time that led you and your band mates to compose such incredible music?
I was driven to try new music, we were being told to write ‘hit songs’…I just felt it would be a waste of the talent within the band, so I chose to escape, and help create new music…it is wonderful to look back at those times; we were in perfect ‘harmony’ with each other.
If you could gather any musicians or musical groups to collaborate with whom would that be?
I would start with Tony Levin, Billy Cobham, etc etc…
In this age of economic turmoil and social unrest, do you have a message you’d wish to impart through your music?
Change is good…and Change we must…
Jon Anderson
What music genres, groups or CDs are you currently listening to?
Amharic music…Ethiopian…
We interviewed the Senegalese singer Baaba Maal and asked what song was he completely addicted to – the one song that he will sing along with every time – and he told us his song was “One Love” by Bob Marley. What is your one song?
‘I will fix you’…and a million others…
What do you like to do during your free time?
Paint, cook, watch Soccer and ‘American Football..walk with my Janee.
What country would you like to visit?
China, I’ve been there 3 times, amazing culture……..Africa…India.
Which is your favorite city?
Paris.
What was the first big lesson you learned about the music business?
No such thing as a free lunch…
What other projects are working on?
A zillion projects…tons of them…

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Interview/Review: Janet Robbins ‘Song of the Gypsy Tree’Seductive & Magnificent

In the world of mundane so-called superstars that repetitively get shoved into our subconscious, it’s truly invigorating to be absorbed by an emerging and untainted virtuoso. She’s Janet Robbins. An inventive and enchanting songstress, who composed, produced and performed all the instrumentation on her latest masterpiece, amply titled, Song of the Gypsy Tree. The CD projects an eclectic mix of sounds, imagery, and energy that embraces the mind and spirit.

Janet Robbins grew up in a Nashville household that included legendary dad, Marty Robbins. Robbins was an illustrious country & western music entertainer with numerous hits including several that reached the pop charts. One of Robbins most memorable tunes was “El Paso,” a #1 chart topper on both the country and pop charts. Marty Robbins was respected and emulated by legendary artists such as Elvis Presley, Frankie Laine, Johnny Cash, The Grateful Dead and The Who. Marty Robbins was also a multi-instrumentalist performer.
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Janet Robbins was told not to follow in her famous father’s footsteps by her dad. According to Janet, Marty Robbins kept his personal life private, not wanting to expose his family to all the glitz of show business. And she admits that she rarely got to see him perform. Janet stayed away from music for the first half of her life and was not a fan of country music. Instead at an early age embraced, The Doors hypnotic single, “Riders on the Storm.”

Janet would soon be captivated by artists such as Yes, Pink Floyd, Jeff Beck, Led Zeppelin and ambient music pioneer Brian Eno. Janet was also influenced by classical greats Chopin, Beethoven, Mozart and Dmitry Kabalevsky. Robbins music is categorized somewhere between progressive/ambient/ and experimental. But she has an indefinite talent that could easily embellish any existing genre.

Robbins graceful vocalization and entrancing orchestrations can easily become a motion picture soundtrack. “As In Winter,” a magnificent and complex piece, thrusting the mind into wondrous journeys. “November,” is a haunting superlative blend of piano and vocals. “Sparks,” is a powerful anthem of love for the planet.

Janet Robbins impressive debut album titled, All the Worlds was released in 1998 with delightful similarities to Song of the Gypsy Tree. Robbins followed with Carrying the Bag of Hearts Interpreting the Birth of Stars, a (3) Volume CD instrumental release recorded by Janet using her home studio. This mystifying compilation of ambient sounds will soothe the psyche and stimulate the senses. Robbins never ceases to amaze.

I had the wonderful privilege of speaking with Vocalist/Songwriter/Multi-instrumentalist/ Producer/ Janet Robbins last week from her home in California.

Ray: Janet thanks so much for being on the call today. When I received your CD, I was instantly persuaded by the artistic front cover and your Stevie Nicks-like pose on the back cover. I gave it an immediate listen and then became totally captivated. So I checked out your Facebook page and noticed that you and I were only (2) days apart in birth. (Same month and same year) We’re both an Aquarius. Then I began to feel a connection.

Janet:“How cool is that! Have you ever had your chart read?”

Ray: No, I never have but would really love to.

Janet: “I read that’s why I mentioned it. I had the fortune to study with someone who is gifted and did it for all the right reasons, assisting people and not sort of a fortune telling kind of thing but a strong spiritual grounding in her kind of teaching so I learned and love the stars.”

Ray: And it’s apparent in your music.

