8.7.08
3.7.08
Double summer dose
as i will head to corsica this saturday for 2 weeks, i thought it would be nice to treat you with a double dose of trippy / weird / beautiful / danceable (or not) new music. some of the tracks are coming straight from my harddrives, some others have been picked up on some trustable blogs (check our links list). that's all for now, see you late july. if you're in corsica this week end, drop by calvi on sunday ! we play there
xxxx
guillermo
guillermo
christophe rock monsieur
japancakes touched
alan parsons project gemini
bombers shake
peverelist roll with the punches
polygamy boys love spy love dies
1.7.08
Carpenter tue
John Carpenter and Alan Howarth - Chariots of Pumpkins
(from the Halloween III: Season of The Witch soundtrack)
see you there !
we play a 4 hours dj set on the beach with pilooski on the 6 of july... get ready !
all infos here : www.calviontherocks.com corsica rules.
my summer soundtrack (for the next 2 days)
coconut records west coast
ça sonne comme du phoenix sauf qu'après avoir écouté le morceau, on s'en rappelle.
Happy Summer
Adeva - Respect (Club Vocal Mix) - 1994 Cooltempo Records
Logic - The Blues For You - 1994 Strictly Rhythm Records
Moodymann - Don't You Want My Love (Instrumental) - 2000 Peacefrog Records
30.6.08
Weird but fuckin' good
gil melle op
noviciat de soeurs missionnaires de notre-dame d'afrique yesu ka mkwebaze*
fontän the bird
* this fantastic track (designed to make ricardo v. trip) is extracted from a compilation released on mississippi records. this label rocks you should check it.
29.6.08
Quiet Village suite
trade mark days of pearly spencer (1978)
quiet village can't be beat (2006)
past episode :
http://www.alainfinkielkrautrock.com/2008/03/merci-goblin.html
28.6.08
PUTAIN, THOM YORKE, TA GUEULE!
Quand les anthropologues du futur analyseront notre époque, ils tomberont sans doute en arrêt face à cette énigme : l’innovation musicale au XXI ème siècle était symbolisée par un lémurien à l’œil torve couinant sur une bouillabaisse post rock à la sauce electro.
Après avoir « révolutionné » l’industrie du disque en diffusant leur dernier album sur internet pour un prix symbolique (ah bon maintenant il faut payer pour avoir de la musique sur le net ?), Radiohead a décidé de sauver la planète en effectuant une tournée « verte » (je doute que le prix des places soit réellement écolo). N’ayant pas eu le courage de louer un vélib pour aller chercher une place à leur maison de disque, je n’ai pas eu le loisir de constater l’efficacité de leur concert contre le réchauffement climatique.
C’est marrant, mais ces derniers temps, on essaie de nous faire croire que les bonnes intentions (la green attitude) sont autre chose que des outils promotionnels dont la seule finalité est de vider le porte monnaie des trentenaires « concernés » par l’environnement et le futur de leur progéniture déguisée en eco warriors quai Valmy. Tout cela participe en fait d’un hygiénisme latent et massif (l’interdiction de fumer, la domestication de la nature, le tri sélectif etc… ), dont les origines historiques sont effrayantes, et qui a pour but de transformer le monde moderne en un gigantesque Conran shop (ceux qui ont eu le malheur d’aller une fois en Scandinavie savent ce qui nous attend : le fameux cauchemar climatisé est en marche…).
Personnellement, Thom York ne me donne qu’une seule envie : allumer une clope dans un 4x4 en regardant fondre la banquise.
