Willowglass (Aug 2010)

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Willowglass from Yorkshire, England has got a lot of fans in this forum. It's music is symphonic prog and both the Willowglass albums is well worth checking out for those into Genesis, Camel and Anthony Phillips 

I got in touch with Andrew Marshall for the Willowglass story.

------------------------------------
What are you up to these
days ? 
With regards
to music…I’m still struggling with the ‘difficult third
album’ syndrome! Other than that….the usual (job, family, etc) and
not enough time!

You are based in
Holmfirth in the Yorkshire dales. How is life
in the same village where the classic sitcom Last of the Summer Wine was filmed
? Were you involved in these productions ? 

Holmfirth is a
wonderful part of the country. You’ll have seen the scenery on TV no
doubt. I suppose life is pretty much the same wherever you go. I’ve
always lived in the countryside (never in the City) so it’s difficult to
say. I love it here though. Although I must say that I try to avoid watching
Last of the Summer Wine…it’s not the type of thing I like to watch
on TV and is not typical of the people here either! I’ve never been
involved with the programme. They tend to film it all over the area so
I’ve seen some of the productions taking place. I think they’ve
decided to stop making it now.

Have you got any problems
with the local old age pensioners who runs the village ragged with their
various (un)scientific experiments and dating schemes involving bikes and
highly mobile hedges ? 

If we have
I’ve not come across them yet! Although you do come across some strange
people sometimes.

Before you set up
Willowglass as your solo-project, you played in bands for over 20 years. Please
tell us more about these bands. 

I’ve
been in various local bands since I was at school…too numerous to
mention. All these bands played various musical styles (heavy rock, punk, pop,
prog, etc. – mostly cover versions, but some original material as well)
and within those groups I’ve also played different instruments (guitar,
bass, and keyboards). There was some interest in one band I was in (when I was
playing keyboards). It was typical 80’s/90’s pop music. A couple of
A&R guys from a major came to see us play…but it didn’t get any
further than that! More recently I played guitar in a blues band.

Why did you set up
Willowglass and why did you choose that name ? 

‘Progressive’
music has always been where mu heart lies. I was brought up on it during the
70’s and my record collection seems to be mostly progressive music.
Around 2003 I wasn’t doing anything musically and had some time to write
some music….and the first Willowglass album was the result. I was just
trying to put together some pieces which were in the same vein as music I enjoy
listening to. As for the name…..I went through numerous ones….but
all the best names had already been taken! The music had already been written
and I needed a name which reflected the music (pastoral, symphonic, etc)
– something fairly tranquil. Willowglass seemed to do that….and it
was the best I could come up with at the time!

You have released both
the albums on your own label, if I am not mistaken. Was that your own choice or
a matter of necessity ? What is the current situation regarding availability
and distribution of your albums ? 

It was a
matter of necessity. I made the first album just for my own satisfaction
really….it was great that people liked it and that encouraged me to do
more with the second album. I’ve not been approached by any labels with
regards to distribution, etc. so I’m having to do everything myself
– CD pressing, marketing, etc. I suppose the main frustration is that
I’m unable to market Willowglass properly. I’ve only limited funds
for that and I’m sure with proper backing I could take things further. As
for availability, both albums are still available from the Willowglass website,
as well as some online vendors….but stocks are down to the last few now
and it may not be viable at the moment for me to get anymore pressed once they
have all gone. However, they are also on i-tunes & Amazon mp3 so they will
be still available in that format. When the next album is released there is
always some interest in the back catalogue, so I may get some more pressed
then. We’ll see.

Please give us a
presentation of the self-titled first album from 2005. The music, the
recording, lyrics, the musicians, the artwork, the tracks......... 

This was a
culmination of a number of ideas I had had since around 2003 (plus some other
ideas/pieces I had written way back!). None of the pieces had lyrics, although
I did write some for the track Garden (and even recorded some vocals), but it
didn’t work so I scrubbed them and replaced them with a synth part. There
was no rush in writing the material, but the recording process was very quick
from what I can remember. I asked a friend, Dave Brightman, who was the drummer
in the local blues band I was in before starting the Willowglass project, to
help with some technical aspects, as well as to help out with the drums.

Who did the excellent
art-work for this album ?

A USA based
artist called Lee Gaskins. He’s a great guy. I found out about him after
trawling on the internet for album sleeve artists. He had already done some
work for other artists and his style seemed to complement the music so I was
really keen for him to do the artwork.  

Please give us a
presentation of Book Of Hours from 2008. The music, the recording, lyrics, the
musicians, the artwork, the tracks......... 