Janet: “Yea, it shows on some of the instrumental stuff (Carrying the Bag of Hearts interpreting the birth of Stars, Volumes I, II, III) before this last CD.”

Ray: After listening to Song of the Gypsy Tree, I wanted to listen to your debut CD All the Worlds and could only get bits and pieces from Amazon. What I heard was also truly amazing and similar in ways to your latest release. But I have to say, Song of the Gypsy Tree hit a home run for me. I can easily see it as a soundtrack for a movie.

Janet: “That’s interesting because music to me is so visual and as well as the music before Song of the Gypsy Tree which was the sort of non vocal or non lyric music. It’s very visually evocative and in fact what I’m working on right now is putting together an installation and working on creating visual loops to work with sounds and music. I’m glad you said that because I see the placement of the music having more of a home with film.”

Ray: There are many novels that come to life and make a lot more sense once they become movies. Some stories need that visual to explain the characters and the plot.

Janet: “Yea, well Blade Runner. I’ve been watching Blade Runner again a lot lately. And all the commentary that came from Philip Dick’s book.”

Ray: Your bewitching composition “November” had hints to the soundtrack of one of my favorite movies, The Mothman Prophecies. The music remarkably blended into the suspense of that motion picture.

Janet: “I’ll have to check it out, I’m on a big film kick right now renting and watching films. Yea, I’m visually inspired anyway. I just made this move from North Carolina back in the spring and I was on the road in my RV for four months and just with the transition of being here it feels right for me to combine visuals and audio, and being inspired by great film right now. Listening to some of the commentary and how did they shoot it and what did they do with the lighting here. I tend to have a lot of analogue and Blade Runner was like all people and analogue and just some of the things they employ to create their effects were so amazing and such a draw forcing people into true creativity and desperate attempts to get what they needed to do… genius reveals itself and I love that, I love seeing that and am very inspired by that.”

Ray: Janet, what inspired you to create the Song of the Gypsy Tree album?

Janet: “I don’t know of a particular inspiration except for my affinity with nature and my respect and awe of what we’ve been given as a planet and some of the things we do to it. But I wanted to be more in love with the things I’ve been writing about as opposed to say what was wrong with something.”

Ray: Do you try to convey a certain message in your music to your audience?

Janet: “For me, I come around the back door, things surprise me, and I usually screw up when I try to do something with my head, when I try to go at it from the front door and try to create as a result of an idea about how something might be or sound. Although that’s always there to some extent, if I can be in a little more receptive space then I think I get to a truer voice. And then whatever that message is, if I can get myself over to the music and if there’s a message there then I think it’s probably a truer message. If I try to relay a message specifically I would get preachy and I can do that, but I try not to. (Laughing)”

Ray: Something has to spark that creative energy before writing those beautiful songs. Mark Lindsay (Paul Revere & the Raiders) told me that he does most of his writing while he takes his long walks in the morning.

Janet: “I’ve always lived near nature. I have to be in the trees and live near the trees and I go out and talk to the trees, I hang with them, I write with them. And it isn’t just trees, a great rock, a good view of the water, lake, or the river. But trees I think especially. I have been on the east coast since 2000, but a couple of places that I’ve lived, in New York and then in Asheville, I was fortunate to have lots of trees and I had acreage up in Woodstock and had these amazing old trees and in Asheville as well. So I was able to go out and spend some time and hang with them and just felt the need to write at that point.”

Ray: I’ve talked with many artists who seem to live life according to the lyrics of their music. One artist who comes to mind is Jon Anderson of Yes. No matter what trials and tribulations life brings to him he remains positive and seems to have a grip on life. Your music is very positive like Jon’s; do you feel that you have a grip on life?

Janet: “I hope so. I have to have a loose grip on life. I’ve been fortunate in ways in finding instruction, or people who I felt were helpful in some sort of discovery around life. I’ve always been more interested in the more mystical side of things. Being here, being on the planet, and developing a relationship with nature as well as having my head in the stars are important to find footing. I’ve had some great teachers and have a pretty good relationship with myself and life and trying to cultivate what I think is possible. I don’t think we were meant to live miserable lives here but I think a lot of humanities stuff has created a pretty miserable place for a lot of people. And I don’t think that’s how it has to be. I think some pretty horrible things might continue to happen but at the same time that’s not what we have to create, it’s pretty much up to us.”

Ray: You played all the instruments on Song of the Gypsy Tree, shades of Todd Rundgren, and you recorded the album at home.