27.6.08
26.6.08
Bon Voyage (repost !!)
for some obscure reason the last track (so beautiful i could die) was not on the first uploaded file. this is the complete mix. "bon voyage" as our friend yann quélennec (rip) would have said.
dirty sound system bon voyage
throbbing gristle sixty seconds at tate modern
serena maneesh her name is suicide
holger czukay music in the air
baxter dury beneath the underdog
phew doze
beyond the wizards sleeve sunday morning sun
mickey moonlight music for responsible reprogenetics public service broadcast
atlas sound ativan
the olivia tremor control dusk at cubist castle
throbbing gristle sixty seconds at tate modern
the ruby suns there are birds
david shire dream sequence
arthur lee harper pandora
ariel pink life in LA
burial uk
the earlies morning wonder
animated egg sock it my way
velvet underground lady godiva's operation
sonic boom spectrum true love will find you
gary jules mad world
25.6.08
24.6.08
Pendez-les haut et court
- D'où vient l'idée de ce livre? Quel est son but?
Arnaud Sagnard : L’idée provient d’une dizaine d’années passées à fréquenter ce milieu et de ne jamais rien lire, hormis dans Technikart avec les articles de Patrick Williams, de précis et lucide sur celui-ci. La fascination qu’il exerce à l’extérieur et les louanges permanentes qu’il génère sont totalement injustifiées. A l’intérieur, en exerçant un simple regard journalistique dessus, on voit toutes les failles du bâtiment et on se rend compte que ce n’est qu’une façade. Beaucoup le savent mais se taisent car chacun en est dépendant. Le but du livre est de décrire ce qu’il y a derrière la façade et surtout de faire comprendre que ce qu’il s’y passe est en train de se diffuser partout.
- Tu dresses un portrait terrible de la nuit parisienne. Quelles ont été les réactions de ses acteurs à sa lecture ?
AS : Certains me donnent raison mais en précisant que, eux, ne sont pas comme ça. On veut bien admettre que le milieu est tyrannique mais pas qu’on est un des acteurs de cette culture de l’exclusion. D’autres pensent que j’ai tort, que j’exagère. Il y a de tout, certains me méprisent, j’ai vu passer des sms menaçants, d’autres de félicitations, une menace de dépôt de plainte en justice, une interview décommandée sous pression.
- N'as-tu pas peur qu'il ne fonctionne que comme une somme d'anecdotes plus que comme une étude sociologique ?
AS : Non, car chaque chapitre est articulé autour d’un reportage en situation (entrée d’un club, concert privé, vernissage, soirée avec les baby rockers...) puis une analyse de ce que cela signifie. Il y a des anecdotes mais aussi une analyse du design comme environnement sécuritaire, la nuit comme un milieu consanguin, le business, la culture du vide...
- Penses-tu que ton propos puisse dépasser le cercle des initiés, c'est-à-dire les branchés parisiens qui vont juste chercher dans ton livre s'ils sont cités ?
AS : Bien entendu, les branchés vont d’abord lire la page où je parle d’eux, c’est pour cela que j’ai mis la liste des noms cités à la fin du livre, c’est l’hameçon. J’espère néanmoins que certains passeront outre la galerie de portraits pour lire les dix autres chapitres. C’est là où il y a les informations sur eux et leur environnement. J’espère que les autres vont le lire, c’est à eux que le livre est destiné. J’aimerais savoir ce qu’en pense le lecteur lambda qui se fout du name-dropping mais qui se demande pourquoi son café préféré est maintenant tout violet et qui a envie de savoir à quoi va ressembler la société dans dix ans.
- Penses-tu que l'histoire des branchés en France a eu un début et une fin? Si oui, quelles sont pour toi les balises de cette histoire ?
AS : Si le mot apparaît tardivement au XXe siècle, le phénomène est plus vaste, certains y voient même un germe dans la société des « Merveilleux » à la cour. A mon sens, pour comprendre l’évolution des branchés en France, il faut d’abord s’intéresser aux étrangers : les premiers jazzmen, leurs fans blancs, les hipsters... Arbitrairement, on peut dire que le début se situe à cette période, début XXe, quand des Blancs se mettent à fréquenter la nuit des Noirs, quand des lieux réunissent homos et hétéros, quand les surréalistes font scandale. C’est, d’ailleurs, en partie la théorie de Norman Mailer dans son essai White Negro. En revanche, je crois que le phénomène n’est pas fini. Sous prétexte que tout le monde a accès à Facebook et Myspace, tout le monde serait branché. Au contraire, plus l’info se diffuse, plus les branchés doivent se renforcer, être pointus, donc plus ils se branchent entre eux, en circuit fermé.
