When and where did you take up music ? Why
progressive rock ?
I was nine years old when I started playing
music. I have an older cousin who took up the guitar and began writing songs in
a Cat Stevens/James Taylor style. This was a big influence on me at the time
and I asked my mother for a guitar for Christmas and indeed that is what I
received as a present. I immersed myself in practicing that instrument and also
began to start composing as well. I didn't start playing the piano until I was
in high school, I began by simply transferring what I knew on guitar to the
keyboard. I found that I really connected with the piano as an instrument and
it completely eclipsed the guitar at that time.
Progressive rock came
somewhere in the middle of those experiences. As a child I enjoyed the current
hits being played on AM radio and also my parents record collection which
included classical titles and a smattering of jazz. The first band that I fell
in love with was The Beatles (I suppose you could consider them the 'first
progressive rock band' in a way) and then other important bands of the classic
rock era such as Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd and so on, became favorites. However,
the first progressive band to grab my attention was Jethro Tull. The attraction
of progressive music was really all encompassing, it appeared to have
everything. There was a complexity to the music that was intoxicating and it
seemed that there was something new to hear in it every time I listened.
Similarly, there was a poetic, lyrical depth to the words that I hadn't
experienced in popular music before - I loved the fact that there were no
boundaries in progressive music. If you wanted to do a 45 minute song like
Thick as a Brick then get on with it!
Let's first start with your two books
Yesstories and Classic Rock Stories. Why did you go to such a laborious task as
writing these two books ? Please tell us more about them and from where they can
be purchased.
I was waiting for many years for someone to update the
information in Dan Hedge's "Yes: The Authorized Biography" and release a new
book on my favorite band. However, after all of this waiting I finally decided
to take on the project myself. Yes, it was a lot of work, but it was a labor of
love. It was a very exciting project that had its own rewards before the book
was even published. When Yesstories was published by the St. Martin's Press it
was very successful and my editor wanted to do a follow-up. He and I talked
about various possibilities and the idea of Classic Rock Stories was born. This
book was even more successful than Yesstories and I was surprised to hear that
Howard Stern had recently featured it on his show. I think one reason the books
have been popular is that people love to hear about the creative process about
the music that is a part of their lives. Yesstories is unfortunately out of
print (although I understand the publisher will be creating a download only
version of it), but Classic Rock Stories is still available through any book
store. Since these books have been published I've written many magazine
articles and I've been considering writing another book in the near future.
This would be a biography of an important musician/composer, but I don't want to
give too many details on the project at this time.
Over to your only album so far. Please tell
us more about the Transformation album from 2005.
Transformation was
a huge project, a big part of my life for the three years it took to write,
arrange and record it. I met my producer Mark Dean through Mike Varney of Magna
Carta Records. He had heard me play and put the two of us in touch with each
other thinking that we'd be a good fit together. The album is the story of a
person going through a series of events that eventually transform his life. You
could say it is a semi-autobiographical work, although certain songs like
"Shatter" are more about people that I've know, than my own personal
experience. Musically there are a lot of diverse elements coming together to
hopefully create a cohesive whole. I love being able to do an acoustic finger
picking almost folk song like "Adrift" and put it next to the fifteen minute
expansive, everything-and-the-kitchen-sink song like "Apocalyptic Visions". I'm
still very proud of this music and was pleased to see how well it was received
in the progressive rock community.
You are currently finishing a new album.
Please tell us more about this album.
The new album is entitled Faithscience and will
be released in early 2012. This has also been an enormous project to complete,
but in some ways very different than Transformation. The first important
difference is that I've produced this album. I was very pleased with the
working relationship that I had with Mark on the first album, but he was
unavailable to produce this project because he was finishing his own album "No
Man is an Island". Producing oneself can be a difficult job as the producer in
you stresses the timetable and deadlines and the artist in you wants as long as
it takes to complete it correctly. Obviously the artist in me won, because it
has taken years to finish the album!
Faithscience started out as a
concept album based on the life of Charles Lindbergh. I'd read a book on him
and was fascinated by the arc of his life. It seemed that I could say things I
wanted to say using that as the template. However, as I worked on the project
it strayed from that initial vision (but I'm sure you can see the thread of it
if you wish). I'm proud of the music on Faithscience and it has been a pleasure
to create it. I've assembled a collection of some of my favorite musicians to
play on it, including the great Jerry Jennings on guitar. There is a special
guest appearance by David Ragsdale from Kansas on violin on one of the
tracks.
For those of us unknown with your music; how
would you describe you music and which bands would you compare yourself with ?
That's a difficult question, although
I'm sure at times you can hear all of my influences filtering through into my
music. I'd say on Transformation that some of it sounds a bit like U.K. and
perhaps Genesis. I wouldn't consider Eddie Jobson to necessarily be a major
influence, but perhaps we're drawn to similar sounding chord progressions and
keyboard tones? I would say that Transformation is very keyboard driven music
as all of the songs, except for "Adrift" were composed on keyboards. However,
on Faithscience that balance is addressed and I've included three or four songs
that are guitar centric as well.
Besides of book writing and making albums,
what else are you up to in your life?
I have a variety of interests
and passions and I won't get into all of them now. However, having said that
I'll quickly add that one of them is teaching. I work as a teacher and it is
something I love to do and there are great intrinsic rewards in teaching. In my
musical life I should add that I'm in the process of putting together a band to
perform my music and to record a new album next year.
To wrap up this interview, is there anything
you want to add to this interview ?
Thank you for your time and
interest in my music and books. I look forward to hearing what you think of
Faithscience when it is released next year. All the best to you and your
readers!
Thank you to Tim Morse for this interview
This PA profile is here and his homepage is here
/PAlogo_v2.gif "Progarchives.com Homepage")
Tim Morse
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