Janet: “Yes, the instrumentation, I used Logic in my studio and a lot of different samples and loops that I’ve made and manipulating sounds and changing sounds and recording live instruments but usually out of character, you would never recognize the guitar that’s on there or the autoharp that’s on there. And Kevin Bartlett was great fun to work with in regards to that. I wanted someone to help me out with the vocals, to record my vocals, because I was going to be way too close to it. We had fun in recording some things, like I have an old Vox electric guitar from the 60’s and we used an Ebow on it and mixed that with an autoharp on “Egypt” and things like that. So that was a lot of fun to create sounds that way and most of it was me using the keyboards. I’d send templates up to Kevin, he was in New York, and he’d send some audio files back and we’d work that way.”

Ray: I noticed at the end of the title track, “Song of the Gypsy Tree” you did sort of a backwards track or reverse tape effect like George Martin used with The Beatles.

Janet: “(Laughing) I know what that was, yea. It was a great sound I just stumbled on that. I was playing some manipulated sound and then I slowed it down and I’m not sure if I actually reversed it though. I mean it was a great sound but it was just kind of there and it was like wait a minute this should go here. It was assembling in a collage sort of way. It was just one of those blissful little sounds, very satisfying, and it sounds like a tree. That little sound has soul and that could be in my head and that sounds like a tree… in my world.”

Ray: Didn’t your dad create a sound accidentally, I think it was during the recording of “Don’t Worry” the sound was created by a faulty preamplifier and he decided to keep it in the recording.

Janet: “Yea, it was the original fuzztone. I believe a tube went out and he said keep playing because he liked the sound. They wanted to record over it and he said no we’re keeping it, he liked it. And that was credited for being the first fuzztone. He was a real pioneer and did a lot of things like that in his life.”

Ray: Janet, you took a completely different direction than your famous father didn’t you?

Janet: “That wasn’t my world and he kept it very separate growing up and I never cared for being in Tennessee, it wasn’t my world and it wasn’t my music although I didn’t know what my music was, that came much later, but I think just that sense of pioneering and discovery is strong.”

Ray: I’m going to read a lyric for you now. “We make up songs about Tesla’s ray gun building rocket ships for frogs in astronaut suits.” Talk about this lyric in your song “Egypt.”

Janet: “Well, I’m a big fan of Tesla and his ray gun and when I was little we use to pretend to have ray guns. But that was actually a pretty literal reference because I would catch frogs and try to dress them up. (All laughing)”

Ray: You actually grew up listening to mostly progressive rock music right?

Janet: “YES, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Jeff Beck, and that’s what got me through high school. When I was around 11 or 12, I carried around The Doors “Riders on the Storm” 45 record.”

Ray: Who were some of the women vocalist that you admired growing up?

Janet: “Bobbie Gentry. Wow I haven’t thought about her for a long time until recently, a couple months ago when I went online and played a You Tube video and I said, “Oh my God these were such fabulous songs!” Bobbie Gentry, “Ode To Billie Joe” and I think for the soul, Aretha Franklin.”

Ray: I would have thought at one time in your life that someone would have approached you to record a country album.

Janet: “Not really, I’ve been away from that world for so long and never was in that world. The truth is I wasn’t. Again, he(Marty Robbins) kept it separate. And I left early, I left Tennessee when I was 18. I was kind of out of there and then my dad died. He was only 57 and I was like 23 at the time. And I never lived back in Tennessee again. My brother is ten years older and he was in the business, he still lives there and is much more of a southern boy and that’s more his world. So in a way it kind of created a little bit more of a buffer because I was pretty much out of the scene.”

Ray: I’ve got to ask, being brought up by a famous dad, did he ever bring to your home any of his famous friends when you were little?

Janet:“I see pictures of before I was born and he may have brought band members over to the house but whatever happened after I was born, like nobody came, it was very separate. I was born in 1959 and “El Paso” was written in 1959 and it was right after that he kind of shot into a bigger audience. I think that shifted things and also his private life, he was a notorious private person. And I have that too, I don’t have his public persona. He had a public persona and he had a private life and he didn’t want the two to mix. My mother was an evangelical and a very different character and so it was a strange mix. And I think got stranger as the years progressed. But they stayed married, it was just that his world was a different world. But he in that world was also known as a loner. He wasn’t a drinker, smoker, he didn’t live that country life. He was more the outsider cowboy loner guy. So he had that reputation within the community as a very private individual, fun to have around but private, and didn’t bring anybody home. It’s interesting because a lot of what I know is by stories from other people. And I know Johnny Cash or Roseanne use to say that they had one of my dad’s albums on their record player at all times and yet I never meet these people. And so it was odd. I didn’t see my dad perform till I was 19 and that was in Florida.”