- Quels sont, pour toi, les différences entre les branchés et la hype, si il y en a ?
AS : J’en vois plusieurs. A l’origine, le branché était désigné comme tel par les non-branchés, la majorité. La hype, elle, se définit elle-même comme hype, on passe ainsi d’un individu branché à un groupe qui s’approprie le processus de qualification. Les branchés diffèrent de la hype, un petit cercle qui s’est créé en son sein. La hype en tant qu’avant-garde sert de modèle aux branchés. Elle est plus informée et plus dure.
- A quel moment, selon toi, le branché qui fonctionnait comme un passeur, est devenu un simple instrument de marketing?
AS : Le glissement s’est fait progressivement. Dans les années 80, le branché est plus jouisseur que passeur, dans les années 90, le branché Nova mélange les genres et diffuse hip hop, world music et house, le branché Technikart s’incruste et critique plus qu’il ne transmet et aujourd’hui, les branchés ferment définitivement la porte. Ils sont plus qu‘un instrument du marketing qui les drague pour refourguer au grand public de nouveaux produits. Ça, c’était l’avant-dernière étape. Aujourd’hui, nous sommes passés au branché devenu lui-même un outil marketing. C’est un homme-marchandise composé de couches de nouveautés achetées chez Colette et copiées sur les facehunters, qui passe son temps à se vendre.
- Ne penses tu pas que l'idée de l'entrisme était finalement un piège ?
AS : Je ne crois pas. Il faut entrer pour savoir ce qu’il s’y passe, pour savoir si on aime ou pas, pour claquer la porte ou pour l’ouvrir aux autres. Le piège, c’est de rester à l’intérieur et de ne rien dire, de faire comme si tout y était bien. Alors, on comprend même plus son propre environnement ni ce qu’il se passe à l’extérieur.
- Quelle est l'importance des médias dans cette histoire ? Tu n'es pas tendre avec tes anciens employeurs...
AS : Très importante. Malgré la puissance d’internet, le maillon central du cycle de la hype, ce sont encore les médias branchés. Nous nous en servons comme source alors qu’eux s’abreuvent aux concepts stores, marques, copains... qui au final remplacent pour nous l’underground. La presse généraliste tente de rattraper les tendances et diffuse aussi l’information. Les médias sont accros à la branchitude, ils ne peuvent ni s’en passer ni en dire du mal. Cette semaine, il y a dans ELLE un article sur la polémique générée par le livre et à côté un article à la gloire de Pedro Winter et un autre sur les vélos hype. ParisObs m’interviewe après une double page titrée « Les branchés sont sympas » et un papier sur la soirée de démolition du Royal Monceau où le burin sera confié à ... des branchés. On n’y échappe pas. C’est vrai, je tape sur la presse branchée et un ancien employeur, Technikart. Mais je salue l’importance de ce magazine sans qui on ne peut comprendre la société des dix dernières années tout en regrettant son manque de professionnalisme. C’est précisément parce que ces mecs sont très doués qu’on doit être exigeants avec eux. Ceux sur lequel je tape le plus sont ceux que je lis assidûment.
- Y a-t-il une légitimité pour la presse écrite à défendre des artistes alors que la plupart le sont par ce qu'il y a de l'argent à la clef (pub, partenariat, affichage) ? Tu parles de ce problème dans ton livre, penses-tu que cela soit un tabou, aujourd'hui?
AS : Oui, parce que le métier de journaliste consiste justement à faire la part des choses entre ce qu’on croit être de qualité et ce dont on parle pour des raisons économiques. Le lecteur n’est pas dupe de toute façon. Le premier canard qui osera descendre en flammes les artistes qu’il estime mauvais fera fuir certains annonceurs, maisons de disques... mais il attirera les lecteurs lassés des robinets d’eau tiède et donc à terme les annonceurs. La relation presse/annonceurs/partenaires est en effet un gros tabou.
