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Allan
Holdsworth
interviewed
by
Olivier
Feuillerat
June
2003 |
Let me first tell you the story about this interview.
The
questions were originally written in 2001 just after the release of
"Flat Tire", Allan Holdsworth's Synthaxe album. The interview
was arranged with Megazoidal, the label on which Flat Tire was released.
For some reason the questions were lost and did not make their way to
Allan. Two years later, I had the opportunity to ask Allan if we could
go through the interview anyway, and he kindly offered some of his time
to answer my old set of questions. Hence the sub-title "The Lost
Words". And this is why this interview is very much focused on
the haunting and beautiful "Flat Tire" record. Good Reading.
Olivier
Feuillerat - ofeuillerat.free.fr
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OF:
Allan, since the eighties you have been the greatest Ambassador of the
SynthAxe, but it is only now you decide to make a complete album with
it... Why ?
AH: In the past I
had thought about it, but I was focusing on Group projects,
so although I wanted to do it, I just never had the opportunity. When
I
found myself with the time to do it between projects, I went for it. |
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OF:
In the leaflet you mention some serious personal problems you have gone
through before the creation of "Flat Tire".
Of course, music catalyses feelings and emotions (good or bad), and
it is
especially true with your playing which is so intense.
Does music act as a kind of therapy on you ?
AH: Creating music
can be therapeutic, but if I am in a bad space, the last
thing I want to do is listen to or create music.
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OF:
Is there a special reason for using guitar only in the tormented overture
of "The Duplicate Man" ?
AH: No there is not.
OF:
Did the SynthAxe change something in your writing ?
(or did you compose some pieces first on guitar)
AH: Some pieces are
composed on guitar, but usually if I am writing a SynthAxe
record, I will write it all on the SynthAxe. It did change something
in my
writing. I could play sustained chords and with the breath controller
I
could play long notes and make them loud or soft, make them go away
then
bring them back, just like you can on a real wind instrument.
I could
turn it into a non percussive instrument where the guitar is a percussive
instrument. So overall, I would say it gave me more flexibility.
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OF:
Usually how do you tackle composing a piece ? Melody comes first or
a
chord sequence, or ?
AH: Sometimes it
a melody, sometimes it's a chord sequence a lot of times it's
a combination something like a choral melody where the top line is the
melody that is the most common thing that I do. |
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OF:
The rhythm has always played an important part in your music and you've
always had the finest drummers in your bands.
I notice you did some drum programming on Flat Tire. Is it
something you enjoy working on ?
AH: No, not at all. |
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OF:
In general, do you work a lot with computers ? What comp/softs did you
use
for the arrangements on Flat Tire?
AH: In general I
do not work allot with computers. I do have a collection of
old Atari Computers because at the time the Synthaxe came out, it was
the
only soft where that would record the thing, because it puts out so
much
information, that if I used a regular sequencer I would play half
way
through a tune, and it would be full, and half of what I
played wouldn't
play back. I then got turned on to the Steinberg softare, the
Pro 24
which is really old, then I switched to Steinberg Qbase, which is what
I
still use, so I basically have an ancient set up.
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OF:
A few months ago Gary Husband released a terrific piano solo project
called "The things I see - Interpretation of the Music of Allan
Holdsworth"...
It casts a different light on your music, maybe closer to classical
music...
What was your reaction upon Gary's interpretations ?
AH: I absolutely
loved it! I was so incredibly flattered. I was very moved
by
it. It meant al lot to me. The fact that it was interpretations
of my music
was something I really liked. There are people out
there who make these
clone records, and try to do everything verbatim just like it was, and
what
he did was much more deep. He came at it from a totally
different
perspective and I really liked that. He knew I would have wanted
it that
way and I like that he chose to do that.
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OF:
A few jazz composers have used symphonic orchestras, for instance John
Mac
laughlin, Bill Evans, Chick Corea, etc,
And obviously the music of "Flat Tire" is very much "orchestrated"...
So,
have you ever considered writing a symphonic piece for an orchestra
?
AH: Well I
would like to, but I don't have the necessary skill of to be able to
write out the parts. I would have to have someone like Allan
Pasqua
helping me. I remember when we worked with Tony Williams, I would
play him
something and he would play it right back to me, as if he
had recorded it.
He is amazing for that. So I would certainly love to do it, but
it would
have to be a collaboration with someone like Allan. There is also
substantial cost involved, and it is hard enough to get a record company
to pay for trio records.
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OF:
And... what about an acoustic guitar album ?
AH: No, I can't play
acoustic guitar. |
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OF:
Some people claim there are differences between the Japanese and US
mastering of your records.
Can you shed some light on this please ?
AH: The masters
that the Japanese receive are identical. They are all made at
the same time, they are not digital copies they are identical. You
send one
to Europe, one to America, one to Japan and they all come out
sounding
different. The difference is not in the mastering it is in the
manufacture
of the CD. Just like in the old days of Vinyl, Japanese pressings
were
always superior to anywhere in the world. So, I don't know how
or why they
turn out better, but they do. It is a mystery
to me, I wish I knew.
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OF:
I read once you were not too happy with the mix of Wardenclyffe tower
and
a lot of bands are remastering or remixing their first generation CDs,
so have you got any plans of remastering some albums ?
AH: Definetely.
I will be getting my entire catalog back at the end of the
year, and I will be remastering some of them. The problem with
Wardenclyffe
Tower was I thought I had mixed the guitar too loud on a few
tracks and
that bugged me. But it is done, so I live with it now.
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OF:
Finally let's go back to Flat tire. On the overall, there's quite a
few
external sounds like industrial or natural noises.
It all contributes to make the music even more visual, hence I guess,
the
subtitle "Music for a non-existent movie" ?
Would you like to be involved in making some (existent) film music next
?
AH: I would love to do film music. Unfortunately, it is a
very hard field to
break into. There are people who have been trying to break into
film music
for as long as I have been trying to establish my career.
The technical
aspects are quite different as well. I would need a totally different
studio. I would love to make music to pictures,
because that is
essentially what I do anyway. If I have an idea for a song or
a title of a
song, I have some sort of picture in my mind. So yeah,
I would love to
do film music. I would really like to do a Sci-Fi movie, I would
be really
good at that.
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OF:
Thanks so much for the words !
AH: Thank
you very much to you Olivier. I really love your site and what
you
have done it's great!
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Thanks
to Katherine Kurner for the help
Visit
Allan
Holdsworth's official website
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