“But he and I were a lot alike in funny ways, we mirrored each other, and I think it bothered him in some ways. Because he saw the Gypsy in me and I think it scared him a little bit. He had very few talks with me about life, or a career, or anything, but one of the things he said was, “Whatever you do… do whatever you want to do, I don’t care what you do, but don’t go into the music business.”” (All laughing)

Ray: And it stuck… until now. It sounds like he was a pretty cool dad though.

Janet: “He was a character, sometimes he didn’t know about fathering, I think that confused him, but he was a good person. And he was a good provider. He wanted to provide for his family and I think he had all good intentions.”

Ray: I did some surfing around the internet looking for additional music by Janet Robbins and heard a great progressive piece that sort of rocked from your debut album, All the Worlds called, “To see You Again.”

Janet: “I love that song, I haven’t heard it in years. I was living in Los Angeles at the time and it was certainly reflective of that time period in LA. Even though it wasn’t a rock album it went more in that direction and the guitar player that I worked with who helped me put that album together and produced that album, he was just a phenomenal player and still is but Greg Montana is his name, and we got such a great sound.”

Ray: I can see you collaborating with so many great artists… perhaps Tony Levin, Billy Sherwood of Circa who is also an awesome producer and of course the great Brian Eno. I can see you on a David Gilmour or Ian Anderson album as well. Have you considered collaborating with other artists?

Janet: “It is something that I’m open to right now. Yea, there’s a force behind it, some kind of kinetic energy. And because I’ve worked so much on my own, I know what I can do on my own, but when you’re around other people you have a great creative connection, it’s pretty miserable if you don’t and you’re trying to put something together, but if you have a strong connection with somebody, that’s a completely satisfying experience in a whole different way than working on your own. And so…I’m into it.”

Ray: So what’s the next project that you’ll be working on Janet?

Janet: “The one that I’m working on right now is moving to this audio/visual direction and I’m looking to have an installation in San Rafael for the month of May and what the finished product would be is… I do think I will have a DVD of this that would probably be more towards the end of next year.”

Ray: I’m looking forward to it. Janet thank you so much for chatting with me today, it’s been a real pleasure. I’ll close by saying that your music is charming, inspiring and radiant. Please stay in touch because you are a great talent and I’m a big fan.

Janet: “That’s fabulous… I’ll take it, so appreciated. Take care dear.”

I want to thank the incredible Billy James of Glass Onyon Publicity for this interview.

*Kevin Bartlett is credited for his production work and percussion credits on ‘Song of the Gypsy Tree.’

CD Releases by Janet Robbins

All the Worlds

Carrying the Bag of Hearts Interpreting the Birth of Stars Volume I

Carrying the Bag of Hearts Interpreting the Birth of Stars Volume II

Carrying the Bag of Hearts Interpreting the Birth of Stars Volume III

Song of the Gypsy Tree

Purchase all of Janet Robbins CD’s at

http://janetrobbinsmusic.com/

CD Baby http://www.cdbaby.com/

and Amazon.com

Janet Robbins on ReverbNation

http://www.reverbnation.com/janetrobbins

Janet Robbins on MySpace

http://www.myspace.com/janetrobbins

Marty Robbins official website

http://www.martyrobbins.com/

Order author/columnist Ray Shasho’s great new book ‘Check the Gs’ – The True Story of an Eclectic American Family and Their Wacky Family Business

-Get your copy now for the holidays at amazon.com,iuniverse.com,barnesandnoble.com or borders.com.

Pacific Book Review says… Ray Shasho has quite a memory, especially when it comes to what songs played on the radio during important times throughout his youth. Combining his nostalgic recant of Billboard’s Top 100, like some infomercial for a Time-Life Oldies CD collector’s set, along with his detailed whimsical recollections while growing up, and you have the “soundtrack ” for a truly enjoyable story called Check the Gs: The True Story of an Eclectic American Family and Their Wacky Family Business.

© Copyright rayshasho.com. All Rights Reserved

Contact Ray Shasho at rockraymond.shasho@gmail.com

Source

Jon Anderson (formerly of Yes) (interview)

There is an audio interview of Jon Anderson up on the website Icon Fetch. Click the link below to hear it!

