AN INTERVIEW WITH...
|
|
Paul Roland, born in Kent 1959 , has been called 'the male Kate Bush' by one-time label mate Robyn Hitchcock. Over the years he has been spinning his tales against a backdrop of gothic rock, psych-pop, folk and, occasionally, baroque strings. Frank Zappa ones said: Paul Roland writes nice melodies and has a very particular personality but he is too intellectual for me!" (Frank Zappa, 1988).
He grow up in the Canterbury Scene of the seventies, moved later to Germany, but returned to the beautiful Cambridgeshire with wife and two sons. After more than 40 albums and books, he’s back in the picture with the eclectic album ‘Bitter and Twisted’. Time to learn more of this intriguing musical talent and his future plans. |
|
When you were a young lad (10-12 years, did you already prepared your musical career in one way or another?
“No. I didn’t discover rock music until I was about 13 and didn’t start writing songs until the following year when I saw guitars in the house of a friend and thought it might be fun to ‘play’ at making music. It was only after I found that I could write a real song - even though I only knew a couple of chords - that I became obsessed by the idea of devoting my life to music. I think though that my interest in writing short stories during my childhood did help when I came to writing songs because I knew that I wanted to write lyrics with a strong narrative and sharply defined characters so they would be like mini movies or short stories set to music.” Where do you get your inspiration for music and books? “Films are my biggest source for songs with short fiction and horror comics (!) coming second and third. I rarely find inspiration from other artist’s music, although some of my earlier songs were written because I liked the subject matter or title of another artist’s song but not the way they presented it and so felt that I could ‘improve’ on it, which is not arrogance, just the way I reacted to someone else’s good idea. As for books they were often the choice of the publisher, except for ‘In The Minds of Murderers’ a study of criminal profiling that I wanted to do after watching ‘Silence of the Lambs’ and ‘Nazis and the Occult’ which I thought of while watching the low budget British horror film ‘The Bunker’ and all the mind, body, spirit books were my idea as I was studying and practicing various forms of esoteric ‘magic’ and mysticism at the time including the kabbalah. And the Lovecraft biography and Steampunk books were also my idea as were the three Marc Bolan biographies that I have written. But I wouldn’t have written the other books that the publisher suggested (‘The Crimes of Jack The Ripper’ etc) if I hadn’t been interested in those subjects too.” Writing and composing, I suppose it influences each other. In what way? “No. I rarely write songs based on themes that I’ve explored in my books, although I wrote a number of songs inspired by H.P. Lovecraft’s stories a few years before I wrote his biography. I think the real benefit of having written so many books (50 to date) is that these helped me to write better lyrics. Even though almost all of my books are non-fiction I still tried to bring the characters to life and evoke the atmosphere of the period I was writing about. And in the case of ‘The Crimes of Jack The Ripper’, for example, I wanted to generate empathy for the victims – to make them real people and not simply statistics or names. I have tried to do the same in my songs so that the listener feels for them and cares about their fate. But when I write the lines always come naturally. I don’t think too much about them and even in the most fanciful songs I hopefully put believable people in extraordinary situations.” Maybe a little bit too personal: are you superstitious? Or...do you believe? “I believe that we make our own luck and also our misfortune by our willingness to seize opportunities or conversely resist challenges through our fear of change. If you read my spiritual books such as The Complete Kabbalah Course, for example, I make my understanding of this very clear and also my understanding of the way that the universe works – according to my experience and the tradition and teachings that I follow.” |
|
|
How do you start composing a song? First the melody or the lyrics...?
“I’ve almost always written the music first so that I let it come through without any preconceptions or limitations. Then the ‘feel’ of the song, the ambience, will suggest a theme and if I still don’t have a set of lyrics before I record it then the instrumentation I choose and the soundscape that I create will determine the lyrics. Having said that, I wrote all the lyrics for ‘Happy Families’ first because I had been reading biographies of English eccentrics at the time and those verses just gushed out of me. Funny lyrics are always much easier to write than serious ones. I couldn’t write the lyrics for the medieval songs on ‘Duel’ until I read ‘Gormenghast’ by Mervyn Peake because the idea of knights and castles only suggested all the old clichés. But after reading ‘Gormenghast’ I saw how I could write cynically and humorously about that subject. I also wrote most of the lyrics for the last album, ‘Bitter and Twisted’, before I wrote the music because again, so many ideas for mordantly humorous songs occurred to me before I had the opportunity or time to write the music.” In what way are your songs autobiographic? “None of them are! They are mini movies or horror comic strips in the manner of EC Comics ‘Tales From The Crypt’ or DC comics’ ‘The Witching Hour’. Now though I am working on an album based on the ghost stories of M. R. James so songs are personal only in the sense that they excite me and stimulate my imagination. I don’t find real life or romantic relationships interesting and almost every other artist covers those subjects. I had an entirely different reason for making music from the first day I picked up a guitar.” Why don't we see you on stage in Belgium? Is it so difficult to persuade a venue? |
|
“No one has invited me!”