- Dans ton livre tu glorifies l'underground, vecteur de culture, en opposition à la hype, vecteur de vide. Ne penses-tu pas que l'Underground est aujourd'hui plus que jamais une utopie?
AS : Je ne crois pas. On s’en est coupé donc on croit qu’il n’existe plus. Il faut simplement aller le chercher, ce dont nous avons perdu l’habitude puisqu’on reçoit tout : disques, invits... C’est pas un hasard si les branchés ont mis 7 ans à découvrir la tecktonik. Aujourd’hui, ça peut être de la drone music, des mecs qui font du reggaethon en français, les revues, le mash up manga/jazz, que sais-je...
- On a l'impression à te lire que la hype est finalement responsable en s'étant laissée manipuler par le marketing, du grand vide idéologique dans lequel on vit.
AS : C’est la première responsable car la hype était la mieux armée pour y résister. Elle a derrière elle un siècle d’esprit critique, d’anticonformisme, elle est cultivée et a l’habitude de décrypter les codes. Au final, elle tombe la première dans le panneau et devient elle-même un puissant outil marketing. En cela, la hype qui croit être le parangon de la différenciation ne se distingue pas du beauf devant un show de télé-réalité.
- Vit-on aujourd'hui dans un système Warholien où les individus et les œuvres artistiques sont équivalents, interchangeables, jetables ?
AS : Je ne sais pas, le temps fera peut-être le tri. L’instantanéité par définition ne dure pas, elle accumule mais il est difficile à croire qu’on reste amnésique. Pour preuve, la fascination qu’a chaque génération pour les artistes de son adolescence, les sixties et les seventies pour les plus vieux, les 90s pour les trentenaires comme moi et déjà, la nostalgie des années 80 qui transpire partout aujourd’hui.
- On a l'impression depuis quelques années que la nouvelle génération de la hype est complètement décomplexée vis-à-vis de la surconsommation, que l'idée du marketing est complètement assimilée, alors qu'elle représentait le mal, pour ses aînés. Qu'en penses-tu ?
AS : Cette génération en donne en tout cas l’impression. Elle semble vivre dans une horizontalité où il n’y a plus besoin de creuser mais de simplement choisir, où le produit compte plus que le processus qui le fait advenir : rechercher un disque pendant cinq ans équivaut à recevoir sans le demander le même mp3 fourni par une marque qui veut toucher une niche. Seulement, c’est ce que, nous trentenaires, en retenons aujourd’hui. On ne voit peut-être que le haut de l’iceberg. Les trentenaires qui observaient mes semblables il y a quinze ans, je suis pas sûr qu’ils comprenaient ce qu’on faisait quand ils nous voyaient fouiller comme des malades les bacs à disque.
- Comment s'en sortir ?
AS : Personnellement, je n’ai pas l’intention d’aller à la campagne et de leur laisser nos villes. L’idée, c’est de démythifier ce milieu et de montrer à ses tauliers qu’il y a autre chose. Ce sont eux qui s’enferment, nous avons l’avantage de connaître ce qu’il se passe dans ces cercles et surtout à l’extérieur. La formule a l’air con mais je crois à l’altérité. Les branchés l’ont effacée, à nous de la cultiver.
Arnaud Sagnard « Vous êtes sur la liste ? Enquète sur la tyrannie des branchés », Editions du moment
Introducing the Mullocks
Originally located in the parking area of Babylon, we had the chance to witness some Mullocks specimens in the Barcelona area last week-en.Culturally raised on second hand tobacco,these nu-rave rastas can speak the language of dogs & usually express themselves with Djembe drums.Naturally attracted to your cigarettes packet, they will often try to swap their warm beers for a "peaceful drag".Supposedly non-violent, these apocalyptic beach vampires can be found raving the "dance of life" to the sound of car stereos at a very high volume on dry parkings near you.
Margo Guryan: Love songs
Thanx to Femke for the lovely music.you rock.