Jon Anderson (formerly of Yes) (interview)

Macon Guitar Legend Joey Stuckey Receives Prestigious Award, Gains New Endorsers and Composes Radio Theme Song

For Immediate Release

Macon Guitar Legend Joey Stuckey Receives Prestigious Award, Gains New Endorsers and Composes Radio Theme Song

12/5/2011 – Macon, GA – Truly one of the hardest working people in the music industry, 2011 has been a landmark year for blind recording artist, engineer, producer and inspirational speaker Joey Stuckey. With the release of his latest acclaimed CD ‘The Shadow Sound’ in February of this year, Stuckey has been hitting the road performing and speaking all over the country – October alone saw Stuckey in Hawaii, Los Angeles and Nashville. However, October was a landmark month because Joey was honored by a non-profit organization in his hometown of Macon, Georgia where he serves as the official music ambassador. The organization “New Town Macon”, a non-profit tasked with revitalizing the downtown area of Macon, presented Joey with a special recognition award for his contribution to his community. Joey has been instrumental in shaping Macon’s musical landscape. Stuckey was also recognized for his active role in preparing for Macon’s future.

“I’m honored to be recognized for my efforts in promoting the music and history of Macon,” says Stuckey. “I look forward to being of service to my community for the rest of my life. I feel like this area, and Macon in particular, has as much musical talent as New York City or Los Angeles. We just have to find a way to make sure the rest of the world knows about it and come together as a community to ensure our musical economy continues to prosper!”

Stuckey’s father accepted the award on Joey’s behalf, from Greg Dent, a New Town Macon board member. Dent presented the award and said: “As Macon’s first official ‘Ambassador of Music’, Joey is a tireless and enthusiastic promoter of downtown, whose life work advances the city’s musical legacy. Joey’s business, Shadow Sound Studio on Third Street, brings musicians from around the globe to downtown Macon to record. Several of (Joey’s) own recordings have been nominated for Grammys. Joey is a band leader, educator, and promoter of civic activities who leads with a powerful and generous spirit. He has donated his time and talent to area schools and local organizations and recently provided a young boy in hospice care with his wish of recording in Joey’s studio. Anyone who knows Joey Stuckey knows that his enthusiasm and love of Macon never waivers.”

While October was a busy month with many exciting and amazing events for Stuckey, November has also been busy and a month of growth. First, Joey welcomes two new endorsers to the family. To enhance his studio and live performances and take his music production ability to the 23rd century, Joey has partnered with Misa Digital makers of the “Kitara”. “The Kitara is one of the most remarkable instruments to come out since the advent of the electric guitar,” says Stuckey.

This amazing MIDI controller gives guitarists new and innovative ways to make music both live and in the studio. For more information please visit www.misadigital.com, www.facebook.com/misadigital, twitter: misadigital, YouTube: www.youtube.com/misadigital

To add even more reasons to come out to one of Joey’s live performances, Joey has partnered with Kazoobie Kazoos. “As the official ambassador of music for Macon, Georgia – the birthplace of the kazoo – I am thrilled to partner with Kazoobie Kazoos to provide a limited number of souvenir kazoos to be given away and used during the audience participation parts of my concerts and inspirational talks,” says Joey. “I am excited that my fans will have this unique souvenir and fun musical instrument which truly allows us to share the gift of music! As a blind musician, sound is the only thing that I care about and Kazoobie Kazoos are unparalleled in their tonality and quality construction.” For more information or to acquire your own Kazoobie Kazoo go to www.kazoos.com

Stuckey’s studio records theme song for Talent Watch Radio: “We are proud to be working with Talent Watch, the fastest growing source for new talent discovery on the internet! It’s like ‘American Idol’ but better – and a great way for talent bookers, record labels, management firms and artists to connect.” Joey Stuckey, recording engineer, producer and owner of Shadow Sound Studio, was hired to compose and record the Talent Watch theme song being used to audio brand the Talent Watch radio show. Joey was also used to produce the most current episode of the radio show http://soundcloud.com/talent watch/talent watch-radio-show and train the staff of Talent Watch on producing future episodes of said show. Stuckey also has his voice heard in the intro of the show and the various promos for the show, both video and audio and throughout the program between songs branding the show.

Says Hugh Hession, Talent Watch radio host and partner of TalentWatch.net, “Talent Watch Radio decided to record and produce our latest show at Shadow Sound Studio with owner Joey Stuckey. We chose Shadow Sound because of Joey’s reputation of being a results-oriented engineer and producer. He understood our vision and was able to transform that into the caliber of show we desired. Talent Watch highly recommends Joey to anyone who wishes to up their game.” To check out Talent Watch and what it has to offer to both artists and industry pros alike visit: www.talentwatch.net

For more information: www.JoeyStuckey.com

Press Inquiries: Glass Onyon PR, PH: 828-350-8158, glassonyonpr@cs.com