Paul And Faith, December 1999.
This is an excerpt of an interview about
Faith? for the German magazine TEXTUNDTON.
..................I think every writer has a
need, indeed a duty you might say, to
indulge ideas that are personal to
themselves. It's the driving force of all
ones efforts ultimately, even if it takes
years to emerge as such or for one to be
aware of its meaning. In an ideal world a
band will for some time share common ground,
have a f****** good time doing it, and
indeed create fantastic music, but
individuals will become aware of their needs
eventually. I wanted to get down the things
I've had running around my head for a time
and explore any possibilities that I could
not share with the band really. Some of
Faith? is remaining ideas I'd had for
'Written in Red', but most is new and 'as it
came out' if you like. Lyrically it deals
with some of my usual subjects and generally
is very personal, there are also reflections
of very recent profound events in my life,
for example my father is very ill now with
cancer and I am reaching some kind of a
major change in my life, so maybe Faith?
will turn out to be a cathartic exercise. At
times it was a bit of a voyage of discovery
I guess, it definitely got a lot off my
chest, I mean the recording of the last
Stranglers CD was a very negative part of my
life and it was important to put that well
behind me, plus I'm already putting another
album together(it's about a third of the way
on)so, maybe it's all happened at the right
time. As for 'art', Faith? is not driven by
money, so is it art? All I know is that I
truly love making music it's a basic
instinct isn't it? As far as 'having a
dream' as you ask, it is not the way I've
ever thought of it .I've written for years
so I am used to hearing my songs. If you
mean to be releasing a complete body of
totally solo work, I had always aimed to do
that, so it was more of a target than a
dream. I must say that the thought of the
technical/practical side of recording and
mixing was a nightmare for me. I just wanted
to get on with writing the stuff but had to
deal with all the engineering, sampling,
programming as well as all the
instrumentation. So, you can imagine how
that could affect the creative process. Then
one has to be objective about everything! If
I am happy with the music that is one good
thing, but to have dealt with all the other
shit has freaked me out, it's very rewarding
I have to say. A true 'baby'. To be honest,
the title Faith? is really a second choice
as I had the definitive title six months
ago, but, at the time I thought of it,
someone I was with distracted me and it just
slipped back into the ether(man!).Maybe it
was a good thing it did, I'm happy to go
with the flow. As I said before it is a very
personal album but also I hope people can
say, "yeah, that's me!" or "that's how I
feel". Faith is a light for a lot of people
and you could say that the project is that
for me, I'll not know quite yet. I do not
have a real 'favourite' track, as each piece
means something different on any given day,
I can't really think like that. An example
of this is 'New Mourning Town', a song that
just poured out of me. It is based on my
experience of Bosnia (we toured there for
the military two years ago)and could be used
to describe any beautiful part of the world
or indeed anywhere that has felt the
sickness of humanities evil, so if I am
in-or passing through-a particularly sad
place, the song will just come into my
head,so at that point it would be the most
'important' song if you like. A song that I
would say could echo a lot of peoples
'personal' sorrow would be 'Can't Seem', a
very hard number to stand up and perform. I
think I have never been so low in my life
when this popped out of my head and doubt if
I will ever do this song live. 'Postcard' is
dedicated to youth and young love. A song
that again, 'hurts' if you like, a
contemplation of suicide. 'So Easy' is a
song about an older man falling deeply in
love with a much younger girl - against his
real feelings - and being left to pick up
his life, basically. 'Chasing Rainbows' is
about the human condition and the need to
affect all we come into contact with, and
like 'Mourning Town', is an 'earth song'.
'Free' started life as a story based on a
mass murderer called Dennis Neilson, 'The
Black Panther', as he was known but became a
song about the actual effect of such a
person on the remaining families, those who
have to live with the aftermath of such
hideous experiences. 'Sail Your Soul' is
really a kind of auto-biographical poem ,
musically as well as lyrically. It attempts
to describe, 'me' to 'myself', all things I
have been, it is a result of the many things
I've been through as a person in this world!