23.6.08
22.6.08
21.6.08
THE HEART OF STACK #3
Busta Jones - You Keep On Making Me Hot (Gino Soccio co-production) - 1979 - Spring records
Gwen Guthrie - Hopscotch (Larry Levan Remix) - 1983 - Island Records
19.6.08
18.6.08
Claudio Simonetti interview
Born into a musical dynasty, Claudio Simonetti's career was dramatically launched when his young band Goblin were chosen to produce the soundtrack for Italian horror auteur Dario Argento's latest flick. Profondo Rosso went on to sell three million copies and the band also scored his next soundtrack, the classic Suspiria. After discovering disco, Simonetti made an array of classic records under a variety of names from Easy Going to Capricorn, before returning to movie scoring in the mid-1980s.
goblin patrick
easy going fear (disconet mix)
I believe your father was also a composer, is that right?
Yes yes, my father was very well known in Italy. He was very famous. He was a musician and also a TV entertainer during the 60s and 70s he worked a lot on the TV as a showman. More than a musician. His name was Enrico Simonetti.
Was that an influence on you growing up?
Yes, I was born in Brazil and because my father worked for 15 years in Brazil, he was also very popular there. So when I was born, I was born into a musical world, because of my father. He never said you have to study musuic but when I was eight years old I started playing piano. When I started at eight I was not very interested in studying music seriously. I listened to the bands of the Sixties like the Beatles and Rolling Stones, I was a kid during that period and I loved them so I started playing guitar in a small band.
This was in Italy or Sao Paolo?
No Italy, I came back to Italy when I was 12. I arrived here and started studying when I was 13 or 14. So I decided to be a musician. So my father said, ‘OK, you can be a musician but it’s better if you study’. So I studied composition and piano at the Conservatore Saint Cecilia. But during that period I played with many bands so I studied classically but I played a lot with bands in the underground. That’s how I came to play with my band Goblin later. Cherry Five was actually the same band as Goblin, more or less. It was a record we recorded before we did Profondo Rosso and Dario Argento chose us to do the soundtrack for this after listening to what we were doing in the studio with Cherry Five. But when we recorded Profondo Rosso we changed the name to Goblin. So the album that was released later, but we actually recorded first, was done under the name Cherry Five. I don’t know why they chose this name, it’s a mystery. We were never contacted about it. Before this, I had a band called Ritratto di Dorian Grey. I was a big Oscar Wilde fan. It was one of my favourite books so I chose the name.
How did you meet Dario Argento?
When he came to shoot Profondo Rosso he was looking for a rock band to appear in his film. We were lucky because when we were recording the Cherry Five album we signed a contract with the same label that my father was signed to. And this label was also same label that released Dario Argento’s music. So he asked Carlo Bixio, the producer of Cinevox Records, and he said, ‘Oh I have Enrico Simonetti’s son’s band!’ So Dario came into the studio to listen to our music and he loved it. So he gave us the chance to do the soundtrack. He was very brave because we had only just turned 20 and were very young. He was a very big, famous director. We were lucky to find Dario but he was lucky that he found the right band. Profondo Rosso sold 3m. copies.
You seemed to be experimenting with electronic music and sounds from quite an early age. Even Goblin is very electronic sounding. When did you start dabbling with electronic keyboards?
I was always a fan of electronic music. My first Moog, the Mini-Moog, I bought in 1972 so I was one of the first keyboard players in Italy playing synthesiser. I had a lot of synthesisers later. You can hear it in Goblin stuff and for Suspiria we used the big Moog, Robert Moog’s1500 Moog. We had to rent this Moog because it was so expensive. Keith Emerson used it. I saw a concert of his recently and he still uses the same big Moog. It’s unique. Emerson has the original one. They were very expensive to buy. It cost maybe £20,000 at the time. So we rented it and a technician came and I told to him what to do and he programmed it for me. Even now I’m very happy with Suspiria; maybe it’s the Goblin masterpiece. We did a lot of research for this soundtrack. We used this big Moog, but we also used ethnic instruments, like tabla, bazouki and dobro. We used a lot of stuff to record it and three months recording it.
