Tell me about Knifeworld and your forthcoming album Buried Alone: Tales of Crushing Defeat. How did this project start to happen ? The album will be released in August, are you excited ? How does the album sound ?
Knifeworld is something I started ages ago, my problem is I can never finish things. I had this idea that I wanted to make this big, dense, sprawling psychedelic thing and I kept working on it then it would seem too gargantuan a task to finish so I'd stop for a while. It would remain there going "you can't finish me, can you fucker?". Finally I bought a load of kit and just got the hell on with it. I'm very excited about it. I wanted to do something completely on my own terms and I wanted to create a project that, from here on in, whatever I write I can put out as Knifeworld. With the first album Buried Alone I feel as If I've mapped out the territory a bit.
| 
| |
The next record will be much more of a group-based thing though. If you know my stuff then you'll recognise the sound instantly. It's a lot bigger sounding than The Monsoon Bassoon and the instrumentation is much more varied. There's a lot going on in there, you know, a lot of layers of sound.
“I already have most of the next album written.”
How is working with Khyam Allami, how did you meet him ?
Khyam was the drummer in a band called Ursa that played a lot with The Monsoons, I always loved his drumming- he plays a bit like Dominic Luckman, arms above the head and really twats them. I asked him if he was up for doing Knifeworld and he was. He's amazing and so committed to the thing. He gets his head around tricky rhythms very quickly which is essential for anyone who plays my stuff. Also he's an Iraqi so we're like brothers of the Middle East or something.
How does the creative process take place ? How do you write your music, in the studio ? Is it a group effort or do you write most of the music ?
There's no one way really, sometimes the tunes come to you full formed, arrangements and everything other times I start with a basic idea and build it up from there. For most of my adult life I wrote with Dan Chudley and we developed a very specific style which I suppose still informs everything I do, but now I have The Cop's Dream, which is my studio, I find it a lot easier to work and write alone. As soon as I'd finished mixing Buried Alone a massive amount of new songs came pissing out of me. Finishing that album was like a purge. In fact I already have most of the next album written.
Is there life outside music ?
If there is I haven't seen much of it. I can't do a great deal else. I never paid any attention at school because I thought "I'm not going to need to know that". From seeing Brian Setzer on TV this is all I ever wanted to do. I did entertain the idea of becoming a comic book artist as a back-up plan in my teens but that didn't last long.
Do you play Guitar Hero ?
No.
previous page / next page |
