Post by l100 on Oct 27, 2008 22:25:10 GMT 1
Found this interview at:
maturetimes.co.uk/node/6815
Keith Emerson: still building musical bridges
By Tony Watts - Editor - 27/10/2008
Back in my teens, in my circle at least, there were some album covers that were worth their weight in street cred. Hands up who else can remember the thrill of owning ‘Close to the Edge’ by Yes; ‘Electric Ladyland’ by Hendrix; ‘Dark Side of the Moon’ by Pink Floyd; and ‘Five Bridges’ by Nice.
All of them very different, but all equally and hugely ambitious. These, and a dozen other albums I could mention collectively changed the face of music. How often do seminal albums come out these days?
But less of the harking back to the good old days. I’m talking to Keith Emerson because the man, 40 years on from backing PP Arnold, and decades on from the demise of Nice and ELP, has just produced a new album. He has never rested on his musical laurels and – energised by his collaboration with Californian guitar hero Marc Bonilla – is also touring extensively. The hair’s greyer, but still rock and roll length, and there is absolutely no sense about Keith of any ‘done it, seen it’ ennui.
“It’s been a tremendous source of encouragement having Marc there,” he tells me. “And it gives me a chance to let someone else take over at the front sometimes – I’ve missed that!” Keith’s distinctive, soaring keyboard style meshes together superbly with Bonilla’s powerful, strutting guitar riffs and the album is winning rave reviews from fans.
It’s a reinvention that has obviously given Keith a fresh spring in his song-writing step. Bonilla has been on the scene for many years, and putting a guitar at the front gives Emerson a whole new sound dynamic. “It’s a real collaboration,” says Keith.
A new album has also meant a chance to get on the road and meet the huge fan base that has built up over 40 years. “Estonia, Latvia, Macedonia, Bulgaria – we’ve seen a lot of eastern Europe,” concedes Keith, “and the concerts have all gone well – including the one we filmed in Moscow. I’m always surprised at the cross section of ages we get. Yes, there are people who can remember the Nice and ELP days, but there are many there who have come to my music since then.”
Going out on tour these days is, he admits, hard work involving a lot of travelling from his California base. But it’s a lot less taxing on his equipment. “No, I don’t stick knives in the keyboards any more. The roadies would get fed up replacing them!” Curiously, it was a roadie that started off the trademark knife on the keyboard: Lemmy, who went on to front Motorhead.
There’s still, patently, an appetite to break new ground. But where did his original inspiration come from? “Where bands like Led Zeppelin and the Yardbirds were influenced by US blues, my roots go back to European music – classical and jazz. Music from people like Vaughn Williams, Shostakovich, Dave Brubeck.’
Aaron Copland was another influence and it’s interesting to note that not only did the American composer give Emerson one of the biggest hits of his career – 'Fanfare to the Common Man’ – but also the name of one of his sons. It makes a neat loop in the fabric of time that that son is also a musician!
“Yes, what we were doing was groundbreaking at the time – using mixed media, fusing different styles of music, using orchestras. We’d also do some mad things – like bringing in bag pipes.”
Revolutionary stuff. But has it become harder or easier to experiment does he think?” We’ve seen a decline in the power of record companies,” he says, “in that it was harder to get a demo made and then recorded. Now you can record it all yourself and even use the web to release it. I produced the latest album – and then went out and got a record deal.”
Perhaps it’s that ability to innovate without worrying about record company executives that makes his new album so refreshing. Certainly, Keith Emerson’s new collaboration with Marc Bonilla is a worthy addition to the discography of one of the leading keyboard players of the last 50 years.
maturetimes.co.uk/node/6815
Keith Emerson: still building musical bridges
By Tony Watts - Editor - 27/10/2008
Back in my teens, in my circle at least, there were some album covers that were worth their weight in street cred. Hands up who else can remember the thrill of owning ‘Close to the Edge’ by Yes; ‘Electric Ladyland’ by Hendrix; ‘Dark Side of the Moon’ by Pink Floyd; and ‘Five Bridges’ by Nice.
All of them very different, but all equally and hugely ambitious. These, and a dozen other albums I could mention collectively changed the face of music. How often do seminal albums come out these days?
But less of the harking back to the good old days. I’m talking to Keith Emerson because the man, 40 years on from backing PP Arnold, and decades on from the demise of Nice and ELP, has just produced a new album. He has never rested on his musical laurels and – energised by his collaboration with Californian guitar hero Marc Bonilla – is also touring extensively. The hair’s greyer, but still rock and roll length, and there is absolutely no sense about Keith of any ‘done it, seen it’ ennui.
“It’s been a tremendous source of encouragement having Marc there,” he tells me. “And it gives me a chance to let someone else take over at the front sometimes – I’ve missed that!” Keith’s distinctive, soaring keyboard style meshes together superbly with Bonilla’s powerful, strutting guitar riffs and the album is winning rave reviews from fans.
It’s a reinvention that has obviously given Keith a fresh spring in his song-writing step. Bonilla has been on the scene for many years, and putting a guitar at the front gives Emerson a whole new sound dynamic. “It’s a real collaboration,” says Keith.
A new album has also meant a chance to get on the road and meet the huge fan base that has built up over 40 years. “Estonia, Latvia, Macedonia, Bulgaria – we’ve seen a lot of eastern Europe,” concedes Keith, “and the concerts have all gone well – including the one we filmed in Moscow. I’m always surprised at the cross section of ages we get. Yes, there are people who can remember the Nice and ELP days, but there are many there who have come to my music since then.”
Going out on tour these days is, he admits, hard work involving a lot of travelling from his California base. But it’s a lot less taxing on his equipment. “No, I don’t stick knives in the keyboards any more. The roadies would get fed up replacing them!” Curiously, it was a roadie that started off the trademark knife on the keyboard: Lemmy, who went on to front Motorhead.
There’s still, patently, an appetite to break new ground. But where did his original inspiration come from? “Where bands like Led Zeppelin and the Yardbirds were influenced by US blues, my roots go back to European music – classical and jazz. Music from people like Vaughn Williams, Shostakovich, Dave Brubeck.’
Aaron Copland was another influence and it’s interesting to note that not only did the American composer give Emerson one of the biggest hits of his career – 'Fanfare to the Common Man’ – but also the name of one of his sons. It makes a neat loop in the fabric of time that that son is also a musician!
“Yes, what we were doing was groundbreaking at the time – using mixed media, fusing different styles of music, using orchestras. We’d also do some mad things – like bringing in bag pipes.”
Revolutionary stuff. But has it become harder or easier to experiment does he think?” We’ve seen a decline in the power of record companies,” he says, “in that it was harder to get a demo made and then recorded. Now you can record it all yourself and even use the web to release it. I produced the latest album – and then went out and got a record deal.”
Perhaps it’s that ability to innovate without worrying about record company executives that makes his new album so refreshing. Certainly, Keith Emerson’s new collaboration with Marc Bonilla is a worthy addition to the discography of one of the leading keyboard players of the last 50 years.