Most people know you from the 'Cabinet...' period. Beautiful songs. And then you disappeared, out of the picture. Due to what? “I didn’t disappear! I still made an album every year so I don’t know why you have that impression. I didn’t return to Belgium after that album so maybe that’s why you think that, but I was more active than ever and toured France, Germany, Italy and Greece many times after ‘Cabinet’. In fact the album after that - ‘Duel’ - was released by four different labels and had a load of reviews so I can’t understand that notion that I disappeared at all! I was surprised to read that you worked together with Nick Saloman? Is there still a connection? “I recorded quite a few tracks with Nick (aka Bevis Frond) on ‘Roaring Boys’ (1990) and later on ‘Sarabande’ (1993) after he contacted me asking how to tour Greece as I had a label and a tour promoter over there. But we haven’t seen each other for many years. I am currently working with an old guitarist of his Mick Crossley who has leant some of his psych guitar sounds to my most recent albums.” Where does the title 'bitter and twisted' refer to? And why did you use such a famous blues-riff? “I thought it was the right time to make a semi-serious reference to myself and my cult status, as it was then. I was disappointed not to have signed to a major label and to have had greater success, but I also valued my independence and the complete control I had and still have over my albums. Ironically, since I recorded that album I have signed to Cherry Red who are a very substantial and well established indie label plus I am now recording in Italy at a top class studio with wonderful musicians and there are plans for more tours and other recording projects so it seems that I am finally being acknowledged as an interesting artist, but that is fine with me as I consider my most recent albums to be my best and to have benefitted from the maturity that came with having written so many books. So I am certainly not bitter and twisted now! |
|
|
|
As for the blues riff, I was planning to use more famous riffs to get into the garage psych rock feel as they tell people where I’m coming from and they are a short cut – a shared cultural reference - that I can play with. To be honest, I also feel that so many people have never heard those classic records of the 50s and 60s and I want to tell them what ‘real music’ they are missing, so I expect to be recycling Bo Diddley and Howling Wolf riffs in future albums, but always with my perverse take on things.“
The album sounds to me eclectic? Don't you agree?
“I’ve always included both acoustic and electric tracks on my rock albums – it’s something I learnt from my first musical hero Marc Bolan. Bowie did it too and of course The Beatles. I just write songs and choose the strongest for the next album. I don’t set out to write a specific type of album although I did do that for ‘Grimm’, the acoustic solo album based on the Grimm fairy tales, ‘Happy Families’ about the English eccentrics and ‘Hexen’ based on the silent horror movie of the same name. I am also currently completing an album inspired by the early Bela Lugosi film ‘White Zombie’ but that’s only 4 albums out of er…20 I think is the total to date.”
Zanti Misfits is my favourite, because I like the experimental, theatrical touch. It's the storyteller in you I think. Do you also work for theatre (companies)?
“No I don’t but I have written a number of short playlets, some of which have been performed at a theatre in Cambridge and I have completed the first act of a full-length play plus a complete film script for a movie based on the life of Marc Bolan. I’d love to write for the theatre and films, but my principal is that I never start a project that I don’t believe I can finish. Bolan used to announce all sorts of fanciful projects which never materialised and it only led to the fans being disappointed and losing faith in him. I always complete projects as a matter of principle or pride in my work.“
Did you really play all the instruments on the album?
“No. I played all the instruments on the Grimm album. ‘Bitter and Twisted’ is a group album, but I did play a lot of instruments and had great fun doing so. I couldn’t have done that in the past because I wasn’t a technically proficient player, but I learned a great deal while writing and recording ‘Hexen’.”
You did me a favor by sending this cd, what can I do for you?
Keep listening to my music!
The album sounds to me eclectic? Don't you agree?
“I’ve always included both acoustic and electric tracks on my rock albums – it’s something I learnt from my first musical hero Marc Bolan. Bowie did it too and of course The Beatles. I just write songs and choose the strongest for the next album. I don’t set out to write a specific type of album although I did do that for ‘Grimm’, the acoustic solo album based on the Grimm fairy tales, ‘Happy Families’ about the English eccentrics and ‘Hexen’ based on the silent horror movie of the same name. I am also currently completing an album inspired by the early Bela Lugosi film ‘White Zombie’ but that’s only 4 albums out of er…20 I think is the total to date.”
Zanti Misfits is my favourite, because I like the experimental, theatrical touch. It's the storyteller in you I think. Do you also work for theatre (companies)?
“No I don’t but I have written a number of short playlets, some of which have been performed at a theatre in Cambridge and I have completed the first act of a full-length play plus a complete film script for a movie based on the life of Marc Bolan. I’d love to write for the theatre and films, but my principal is that I never start a project that I don’t believe I can finish. Bolan used to announce all sorts of fanciful projects which never materialised and it only led to the fans being disappointed and losing faith in him. I always complete projects as a matter of principle or pride in my work.“
Did you really play all the instruments on the album?
“No. I played all the instruments on the Grimm album. ‘Bitter and Twisted’ is a group album, but I did play a lot of instruments and had great fun doing so. I couldn’t have done that in the past because I wasn’t a technically proficient player, but I learned a great deal while writing and recording ‘Hexen’.”
You did me a favor by sending this cd, what can I do for you?
Keep listening to my music!
Marino Serdons