Is it true you recorded the Suspiria soundtrack without first seeing the movie?
No we did just demos before. We read the script but Dario uses the music just for ambience you know. But actually when the film was finished the music was completely different from the demos. So nothing remained from those demos.
You had a very unique disco sound, was that deliberate or was it just the way it came out?
Firstly, I was born in Brazil so the Brazilian rhythm and sound is in the music everywhere. I’d grown up with this in my blood, even if I play rock. When the 70s progressive rock era finished, after the split of Goblin, I met a producer Giancarlo Meo and with him we decided to make disco music. At that time, especially in the middle seventies and the end of the seventies, disco was full of orchestration, choirs etc. I loved this music, it was very powerful. In the seventies if you wanted to do arranging for disco you had to be a musician, otherwise you couldn’t write or play. It was a very nice period for me. I have great memories of this period. I changed my lifestyle completely, coming from rock bands to becoming a disco producer. I spent five or six years like this I decided to change, after Phenomena, in 1984. I decided to write just soundtracks and make rock music again.
Were you going to discotheques in the early 1970s?
Yes. One of the most famous clubs was Easy Going in Rome. It’s where I met the DJ Paul Micioni. We start to make productions together with Giancarlo Meo. We did the Easy Going albums. I also found Vivien Vee in the same discotheque. So this discotheque was one of the first I went to in Rome. It’s where I found the disco life! We had also another one, before, called Jackie O in Rome. Paul did a lot of productions after and some very good ones. They worked with Amii Stewart and many others.
Do you remember the music he was playing at Easy Going?
All the 70s and 80s music like Cerrone and Moroder, stuff like that. Many kinds of music. But very full of orchestration. Donna Summer, Aretha Franklin.
What disco groups or producers inspired you?
I enjoyed a lot of Moroder. He was one of the first electronic producers. He made a lot of Donna Summer records. I remember I loved I Feel Love, it was completely electronic. This was the kind of disco I loved. But I also loved Barry White. His productions were great.
What background did Giancarlo Meo have?
When I met him he was not from a musical world. He was a businessman. He worked a lot with Italian fashion. But he decided he wanted to do this and be a record producer. When I met him he had finished recording a small production. When we met together, Paul Micioni and Giancarlo, we decided to do an Easy Going record. It was the first time in Italy anyone had done this. There had maybe been the brothers LaBionda, they were recording on a German label. But actually in Italy no one was producing this music when we decided in 1978 to make this record. Many Italian producers told me I was crazy for doing this. It’s Americans who do this not Italians! So Easy Going was probably the first album. The only other guy was Mauro Malavasi, he recorded Macho at the same time and then Change and others. I never met him, I don’t know him personally. I think I spoke to him once by telephone. I know his musicians and I have played with some of them but I never met him.
Is it true you recorded demos for English groups in London in the early 1970s?
No we [Goblin] lived in London for almost one year and we made some demos there. We had an American singer living in London and we recorded some demos with him. These were the same demos that we brought to Italy that eventually became the Cherry Five album; but he never sang on the Cherry Five album he left before. His name is Clive Haynes. He now lives in America and is a very good painter.
Once you’d started to make disco records did you go to a lot of discos in Italy?
Yes especially in Rome. We had a lot of discos there. Everywhere you go in Italy, France, Germany there were people dancing. I have great memories of that period. With Giancarlo, we recorded some records in Madrid, New York and Philadelphia. It was fun.
Do you remember where you recorded in New York and Philly?
I did the second Easy Going album Fear at the Power Station. I recorded the brass and background choir at a studio in Philly but I can’t remember the name.
Around that time you did some session work with Herbie Mann didn’t you?
Yes. A friend of mine was producer for Atlantic and I met him in New York. Someone bought the rights to release Baby I Love You in America. A producer wanted to make a new version so when I arrived in New York with the 24-track I met Silvio Tancredi and I became his friend and we recorded this version; straight after when he was recording the Herbie Mann album he mentioned to Herbie that he knew a good Italian musician.