I started
writing the second album as soon as I had finished recording the first
one…so all the music was completely new. The writing came pretty quickly
over about a 6 month period (on and off). Most of the time was spent recording
and mixing (having a job and family means that spare time is just
that…spare!). Again, there were no lyrics and the album featured Dave
again on drums. I felt that this album was a bit more solid with regards to the
writing and was recorded better than the first one. Again there was no
particular theme…all the pieces came together and seemed to flow better
(probably because they were written over a shorter time period).

Who did the artwork for
this album ?

Lee Gaskins
again! I wanted to get back to the days when you bought vinyl
albums…..with all the artwork/gatefold sleeve, etc. I was all part of the
music buying process when I was a kid which has all but been lost now. When
people are buying your music I think the least you can do is present it well!
There’s also the ‘added value’ you get with the artwork
rather than just downloading the music.

Besides of yourself, who
else were involved in the two Willowglass albums ?

The only other
person involved on the Willowglass albums is Dave Brightman. He was a big
Genesis fan too so was quite happy to help out! I asked him to take part
because, at the beginning, he knew a lot more than me about the technical
aspects of recording….and he was a drummer!…which was useful as I
wasn’t particularly good on drums at the time! The drum duties were
shared more or less 50/50 on the first album. I think I did slightly more
drumming on the second one though. Also, having someone else involved gives the
whole thing a bit more of a ‘band feel’ rather than just it being a
solo project. I would eventually like to get a live band together to take the
music out on the road at some point as well.

I guess it is fair to say
that you have one or two Genesis, Anthony Phillips solo albums and Camel albums
in your record collections. But which bands has influenced you most and how
would you describe your music ? 

Correct on all
those! I think I’ve been influenced by many other bands…mainly
progressive (e.g. King Crimson, Barclay James Harvest, Premiata Forneria
Marconi, Emerson Lake & Palmer, Caravan, Focus, Van Der Graaf Generator,
etc, etc), but also by many other styles of music (classical, jazz,
blues…..my record collection covers most things from Abba to Yes!). How
would I describe my music? Instrumental Symphonic Progressive Rock (?). What I
really wanted to capture was the sound/feel of early Genesis/PFM
music…..lots of 12 string, flutes, mellotron, etc. Almost a
‘pastoral’ feel to it all, but also with a lot of variety
(something you need on a purely instrumental album!). The first two albums have
gone some way to what I originally imagined, but I’m still working on it!

You are also involved in
other projects, according to your webpage. Please tell us more about these
projects.

I was
contacted by Colossus Magazine (who have been responsible for releasing a
number of compilation/concept albums on Musea Records) to ask if I’d like
to take part in some of their upcoming releases. Two of them were for parts 1
& 2 of a concept based around Dante’s Divine Comedy, for which I
submitted a couple of original tracks (which are only currently available on
these releases). Another two tracks were cover versions of tracks by Wigwam (Fairyport)
and Kaipa (Oceaner Foder Liv) for releases based around famous Finnish and Swedish
prog rock tracks. All of these are available on Musea Records.

Myself and many others in
prog rock community is eagerly awaiting something more from Willowglass. Is
there any plans for a new album.......... ? What is your plans this year and in
the future ? 

Yes…there
are plans for another album. I’m writing it at the moment…but
I’ve no idea when it will be finished. I’m aiming for sometime
during 2011, but don’t hold your breath! I have a full time job which
isn’t music related, so any writing/recording has to done in any spare
time I have. Also, because the first two albums were quite well received, I
really want the next one to be even better. The problem with that is that
I’m tending to throw away a lot of ideas as ‘not good enough’
at the moment. So I may need to approach things a bit differently over the
coming months with regards to writing if I’m going to get anywhere.
I’ve also just been asked to submit a track for another Colossus project
which will be released sometime next year so I’ll be writing/recording
that at the same time as the new album.

Please name your five all
time albums.

Ahh! A very difficult question to
answer because my favourites do change quite often. 6 months ago
I’d have given you some different ones….but at the moment they
would be (in no particular order)

·        
Caravan
– On The Land
 Of Grey And Pink

·        
Genesis
– Nursery Cryme

·        
Emerson,
Lake And Palmer – Pictures At An
Exhibition

·        
King
Crimson – In The Court Of The Crimson King

·        
Van Der
Graaf Generator – Pawn Hearts

Anything you want to add
to this interview ? 

Not really.
It’s taken me a few months to get this far!

Thank you to Andrew Marshall for this interview. 

The Willowglass PA profile is here 
and the homepage is here

Edited by toroddfuglesteg - August 01 2010 at 16:18