The instrumental, 'Hard One', is just an
aggressive piece of music really, a great
escape valve for me. I suppose it is the
pinnacle of personal relief on the album if
that makes sense. I think it is a bit tame
now but it is -all but one - the oldest tune
on the CD and at the time I wrote it no-one
was really using that groove. It's the
musical equivalent of being 'fucked up the
arse with a rusty bayonet against your
will'. 'Sunset' is-after all the dark
moments on the CD-a true reflection of my
nature, as is 'All We Need'-whose lyrics are
ambiguous-.These song are saying, please
listen, look and appreciate
everything/everyone around your life, take a
little time to get closer to understanding
the world, your environment and others',
maybe we can make a difference....I'll never
give up I know that much. 'Lady Grinning
Soul' is a Bowie cover, something I have
always wanted to do but with a catalogue
like his it's not easy to choose, however as
a young Bowie freak I'd set my sights even
then on something like 'LGS' or 'Wild is the
Wind', two songs I have always considered
among his finest. They show a side of him
that most would perhaps not associate with
the great man. I feel that to a certain
extent they actually represent the guy more
than the 'classics'. 'Life on Mars' and
'Time' are two others that spring to mind.
Maybe it's the 'theatrical' slant, who
knows, maybe it's the pure beauty of these
songs......Musically, Trevor Bolders' bass
playing is wonderful and the piano parts are
sublime, Mike Garsons playing is
shimmering....I absolutely love this
song('Aladdin Sane' is my second favourite
D.B. album)........O.K. so why change the
bridge/chorus section???? This was just
something that happened, I was not doing
that part justice so I threw some other
ideas at it and immediately liked what was
happening to the point that I think it is
very complimentary to the whole piece....it
was very organic and very instant, like it
should be, and to say I'm very happy with
the result is an understatement....really.
(I'll not mention the hundreds of
times-literally - I have been compared to
the guy for one thing or another! That is
another story.)A very good ex-colleague of
mine played the piano part on my version,
and John Ellis the guitars, the only two
'guest players' on the album. You ask, what
is the difference in composing alone? Well
firstly I would say it is a much more
thorough process than writing with a band,
'cause I will scrutinise every single aspect
of the piece, the sounds, the feel of each
part, the structure of the song, and -
obviously the lyric and performances
(musical and vocal) - through to the
recording and final mixes. As I've said, in
a band situation there are 'trusted', like
minded people working together, so one would
focus more on ones individual part if you
see what I mean. That said I have always
involved myself with every aspect of
anything I've ever been involved with ,but
you cannot interfere with another creative
persons role too much. I like to act on
instant vibes mostly but still take time to
really consider all the options, that is
very important. Some people will just try to
influence a piece 'cause they think they
should, and that is most undesirable. I've
'lost' great ideas that way in the past
being too diplomatic or not sticking to my
guns, or indeed, trusting a more
'experienced person'......this can be very
costly! Also no-one can fuck off during the
writing schedule agreed by the band and you
don't have to deal with all the obvious
stuff like bad moods etc...you know. If I
want to take time off then I can without
affecting the process, a natural break you
might say, and I can deal with my own shit
days(hopefully!).Let's face it, creatively
you can't keep going non-stop, but in any
project you should be spending as much time
as humanly possible working and focusing on
that project alone. In a solo environment I
can put all my time in without interruption
and bounce ideas at will, plus as I've said
above, I love making music...maybe that is
the key? I gave myself fourteen months from
start to finish on Faith?, and including all
the work I've done with the Stranglers,
which was a lot, I completed it in sixteen.
In a band set up you could also say that you
have more objectivity, well yeah, possibly,
but I think as long as you have strength and
belief you can work really well alone and
produce something great. The main problem I
have encountered -apart from greed and
paranoia!-is ego-mania. The effects of this
are many, and as a writer who has 'been
around' as it were, I have had to deal with
some pretty fucked up situations. Having
said all this I still think there are
certain 'mega-artists' whose best work was
realised when working with certain
people....Prince with Wendy & Lisa, Bowie
with Mick Ronson & the Spiders and Ken Scott
(and probably with Brian Eno on 'Low'),
McCartney with Lennon (and visa-versa),
Lennon & McCartney with George Martin, and
Bacharach with David, to name only a few. My
best partnership was with a guy called Andy
Patten with whom I spent two years, and
produced some of my favourite tunes 'Sold on
Dreams' being a song of ours that some
Stranglers fans would have heard of. I have
never found that amount of magic with anyone
else. Some of the problems that can arise
when working with an 'established' act are
that -one- they can start to think because
they have had success they don't have
particularly 'move on' if you like, - two -
that sometimes your ideas do not get treated
as seriously as maybe they should and
therefore - three - eventually they may
revert to 'safe' ground. It's inevitable
really, no-one can go forward forever and
it's probably hard to accept that just
because you have had a successful past
career does not necessarily mean you know
best, but, if ones needs or input are not
accepted then obviously it could become a
strain on the relationship. If I was
trusting someone to come into a situation I
really cared about then I'd feel I'd have to
give that person total respect and room to
express themselves and indeed expect the
same in return, Yeah?...........That's about
it really.
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