What were your favourite discos?
I loved Studio 54 and Xenon in New York.
Were you aware of DJs like Mozart and Baldelli in the early 1970s?
Yes but I never worked with them.
Were you conscious of the sound you had created that became known as Italo-disco?
Maybe now I know this and I can feel it. At the time I didn’t know. We recorded a lot of music that had global appeal. Maybe now I feel we invented something but at the time…. It’s like spaghetti westerns… there were many directors who were inspired by this. A lot of Italian disco was imitated. Now I know this. In the 1980s, I had no idea. It was the same with Goblin. We never felt we were one of the most powerful horror bands. Now I know.
Was Easy Going a touring band as well or just a studio project?
No I never played I just arranged it. Most of the concerts were just playbacks with the singers.
Did you have any idea how big your records were in the US?
No. In 1979, we came to the US with Vivien Vee when we had some success with Give Me A Break. It was in the Billboard charts. I realised she was very famous there. It was strange, especially for her, because she’s Italian, and she spoke very bad English. She just sang in English because she learned it, but she actually had difficulty to speak with people in America. Many times I saved her because people would talk to her and she had no idea what they were saying. I’d say, “No no no Vivien Vee she doesn’t talk to anyone!” Later she did learn to speak.
Vivien Vee originally came from Trieste, one of the northern cities. She came on holiday to Rome and me and Giancarlo met her and he became her boyfriend. When we decided to record a new album we found an Italian-American singer who was a model. I wrote this song Give Me a Break and she said she liked it so we went to record it. Although she was a model she sang very well. Anyway, her name was Carol and she totally disappeared. We never saw her again. So we had the studio and we needed a girl, so Vivien said, “Well, I sing but only Italian songs”. So I did a demo with her. And she had this low voice. We loved this voice. We called an English teacher and coached her through the song.
Did you realise that your music had had such an impact in Chicago and Detroit?
No because I never went there, but occasionally someone will say, “Oh your music was a big influence”.
Do you remember recording things like Do It Again by Easy Going?
Oh yeah. We recorded that album here in Rome in one studio. Not very big but it was quite expensive. It was very good for a disco sound. They recorded mainly TV shows and orchestras there. We tried to record here because it had a very good sound for drum and bass. We recorded this album live with many nusicians. One of the guys from Goblin played on one song, Fabio Pignatelli, on Suzy Q.
You used Walter Martino for a lot of the drums as well didn’t you?
Walter Martino was our first Goblin drummer. Fernando Fera played in some songs. He was Dorian Grey guitar player. And I used the brass section from a TV orchestra.
Did you use drum loops as well as live drummers?
It depended. We used real drums until the early 80s. After the Linn arrived and others we preferred to use drum machines. If you listen to the big bands of the Eighties most of them used drum machines. The English sound especially. Keyboards like the DX7: it’s the master. It was the first midi keyboard. You can recognise the early Eighties because of the sound of the DX7.
A lot of the musicians you used had English names. Were they American or British musicians?
No. We changed the names! It’s like the ’60s when they shoot spaghetti westerns they just changed the names, even Sergio Leone had a different name. That’s because if we had told the people it was an Italian production nobody would trust that it was good, because no one had done it. It was very funny. Simon Pouds, for instance, is me.
Did you and Giancarlo Meo work well together, because you made a lot of great music?
He was a producer but he also had a good ear; he would say this is good or this is not good. But normally he was the businessman of the company and I was the music producer. He organised contracts, distribution, but he was a good talent scout. He’s found a lot of good artists. Even after we split. He’s one of the biggest producers of independent labels. He sold millions of copies of many artists.
How do you view the music now you look back at it?
I like it. Sometimes I hear the old records and I like it, because it has its own story. Now I think I could maybe do it better, but I love that Eighties sound. The instruments and moods are different now. I love almost of all of what I did.
http://www.djhistory.com
http://www.djhistory.com/interviews
© DJHistory.com // Bill Brewster and Frank Broughton, 2008
17.6.08
Inscription à :
Messages (Atom)
